Oak Tree Bend don't have direction

Serach hadn't even considered what his delayed reaction would do to Aponi, and if he had been able to read her thoughts, he would have kicked himself for his stupidity in not telling her immediately what he was feeling. But despite his delayed reaction and inability to mindread, it all turned out just fine and his awkward squawking was handsomely rewarded. "I love you too Serach." His already wagging tail picked up speed, flinging snow on either side behind him and causing his whole body to wiggle in excitement.

"Aponi Donata has a nice ring to it," he told her, his smile so broad it almost hurt. Turning his head to the side, he looked at the tree where his mother had been buried. He had come here looking for comfort after what was arguably one of the worst days of his life, and now he was confessing his love to the woman who had been the catalyst to that change. Even more potentially upsetting to the deceased matriarch was Aponi's own lineage. But Serach knew naught of the old feud between his mother and Naira, and in that moment with his heart bursting beyond what he thought it was capable of, he wouldn't have given a damn even if he had known.

"It certainly sounds better than Serach Aquila does," he teased, turning back to look at her and nudging her cheek once more. Hoisting himself up onto his legs, he tried to compose himself despite his shaking limbs. "Should we go find Lila? We don't need to tell her tonight, but we shouldn't let her be alone tonight." On any other day, he would haven't had necessarily felt the need because Lila would have had her agemates and friends to keep her company, but this was not a normal day for any of them. "Tomorrow, we can look for the others and see where they stand...and then we can start building our legacy from there." But now they needed to rest. Their hearts had been broken and burst, in both happiness and despair, so many times that day and it was physically and emotionally exhausting. But at least that night they could lay down together and know they would rise and face whatever trials tomorrow held for them together.

Everything that had fallen apart that day seemed to have led to this moment right now, waiting for the two of them to put it all back together. In a matter of hours everything that had once been had changed, the pack hierarchy, the pack size, truly Oak Tree Bend was almost unrecognizable. What was more, Aponi had changed, she was back where she belonged and she had Serach by her side. Seeing the goofy smile across her mate's face made her own grin break out wide across her maw, an unfamiliar expression but certainly not unwelcome.

"Aponi Donata," the words were almost breathless when they left her jaws, a whirlwind of emotion from the last few hours tangled about in her mind. It would take weeks to work through and process it all but at now she would have Serach by her side to do so. Laughing at his joke the woman missed the way he turned to the tree as she buried her face into the thick hair of his neck and chest again, breathing him in. "Aquila means nothing to me anyways, Naira told me only a few months ago that it is the name of a man I never met. Mapplethorpe, who I knew to be my father - who raised me, stepped into the role because my blood father disappeared before I was born." Until now it was only little by little that she had revealed her story to the man before her, sure that if she opened up he too would leave. Now there was no reason to hold back the things from her past - except, perhaps there were a few exceptions.

Shuffling backwards slightly so that Serach could stand Aponi too got to her paws, a pleasurable tingling running through her limbs as the trembles had subsided. Nodding solemnly at his suggestion the mother had a twinge of her previous anxiousness - Kyna certainly would have rejected the two as a pair but would Lila do the same? Perhaps this was a conversation she should have with her alone a little further down the line, and maybe it would go over better than when she had tried to have the talk with her older daughter. Moving beside the man they made their way into the night, together.

fade.