Red Fern Forest There's gold in them there hills

Aubine chittered at her sibling when he did not reply. She sighed through her nose in a short puff of air as he soothed her worry with a touch of his muzzle. Adelard, she knew, worried about many things. With being away from home and on his own in a wilderness the both of them had never seen, it was only to expected. She let him brush her away and console her in the few ways he knew how.

"Come on," Aubine's own ears faced forward and she let another wag send her tail side to side. He laid out their next moves, simple and straightforward. A smile and a nod, then they were off. She would prod him about it another day.

Weaving through the winter-kissed patches of ferns beneath the trees, Aubine followed. On some beats, she raced ahead and circled back behind her brother but, for the most part, she followed. As far as she could see and as plainly as she could hear, there was nothing but the prospect of opportunity here.

They would thrive.

As Adelard's first tune lifted up into the icy boughs, Aubine joined at a higher octave. The others were bound to hear them now and anything crossing along in their path was sure to give way. Adelard was not alone, he had her and the pack that waited for their return. This small bit of forest around the chasm was theirs and theirs alone.

so I risk it all just to be with you
AUBINE GERAU
and I risk it all for this life we choose

"I can take care of it," Riven assured Hudson as he looked over Maugrim's bleeding foot, nose wrinkling just slightly. It wasn't that bad, but an injury in winter was frightening nonetheless. But they were forming a pack here, and this was going to be their permanent home, so he was a little less worried than he'd been a few moments ago. He offered Grim a small smile and swish of his tail. "I'm sure we can find something out there that'll help."

He didn't really care what their little group was called. Chasm had a better ring to it than cave did, though, so he nodded his agreement. But he certainly wasn't going to offer leadership - Riven had never cared much for that type of thing. Instead, he turned around, looking over at Hudson. Shouldn't it be obvious who their leader was supposed to be? Huddy was the oldest, and often took up a leadership role anyway.

Adelard and Aubine's voices echoed through the small forest surrounding them, and Riven felt a smile cross his maw. He paused, readying himself to add his own voice to the song when Hudson responded.

Rhae could certainly get on board with all of this. Clearly, Huddy was going to be their leader, and it appeared he would be doing so alone for now. She wondered if that would change in the future, however for now there was still much to do. When others started to sing, she tilted her own head up and howled to join them, warning off loners from the territory they were going to claim as theirs. It all felt quite surreal, and she truly wasn’t entirely sure how she would fit in and how the dynamics would change as they went from a group of loners trying to survive to a pack and a family, but she was looking forward to finding out.

Once the howl concluded she smiled warmly. “I’m going to go and scout out areas we can place caches if anyone would like to join me.” She knew how this went and she knew of the things that packs needed. There was much to do and it appeared everyone else was busying themselves with work too.

It was strange, lifting her head to sing with the others. There was a sickly sweet sort of excitement that trickled through her veins as their voices met to tell the world that they were here, that this was theirs, and that anyone else would be stupid to try to take it from them.

Moons ago she'd had no idea this place even existed, and here she was pledging her allegiance to a band of wolves she hardly knew. (Ok, so maybe she knew them a little bit better than that, but still.) Saga was quick to offer Rhae her services, excited to scout around their new territory. "I'll come!" Offering Hudson a nod of acceptance, the woman followed after her tawny companion.

Sága is currently travelling with Huddy, Aubine, Adelard, Rhaegara, Riven, Maugrim & Hrun

Not a cave. Too small for a cave. Of course, the fast girl just wanted to find another way to insinuate how uneducated and useless Maugrim was. Sheesh. He sighed deeply, staring up at the cave ceiling straight up into the streaks of light in hopes that it would distract him from saying something that would just come back to bite him. Again.

“Sure,” he added to the general consensus, then —much more quietly—. “”whatever...”

Limping subtly past the group he bumped the kid lightly. “Lets go then.” everyone else was starting to break up and find their tasks anyway. Settling into their niche. He might as well settle into his as the village idiot.

As soon as his suggestion was out it felt as though everything happened quickly before he could even open his maw to agree or complain. He’d been elected leader without pomp and circumstance and without his suggestion and he took a moment to figure out how he felt about it. He’d been open about his inexperience in a pack, which he was sure would have taken him out of the running. At the same time a part of him, the more dominant part of him, was pleased that it had been such an easy agreement. He wasn’t much of one to submit to others and he wasn’t sure the youngsters could fill the position as well anyways. After a moment, the dark man gave a simple grunt and a nod of his head in concession. Then, he rose his head and issued his own baritone call, challenging any loners nearby to try their luck and enter what would be their new home. A home none of them had expected but all of them needed.