In a way, he was a little disappointed that they didn't have much further to go. The hills eventually faded into the mountainside, and as they climbed higher and deeper into the thickening forest, he simply wanted more time. More time to talk, more time to laugh, more time to look into that perfectly beautiful face. Hell, his body was exhausted and there was no denying that, but he was so into Kite that it felt like he could climb straight to the summit of the Mountain of Dire at the rate they were going.

The distance between Copper Rock Creek and mother's sequestered den wasn't far enough to allow for him to say all the things he wanted or needed to, but it wasn't for lack of trying. Mirren told Kite of his family's departure from Relic Lore and about how they had settled to establish Sequoia Vale; he told her about the way the giant trees towered high above him as he and Nios played tag as kids, laughing about the way his brother used to catch him by the tail and pummel him to the ground; he told her about Aeylen's beauty and kindness, about his reverence for Ruiko, and about how he'd wished he'd taken Vaeta with him when he'd departed from them all last summer. He'd spent so much of his time and energy on his dreams to raise his father's old empire that he'd almost forgotten why Copper Rock Creek was important in the first place: because of his family. And because of the family he wanted for his own.

"...Well, what do you mean there's no trees where you come from? I mean, what do you guys do when the days are hot and there's no shade around?" It's not that he didn't comprehend, but having always lived in a forest of some sort, it was hard for him to envision an entire pack of wolves living on an open plain. The two of them walked so close together that at times their hips would bump, but he was enjoying getting to know everything about her to such an extent that he didn't even notice.

Kite was content to walk so close to him that their furs melded together and their body contact was far from rare. Occasionally their hips would bump together, and Kite also could not help but stretch her head upward so that they were ear to ear. Kite was a teen still, and had some more filling out to do, but fortunately she did not look as awkward as she once had. Kite could not even think of that as Mirren told her of his tale, and she listened raptly, now and again throwing in questions she sought answers to. Kite took the name Nios and Vaeta into her inventory, as well as the names of his parents which she recalled from the first time he had spoken of them but some hours ago. Kite herself had nothing to hide from him, and he already knew why she was here. She was no mystery, and there was nothing she was willing to hide from him. His interest in her homeland excited her, because that was where she had been made into who she was now. The Plains were certainly a place she would miss... but she hardly could when there was simply Mirren, Mirren, Mirren fogging the empty spaces of her mind.

We nap to stay cool, she says with a shrug. Wolves of the plains were not so active as others might have been, because they were in the vicinity of the sun. Kite had heard stories of fires catching to the land, but had never the misfortune of witnessing one herself. Her pack migrated to where the prey went in the winter, so she knew of forests... but not the sort she had seen here. Trees were intermittent and the bark was stripped by herds. The grass is as tall as we are. Y'ever seen somethin' like that...?

She knew for certain she had not seen things like the ones Mirren had showed her in her lifetime. Limited to two places, the woman had also never desired to obtain some role yet in her life. Her mothers push was evident for many reasons. Kite was once content to just be, and now... now she wanted to do. You came with your brother... she says thoughtfully, her eyes narrowing. I could help you find him? Maybe he's around now that winter is ending... it was just a thought, but Kite needed him to know that she would be more than someone to listen to him. She would be by his side, doing everything she could.

"The grass is as tall as we are. Y'ever seen somethin' like that...?" He glanced at her for a long moment, his eyes roving from hers and down to her lips and the tip of her nose and back. As a matter of fact, he'd never really seen anything quite like she described. In Sequoia Vale, everything seemed bigger, or taller─the trees, certainly, and the mountains that so closely bordered the area. He had seen his fair share of tall grass, but none as tall as a wolf, and none as tall as he was. The thought only added to the mystery of Kite, and in his mind he envisioned her in a faraway place, her hazel eyes holding the light of a bright sun that shone its light down upon her back as she slipped unnoticed through the wind-bent grass. "'Can't say I have, but I imagine it's beautiful," like you are.

Kite's mention of his brother at first made his breath catch in his throat. He'd brought the subject up, sure, but only because he wanted to fill her in about his past and in remembrance of happier memories. Nios had been long gone for months, and Mirren couldn't do anything about it. The tawny boy didn't even know if his swarthy sibling was even still alive. "I could help you find him? Maybe he's around now that winter is ending..." It was easy to see that Kite wanted to help, wanted to be supportive, and that was something he could embrace even if he was terrified that he might not see @Nios again. Just one look at her tempered the feeling, though, and he did. Many times, each glance as careful as the last. Mirren was so thankful for this girl. "I could use all the help I can get," he answered, as stoically as he ever was but not withholding of gracious smile in her direction. "As soon as the snow begins to thaw, I was thinking of heading south. Perhaps someone from one of the neighboring packs has seen him over the winter months. If not, I think we could canvas the mountains to the east and maybe head north after." It sounded like a ridiculously generalized plan hearing it with his own ears, but how else could he start. His brother could be anywhere─better to begin closest to where his last known whereabouts was.

The thought of he and Kite on a wild goose chase all spring was humorous, but he couldn't imagine having any other at his side through something like that. Through something like life. "If you could, would you ever go back? To where you were raised?" He'd always had a drive to get back to the Creek; he couldn't help but question whether she felt the same about her homeland.

Kite had thought the place was lovely, the dry grasses and the way they brushed against her something she would miss... but not too much. The great beyond was far more beautiful than she could have even imagined, and her imagination could sometimes be very active. His compliment to the thought of her home warmed her, and her tail waved. It is! she chirped, and after she surveys the turf they are traveling, she admits, Though not so lovely as the places I have seen here. there was no transition in that territory, only grass, grass and more grass. The stuff seemed limitless.

But what she was more interested in was helping him in any and all ways that she could. Kite had been saved by Mirren, whether he knew it or not. Without purpose or a path, Kite could have wandered perhaps until death. But he put himself in her trajectory, and now he was a permanent part of her orbit. They had gravitated toward one another for a reason. Kite wouldn't let go of that.

He responded with grace. Kite felt that Mirren did all things that way, and wondered if she could hold as much tact, grace, and stoicism as he could. Kite felt she could be rather goofy... but was growing slowly but surely into a woman. Still. Stoic was not a word to define the affable woman, who was cheery and as easy to read as a children's book. His smile caused her heart to swoon, and she smiled back (ah, it was impossible not to smile when he did). The girls ears thrust forward as he continued to speak, and her heart throbbed in her chest as he fully included her in his venture. Kite nodded vigorously, and grinned excitedly. Okay, yeah! Whatever it takes. Kite was eager for this expedition, not only to find his brother with him (which she was sure they would successfully do, the optimist that she was), but to spend time with him on the journey.

His next question was one perhaps she ought to have expected, but didn't. Kite looked to him and her gaze lingered for a moment before she looked away, thinking... and then knowing in her heart what the truth was there. I'll miss my family, but... I don't think I can. My parents chased me off and I dunno that they'd welcome me back into the fold. They did that to a few of my other siblings, too... we didn't do anything wrong, but I know I can't go back now. They told me a couple of days before that... I needed to find my own place in the world. Kite did not begrudge them for what they had done, although it had saddened her to know she couldn't go back. It was wolf law that these things sometimes be done, and Kite must have posed some sort of threat to her mother that she would send her off. That was not something she knew, or was aware of; she just thought her parents perhaps knew there were better things out there for her... and at last, that had been proven. I'm not mad, or anythin'. I get to spend my time here now. With you. Her tail waved again as her eyes fell onto him.

So bright. Kite was just so bright. In everything she did, in all the words that she said, in her eyes, in her smile...She was just radiant, and it was as simple as that, and in every sense Mirren basked in her untarnished glow. It was obvious by the chirp in her voice that she liked the way he'd mentioned how he thought of her plains, and he liked the way that she liked it, too. More and more, the boy found that he reveled in bringing out the fire in her─her happiness, her ambition, her honesty. It made him feel good and in a way more whole when she smiled. When she mentioned that the places she'd seen around here were lovely, perhaps more so that her homeland, it caught him by surprise. Maybe he was a loyalist, but he knew that there was no where that compared to Copper Rock Creek. Even if there were places more beautiful, he'd never admit it. But she had no holds in admitting that she liked it here, and he had no holds in thinking to himself just how full of pleasant surprises she really was. "I'm glad you like it here...When spring comes around and the fields and forests bloom, there'll be sights more beautiful than you've ever dreamed waiting for you around every corner..." He was sure of that, and sure that he'd show her every last one.

To add to the rapidly lengthening list of things he adored about Kite, Mirren was taken by the way she offered to help him scour Relic Lore for his brother. Whatever it takes, she said. Little did she know just how powerful those words were. He blinked, his heart skipping the slightest beat, as he realized that the only person in the world who would do whatever it takes for him was the one who knew him the very least. Shouldn't he have heard those words from someone who he loved? Who loved him? How badly he'd needed to hear that, and how crazy and amazing it was that it had ended up coming from the girl with the hazel eyes. Her hooks sunk in that much deeper.

When she continued on, speaking on her situation and the way her parents had forced her out, he couldn't help but to see the strength in her. Sure, forcing any member of the pack away to protect the generations to come or even the right to breed wasn't unheard of, but he was sure that didn't make saying goodbye to everything she'd ever known any easier. He'd been one to leave on his own accord─he could only imagine how it must have felt had it been the other way around. Still, Kite remained optimistic, and from what he gathered she had done just fine on her own. "...I'm not mad, or anythin'. I get to spend my time here now. With you." And to that, Mirren would step closer and reach for Kite, issuing her an affectionate nudge as their hips bounced together again. She had certainly found her place and by all means it was with him.

"There's no one else I'd rather spend my time with," he murmured to her. "I think you're pretty special, you know." Just ahead he could see the rocky slope where the inconspicuous den mouth appeared, marking the end of their short and wonderful walk. Exhaustion hadn't quite caught up with him yet, but looking over at her, the smell of her already thick in his fur, he couldn't wait to curl up around her and settle down. "Come here," his voice was hushed and inviting as he ambled over closer to the entrance, his golden eyes, pale and bathed in moonlight, beckoning for her.

Truth be told, thus far, the most beautiful place she had seen was his place. The Creek. It was how he lit up when he was there. How noble he appeared. That wasn't to say that he didn't look noble now, because there was no denying that nobility ran deep in him. But the Creek... Kite could not be more sure of anything than she was that in the future, that place would be his. His ambitions fueled her, and although that went unsaid, it certainly was clear. Whatever it takes applied to anything, everything for him! Kite would move the world if it were possible, for the wolf she felt she had spent decades with. Mirren. Kite swore that somehow she knew him. A dream. Another life. It mattered not, because in all of those things, they belonged to each other. And now in this life, it fell in place. The pieces clicked, one at a time... and their life together was put into motion.

His way with words seduced her mind. It danced at his words, of things looking better than they did now. The way the snow adorned the surroundings made the places he had brought her a wonderland. Kite enjoyed winter for the quietness it brought the world... but she did love the volume of the other seasons. Still... quiet was nice sometimes, given that her mind could be so loud. As the melting snow crunched beneath the weight of the two wolves, Kite tried to envision this place without any snow at all. Her imagination was somewhat limited given her two locations over the span of time she had been alive... but even still, Kite pictured something wonderful. I can't wait, she whispers unthinkingly, not really knowing she had spoken. Her eagerness took her tongue from her and expressed what she had thought, and often, her mind ran off with her tongue.

The maslin of things she felt with him, for him, around him, was the sweetest concoction of things ever combined. Kite recognized that she had found something. With him, in him, because of him... ah, she did not truly understand it, but what she did know was that there was no other wolf Kite could feel this way with. She had found the wolf her soul had unknowingly sung for. Her soulmate. She was not aware of this, but was acutely aware of something. It burned on her tongue, too, but what could she say of what she did not know how to verbalize? There were no words for this happiness, this... this!

His affectionate nudge earned a gleeful emission of a wolfish whine as she leaned forward to attempt to rub her face into his shoulder. The possessive gesture was thoughtless and thoughtful all at once, the back of her mind singing, mine. Just as she was so willingly his. Kite had never thought of having an equal in anything before. She had always been superior or inferior. Superior to her cousins, and sometimes even her brothers if she was hungry enough come dinner time. But as she walked alongside Mirren, moving to cup her own ear against his own, Kite felt it then. Is this how mom feels about dad...? Kite's thought shocked her.

But as he spoke again, the thought lingered. Once she would have thought the idea repugnant. Mom and dad are gross. It was childish, she realized now, and their reciprocal gestures meant something deeper than her youthful mind had ever thought of. Kite still hadn't the word for it. Only recognized some semblance of familiarity here...

Special. Ugh, he was special. Didn't he know that? Kite was mute due to the heaviness of her thoughts, but light on her feet for them all the same. The notion made her feel high. That she might think of that then, around him...

Ah, AH!

Kite took the plunge. This was nothing like the way she had felt around her brothers, sisters, cousins, mother, or father. His summons was answered as she pressed closer to him, and before she takes in the sight that he had brought her to, she reaches toward him with her muzzle and moves to brush her tongue against his temple. A kiss. She and her family had their share of submissive licks and Oh I'm happy to see you! licks, but this, to Kite, was somehow entirely different. There was no instinct to do anything beyond that (given that her age repressed any desire of breeding physicality), but her eyes were warm and so was her body temperature. Embarrassment. Anxiety. What if somehow, that was not what he meant by special? Her mind had managed to play tricks on her before, why not now...? Please let me be right just this once, and I don't care if I'm wrong ever again, I mean it!!! She promised whatever powers might be, and that promise was a big one... Kite truly disliked being wrong. But nothing would be worse than being wrong here. Kite felt it in her bones.

Again, she feels it necessary to reiterate something to him. He need not call or beckon her ever. She promises again, as she always would, that Wherever you go, I go. Unless you tell me to go, she worriedly frets. It cannot be helped. This territory, this path she was on... it was all foreign to her. And her foreleg extends to sweep the ground as she inhales a deep bout of air... please.

"I can't wait."

Mirren couldn't wait, either and was really brimming with anticipation. He didn't really have a favorite season, so to speak, but there was definitely something about the way the warmth of spring and summer brought new life to the world that he enjoyed. Not to mention that after enduring the hell that was this last winter, he was certain that he'd never see the cold the same. But his distaste for the snow didn't prevent him from seeing the beauty of the forest and mountains tonight, from seeing the wonder that was Kite and the pretty, girlish gleam in her eyes.

She answered his beckon in the most unexpected of ways, and as she closed in on him, her tongue sweeping with the most innocent passion across his cheek, he liked the way it made him feel. Warm, like sunshine was slowly creeping from his cheek and filtering through to every inch of his worn body. His tail flickered contentedly between his hocks, a breath of relief quietly leaving his chest, taking with it the majority of his worries. No one had ever touched him like that, and as sweet as the gesture was, coming from her it meant something much more...primal, and evoked a maslin of feelings─from the heart and from the body. A low growl thrummed in his throat as he embraced every one of them. Including his desire to have her all to himself. "Wherever you go, I go," she reminded him once again. "If you're a bird, I'm a bird," he affirmed.

A sharp gust blew past, whipping between his ears and across his back and breaking the silence of the wintry mountainside as it caused the naked branches surrounding them to rattle. Mirren motioned to the innards of the den, where he presumed to lead the way in. It was different than he thought it would be─after months of being empty, everything about it felt cold. The last time he'd been here, he'd been only a couple of weeks old and back then it seemed much bigger. Naturally, he was much larger now, but that only made the old den more cozy and it was still deep and sizable enough to accommodate the two of them perfectly. When his bright eyes adjusted to the darkness, he slipped through the narrow, bending tunnel-entrance to the more spacious heart of the den, grazing his side against the rocky wall to leave his scent there before sliding to his belly with a lazy stretch. The moonlight filtered in through the mouth in shades of blue that didn't quite make it to where they would spend the night. "I'm done for, Kite. Why'd you make me walk so far?" he teased with a grin. "Come 'ere." The latter words were a sweet murmur, conveying a lighthearted urgency, and commanding all the same.

His back leaned against the stiff and rocky wall, he watched as she slipped inside and ambled closer. When she batted at him he stretched his neck to reach for her paw, nipping tenderly at her creamy little toes as she spouted her reasoning for having him walk around the world with her. Which he would have done a thousand times over again, in a heart beat. Hell, he'd throw himself from the top of Bramble Falls if she went diving off, too. "Talk and talk and talk, huh? I knew you were trouble, girl," he grunted with a smile as she fell into him and inched closer. "Someone had to do some talking or you would have listened to my heart pounding in my chest all day."

Kite buried her snout in the tuft of his chest, her breath warm beneath his fur, but not as warm as his insides felt. Butterflies. They would definitely be doing more walking tomorrow but the question was where to. Sure, they could head back to the thicket, but they were just getting to know each other and part of him wanted to just get lost with her. They could go anywhere, do anything, and he thought they should. Once they were home he would surely settle back into his duties, running and guarding the borders and looking for food─both of them things that had become more of a chore when he'd been down in the dumps. Thinking about his daily routine with her in it, though, gave him a sense of security and even a sense of responsibility; after all, if he was to claim her it meant providing for her as well.

The thought crossed his mind as she managed to hum something into his chest. It took him a second to realize what she was saying because he was baffled by her cuteness. "More walking and more talking," he quipped while letting loose a wide, exaggerated yawn. "Let's just get lost and you can tell me all about why you're so perfect and..." he slid his chin along the groove between the blades of her shoulders before slowly running his nose beneath her fur and up her neck. She smelled so good. "...everything." And then his train of thought was lost to the feel of her body and warmth that radiated between them.