Cedarwood Forest cover your tracks

At the edge of Thicket of Secrets and Cedarwood Forest. Overcast — Current Temperature: -11° F/-24° C

It was the rustle of wind out in the world that roused him from what felt like the deepest sleep. Outside, it howled above the forest, cold and sharp, but within the dark calm of his den the boy was more hesitant to depart from his dreams than he was to pay it any attention. He'd settled down against the warmth of her small form easily, and stayed awake as long as he could to watch over her as she'd slumbered. In the darkness he could make out the streaks of grey from black in her fur and the shadows that outlined the nooks of her paws. He watched the whiskers on her muzzle tremble as she whined in her sleep and leaned into her when her body jumped. The fleeting touches of skin against his nose as he ran his muzzle beneath her fur along the crease between the blades of her shoulders felt like velvet. Breathing in her scent was like a lazy summer afternoon, and maybe it was then that he couldn't fend off the pull of sleep any longer. But even then she was there, those big, pale eyes looking back at him expectantly. The hero and the heroine. The lids of Mirren's eyes squeezed tightly together as a gust of cold blew against his face. The smell of dirt and frozen earth replaced the scent of her, and he sluggishly realized that the reason why was that she was gone. "Rabbit?" For a moment he remained as he was, shifting to his side to stretch his long, creamy legs, a single amber eye opening to glance about. It was no cause for alarm, really, but he'd told her that he'd keep her safe, not to mention he still owed her a tour. But when he poked his head out of the den, there was no sight of her. With a furrow of concern between his brows, the masked Tainn left the comfort of home behind in suit of his companion. A time later, what had began as a carefree search eventually ended in...well...he wasn't sure what to think. On the crest of a hill he sat, his eyes cast across a rolling expanse of snow at the edge of Cedarwood Forest. Her scent was fresh, the trail leading away from the thicket. She had mentioned searching for her family and he knew how important it was to her, but...she wasn't supposed to leave him behind. What if something happened to her? Or she lost her way again. Had she changed her mind about Secret Woodlands? The pit of his stomach twisted. She was a big girl and capable of making her own decisions; as much as he wanted to chase after her, he knew that sometimes the lonely road was the best one to take when you're looking for yourself. She certainly was.

(This post was last modified: Mar 03, 2014, 08:52 AM by Mirren.)

Taima in the past few days since she had met Mirren had been utterly... lost. Between her lethargic moments of hiding at the bases of trees and sleeping away most of the day and frantic hours searching for something familiar, she was unreachable. It was now much too easy for her to stop whatever she was doing and simply stare out into the depths of the Cedarwood, standing stock-still as she listened to the sounds of the home she once knew. Everywhere the lingering winter chill dared to urge her forward; the pine needle-adorned paths cried out for the tips of her toes to grace them as they had before. Taima... Taima. The girl would always feel her heart skip a beat and as soon as she ventured a few meters into tree line, she had to stop while her surroundings continued to sound out to her.

Princess Taima...

Eventually, she would return to her previous spot, with her back beneath the open sky and her ears sharply bent forward. She might have been born as an heiress to the grey lord of Grizzly Hollow, but it had been so long ago since she had been called such a thing. Rabbit Lyall was a lost girl... a lost daughter... a lost cause... She could no longer entertain the thoughts regarding what would happen if she were to return back to her homelands. There simply was no energy left within her to think of it. Instead, she wasted away her energy, just trying to summon up the courage to take back that first step and begin the last leg of her journey.

An icy breeze continued to move the clouds across the sky and Taima flinched. They were still calling. The whispers of the "what-ifs" and "why-nots," all in the familiar tones of her parents, her siblings, her uncle, and family friends.

"C'mon, love... Time to go home."

"Taima, listen to your mother."

"Yer Dad's gonn' be mad if ya don't go now."

"You can follow ol' Sibyl, let's go!"

"Race ya back home, sis'!"

"I'm telling Mom that you wandered off again..."

"We're going to get in trouble again I know it. Taima, you remembered what happened last time we went off on an adventure..."

It all made her shiver and avert her gaze. Even when she closed her eyes and leaned away, the pleas still came. It hurt; everything hurt. Maybe if she hadn't been so hungry, or maybe if she hadn't been so foolish to run away with that old woman a year ago... everything would have been as they were.

Stupid, stupid girl... Mapplethorpe's voice managed to make the memories of her family fall away and, in reaction, she whipped her head about over one shoulder and then the other. The old wolf couldn't have made it this far; not with a pack to defend and look after. A whimper left her lips and she summoned the ghostly image of her father to step out from behind a cedar tree and smile at her. On the other side of the tree, the similar wraith-like image of her "dark suitor" from her imaginative days did the same.

Taima, they whispered. Raaaaabbit...

She straightened and sniffled as she swallowed hard. There was no more room in her heart for fear, for doubt, or even for thinking. Hope, paired with her sense of animalistic instinct, had poisoned her. With hunger piled on top of it all, Taima Lyall was seeing the world through fog-covered eyes. At the very least, she had been grateful that her "imaginary friends" had never truly left her. She skirted along the territory borders, with the Thicket on her right and the Forest on her left, her eyes never leaving the invisible figures that were Borden and her imaginary "future mate" as they strode through the foliage, leaving no tracks in the melting snow.

Come home, they beckoned. She stopped in mid-step, trembling as she looked around to find that no one was there. In a fright, she panicked, turning fully around to start running back the way she had come. The wind stung at her eyes and her frantic gait steered her off her path when the tears had begun to cloud her vision. Sobbing with her voice getting caught in her chest and throat, she emerged in front of sizable hill. Had she been thinking clearly, she would have discerned exactly who it was who had been perched there. Instead, she blurted out the first thing that came to mind: the young man sitting there had to be her brother,

"Reni-errr!" she cried, her voice cracking as she struggled to reach the base of the knoll. She stumbled face down into the snow, and when she lifted her head she blinked several times in attempt to rid herself of the tears she had wasted. "Ren," she yelped, her tunnel vision focusing on the young Tainn's figure with a rather pitiful look of longing. It only made sense to her that a youth this close to the borders of Cedarwood Forest could only be her one and only tawny, mask-adorned sibling. "Ren?"

There is a moose carcass that has been scavenged by coyotes nearby. +15 Health

>.> I wasn't going to crash this thread, this food is too tempting for Renier who needs it. Takes 5 points.

Hold onto faith as I dig another grave

Blood. Dark nostrils flared, and perched on the old, silver log he tried to decide if he was really smelling it. Another twitch of his muzzle, it was old blood, but blood none the less. A grumble echoing in his empty stomach, the rogue stepped off the dead tree, and began following his nose. Somewhere there was something to eat, and he was in great need of it. The last time he had eaten was ages ago, and he couldn't quite fight the fatigue that settled in his muscles. This would change that, hopefully getting him by for now.

Sure enough. The wolf found the coyote tracks in the snow, leading to and from the carcass of moose. Nothing had ever looked so delicious. Mouth watering, his golden eyes only looked around in a suspicious manner. Was there a reason the coyotes had gone? He tested the air he could not detect any other wolves. With hesitation, he ambled forward, staring closely upon the ripped, chocolate hide. It didn't seem real, and he blinked if only to test it would not disappear. It remained, so he began to rip pieces of the remaining meat, gobbling them down quicker than he could grab another. If another wolf came he had no intention of giving this free meal up. If a pack happened to come, he would try to leave them with very little. Through his daze of munching, he could swear he heard someone calling his name. Who in hell would be looking for him? Puzzled, and troubled he forced a final large bite down his throat. Red ears straining, swearing again there was a voice he took a step in its direction. "Hello?!" He yelled, eyes sweeping the forest, wondering if he was far more exhausted than he thought.

(This post was last modified: Mar 15, 2014, 05:46 PM by Renier.)

There was a listless glaze to the boy's gaze as it cast from the treeline to the hills and back. Overhead, the sun moved slowly across the sky, a white-hot and ice cold sphere of light somewhere behind the swirling cloud cover. The time passed slowly and he'd fended off the shadow of doubt that she might not turn around─turn back to him─for a while. Eventually, the tawny, sienna and pewter layers of his coat that had rustled in the wind became frosted and hardened, the whiskers on his snout glistening when the muted daylight fell across them just right. He could feel the ice forming in the corners of his tear-shaped eyes and the winter chill as it set deep into his bones. A low growl accompanied the twist in his belly─a knot of worry and fear that left him nauseated. He was numb, on the outside and the inside, too. A long, quiet breath slipped slowly from his lungs and into the winter air in a plume of fog, the warmth of it the only to be had and not enough to offer even a hint of comfort. The time to head back was drawing near and he knew he would have to go. It was hard enough to endure the elements on the move, and harder still when he didn't have the heart to budge from the hill where her trail had lead from, now covered and swept away somewhere beneath fresher drifts of snow. In a moment of defeat the boy's stoical eyes fell to his feet, his russet ears folding backward atop his wide crown. When he made to move his stiffened form, something kept him glued in place. If he went back now, it would be as though he'd given up, and what if something...happened to her. Would he ever be able to live like that? Surely not. And surely he could last just a little bit longer, and so he did, tucking his chin to his chest as a gust cut across his dark face. "Reni-errr!" The howling of the wind didn't drown out the crunch of snow beneath four paws, and a voice broke across the thin air. The boy perked up, sluggishly at first, his weary amber eyes looking past frozen lashes at a sight that sparked the life back into them. Mirren shuffled to his feet, leaping forward to bound to Rabbit as she stammered toward him before falling into the snow. When she looked up with her pale doe eyes, their dark lids brimming with tears and a longing that clutched at everything in him, he had to bite down the sea of emotion that followed that he'd never really felt before. Relief. Fear. Affection. Vigilance was the only one of them that warded away the tears that could have slipped down his frozen cheeks at the sight of her in where she lay. Stupid, silly girl! You could have disappeared! What if you were hurt! Why didn't you take me with you? I couldn't have slept another night if I'd lost you. "Rabbit!" The distance between them disappeared with every stride, and when he made it to her his eyes were wide with a mirroring of her own longing. The way she had called her brother's name him caused him to falter if only for a second, and nearly muzzle to muzzle with her he searched her face. "Hey..." His voice, soft for her. A furrow of concern pulled his brows together as he moved to shield her from the wind, hurriedly licking the snow from her muzzle without a second thought before pulling back to look upon her. "...It's me...Mirren," he pleaded to orient her, hope shining in molten gold of his eyes. "I'm here─" But where Rabbit had called her brother's name, a distant voice echoed back─an answer─from within the depths of Cedarwood Forest...

Her worst fears were realized as soon as the masked boy before her reacted. Mirren. She stared at him, her eyes as wide as two full moons, taking in every strand of fur on his face while he tenderly removed the snow from her nose and muzzle. She sealed her lips to keep the sobbing in her chest from spilling from off her tongue in pitiful longing. He readily soothed her with the soft, concerned tone in his voice, but the comfort in knowing that he was there for her was not enough. She had been expecting her brother, her own flesh and blood, when the most peculiar call sounded out as though he had been answering her...

"Hello?!"

Immediately, she perked up, and pulling herself from Mirren, she ambled through the snow, stumbling here and there but picking up her pace as she neared the source of the sound. Back through the trees she went, looking this way and that, mouth agape as she panted, squandering her energy further as she was drawn into the Cedarwood like a duck towards water. "Hello?!" she repeated, diving into the snow as soon as she spotted several canine-like tracks between the trees. A thorough sweep over the deep footprints confirmed that coyotes had been in the area, but it was just a sign to her that she was close.

"Renier?!" she tried again, both panic and excitement starting to dominate the other emotions - pain, desperation, and sadness - in her voice. "Where are you?!?" She allowed a few excited whimpers and yelps to get the best of her but as soon as she gathered enough wit to follow the coyote tracks and the scent of old blood towards what was once a kill site, she fell silent. The breath that had been caught in her chest released itself at last as she finally laid eyes on her look-alike brother. Never mind that his muzzle stained and dirtied from helping himself to a bit of dead antlered-thing, he still looked the same... just as she had always remembered him. He was just... bigger.

Her heart could have burst. Just seeing him there meant several things all at once and only a part of her was certain that only some of them were true. If Renier was still around this part of the Cedarwood, then:

1. Grizzly Hollow was still around.
2. Mom and Dad were still around to receive her.
3. Home was still nearby.
4. Her family had possibly not yet abandoned her.
5. Ryvet and Calla had stuck around with Renier...
6. She still had someone around who had been apart of her past.

Just like she had with Mirren, she stopped in her tracks and stared... wanting to look at him just as he was, to feast on the telltale markings that made up his face and take in the wolf he had become. "Ren," she breathed, taking just one step forward and momentarily forgetting that she had left Mirren, her keeper, behind. "Where's Mom and Dad?"

Hold onto faith as I dig another grave

Ears wide upon his silver crown he waited, scarcely daring to breathe afraid he would miss a reply. The light voice called back, and his large cream paws picked a couple steps through the snow. He was still not positive the direction nor the seeker. No mistake it was a female, and did he dare hope?

The Lyall's name was called again, much louder, carrying all the things he felt but smuggled away, so it had to be his sister. Quick to act, a loud bark vibrated deep from his chest, trying to guide her to him. She was close, but not yet within sight. The rogue held himself to stand still, even after he was given high yips in turn, and wanted to reach her. Again he let out another bark to assure her to continue. There she was, tall and angular, all grown up. She was alive! His thick tail began swaying uncontrollable behind him. The angles of her body looked sharp, and made his jaw tighten. Taima should be built like their mother, but she was too much to thin. Renier wondered why? Was she as alone as he?

Unable to hold back, he bounded the rest of the way, feeling her pale eyes upon him. It was only when she spoke, he froze across from her. She didn't know what had happened either, and he hated to break the news. Gathering a large breath his golden eyes followed the edge of a coyote track, trying to muster his courage to tell her all the things she needed to hear. Finally, the rogue glanced up to meet her dark mask.

"They're not here any more. After we realized something bad happened to you, Angier moved us. Mom and dad were afraid what was happening. But, Dad, he kept looking for you..," he explained. How badly his eyes wanted to look away all of a sudden. He had hated how they had gone, and hadn't realized how guilty he felt about a choice that hadn't necessarily been his. Ren moved closer, not quite sure what he would accomplish. They had been separated for so long, but she was still his sister, and he wanted to assure her. "He came back to us after awhile, unable to find you. Calla, and Ryv they left before winter, trying to figure out where you gone. Since none of you had returned, I thought it was time I look. I..I was beginning to think you..didn't survive.. You're here, alive." Though his smile was small it was of sincerity, something Ren usually lacked. More slowly his tail wagged, as cautiously he tried to nudge his muzzle to her cheek.

(This post was last modified: Apr 26, 2014, 03:17 AM by Renier.)

There is a rabbit's nest nearby. +1 Health

At the edge of Thicket of Secrets and Cedarwood Forest. Overcast — Current Temperature: -11° F/-24° C

He could almost feel the vibration of her sobbing in her chest as she held it in, her lips pressed tightly closed as she allowed him to tend to her. Obviously, he didn't have a clue as to what she was doing here, out in the snow all alone; whatever it was, something surely must have happened to her in there. As much as he wanted to be able to, as much as the boy tried, Mirren just couldn't read her. She offered him no words and he didn't expect an explanation, and as the last of the snow was brushed from her pretty, sorrowful face, he realized that she wasn't relieved to see him, an expression of longing still clear in her features but not meant for him. Before he could speak, or ask, or do, she perked up in attention at the sound of the distant voice; he did, too. She rose from the ground, ambling through the snow without a second thought as if she were pulled by an unseen force in the direction from which it came, and he followed her into the forest. Tracks in snow drew her further in, and before he could put two and two together, a tawny form appeared in the distance. "Renier?!" Mirren recognized the name from the stories she had told, and it clicked in his head then why she had called him that only minutes before. Instinctively concerned by the stranger's presence, he simply halted in his tracks as the distance between Rabbit and her brother was closed, standing witness to the sibling's reunion. His heart thumped like a drum in his chest. This was what she wanted, what she needed. As the situation began to unfold, he was satisfied in knowing that she'd found a piece of what she'd been looking for. What he did not expect was the uneasy feeling that came with knowing that, with the reunion of brother and sister, he might have lost the part of her that had once needed him.

"They're not here any more," Renier had said, "After we realized something bad happened to you, Angier moved us. Mom and dad were afraid what was happening. But, Dad, he kept looking for you..." Her heart, if it hadn't felt as though it had burst already, slid down into the pit of her stomach. So, Dad had come looking for her; and, all those months ago she had turned down Naira's idea of going home. She sniffled, imagining just how heartbroken he could have been to have to turn back around and return to Mom and the rest of the family. Rabbit looked away, unsure of what to say, and she was glad that Renier continued, if only to dampen her spirits even further.

As if it hadn't been enough for her father to leave the pack and search for her whereabouts, Ryvet and Calla had also conducted their own search parties and their elder brother had gone after them. The guilt was truly overwhelming now; and, everything that had led her to separate herself from Grizzly Hollow now had her inwardly upset at no one but herself. "Y-yeah," she stuttered, as if she had to confirm that fact that she was physically still in one whole piece. "Mom and Dad taught us well, didn't they?" A weak smile came up along her muzzle; the statement too bittersweet on her tongue.

"I had some help though," she then explained, suddenly remembering the young Tainn she had left behind on the hilltop. She turned around, as though to retrieve him, but there he was, standing between the trees. "I had Mirren to help lead me back. He's from Nina's pack in the Thicket, Secret Woodlands." She gave him a smile before turning back to her brother. "So, I have him to thank. It... wasn't easy. I... got lost a few times." She decided to leave Naira, Mapplethorpe, and all details of the packs she had been apart of out of it. Renier did not need to worry himself over the trials and tribulations she had been through for the better part of the past year.

"What about you?" she asked. "You seem to be all right?" The more she looked at him, the more she gained back her true sense of self. In Renier's masked face, she tried to imagine their father's own relieved gaze, take in the smile that should have graced Jaysyek's lips to know that their daughter had finally made contact. "Have you seen Calla or Ryvet at all? I met a friend of Trisden's a while back before the snow was even on the ground, but she..." Her eyebrows came down in a disappointment, "She ran."