Oak Tree Bend out of control

For @Corsair for some bonding time
October 13th, 2017

Having multiple pups kept Aponi busier than even she had thought possible, add this into a few new members and old faces disappearing the mother had enough on her mind. @”Ice” not returning from his trip as planned was concerning to say the least, crossing the mountain was always dangerous and winter was fast approaching. If he didn’t get back before the first major snowfall he may be trapped over to the west for weeks until the passes cleared enough for him to return. She had no doubts about his ability but he was getting older, and he was Serach’s father, and Lila’s teacher and friend and her children’s grandfather. She had half a mind to send a scout after him, but they couldn’t risk having two members trapped with the snows.

Mabel kept them all on their toes, especially now that she was grounded and not allowed the same freedom as the others. She could leave the territory but had to be carefully watched the whole time and escorted back while her siblings could return on their own if they so chose. While Ayla was happy enough to follow the rules it was Corsair that was often swept up in the schemes. Speaking of the boy the silver queen was pleased to cross his trail returning to the borders while she patrolled. Switching directions to follow where he had gone the mother let out a soft bark of greeting as his tawny form came into view.

This is the first non-Serach post I've made in years. This is going to be so strange lol

Corsair had not wanted to come back from his adventure. With Mabel grounded, much to Corsair's glee, he had decided to take it upon himself to travel even further than she had, just so he could tell her that he had and make her jealous. But just when he had reached that point, he had been overcome with exhaustion and moodily had made the decision to turn back before he got stranded out there. It was enough of an adventure to brag about, he had told himself more than once on the trip home, but it hadn't been as successful as he had wanted. But there was always tomorrow, and Mabel would still be grounded and wouldn't be able to top his achievement. That thought had put a grin on his face and the swagger in his step increased as he strode back home.

He hadn't been back long - hadn't even made it to the den yet to tell Mabel all about his afternoon - when his ears perked at the sound of a familiar voice barking at him. Whipping his head around, the boy's long tail waved happily in the air and he bounded forward to greet his mother with a lick to her chin. "Mum!" he woofed, eager to have her sole attention for once. "Guess what I did today? I went farther than Mabel! And I came home!" The last was emphasized with a confident laugh and bright eyes. Mabel was his chief partner-in-crime, but her shenanigans sometimes took it a little too far for him. No matter how much he would want to continue his adventure (even if his legs hadn't been killing him), he wouldn't ever want to make his parents worry about him.

It pleased the mother every time the children seemed happy to see her, such a change from when Kyna had been small. How complicated things had been with her previous litters, how much simpler this group seemed. Even with the responsibilities of the pack resting on her shoulders she had Serach to share it all with. The weight of the pack, the stress of raising three pups with their shrinking numbers, but also the small joys that came from the children.

Corsair licked her chin and the mother nuzzled his forehead in return, chuckling at his enthusiasm about his latest adventure. Pressing her nose into his scruff she was greeted with the scent of everywhere that he had been that day. Wolves had it much easier than humans in that sense, they could easily smell where their children had been. "Well coming home is the most important part of any adventure you know."

She had planned on taking him for a walk when she found him but if he had already gone so far that afternoon maybe a story would be better. Plopping her rump upon the ground she thought for a moment, "You know how I grew up on the mountain? Once when I was young I walked way too far, kind of like how Mabel did and I was gone for four days and my mother was furious with me when she found me." Perhaps this wasn't the best story to tell after all, surely it would get back to Mabel and give her even more ideas.

"Coming home's my favorite part," he wasn't really sure if it was or not, but he thought that his mom would have liked to hear him say it. Not wanting to feel like a liar, he quietly added a soft, mostly-certain but sort of uncertain "I think." He did like to adventure, and he did like to see the world. That wasn't to say he didn't love coming home. Oak Tree Bend had its own adventures and mysteries, and the familiar faces of his packmates made him feel... well, at home. There was no telling how much awaited him, but a part of him felt like he'd never stray too far from the comforts of home.

When Aponi sat down, he was thankful that she hadn't asked him to go somewhere with him. A good, short rest and he'd be good to go again. Not as gracefully as his mother (which he never was, nor did he aspire to be), the boy plopped his whole self down on the ground in preparation for a story. He tried to think of a younger version of his mother, one without scars, and then tried to imagine her mother. He imagined a young Aponi looking more like Mabel, and her mother looking like... well, Aponi. Admittedly, he was not that creative.

"Did you get grounded, just like Mabel?" he could not really imagine furious on his Mom. She had been stern, and had corrected her children, but they had not done bad enough to make Aponi spit flames and run off on a ferocious rampage.

Not yet, anyways. They were still young, after all.

A young deer has been separated from the rest of its herd. Hunt Opportunity

Aponi smiled as her son reassured her that coming home was his favourite part of the adventure, but couldn’t hold back the snort at his addition. Well, she didn’t need it to be his favourite as long as he did it. Mabel and Corsair might be the death of her with their constant sneaking off and the mother was sure it would only get worse with age. Her son threw himself awkwardly onto the ground to settle down for the story and for at least the moment he was calm.

Laughing at his question Aponi nodded, ”Oh yes, she had to walk all the way down the mountain and find me to bring me back home. So I was grounded.” Kind of, Naira didn’t believe in grounding per say but the pup had practically grounded herself to moping and isolating herself from the pack. Not that Aponi would ever admit that any of her childhood strife was her own fault.

Shuffling a little closer to her son she continued, ”But, the boy I had met when I was out on my adventure eventually came back up on the mountain and joined the pack. Which was nice for me, since I never got along with my sister.” Or Mercy, at least before they had gotten lost together.