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 Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 8:51 pm
Well that had been a complete surprise. Harvestmoon had never thought he'd see anyone from his life outside the pack. He wasn't so sure he'd ever even see his brother again, much less a rogue lion he had unexpectantly befriended. After the brief meeting and awkward conversation, Harvest felt almost... lighter. He'd survived the onslaught of memories the meeting had brought up, despite the dull ache that now throbbed somewhere beneath his heart. He didn't let his thoughts dwell there - the pain would ebb eventually. After dodging Moonbug, though she had graciously kept from prying into what was so obviously a touchy subject, he'd returned to the main body of the pack. He stopped, not far from a rolling pile of puppies as they wrestled about in a clearing, and let his hindlegs fold with a quiet 'whump' as his rear hit the dirt. He was tired, but his mind was still running, so he let his ice-blue eyes wander and then rest on the litter, watching them roll and tumble about, lost, ever briefly, in what never was.
Coolbreeze didn't spend much time around the cubs, but today had been a strange day right from the beginning. From waking face to face with a very inquisitive lizard to tripping over a rather large, rather noticeable rock, Coolbreeze was convinced that it was just going to be an unlucky day. The safest spot, she figured, was with the pups in the center of the pride. She would be less likely to find trouble there, and plus it gave the Storytellers time to take a quick respite from the ever-curious pups that needed constant watching.
Her golden gaze immediately darted towards a sand-colored male that seated himself nearby. He was vaguely familiar, and Coolbreeze frowned slightly. Where had she known him from? Had she met this male on her travels? No, no. That wasn't it. Wait... was that...
"Harvestmoon?"
He looked up, blinking owlishly large eyes in confusion as he processed the fact that, yes, someone had just called his name. It took him a few seconds to blink away the cobwebs in his mind and turn his head one direction to another in search of the source, his ears pivoted forward as if he might pinpoint it faster and easier that way. He hadn't introduced himself to the pups, he didn't think, so that didn't make it all that likely that it had been them to call him by name.
Sweeping his gaze across the other dogs nearby, he found the one that was looking his way. His eyes dropped curiously over her pelt, taking in the dark hues with the sudden swirling bursts of bright blue. It was the eyes that brought forth lighter, happier memories to chase away the more recent terrors, and his lips spread in a rare, broad smile. "Coolbreeze! What a surprise!"
Coolbreeze didn't show emotion all too often. Usually she was too busy drowning herself in her duties as a Healer. When Harvestmoon said her name in recognition, a large smile broke across her face and she rose to her feet. She hadn't been back from her travels very long and already she'd made a new friend and now was reacquainting herself with a friend from long ago. Though the day had started strangely, it was getting better now!
"Harvestmoon!" She moved closer to him, carefully stepping around the pups that always seemed to roll into the spot her next step would fall. "I haven't seen you in ages! How have you been?" She hardly knew where to start! It'd been so long since she'd seen him.
Emotion was difficult. Before everything had gone down so gloriously in flames, Harvest had been a conduit of happy emotions. He had always been smiling, always been laughing, but now his heart was heavy. Few in the Peke Na would remember, and fewer still would notice that it had anything to do with anything besides simply growing older. Now Harvest was old beyond his years, but there was nothing to be done about it... yet.
He wagged his tail as she approached, watching her careful steps around the pups and maintaining a bemused expression as she came nearer. It was only because the events were so fresh in his mind with the appearance of Talamo, the lion-knight, that he couldn't keep a straight face at her innocent question. His smile faltered and he dropped his gaze slightly before replying, "I have been ... many things, but for now I'm well." He raised his head, pressing a small grin, "I'm home."
His head inclined slightly as he retorted, "And you! You've grown; how are you?" For a moment he felt foolish; of course she'd grown, they'd all grown, but the last he'd seen her, they'd both been bumpling pups - or had they been juveniles then? When had he left?
Her keen eyes caught the slight drop of his gaze, the faltering smile. There was something wrong, something troubling him, but now was hardly the time to pry. Perhaps there would never be a right time, after all, they'd grown up together but it had been years since they'd last seen one another. It wasn't as if they were long-lost best friends or anything of the sort. They'd been childhood playmates, and those years were long past. Experiences and knowledge had a way of altering perspectives in both good and bad ways.
"I am glad you are well, then." She nodded curtly, that smile still on her face. Her own tail thumped once on the ground as she seated herself next to him, ears perked in his direction as she turned to face him. "I have been gone for ahhh, quite some time. I've only recently returned, but it needed to be done." The smile faded as she continued, "I've learned much in the ways of healing. New ways and techniques to keep the pack healthy." The time away from her pack family had taken its toll. She was happy to be back, that was evident.
"Yes, it's been... years! I was no longer a juvenile, as I'd just started my training as a healer when you left. The years just fly by, do they not?"
He trained his face back into its carefully folded mask with some difficulty given the night's events: it wasn't an unfriendly expression, nor particularly closed, only... collected. Moonbug often complained that he always looked like a wild dog carved into stone, but it helped keep his emotions in check. He didn't want to go about willy-nilly telling everyone his tragedies and mishaps. They didn't need to hear them; not yet, anyway.
Still, he mourned her curt nod as he contemplated whether it was his fault or not, and hoped that it wasn't. That brief moment of unveiled happiness had swelled his heart, though it might well have been the after effects of meeting his old friend. His brows shot skyward anyway as he spoke, "So you left. I'm not surprised; you had seemed like you could. Perhaps not that it was inevitable, but that you could if you chose to. Not many can." He knew the awe with which a handful of dogs looked upon those that willingly left the pack and returned. They had never known life outside the pack, and in some ways he pitied them.
For a reason Coolbreeze seemed all too aware of: the wealth of knowledge that lay outside the borders. "That sounds very good. A strong contribution to the pack, though I'm glad to see you've returned. I only just got back as well, not too long ago." His lips twisted slightly in a soft smile, "They do; they soar right on by. I can't believe it's been so long already."
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Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 9:00 pm
The smile that had graced her features slowly faded. Her own expression turned to one of deep thought. A small furrow between her brows, a fleeting frown that lasted but a whisper of time. That little frown was the one that occupied her face most of the time. The smile that Harvestmoon had been lucky enough to see was a rare sight.
"Yes. Even if I hadn't become a Healer, I would have left. I love my pack very much, but at times it can be..." she faltered as she searched for the proper word, "suffocating?" Yes, that was a good description. It fit her feelings on the situation. "I guess when I left, I had a purpose. It served me well and brought me back home."
She shrugged a bit, tail flicking idly behind her as she turned to watch the pups at play. "I am glad to see you have returned as well. It is nice to see my old friends." Her words were sincere. She wanted to know why he'd left, why he'd returned. Perhaps another time. "I doubt I'll leave again."
He supposed that what he saw in her face, others saw in his. He wondered if they were sad to see the smile go, just as he was. It wasn't a conscious thing; he supposed that she was like him and not so prone to smiling and laughter as Moonbug was, whom he spent so much of his time with willingly or not, but he was torn between being proud that he had seen it and distressed that it had left so abruptly. So things went.
He listened, ears turned towards her as he nodded his head slowly in agreement. "It's different here. It's hard to describe it to someone who's never been anywhere else." Raising his eyes to her, he shrugged gently, "But I understand. Sometimes it's terrible to stay, but you can't bare to be away."
His tail rose and then fell, unintentionally nearer to hers as dogs often do when sitting close. Companionship; he couldn't not seek it out, he wasn't that sort of dog no matter his preceived temperment. "My reasons were leaving were not so concrete. Sometimes I think I left because my brother did, other times I'm not so sure. But I don't believe I will leave again, either."
Coolbreeze nodded absently: after all, his words made perfect sense. She'd felt just that way when she'd left the pack all those years ago. It wasn't something that she felt comfortable talking about in depth. Perhaps a part of her was ashamed that she'd felt that pressing urge to leave her pack, to see what she could see. Perhaps leaving to learn new healing ways had only been an excuse. She huffed softly, bringing herself out of her reverie. There was no sense in living in the past. She was home now, and that truly was all that mattered. Self-doubt would change nothing.
"Life surely takes us on the strangest paths," she murmured, shooting him a sideways glance. "Twists and turns, loops and curves." She shrugged, offering him a slight smile that didn't quite make it to her eyes. A somber smile. "I suppose what matters is that we are home now, hmm?"
A paw twitched at her sudden huff, the only sign that he had been so intent on his thoughts in that silence that he had been startled by the sudden noise. If only it were so easy for him to move on from the past, but it seemed that though home was a bandage, the wounds would heal slowly all the same. There was no new salve or method of cleaning the afflicted flesh; his heart would have to heal the old fashioned way. The eyes he raised to look at her were sad; perhaps he felt reassured that she wouldn't pry, or he was more comfortable because he had known her when, but for a moment the pain was there before a few blinks wiped it all away again.
"Strangest, and dangerous." He agreed, his own voice quiet and slightly distracted. He didn't return the smile, instead pressing his lips into a grim expression as he practically forcibly turned his thoughts away from what he had lost, "We are home." He was repeating her, and he knew he sounded foolish so he nodded his head curtly and added, "Here it's easier to be the guide; make our own paths." His own shoulders rolled, "At least so far as we can." And here he smirked, as best he could.
"Mmm," she murmured the sound of agreement, pairing it with a small nod. He said it all so succinctly. She envied him his fluent words. After seeing the almost imperceptible change in his expression, Coolbreeze turned her attention back to the pups that tussled nearby, eyes widening in alarm at the rough play between one another. She didn't remember such abusive wrestling, but the pups seemed to enjoy it heartily. She would not mention the sadness she saw deep in his pretty pale eyes: no, to do so would invite his own questions, and they were questions she didn't feel up to answering.
At a loud yip from the pups, her ears perked forward. "Ahh, I've been neglecting my temporary duties as pup-sitter." She forced a grin, rising to her feet. "I'm glad we had time to catch up, Harvestmoon. I look forward to our future conversations." She meant that. The sincerity was clear on her face.
Perhaps this was how it should be, spending time with others who might have secret lives outside their boisterous pack. She didn't question him and he didn't question her; it was a silent bargain, but it held power. For a few moments, he had gotten to feel that lightness that accompanied not being so hidden all the time. A brief respite; however quick it had been, it had been refreshing. He raised his head at the sudden yip, eyes focusing on the pups in front of them as if he had forgotten they had been there are all - and he very likely had. When she spoke, he turned his attention to her slowly, as if expecting the farewell, but he deemed that perhaps he should go so that she could keep her eyes on the pups and he would not distract her. The importance of watching the little ones was a stone in his gut that practically prevented him from staying.
"As do I, Coolbreeze." He managed a small smile and nod, "I'm glad to have found a familiar face after so long." Lifting his rear from the dirt, he dipped his head in goodbye before turning to slip through the underbrush in search of a quiet place to lose himself to his own thoughts.
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