Swift River you seem so dark to cry

when i look at the stars i feel like myself

His own thoughts keep him occupied. He really just wants to go home, see the faces of the puppies....see they are okay. But home doesn't sound like home. It sounds like an hollow place compared to what it was. Would Ruiko help out? Cori, Triell, and three pups are not much of a pack. Could he hunt by himself to feed them much like Cori has done? He is a better hunter, but nothing perfect. Triell hangs his head, and his ears fold back. He really should have just stayed instead of looking for the rest. It was really only wishful thinking he thought now, like trying to catch the stars. He can't undoe the past, he can't bring anyone back. He could he stick around now, stop his wanderlust.

Ruiko doesn't say how he is, or mentions Kinis. He seems just as troubled about the missing. Triell looks to him wanting badly just to be a child again who followed him and Indru around with no worries. A sad smile is on his face, what happened to the Tainns? Was this all there was now? A new broken family? Black ears cup forward, Ruiko is going to come back? The first time his black banner wags behind him. His head cocks when Cori asks about Kinis. Where is Kinis? He wonders knowing he has not seen his brother since they swam together. That it seemed ages ago, when they were both care free children....nothing wrong with the world.

He watches as Cori breaks the distance, and deems Ruiko apart of the Swift River pack once more. Triell smiles hearing the little ones are fine despite everything that's happened. He really can't wait to see how much they've grown, to maybe actually play with them. Perhaps he could watch them now, ease one part of Cori's burden. He stills feel ashamed, and slowly his eyes look up to Cori's green pair. He weakly wags his tail, then steps to the two wolves. He licks Cori's chin giving her the respect she deserves as his leader, and then affecionately he nudges the side of her neck as silent appoligy. Next he looks to his brother, there is a lot he wants to say. He wags his tail out of hope, and happiness. Then he licks Ruiko's white chin glad to have one of his brothers back. Quickly he nudges the elder wolf's snout, and his eyes exchange between the two asking if he may come home.

are you with me through it all?

Corinna’s question of the younger Tainn brother was reasonable, and yet in turn Ruiko gave a small lift of his shoulders in a shrug. “I imagine he will stay as well, but I cannot speak for him. Kinis comes and goes as he pleases, but he never strays far.” It was the best response he could offer the silver she-wolf, for while Kinis’ loyalty never strayed from Ruiko, because they claimed no land, both had never fully settled in an area. They would hunt together, and most nights would sleep in the same enclosed area they would find. They were far more than brothers; they were comrades. But Kinis was free to do as he pleased.

Corinna stepped toward him, and instinctively, the regal wolf lowered his muzzle, his ears sliding back in submission to his leader. She moved around him now, her figure pressing to him as she offered him the scent of Swift River, and yet something more stirred in the wolf’s eyes as he looked toward her. He spoke nothing, yet once she finished, Ruiko moved to Triell. At the youth’s wag of his tail, Ruiko returned the gesture, his own muzzle bumping gently to his younger brother’s in greeting. It had been far too long.

As the voice of the grey leader broke the silence once more, the tawny male cast his bright eyes to her, regarding her quietly as she spoke of his nephews and niece. Feeling a surge of protectiveness swell through him at just the mention of their names, the stoical wolf swallowed, his eyes shifting between the two of them now. “I can’t wait to meet them. But first Corinna, let me see if I can hunt anything for them. For you.”

<3

Gone Tomorrow

Dipping her head mutely, Corinna accepted the information without much fuss. She had never met the third littermate of Triell and Borlla, but had always heard him mentioned. He was the final family member expected to return to the fold, and she knew that if Ruiko was intent on staying with her, for at least a decent amount of time, then she figured that his loyal brother would as well. "I hope to meet him soon, then," she murmured.

Coming around the side of Ruiko, she is greeted by Triell, his pink tongue licking the bottom of her chin. Grinning at him, she let her own tongue graze his forehead momentarily. Pulling back, she allowed the two brothers to mingle. Ruiko's request to find something for her to eat warmed her heart, and the sincerity and gratitude in her smile could not be lost. "That would be wonderful. I shall see you soon then," she told him, as she turned over her shoulder and headed back in the direction of the den. While she would have liked to accompany him, she knew full well that she was more primarily needed with her young ones, who by now would be missing her in her absence.