Wildflower Glade buy yourself another day

To call it an escape seemed a bit harsh. The word made her cringe inside, and bit the edge of her lip. There was no other way to put it, and so it was what it was. Jaysyek had to steal these moments to herself. She had to creep away quietly, where they ought not know. Through the woods, and deep into the thicket she kne quite well to buy herself peace. Least she tried to find it here. Besides most times she was truthfully hunting, and didn't go empty handed all the time. Why there was only one child to feed, to her there seemed so much more to care for. A sick mate, a tiny female, a new mother, and her own son she felt was still over doing it. She couldn't help wonder if he was satisfied with this Grizzly Hollow. If anyone knew him better than Bishop, she felt it would be her. While nothing spoken brought her to that exact conclusion, there was a look to him. A look that scared her to her core for she had seen it before. The need for something else, something more. If completing all he had done was not enough. For all she was worth she did a lot of downplaying it. Her intuition hadn't always been correct. They had only been a pack again for a short time. It was rather easy to believe in all this surrounding madness maybe she could have well been losing somethings too.

 

A twist of her tail, she trotted at a comfortable pace. Her bones were frequently worked, and the weather warm they gave no protest. Now and again her nose tested the air, or the ground beneath her toes she found nothing she wished to pursue. Instead she made her way to the Glade, in a twisting course. It wasn't her intention to leave a path. All she wanted to do was sit in it's protective blades of green, and think back. So she did, slowly falling into a light slumber of dream and memory.

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For two wolves of Grizzly Hollow to end up in the same wildflower glade was nothing more than a coincidence. Rowan had done his own wandering - purposeful wandering - that had eventually brought him to stumble upon the colorful little meadow tucked away in the tangled thickets.

Stumble was not an exaggeration but an exact description of how the Attaya youth found himself in such a place of serenity. His paw steps through the thicket had been anything but graceful - every other step he'd been tripping over a root or getting his foot ensnared in some wild combination of leaves and branches and undergrowth. His eyes had caught a vague notion of a more open space and so he had lurched his large form toward it, just getting his hind foot stuck in a series of fallen branches before he emerged from the shadows into a lush glade dotted with all manner of color.

Instantly he felt awkward. Rowan was no stranger to the dirt of the forest, the rocks and mud and streams. But this place was so... pristine. The grass was soft and green, the flowers dainty and bright. It was no place for a murky soul like him. It was, however, a fitting place for a pale form he had seen before, though never properly met, tucked away in the quiet for what appeared to be (judging by the rise and fall of her sides) a nap.

Rook's mother, his mother-in-extended-law, looked as though disruption was the last thing on her list. He nearly decided not to bug her at all and to keep on his way, until he considered the possibility that she did wake up on his way out. What was weirder? Waking her up now, or being spotted sneaking out of the way when she woke up later? A wolf of little risk, the dark-coated male declined to roll the dice and trotted quietly forward.

"J...aysy..ek..." he said, stumbling through her name as though he wasn't totally certain (spoiler: he wasn't totally certain). Additionally, the boy didn't want to startle her out of her slumber. Hopefully she did not mind, he just wanted to... make sure she was alright, or something, napping out here in this secret glade.

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

EEEEE! Riley and @Rowan but please forgive my/jayse rustiness.

Napping always took a considerable part of her day. As a mother she had had them.  These days they seemed a lot more frequent. But t was something she did not only for herself, but for the well being of others. Without one she was afraid to picture herself. She would probably have ventured from bitchy, irrational, and sobbing baby in five minutes flat. So she made sure to get them in to help her manage the ups and downs. Lately there was a hell of a lot of those. Currently, they were her main coping method. There wasn't anyone about to share her insecurities with, and so a nap in the glade kept her going.

As she lie sleeping it was a peaceful dream of sorts. Strolling with Tomen, eagerly answering his questions as she continued her tales of younger, more bright days. They reached a familiar stream and she paused, staring into it for something she wasn't sure. Suddenly Tomen was trying to pronounce her name to get her attention, and it threw everything off even more. Normally he did not call her that. It was nan or g'ma. So much easier, and well she was his grandma. There was no need for her to be Jaysyek or Jayse. Maybe, that was what helped her realize Tomen in her dream hadn't said it at all. It was someone else as she was asleep.

In question her eyelids fluttered, and her chin raised just enough for her to see about. Things weren't going to make any more sense. Not too far away was a silver and black wolf. One who did look very familiar, but how could he be here? Why he had always had a way of finding her in need, she had never felt she had powers to summon him. No one truly knew what had happened to him and his mate, and whatever it was they assumed it terrible. Naturally she mumbled, "Kade?" For she could not take note of the lighter more colorful shade of eyes from her place of rest to know it was his son Rowan.

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♥ nothing to worry about!

The white wolf's mismatched eyes found him - blue and gold, instead of blue and green like Rook's - but she wasn't yet completely awake. At least that was the probable cause for his father's name sliding from her tongue. Rowan smiled wistfully to hear it, his heart giving a somber beat. In those rare times his dad had been mentioned to him, it always came with a line of genuine praise. To be compared - even just at face value - to the most important man in his life was as much of an honor as could be bestowed on the coal-furred male.

But he couldn't pretend to be Kade, even if he wanted to. "Rowan, actually," he said. He raised one paw awkwardly and placed it again on the ground, uncertain if she'd be upset to be woken. "Sorry to interrupt your nap in the sun." Some small part of him wanted to leave to make up for the transgression, assuming that it would be the correct solution. But he didn't want to really. Jaysyek was not only the mother to his leader, and the mother in law to his sister, but was the foundation of the original Grizzly Hollow, and had been close to his father. In that way, it made her part of Rowan's family the same strange way that he considered @Elettra .

His tail gave a tentative wag, still prepared for flight if the she-wolf decided her privacy was preferable to his offering - but he gave it a shot regardless. "Mind if I sit with you?"

(This post was last modified: Aug 22, 2015, 01:52 AM by Rowan.)

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@Rowan

So the smile threw her off. Something about it did not fit into her memories. White eyebrow cocked, and she attempted to dust off her mind. Before she could realize her mistake the young gentleman put it all to sense. Rowan, Kade's son, his blood but not her faithful guardian. It was a little disapointing, but overall just reality showing its face again, pointing out what really was and wasn't. Kade was not here, and that was that.

"Oh Rowan." Each passing second everything came with sharp clarity. This was Ava and Kade's son. Cinder and Quil's brother who had joined Grizzly Hollow not long ago. Why they hadn't had much of a conversation, maybe that would change. "No, it's all right. Looking at the sun now I wouldn't have been much longer." It was easy to warmly smile, let her tail tap gently beside her. Why she thought of sitting up, she found it comfotable simply stretching out her limbs while remaining on her belly. "Not at all. It's a pretty place to do just that isn't it?" She took in a heady breath of the sweet air, not at all fiding it strange to have some new company.

"I do hope you know you are a striking image of your father or I wouldn't have said that. I mean I did think it was a little odd he looked as young as when I first met him." There was something playful to her smile this time, likely to lighten the mood. "So, you been out here before?" She couldn't tell if he had been or not. 

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(This post was last modified: Aug 26, 2015, 03:10 AM by Jaysyek.)

She insisted it was alright that he'd disturbed her, but the silver-threaded Attaya could never shake that last bit of doubt that seemed to plague him. Regardless he sunk to his haunches while the white wolf reached into the soft grasses and offered him a sly smile and offered him the smallest tease of praise - that he looked very much like a young Kade.

Abashed, Rowan turned his head toward his shoulder, but the rise of his cheeks in a quiet grin could be seen even from the side. He grunted quietly, which meant thank you in awkward boy language, before eventually allowing his dull gold gaze to return toward Jaysyek, then flicker from one brightly colored wildflower toward another. "I've never been here before," he admitted, "but it's really something else. Most of my wandering has been done far away from the Lore." Looking around the beautiful garden nature had created all of its own, Rowan felt slightly ashamed for having never gotten to know the place that his parents had loved so much.

Reminded of his the influence of the Hollow in his father's life, he felt a certain kind of reverence sitting beside the snow-pelted queen. After all, without her, there would have never been him. Rowan was not entirely aware of Jaysyek's particular importance to his father (Kade's exes hadn't exactly been the subject of a bedtime story) but he was at least aware enough to appreciate the opportunity for company so pleasant. A jovial nature like her's worked wonders on his character, which was usually so twisted up inside that he could hardly show he had any humor at all.

"Has it changed a lot? Y'know - Grizzly Hollow, and all the rest?" He asked, hoping she wouldn't think it was as stupid of a question as it sounded. A while back he had visited the Attaya's old den, and it was nothing like he remembered, completely destroyed by angry waves. Perhaps it was just bad memories, but he found the atmosphere on the other side of the mountain more peaceful, and wondered if that were true.

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@Rowan

Boys of her own, she knew the gesture, and didn't find it odd what so ever. If anything he was being modest, and she didn't expect any less. Head cantered slightly, listening, with the hint he had been else where. She had known this, least how they had been ripped from the place of their birth. "I discovered it in the quiet winter, but have been back many a time. It's a nice place to just sorta be." This place seemed to help her feel grounded more than the Hollow lately. A truth that heavily put guilt upon her, but here she could try to sort things out or not with little interruption.

"So, not much took your fancy outside the Lore?"She queried, trying not to make it such a personal question. She could presume he returned for his sisters, but there could be more to it than that. She always liked a good story.

She inhaled and exhaled a breezy breath. "Well, I would say the lands are mostly the same. At least the ones I came upon. I hear there are many more out there, but I doubt I will see them. The packs, oh they have grown. When we founded the Hollow it was only the third, and I have no idea except the Woodlands and Ridge how many more are out there." The pale lady had a far look about her mismatched eyes, briefly caught in a reverie. How readily she was to speak of Grizzly hollow, but felt she might say the wrong thing. But, just like that found words tumbling off her tongue. "Grizzly Hollow is the same in appearance, but quite different in its workings. For a great part of my reign I did so with the help of Elettra Archer, and your father. There was a long time I felt secure in our strength. Eventually, my mate Borden and I felt it best to leave it when the sickness came and we all went our separate ways. So, I guess it's strange that I am back without my loyal friends to help me. Now, a pack wolf, watching my youngest do his best to have it the way he sees fit. I guess life has its own seasons." Which wasn't awful by any means, and she hoped it didn't sound that way. Rook had a determination to fix things. It wasn't necessarily a fault. It had long been part of Rook's want to make things as they had been, to help her, and hold their family together. She wondered if at times he couldn't accept somethings were just broken. She feared he would run himself into the ground by trying to do it all. What she would not tell Rowan or any soul for the matter was the worst was feeling so alone. To watch her mate be someone she didn't know, and feel little of the family she had. At times she wanted to seek out Elettra just to feel like herself again, connected with what was. Someone who knew her. Instead here she was trying to make peace with how life had turned out for she did not know what else she could.

"What about you? Do you aspire to be a Guardian like your father, a leader one day?" It could come off as a loaded question, but with her set smile she was not trying to pressure him, but politely ask of his interests.

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(This post was last modified: Oct 23, 2015, 01:47 AM by Jaysyek.)

And the award for worst thread partner in the history of anything ever goes toooooo me :( I'm so sorry to keep you waiting so long!

He rolled his shoulders in a shrug, watching the wildflowers dance in a gentle gust of wind as he contemplated those periods of time he'd spent away from home. "I was always looking for my family when I left, nothing more. Everything else - sights, smells, wolves - were background noise." Background noise that used to insist it held the secrets, now Rowan was pleased he had never believed it. Like him, the rest of the Attayas seemed to gravitate toward this strange land.

A characteristic shared with the Lyalls, he was learning. Rowan blinked in surprise at how deep the roots of Grizzly Hollow really were, if it was only the third group to be settled in the Lore. Darkwater Rapids went as quickly as it came, but not this home. He nodded, too, that he was unaware still of how many others lived beyond their comfortable walls. "Dunno about the others, either. Some day I'm going to find out how many others there are, and I'll let you know when I do." He grinned politely at his own offer, another step in unearthing his hidden purpose.

Stories were so interesting, as long as he ignored that they were real. Here Jaysyek spoke of a time when she had lead with Kade and Elettra at her walls, guardians, enforcers, wolves of the Hollow. Now Elettra reigned beside her own Lyall husband, a forceful pack of her own (he knew from experience) and Kade had taken himself a wife, produced his own, and then vanished for what he suspected to be eternity... How would life have been different if they had never left the Hollow? If Jaysyek, Borden, Elettra and Kade had always been the unit they once were? Would it have given Rook the chance he had now - to be the successor of this formidable pack?

For his part Rowan agreed with the white wolf - Rook was doing his best, in his own way. "I'll never know exactly what it was like in the past, when my father and Elettra and you were the formidable of the forest." He did wish though, didn't he? "But I think that what Rook is trying to make of it will be just as good. Different, but good." In some ways it felt far more like a fledgling soul than a resurrection, with youth in every direction from his sisters to his nephew to the other males of the group. As they matured, he assumed, the pack would too - but it still would never be the same.

As for his own aspirations he fell soft for a moment, thinking on those three Hollow wolves and how they had each become purposeful Leaders. It was not a future Rowan was considering seriously - just a weird dream, for the awkward boy. "Honestly," he said, starting and stopping with an awkward pause. He never really talked about what was going on in his head, but it felt relieving to do so. "I don't know yet, who I want to be. All I know is that I was desperate for my family, all that time we were apart, and now that I've found them I want to protect them. I want the best for our lives."

Vulnerably he sought her mismatched stare, awe of the experience she'd had in this world and certain she had more knowledge than he could put toward this thought. "Is that what it means, to be a Guardian? I feel like I have to be so much more."

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