Dreams are meant to be just that, dreams. However, there comes a moment in one's life where dreams can mean so much more than what is accepted at face value. Would one deny the idea of love and success through a dreamer's eyes rather than their own? Would one digress from reality if it were possible to have like integrated with the dream and fantasy-like promise of another life, place and moment? These things, she has questioned herself with lately, especially with the shaman. He knowledge knows no bounds, and his wisdom holds light to lead her further into the confines of her mind mind to grant herself some peace.

The dual within herself seemed to have subsided as of late, a calming water within herself where ripples were few and far between, and none large enough to disturb her demeanor. Opening and closing her eyes slowly she watched the sun at an angle, how it changed and was able to burst the day into fire or call the oncoming night.

And I, and she, and we...

She murmured to herself. A poetic tone which whispered in her ears as the tide rolled in and out every day. The dawns held whistles and whispers of waking spirits, family and friends, while the dusk became quiet.

She had watched as everything changed around her, however, Rage questioned how much she had changed, and for the better.

There were moments where she believed she saw another lurking in the shadows, calling to her softly, trying to lead her away from what duties she put upon herself as alpha. Although she reigned as alpha here, now, Phib, if he ever returned, she would step down to his strength and pride. Sometimes she dreamed of four wolves and one who was not quite wolf who followed them gently with a grin and wild eyes, amber like her own. Who were they? Where were they? Would they be coming here?

Their names were always on the tip of her tongue that lulled from her mouth as she lapped her lips and tasted the sea mist. A smile crossed her dark maw and her heartbeat was even like a paw drumming on a hollow log. This was home, and home, sometimes, appeared as a faraway dream on the edge of her memory.

She remembered when she came here that the scent of the sea made her nose burn and eyes water. That when she so naively licked at the golden shore that her tongue was dry, salty and stinging. The stones had been flat and smooth, perfect for climbing, and toppling from. That she had left behind her the misery and destruction of a previous life she had never wanted, but forged one she loved here. It still ate at her, if any were left in the lost valley, if any had come searching for her before the time Arguin and Croanyl came in fits of rage.

Rage could remember it all.

She had Nix, this place, but it was different before the past had come to live again on these lands, on this shoreline. The outriders were primly placed, but so had the valley. She dreamed sometimes that the past could repeat itself here and now. And now, without Phib here to guide her, she worried of the future.

What could she do to ensure peace and prosperity?

The waves were lapping and eating at the shore, even snow when the threat of harsh winter storms were on the horizon blazing in orange mixing into blue. Taking a breath she could taste snow and ice. The sun was beginning to fall.

The once smooth and flat stones she knew as a pup were now small in stature and almost eaten away. Most of the slick surfaces were hidden beneath a layer of sand from the many moons that had passed.

The youngest generation was old enough to have their own pups and find their place amongst the trees, sand and stone. The sea cliffs were full of birds swarming to find the perfect nesting area to raise families of their own. This quiet time seemed strange but was also a blessing. Rage would rather their be silence than chaos, sometimes nothing was a good thing.

Although, nothing could ever really be nothing.

The couples were quiet now, seeking new den sites as those of seasons passed were beginning to crumble in, shifting with the soil. The winters had not been harsh, but the ice had done most of the damage. Even now a thin sheet of snow covered the beach sand and sea-smoothed stones. The crashing waves turned the edges into what appeared to be a mirror like surface, glassy like glazed eyes.

Blinking she looked about, Daemon was most likely off with the other guards, Logan had been very quiet lately. It seemed like he was almost falling into the same state as his mate and love, Echo, who spoke minimally or none at all. The silence of her voice was perhaps intoxicating to him, and made him long to be closer and understand more. The gruff of his exterior was inevitable though, and some of the younger pack members still gawked at him as he trudged by through the snow drifts. Logan was truly unafraid of anything when it came to his home, friends and family.

Yawning Rage tilted her head, feeling the crack of her neck and sighed. She longed to somehow see Phib or Amelie come from across the sea on some fabled creature of a distant legend and lore. She swore she saw Amelie speaking and whispering between the birch and underbrush, the red berries full on bushes sheltered from the howling wind that could not break through the treeline.

It was a time of peace and quiet, but something need be done.

Something had to happen.

Standing she strode from her overlook, from her she could see Noir ambling up and down the beach, Poor thing, she always seemed to believe she was in a game of hide and seek with her adopted parents, but the scent of Phib had faded, but Noir's nose betrayed her every day, every waking moment.

Would they be proud of what she had accomplished? Rage was able to calm the minds of the strange Ohka, Senku and Ano'kainthros, the members of a wild-minded family. Would they return, or did they watch from the moon? The un-knowing was more than what she wished and longed for, but perhaps it was merely another test.

She was older now, true, but wiser for it. Youth and strength were only a piece of the puzzle, and rarely did the young, when alone, succeed in triumph over the experienced. Perhaps in numbers, but the elder have number as well.

Malik, Daemon, Karm, Nabu'na, all of them, would lay their lives down for this land, for their family. A wolf, regardless of what two-leggers believe, will fight to the death for any young pup in their care that are called their own.

It is a shame, that other creatures would abandon their own so eagerly in a time of distress.

Pawprints that used to be on this deer path were now etched into the ground and slowly being filled in by the winter rains. Bouts of warm weather caused the ice to break apart on the stream causing trickles to evade winter permanence. Smiling she remembered when she and Malik walked this path, bent on success against a young or sickly doe. They got close to a buck once, and were immediately running for the thickets when it turned with eyes blazing.

It seemed fitting that after all that had happened here, even with Cael and Arguin and Croanyl, that some peace was found. Small moles darted in and out of icy tunnels burrowed into the snowbanks to her left and right. Ears turning and listening to the crunching sound of snow under even the tiniest feet. Rage stopped at the edge of one stream, still coated in ice. It was small, no wider than a maple sapling in its second year. She remembered this place, and the first few moments of being accepted here and embraced by Amelie and Phib and their kindness.

Would she ever see them again?

She hoped, that with Nabu'na, they could command and hold these lands in tranquility. Daemon was of course her alpha, but Nabu'na held more youth than the both of them, he also had the close guidance of Philokiss, the sun shaman who often laid within the winter's morning smile bathing in light. Phae was close to Rellik, somehow, more sisters than Rellik was to Tearh. Tearh was quiet these days, trying to make sense of the world, her duties, and what was to come. Ryu and Ano kept trying to explain how things could come to exist in this way, and Tearh refused and refuted their words every other day.

Wrigley stayed close to his darling Amara, the daughter he loved and cherished. Cassidy was quiet, so was Redlea and Lous as they watched others enjoy snow and ice while their paws seemed sensitive to the cold touch.

A dream spoke to Rage of meaning, and how their was more to be found here. That somewhere, in the thickets and birch, a stone lay silent, but whispered now and again in a tongue none could decipher, but was meant to be understood by feeling and interpretation.

She hummed the tune and swayed her tail and shoulders, ears attentive to the whistling wind in the barren canopy above.

Snow fell from dipping branches around her, her pawpads soft and hot melted the ground's sheet exposing the brown and gray under-paw. She inadvertently kicked small pebbles from her path and heard the c***k of stone against ice like a bird chirping.

It felt like a distant memory or dream, and a song in her spirit echoed ear to ear.

But this quiet, it was invading her perception, and her thoughts. For so long they had been secluded, isolated from threat, some had left, she wondered how they were. The guards had not seen traveler's for quite some time and wondered if the prey was moving too far north and south that others followed. Plenty of game rested here, and none took more than their fill.

As she walked into the center of the old meeting place, where she would sit closest to those that made her feel safe and loved, she saw the emptiness and knew what must be done.

Guards might have to become scouts, or messengers. Hunters perhaps need be guides to this hidden place. Craning her neck Rage let loose a low and almost mournful howl, calling all those hear and from afar to come here.

To come home.