Sierra Hills keep your promises

After a busy morning of pup chasing and making sure her stomach was reasonably full, Borlla had curled up with her children to nap the late morning and afternoon away. It was hard enough to keep track of both of them, let alone get them to sleep. But the two pups were exhausted by the time she was done with them, and all three nestled in for a welcome nap. Borlla's rest didn't last long, however. The children slept willingly at her side, but not for long. They had an edacity for exploration, and it seemed they would have cat naps today. So when Borlla awoke, they both had disappeared again. The woman let out a sigh, and decided that she was going to take a walk. She gave a quiet word to the nearest Glen wolf, just so they'd be aware of her temporary absence. But she'd be gone no more than a few hours, maybe even beating the moon back to Magnolia Glen.

The Sierra Hills were closest, aside from the forest that enclosed the creek, and she'd mastered a trail that made the journey there and back rather short. Perhaps she wouldn't even make it to the hills. She longed for a hunt, and would probably go after the first thing that crossed her gaze. But she'd follow the trail she'd made regardless, and see what she could find. Her tail swayed behind her as she made her way over the Magnolia Glen border. They'd been marked recently, today, but as she passed, she made an additional mark and then dragged her paws over the dirt. Once that was done, she searched out her own scent path and quickly took to it. Her pace was swift, though not running. Something that she could keep up for some time without exhausting herself. Her ears were aware, twisting, listening, and her nose gave the occasional twitch, perhaps every hundred steps, to see if anything was active. It wasn't her intention, but her pace was more than likely frightening the creatures that were enjoying the afternoon warmth. So, in time she found herself at the looming red rocks. Breaking from the trees, Borlla tasted the air, a scent familiar catching her attention.

It smelled of Corinna, or at least of her pack, Oak Tree Bend, and it was fresh. Looking curiously around, she spotted a body a distance away, moving back towards the trees. Picking up her pace again, she moved in its direction. Or, his. "Wait up!" The woman called out, wondering who the wolf was. Of course, her curiosity got the best of her, for many of her blood relatives, or Corinna's children, certainly stuck with her. And she'd never met her nieces and nephews. But as she moved forward, Borlla wondered if they'd even have any desire to meet her.

The young wolf ultimately decided that a little sun was only somewhat nicer than no sun at all; as soon as he felt the twisted, spindly branches looming over him, he realized that even cloud cover was not enough to bring him farther than a few meters from the treeline. Once upon a time he had constantly asked the sun to never stop shining, but now all he ever asked was to be sheltered from it. Fenru was just about ready to take off running when a voice at his back called out to him. "Wait up!" The hopes that seemed to be carried in her tone made the white spots of his eyebrows touch one another, but he could not recall from memory whether or not her voice was familiar.

He should have, but when he had first laid eyes on his Aunt Borlla, he was merely three months old. By the time he had learned her name for the first time and finally connected the dots, he had been only six months old. Then... she left, and with her departure, she had taken from him any promise of remembering what she had sounded like, what she really looked like up close, who she was as an individual, and everything else that was like the relationship Fenru had with his uncle Triell...

The masked man stopped in his tracks, standing still for sometime as she drew closer before actually turning to look at her face, watch how she moved, and attempt to pick up whatever scents she would waft his way. His lips were set in a hard line but, at the very least, his scowl lifted. Against the rich red tones of the hills her stark white coat surprised him, and his mind immediately went off with naming who this woman was:

Cali, Itai, Arlette, Aunt Borlla, Lucero... one of the leaders from the southern part of the mountain range? That strange woman who once talked to him with a twang in every other word she spoke?

He fully turned around, his tail half-lifting and trying a small wag to extend some sort of geniality, wondering if she would come close enough to give him the chance to identify her.

As she approached him, the shades of his coat became recognizable. It wasn't until she was mere feet away from him and he turned about, that she was certain they must've shared blood. His eyes were the most familiar shade of orange, and Borlla paused, keeping the distance between them. Her tail lifted, testing the waters with a wag and he'd done the same. So, which one was he? Well, that was easily enough answered. It must've been Fenru. It had been some time ago when she'd seen them, Fenru, Rihael, and Kisla, but from what she recalled, Rihael had been darker. Perhaps she was wrong, but she found no harm in trying. "Fenru, right?" She'd dragged out the 'f' a bit, ears cocking in a silly manner as she hoped for a positive reaction.

Borlla remembered vividly the meeting she'd had with the wolf Cali, if she remembered right. All she'd done was mention her "betrayal", her past dislike of the leader Corinna, and Cali had retreated from her as though she'd had some sort of plague. It hadn't hurt, to be honest. Cali was nothing but a stranger to the former Swift River wolf. But it only made her wonder what her actual family would think of her. Triell hadn't changed, and their reunion had been a relief. Even her talk with Corinna had been pleasant. But this boy would hardly know her, and what he did know, at least to her knowledge, was that she'd disappeared. She'd disappeared like his father had disappeared, her brother. He looked friendly enough, and the wag was encouraging, but perhaps he didn't really know who she was yet.

He righted his skull, one of his ears turning to one side before rotating forward to match its pair as she pronounced his name, followed by a simple word that extended her anticipation. She knew him... For a few seconds, he blinked rather stupidly; a part of him had already forgotten what it was like to be confused by his look-alike brother, the one who had abandoned him just by not saying goodbye. "Y-yeah?" he struggled to come up with a decent way to answer her, but at least he had finally grown out of his once-customary and immature response of "What?" followed by a very snappy assumption about why the inquirer had begged for his attention.

A few minutes' worth of silence put space between them and he had already opened his mouth twice without being able to speak what was on his mind. "Err," he managed, the archives of his memories unable to connect the dots as to how this woman knew him and whether or not he knew her also. "Hi?" It felt like the forest floor could have been whipped out from beneath him but at long last he gave a small smile.

His nose twitched as he breathed in the perfume of magnolia trees and other wolves. He could have sworn he thought he picked up on a distinct scent marker that belonged to Lucero, but the fact that his mind had plunged to the assumption that this woman before him had been the co-founder of Firefly Weir had him dismissing the possibility of it. "I'm sorry," he bashfully grinned. "But, have we... met?"

His bemused response made Borlla realize that she was not recognized. But at least she'd been correct in her assumption that this was her nephew, Fenru. Her own ears twitched a bit uncomfortably wondering what exactly had driven her to do this. On one hand, she supposed that not being recognizable meant that, maybe she'd have some chance at redemption, but on the other hand...He didn't know who she was, so what did it matter? It was like when Hotei had come across her, his acts of familiarity disturbing to the Tainn woman. They were family by blood...But nothing else. And now here she was, about to force the same thing upon Fenru. The silence stretched out between them, and it seemed that neither party had any idea what to say. Borlla certainly didn't, and she almost had half a mind to run off, but what kind of thing was that to do? Cowardly, certainly.

The boy beat her to words, and she found herself rather glad that the silence was gone. She hated silence between strangers. And that was basically what they were. Borlla had been in some state of redemption when they'd met, but still quiet and irritable, with a wanderlust that could never be quenched. And then she was gone again. And now the boy was a man, and would not recognize his foolish, traitorous aunt. The smile that spread over her muzzle was embarrassed, and a lie laid between her teeth. But she swallowed it, speaking the truth instead. The situation was already in the bowels of awkwardness, and she felt that it could not descend any further. "I'm Borlla, your uh...Aunt." The words were clunky, heavy in her mouth and heavy in the air. It was a terrible title, aunt. Sure, she was his aunt, but a terrible one, and she felt a sudden and terrible sadness that she hadn't been around to help raise him. Not that she'd been more than a yearling anyway, but still...

She was quick to fill in the blanks, "I'm Borlla, your uh...Aunt." Just like that everything from his past came forward. The faceless voice that had once promised something that Fenru couldn't remember to Indru and Corinna once upon a time now had an image. "Aun--" his eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. "A-Aunt Borlla?!" His irises lit up as though they had been made of fire and his smile managed to touch the triangular markings on either side of his face.

He knew who she was. "Aunt Borlla!" he exclaimed again, gladly and rather forwardly rushing forth with a delighted whine to touch his nose to her chin and throat. So it was true then... that sometimes things that were once lost, did come back... if one was patient enough. Optimistic enough.

"It's you..." he murmured, drawing away from her as his tail wagged every which way. "You're... here." He straightened up to look her over, hoping to see his smile returned with one of her own. Almost at once he felt foolish and imposing; he humbly stepped back with a sheepish grin. "Sorry," he simpered. "I jus'... I remember you! It's... It's been a while. I thought..." He took a shallow breath, "I thought I wouldn't see you again."

In attempt to quickly change the topic he continued, "What brings you to this side of the mountain? Do you... Do you live here?" His rust-hued ears perked up; everything about the way he was looking at her and standing before her easily told her just how eager he was to get to really know her this time around. The way the younger Tainn saw it, she and Triell were the closest relatives he had on his father's side of the family. Anything to continually help fill in the void {Indru} had left was infallibly welcome.

How foolish she'd been to assume that everyone in her family hated her. She'd so easily prepared to disregard them all, avoid them like the plague, pretend her name was no more than a few letters...And yet here she stood, reunited with her brother, Triell, who had been more than happy to see her, and even Corinna, who showed no signs of anger as she had the last time they'd seen each other. And now, here was Fenru, who had hardly known her in his life, accepting her so gladly. She could only smile as widely in return, her tail curled behind her, wagging excitedly. She felt oddly emotional, and could only nod in response to his questioning repetition.

She was taken aback by the sudden closing of distance between them, though her tail never ceased to move behind her. The woman gently touched her nose to his forehead, her own welcome, and she shifted her shoulders, eyes ascended slightly to look up at him. He was...tall. Well, that made sense. He was a Tainn. Perhaps if she'd been male, Borlla would have grown to be a towering beast. Her stature was far more feminine, though she had her own Tainn robustness about her. The woman chuckled a little, feeling mildly exposed as his eyes looked her over, and he seemed to realize it, backing up another pace. "I didn't really expect to see you either." Any of you. It had been only a few months ago when she'd avoided Swift River like the plague, fearful of retribution.

She nearly made some silly comment about his size, how much he'd grown. But she was only a year his senior, and how terribly obvious was that? Of course he'd grown! It had been ages, years, basically, since they'd seen each other. "I do live here, uh, in Magnolia Glen." She was almost too eager to get the words out, always feeling a little surprised when she introduced herself. It used to be no more than her name, and now it was "Borlla Tainn, Leader of Magnolia Glen". It was all too much sometimes. "And you're still with your mother and Triell." Though she'd managed to keep the first obvious statement to herself, this one slipped out. "I hope you're all ok." Her smile faltered slightly, as she realized that, despite speaking with Corinna and triell, she hadn't gotten much information about the family itself. But maybe it really wasn't any of her business anymore. Or better yet, maybe she'd been lucky not to know. The Tainn legacy seemed fraught with disaster, death and betrayal.

She did live here, in a place called Magnolia Glen. His smile softened, and he relished the fact, a sense of pride coming over him as he fully embraced the fact that it was also indeed true that Tainns were meant to endure; and, maybe - just maybe - they would all find one another in the end. Somehow. For Fenru having his family close was quite possibly one of the very few wishes he held. With half of his full-blooded siblings gone and a select few of his relatives absent from his life, he knew better than to let any more of his family go without so much as a goodbye or a simple hint of where they were planning to go. She mentioned that he was still with his mother and uncle and he let one of his ears swivel to the side with a small smile. As much as he had hoped to start his own life, his own pack, his own family, he found that not only did he lack a significant other, he was also not yet ready to leave the familiarity of his re-established pack.

Perhaps he should have been a bit embarrassed or maybe even a little ashamed, but he simply acknowledged her words with a small dip of his snout. "We are," he replied. "Been busy lately raising my younger brothers. They're..." He had to stifle a chuckle that tried to weasel its way from his throat. "They're quite a handful, but we're well. How 'bout yourself?"

While he didn't dare ask his aunt anything that might pry into her personal life, he couldn't help but to wonder if she had found someone (the sole reason as to why she had left Swift River in the first place) and if, he had more cousins to look forward to meeting in the future. Knowing that his Uncle {Ruiko} had left Relic Lore had dampened his spirits and the wishful thinking that had sprung up in his absence overwhelmed him whenever he thought about what would have happened if he, Rihael and Kisla had grown up knowing other cubs in their family... no matter how great the age gap was between them. His younger siblings, as well as @Sceral and @Serach, had made it painfully and thrillingly obvious just how lucky he was to be an older sibling. Maybe this was his chance to finally widen his social circle at last; he might have been too wary to include other, often newer, wolves into his life, but at the very least he ought to make an effort to include his blood relatives. All and any... He had let them come and go as much as they had liked in the past, and look just how many of them had just... left.

His tail continued to wag, much calmly now than it had been moments earlier, and he went ahead and asked what he couldn't hold back any longer. "Do you... have a family now or...?" Too late to go back now... "Er, do you have someone special?" A boyish grin settled on his features, a telltale sign that he was a little more than slightly curious. As if to buffer his sudden question, he added, "I've tried, but... I don't know how to get in touch with 'er; plus Mum doesn't seem to keen about me leaving her just yet."

There was no better feeling than family, Borlla had recently learned. She'd spent her childhood howling about family, adoring her brothers and abusing them, but found it hard to see those that didn't share her blood as family. But she knew better now. Perhaps the feeling was even better now, after she'd so long thought that she'd left them all behind. Knowing that they didn't hate her, she was mostly just proud that she was something more now than some angry brat. Redemption felt pretty damn good, too. She smiled warmly, knowing that everything was still alright. "Pups are quite a handful." Borlla thought pleasantly of her own, growing, learning. Her paws itched a bit to run back to them, but she remained planted in place, nudging the thought gently to the side.

With two younger siblings to take care of now, certainly the whole pack was busy. She wondered if his littermates were still around to help, but felt no urge to ask. Most of the Tainns it seemed had made their way elsewhere, and Borlla would keep the wonder if his brother and sister had done the same. No need to put a damper on this occasion. It was simply thoughts like those that drove Borlla to live out the rest of her life in this place. The Tainns needed each other. Once they'd been in such great number, and now...Well, look at them now. Her own tail swayed behind her, the good mood urging the bad thoughts away. "I do. His name is Phineas, and you have two more cousins, Hypatia and Kyros." Maybe that was a bit more hope. She longed to have some sort of...Reunion. Introduce Triell and Fenru to her children.

"Well, you've all been through a lot. I don't blame Corinna for wanting to keep you close." Her ears twitched and there was a mite of humor in her voice. He seemed like a good kid though, she doubted he'd go very far. "Who's this lady, though? Maybe I could keep an eye out for you?" Her tail beat a bit faster, wondering if he'd be willing to divulge such information to his long-lost aunt.