Hearthwood River The Promise

@Aytigin Backdated to 8/2 Oksana has made it to the border. Mid morning sunny 70°F.

“Oksana, Lorc and I have something we have to do and we are going to be gone a few days. I want you to stay here with Ayti, he will take good care of you while we are away. I want to to listen to him just as you would me, do you understand?”

Those were the words her mother had spoken to her when she had left her with the chocolate man. She liked Ayti and always had fun with him but she didn't feel like having fun, she hadn't since her mum had told her about her grandmother. All she wanted was to be with her mother and she didn't understand why Inna had to leave now and take Lorc with her. Couldn't her mum see she needed her?

She waited until she had a chance, she wanted her mother and she was going to go out and find her. It was as simple as that, she wasn't the pup that had gotten lost the day Rissy had found her. She'd grown up some and now she was sure she would be okay looking for her mum on her own. The moment Ayti wasn't looking she slipped away from him as quickly and quietly as she could at her age. She knew he would never let her go if she asked, she'd heard what her mother had told him.

“Ayti I need you to look after Oksana for a few days, there's something I need to take care of and I have to be the one to do it. Please take good care of my daughter, I trust you to do that for me. If anything happens to her you’ll have me to answer to.”

She didn't want to get Ayti into trouble but she didn't think he would understand how badly she needed to find her mum. So she'd started her journey looking for her mother and Lorc's scent, Inna had taught her a little. When she thought she found it she followed it. That was until she came to the place that was like where they had met Lorc and he had talked to her uncle Lach. All the scents confused her making it hard for her to know which way to go.

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Sorry this took so long for me to get to!

Aytigin was tired. It was a sort of bone-deep tiredness that sleep didn't cure and resting couldn't touch. Emotionally, he was exhausted - Cottongrass and Kisla's death had seen to that. He could hardly spare enough emotional energy for anything (sans the pups), though he'd tried to help Risaela a bit the night after her mother died. Physically, he was spent. The trip to Wild Rye Fields and hurting his shoulder, then the subsequent trip back to Hearthwood River and the constant patrols he'd been on since his return. He was desperate to sleep for a week.

But he had a charge on his paws. Risaela had gone missing, and Inna trusted him to watch over Oksana while she and Lorcan went off in hopes of finding the tawny child. He hoped that they would bring her back in one piece, and worried for the girl, but he couldn't think on that much for the time being. For the moment, all that mattered was Oksana.

Who currently had managed to escape when Ayti shut his eyes for five seconds.

Inna would skin his hide for this one.

The chocolate-furred man got to his paws and went to work sniffing down the wayward kid's scent, keeping his pawsteps light and soft, just in case she was still nearby. Which, she was, he found, but instead kept silent and instead just followed behind her to see where the child was going to go.

He soon discovered that her paws led them both to the border, and he did not want her to cross it. So, he circled around and stepped in front of her, blocking the child from crossing the scent markers. He smiled softly, hazel eyes warm as he looked down at her. "Where you going, there, sweetheart?" he asked conversationally, tilting his head to one side. "Going somewhere without me?"

No worries!

Clear orders had been given by her mother to stay with Ayti but Oksana didn't want to stay behind when her mother left. She was worried about her and that something would happen to her like it had her grandmother. The thought that she might never seen her mum or know what happened to her was one that made the pup want to cry. She had been doing that a lot lately every time she thought about not seeing her grandmum. There were lots of times she wanted to go look for her just to see for herself but she knew her mum wouldn't lie to her, her mum never lied.

Inna didn't tell her that she would be okay while she was gone and that everything would be okay, it made Oksana scared. She had to go and make sure her mum and Lorc were okay so she waited for her first opportunity. When Ayti closed his eyes she made a run for it, she didn't want to be stopped. He wouldn't understand how badly she needed to find her mum and how scared she was that she wouldn't come back.

When she got to the place with all the scents she didn't know which way to go and she didn't know how to get past it. That didn't matter though because the chocolate man stepped into her path, she'd been found out. He would never let her go and find her mum, Oksana knew what her mother had told him. With a huff she sat in her tiny haunches and looked up at him as he spoke.

“Sana find mum,” she told him matter-of-factly when asked where she was going. It was the plainest way she could get it across. Then he asked about her going without him. “Ayti not unstand Sana need find mum,” she told him before huffing again, “Sana want know she kay.”

The child fully expected that he would take her back because of what her mother had said. She couldn't give up on Inna like her mother didn't give up on Lorc when he went away. “Ayti help Sana?”

(This post was last modified: Aug 07, 2017, 01:50 PM by Oksana.)

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I'm turning this into a teaching demonstration for Ayti <3 Teaching dem 1/6

Well, this was quite the dilemma.

Ayti turned his options around in his mind for a few moments. On one hand, Inna had told him to watch the kid and keep her safe. On the other hand, Oksana was hard to say no to, and Inna hadn't said anything about leaving the territory a bit. As long as he was present and watching and guarding, then what was the harm in indulging the child in a little excursion? They weren't going to find her mother, because Inna and Lorcan were long gone from the territory by now, but perhaps Oksana could have a bit of peace in knowing that she'd at least tried.

Besides, after what happened with Kisla, how could he blame her?

"Alright," he agreed, swiping his tongue backward over the girl's head to make her fur stand up the wrong way. The man smirked, tail waving lazily behind him. "Can't promise we'll find her, but we can go for a walk to see if she's nearby." This was actually a prime opportunity to start teaching the child how to track, which he assumed she already knew a bit of. "Why don't you sniff around and see if you can tell which way she went?" He could do that for her, but that would pretty much defeat the entire purpose of letting her learn.

(This post was last modified: Aug 11, 2017, 07:36 PM by Aytigin.)

That's perfectly fine with me

Her mother had been away from her but the last time she'd sent Lorc, the last time her mother had not come home it had been the night her grandmother had gone away. What if Inna had gone away and she would never see her again? Oksana had made up her mind she needed to find her mother and make sure she was okay. The only comfort she did have was that Lorc was with her mum and she knew he would take care if Inna. Using the little bit of tracking skills her mother had taught her she'd managed to make it to the border. Then Ayti showed up and she just knew he was going to make her go back, she'd heard what her mother had said. If this wasn't an emergency she wouldn't disobey her so he couldn't expect the chocolate man to either.

Her eyes brightened and her ears perked when he spoke. The pup held her breath waiting to hear what he would say. Would he let her go find her mum or would he take her back? She couldn't help herself when he said they could see if she was nearby. The black pup jumped up at the chocolate man, “We find mum,” she barked excitedly, “Bring her back.” Yet again like with Lorc something clicked in her head. She didn't have time to think about it because Atyi wanted her to sniff around. Oksana looked at him for the slightest of moments before she went back to sniffing for her mum’s scent. Soon she found the trail of Lavender that the tiny pup associated with her mum, "This way,” she said looking back at Ayti.

(This post was last modified: Aug 12, 2017, 05:04 PM by Oksana.)

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