Sex: MaleWith his nose lingering to the ground, the stocky male maintained his pace as he sought out his brother. Nina had accepted him, and rather than wait to settle, the Tainn wanted to converse with his brother – to apologize, and to notify him that @Vaeta would be joining them soon. The time lost between them all had been too great, and he did not wish to waste any more of it.
He came upon a den. Mirren’s scent clung heavily to it – but even more interested was the scent of a pup. Nios did not press any assumptions – he had met Kite prior, and had determined her nice enough, though he had been surprised that the eldest Tainn son had been so quick to settle. Yet then again, this was also the brother who thought more with his heart than anything else – had he not originally promised their loyalty to Nina without even conversing with him before hand? Then again, Nios had also explored his fair share of she-wolves in the past. It was for the best that Mirren had chosen one to remain loyal to.
Cautiously, the wolf settled his rump down. He would wait for his brother’s arrival before investigating anything further. Fatigued by his travels from the mountain, Nios had already displaced his promise to the Argyris patriarch from his mind. Something dark was stirring upon the mountains, and the ebony wolf wanted no part of it.
No, he was here now, and he should have been here the moment Mirren had promised the Tainn loyalty to Nina.
She had been left to her own devices long enough to realize that, perhaps, she had taken her daytime lessons with her grandmother for granted. Where once she would have done nearly anything to get out of learning about history and herbs and whatever else Nina had to offer any given day, now she found herself spending the last few days simply biding her time and wandering about ─ this afternoon had proved no different. She'd spent most of it along the western edges of the territory, exploring the hills and clearings that were cloaked in the beginnings of autumn.
Beneath an open sky, she tried her best not to think of Daniel or the way his passing had affected the pack, herself included. Lyanna was young, resilient enough that the death of her agemate had hurt just enough to remind her that life was finite and that there was more to it than the folly she'd often taken part in. Her amber gaze followed the clouds as they drifted lazily across the sky, the wind at her back as the clearing's grasses danced and tickled at her belly. Somehow, in her heart, she knew that even if Danny was gone from this place, he wasn't alone, and she hoped that he'd made it to somewhere beautiful. Resigning to leave the weight of her small troubles there in the western meadow, she rose to her feet and began to make her way home.
It was father she'd expected to find there, but it was someone else whose discovery surprised her. The scent wasn't one she'd encountered before, and as the spindly, tawny girl weaved through the thicket's old trees she paused to breathe it in cautiously. It wasn't often that one of the pack wolves came so near to her and father's den, and she was sharp enough to question the possible reasons for such a visit. As she hopped the babbling brook that meandered past her home, she saw him for the first time.
And, my, was he handsome. His sable fur held a silvery sheen as the filtering sunlight caught it here and there through the tree tops, and his shoulders were broad and strong. Perking up and peeking hard, Lyanna studied the visitor's face with the strangest awe; in a way he reminded her of her father, just...different, and far more intriguing. Gulping down this novel curiosity, she announced her presence with a pointed clearing of her throat. "If you're looking for father, he isn't here yet," she called to him before proceeding to look back at her words and immediately realizing that she was stating the obvious, and that the man probably knew that as he'd already been here. How embarassing. She didn't know it, but she was very much her mother's daughter. "...but, he should be here any time now. He always rounds the borders before he comes home." She added the last bit of knowledge to make up for her blunder.
She swept over to the stranger with all the grace she could muster for an awkwardly proportioned cub of her age. "I'm Lyanna─" Did the tone of her voice give away her preoccupation with his general attractiveness?! "─Who are you?"
He was resolved to wait, though it would only serve to alight his nerves with the endless possibilities of his reunion with his brother. They varied from either the warmest embrace Nios might ever receive fro his agemate, right down to Mirren spitting in his face.
A gentle voice pulled him from his reverie though, and the swarthy wolf's amber eyes fell upon a coming-of-age she-wolf. His wolfish brows arched upward in quick surprise before he quieted his emotions, and with a stoical mask that could rival his father's, the Tainn dipped his muzzle downward in quiet greeting, his mind whirling over why a youth was lingering at his brother's den. She need not even introduce herself before he knew -- he could see pieces of his brother within her, and most certainly his own mother.
Mirren had a litter this year, and the ebony wolf felt a twang of regret for not being here sooner.
"Hello," he greeted then, his own tone gruff as he attempted to loosen his muscles and relax. "I'm Nios," he offered simply, cutting the afterthought of announcing their familial relationship to the girl. He had no clue how his golden brother thought of him now -- and he wasn't about to barge in to a life he might not be welcomed to so freely. "I just joined the Woodlands.. Nina accepted me." He left the introduction at that -- and rather than keep his gaze riveted upon the girl, he allowed his eyes to trace back to the den the family had come to call home.
Where was Mirren's mate, then?
'cause its home, but it's gone
Her eyes lingered on his face when he spoke, enchanted. Lyanna supposed that if Nina had let the man in, he must be okay to have around, and she was somehow already glad that he was. He seemed nice enough and it wasn't as if there wasn't a shortage of acceptable playmates in the thicket. Daniel was gone, and Pacem had left, and Nina was, well, too old to romp around and too purposed to indulge in things Lyanna would deem adventurous. Maybe, just maybe, she could make a friend out of this Nios; she wondered if perhaps Daniel would have grown up to look like him.
"I see," she remarked at first, attempting to mimic the adultness of her father, lest she come off too childish to spark any interest. "Well, I hope you like it here ─ there's lots to do and mostly everyone is friendly. There's a glade not far from the main den that's," Uhhhh, "nice, and if that's boring, then there's a bluff to the south between our forest and the cedar one."
She perked up and shifted her weight, looking in what she believed was a southward direction as if she could see Limestone Bluff from where she stood. Scanning the trees for any sight of her father, who would surely show up and steal Nios' attention away at any moment. She knew she had better offer up what she could up front. "And then there's a spring to the east, where my secret hideout is..." Keeping things nonchalant, she pawed delicately at the ground underfoot and gathered the courage to make her move. "...I s'pose I could take you there sometime, you know, if you stick around."
Lyanna didn't know just how her eyes were beaming.
It did not take long at all for the Tainn woman to find herself settling into the Secret Woodland pack lands. After being accepted by Nina, Vaeta made an attempt at trotting around her former (and now once more) homeland for something to drink and steal a bite from the caches she had yet to supply to on her own. Hell, traveling really made you hungry! Already she was moving into the make of a Scout, as she had once held the title before, sniffing out the familiar scents of members she had remembered being here before as well as many new ones. Mirren's scent as just as strong as Nina's own although it was Nios which she was following now, hoping that if she found one brother she would find another and if anything, allow Nios to know she had made it as well, if not a little late to the punch.
After some time snaking around her ending destination (as she always did) the woman finally caught up. A sharp back was echoed into the direction of her dark brother, a smile on her lips and a wave of her long, bushy tail. Her trot was in quick pursuit to him until she caught sight of the little woman, causing her to pause. Both this girl and Mirren's scent was very strong here and she wondered who the child may be - but only briefly. She could have easily put two and two together, though the scent of Mirren's mate was none existent. Where was Kite? "Hello." She spoke ever delicately to the girl, who's eyes shined a pale gold which mimicked her own and much as the rest of their family. Moving a little closer, she sided with Nios, brushing her shoulder to his own. "I'm Vaeta." She introduced to the girl, gagging how the little one felt in her presence before going on to bombard her with anything more.
It was entirely surreal to the man to know that Mirren's child stood before him, talking a mile a minute, and didn't even know who he was. He cursed himself inwardly -- he should have been here. He noted she made no comment about her mother -- and a knot twisted at Nios' stomach.
"I plan on it," he offered in terms of staying. Simple and to the point. No one had ever claimed him to be good with others, let alone children, and yet Vaeta somehow came along and rescued his awkwardness. His sister had impeccable timing, and the ebony wolf cast her a large grin as she appeared by his side. He had known his sister would not be long in joining them, but his muzzle tipped downward to brush against her soft fur in way of silent greeting, his tail contently swinging through the air. "Vaeta, this is Lyanna," he offered, his bright eyes looking to see the reaction of his sister as she too attempted to piece the puzzle together.
Perhaps their brother needed them here now more than ever. His gaze would drift back to the youth, and if she was confused by the familiarity the two adults held together, he clarified. "Vaeta is my sister."
'cause its home, but it's gone
Her rounded ears perked forward at the sound of approaching footsteps, her eyes catching the sight of tawny fur between the tree trunks. Where she had halfway expected to see her father, a girl emerged ─ or, a woman, rather. Lyanna couldn't help but to be distracted from her conversation (which she thought was going rather well) with Nios. There was something familiar in the way the stranger moved, a familiar hue in the molten gold of her eyes. Even the colors in her fur had the wheels in Lyanna's head turning as if the tawny lady was a puzzle to be solved. Such a pretty face, she thought, her tail swaying tentatively.
The woman introduced herself as Vaeta as she drew close to Nios, and the girl watched as he brushed against this Vaeta's fur. A sliver of jealousy beat through her heart. She swallowed with a courteous smile, unable to introduce herself when the striking similarities between the pair standing before her began to come to life. When Nios added on that he and Vaeta were related after introducing Lyanna, she perked up in delighted surprise. "Hello," she seemed to mimic her aunt (unbeknownst to her) with watchful eyes. Without skipping much of a beat she added, "Are you gonna stick around, too? I bet father would be delighted to meet you." Whether or not this would prove true, she didn't know. Mirren was either here or there most days ─ mostly pleasant and sometimes more standoffish, depending on the weather or whether or not he'd slept. "He, uhm, should be around any time now..." She studied the darker markings on Vaeta's face with an open mind.
The path he took home from the borders was a familiar one, now worn down and easily found by anyone who might stumble across it. It seemed like second-nature, now ─ being a father, the kind to come home after a day's work to be with his child. Being a single dad wasn't easy on top of the monumental task of getting through the day without entertaining the notion that Kite was either gone or dead, but Lyanna made the shoes easier to step into. She grew more every day, and was brighter and more full of life than he's ever envisioned. So much like her mother, and she didn't even know it. Mirren very much looked forward to gazing into his daughter's golden eyes at the end of the day, looked forward to plopping down in the grass with her by the brook and listening to her stories about what she did and learned this day or that, or what her theories about the world and life were as told through the eyes of a child.
It was quite the surprise, then, when a scent he knew all too well and yet hadn't expected to find blew through the trees.
Nios had been the biggest part of his life for most of it, and there was no denying that he'd seen better days than the ones without his brother in them. But if anyone knew the value of family and of being grateful for the ones you loved, of forgiveness and fellowship and loyalty, it was Mirren; all things past and present aside, the prospect of finding his brother on his doorstep made him feel light as a feather.
It wasn't until he spotted Lyanna's form through the foliage that the third scent registered in his mind. As his eyes fell upon Vaeta, standing beside @Nios and across from Lyanna, he felt his heart swell. He approached the trio with a lopsided smile, the joy he felt clearly shining from his surprised gaze. "─Nios, Vaeta," he greeted, sweeping to his daughter's side. What a special occasion ─ to have his siblings both in one place, and to be able to share his kid with the both of them for the first time. The feeling could have easily been overwhelming, but after all he'd been through these last few months, his family was exactly what he needed, and he was prepared to give them the welcome they deserved.
"Vaeta, you look stunning. And you─" he inclined his snout to his brother as if to point him out, "─I couldn't be happier to see that weathered face! Let me get a good look at you─" A sight for sore eyes. Delighted, his attention cast to Lyanna, and he placed a kiss upon her crown before preparing to introduce the lot of them, unaware that they were already acquainted. "Lyanna...This is your uncle Nios and aunt Vaeta..."
The girl took in their names, and with an affectionate nudge to his sister once more, the swarthy wolf was about to comment on Mirren – should he reveal they were family to the girl? – when the wolf himself appeared. Despite the time that had passed, Mirren was ever the same – light hearted, amicable and welcoming. The tawny wolf took greatly after their mother – whereareas, the more silent, ebony brother seemed to reflect Ruiko a tad more.
Relief swept over him at the warmth that exuded from the eldest Tainn, and Nios’ tail waved his contentment through the air. A small smile wove upon his features, and withholding a snort at how Mirren crooned over them as if they were pups, the wolf gave his muzzle a light shake. Nothing had changed, even after their time apart.
At the introduction as being the girl’s uncle, Nios cast her a small wink – again, relieved that Mirren did not wish to hide this fact. Thus far, the swarthy male had not been disowned. “You look well, brother,” he offered, settling down to his haunches. “Tell me – what have I missed since I last seen you?” It might have been a delicate question – but Nios was also never one to beat around the bush.
And so, reunited with his family, the Tainn would revel the time spent together on that afternoon.
'cause its home, but it's gone