Underground Sea the river's just a river

For @Takis -- Partly cloud, 45F

THERE IS A CASTLE ON A CLOUD

Her daily quests continued, and yet no progress had been made.  If there had once been a trace of Aponi left on the mountain, it was long gone, washed clean by cold rains and swept away by the eastern winds.  She was as dead to the forests of Relic Lore as Aesire was, and her daughter was forced to face this reality with dimming hope.  That her mother was somewhere off the mountain was a distinct possibility, but she’d gone where the cub could not yet ravel – she was a mystery waiting to be unraveled, but Kyna had yet to gather all the clues.  In the past few days, she’d either stayed among Silent Moon Plateau, keeping to herself between feeding and sleeping, or taking off on short ventures just outside her father’s realm.  This day was not terribly different – between the recent rain showers and the overcast weather, the young girl had little desire to venture too far, should the weather shift suddenly again.  Adventurous as she was, she was still a bit of a princess at heart, and cared very little for getting wet and muddy.

For this reason, she remained among the Riddle Heights, opting to go in a different direction than her usual habits.  It led her down the hill a bit, over some rocks, and after an hour or two of rummaging around damp soil and over cobble, she came to the mouth of a cavern.  It was much larger than the special tree she’d found on the other side of the decline, and seemed considerably less dry.  Still, she could hear some sort of rushing on the inside, however faint, and the girl found herself drawn forward into the wide, gaping mouth, and down into the earth.

The cave was dimly lit, so Kyna trod carefully, one paw in front of the other as she slowly made her way further into the earth.  It was an amazing experience, and briefly she found herself wishing she’d asked @Wren to come along with her, or that she could call @Greer to come and see the strange, silent place.  It was so quiet, every little drop of water bounced and echoed off the stone walls – a wolf could hear themselves think in a place like this.  She heard the soft woosh again and cupped her ears, agouti head lifting as she tried to source it.  Each sound bounced in several places, leaving the pup puzzled and directionless.

“Hello?”

(This post was last modified: Oct 20, 2015, 09:58 PM by Kyna.)

A wild dissertation appears!

Takis wasn’t keen on wandering too far just yet – he needed to find Celandine and mend the broken bridge that he had allowed to crumble between them. His sister was thin – sickly looking, almost, and it was hard for the ivory wolf to not point the finger of accusation at his father. Celandine’s ambitions had fallen the moment Aponi had announced her devious news, and the yearling assumed one very final thing: Aponi had lured their father with the desire to raise to power.

 

What was not clear to him, was how he would have felt if the union between his father and another would have been one of love, rather than convenience. His mother had been his father’s mate – and he had heard over time that Phineas’ life before Relic Lore had also been with another she-wolf. But now? Phineas had never looked to another woman the way he had Borlla from what Takis could see – and so he was uncertain what to make of the pup that had been born out of opportunity for a conniving woman, rather than a union of love.

 

But he would not be able to judge until he met the girl. Celandine no doubt hated her – and by this fact alone, the Argyris should have avoided her. But he had his own curiosity to quell.. and while he was still angry with his father, especially after the man relinquished his title, he still loved the man.

 

So when he caught scent of the little imp that had unknowingly stirred so much trouble in his family, the young wolf loped forward, a scowl crossing his eyes as he realized she had gone in to a cavern of sorts. Ducking forward, the large wolf paused, hearing the tiny voice offer a hesitant greeting, though he had yet to make a sound. His mouth remained firmly shut, his eyes blinking as they adjusted to the light. One heavy paw lifted forward to move closer when it touched a pebble, causing an echoing scrape along the solid floor. Not wishing to scare, the Argyris swung his muzzle lower. “Hello,” he offered back, pausing as he waited for a response.

(This post was last modified: Oct 28, 2015, 11:05 AM by Takis.)

THERE IS A CASTLE ON A CLOUD

For a moment, the princess simply stood and leaned forward, not sure if she wanted to go any further into the cavern.  The whooshing sounds seemed to continue from further in, her greeting echoing across the walls until all of the sudden, the cave answered her heralding with one of its own.  Kyna startled, orange eyes growing wider as her ears swiveled about her head, struggling to detect from where the sound had originated as the waves bounced back and forth from the earthen walls.  She knew well that the ground couldn’t talk, but the sounds had seemed so far away.  It took a few moments of processing for the girl to reason the voice could have come from the opposite side of the cave, the opening from which she’d entered.  Glancing over her shoulder, she realized there was a silhouette of a wolf staring back at her.

The girl swallowed hard, tail dropping between her hocks as she turned to face the other wolf, blinking a few times as she tried to distinguish them from the shadows.  Eventually, the white pelt became evident, and she realized this was the wolf she’d mistaken for her father at Silent Moon Plateau’s most recent meeting – the meeting where he’d relinquished his role as alpha.  Ears swung out to the side at the memory, the girl sinking a little further to the ground as she waited for this packmate to approach.

“Hello,” she whispered again, actually greeting someone this time.  “I was just…following the sounds,” she tried to explain. “It was whispering.”

(This post was last modified: Nov 05, 2015, 09:21 PM by Kyna.)

A wild dissertation appears!

Despite his efforts, the girl was obviously frightened – and so the wolf remained still, until his form would try to slide lower, as if that could appease her fright. His bright eyes studied her quietly, understanding that she now, at least understood that he was not their father.  Takis’ own thoughts dismissed the current antics Phineas had played at, withholding his judgement for now.. especially as he did not even know who Erebos truly was. If anything, it spurred him even more to track Celandine down and try to pull her from her evasive nature – the two needed to fix a few things around here.

“I see,” he noted, dismissing the consideration of asking what she meant by whispering sounds. A child’s imagination, no doubt. “I’m Takis,” he offered, withholding any form of tagging on an ending such as ’your brother,’ or ’Phineas’ son,’ if only because he did not wish to answer questions he was not quite ready to face.

Such as, whether or not he considered this rather fragile creature before him to be of kin – and if he did, how Celandine would react to it.

His only other sisters were both gone now – Evy, so unknown adventures, and Hypatia, who had left shortly after the news of Aponi’s pregnancy. What would @Evy have made of the entire situation?

THERE IS A CASTLE ON A CLOUD

Ears flipped backwards as a soft snort echoed from her wet nose, not unaware of the adult’s dismissal.  It was not the first time, after all, that a grown wolf had overlooked the wallflower, and it would certainly not be the last.  The incident was only catalogued in her memory alongside the white wolf’s face as she inclined her head, all indication of her suspicion vacant from her guarded expression.  “Takis,” she repeated, associating the name to the face so very similar to her father’s own, with the snowy pelt and sunset eyes the Argyris clan bore proudly.

Not her.

“My name is Kyna,” the once princess introduced herself, ears flat out to the sides as she weaved her head tither and fro.  He offered little information, this one, and the blond found she did not like that.  Brows furrowed ever so slightly as she tipped her head, one ear shifting forward as she tried to study the familiar yearling.  “Why are you here?”

It clearly wasn’t for the sounds, or he wouldn’t have been so quick to dismiss her own curiosity.  If he was here on an errand for her father, sent after the wandering child, she assumed the wolf that smelled so much of open sky would have said so by now.  Takis remained a mystery – ot was good Kyna liked mysteries, or perhaps she’d start to grow impatient with the silent judgment.

(This post was last modified: Nov 27, 2015, 10:24 PM by Kyna.)

A wild dissertation appears!

She introduced herself – but he already knew her name. Yet the way his name rolled from her tongue and the lack of recognition that did not flit across her face, it would seem as if his father had not even mentioned the name of his only surviving son to his youngest daughter.

Takis wasn’t quite sure what that was a sign of, but it surely felt like an insult.

She questioned his presence, and the large yearling gave a gentle shrug, his eyes drifting from the child to study the walls. He had never been here – but then again, caves and the like had never interested him. “I wanted to make sure you were okay,” he offered then, leaving out the part that she was not yet a year and wandering outside of pack territory. He had only just met her – was it in his place to lecture such an act?

“Do you come here often?” It was an attempt to lull her in to conversation, but perhaps a poor one. The mere fact that the same blood ran between the two wolves seemed an oddity to him, and as his bright pumpkin eyes drifted back to her, Takis found he could not see an ounce of Aponi within her, despite the fact that the woman was her mother. The girl was Argyris – of that he was certain.

And because of that, she was indeed family.

“Oh.”

That had come as a surprise. Generally, her father was the only one to check on things such as her welfare with Aponi gone. Her uncle might if she asked him, but the wallflower had little interest in requesting any sort of assistance from anybody if she could absolutely avoid it. The feeling of owing something to another wolf was utterly detestable, she thought, and truly had no desire to be bound to anyone outside of her own choosing. At the moment, that tiny group included Phineas and steadfast friend, Wren.

So the declaration was met with some degree of confusion before she shrugged off, not yet so worldly to forge a lie. “I’m okay,” she assured the adult. “Just looking around. Never seen…one of these before.”

And she’d heard such strange sounds, but @Takis had seemed completely uninterested the first time she mentioned them. Never one to press a subject, she instead gave him a once over, finding the silence to be suffocating rather than a companionable one. “Would you like to look with me? I think there’s something inside.” Perhaps between the two of them, there’d be able to flush something interesting out of the tunnel. Perhaps Phineas would like it!

A wild dissertation appears!

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

She seemed surprised – and Takis found himself amused by that. Young, she was still finding her place in the world.. and, he realized, even after a year.. so was he. So as he looked over the girl his father had determined his own prodigy, Takis gave a gentle shrug to her mumbled ‘oh,’ not truly commenting any further. Evy had always tried to round he and Celandine up and keep careful watch over them – it hadn’t done her much good. Takis, in turn, had tried to do so with Celandine, though only after Borlla had left and she had become more withdrawn to herself.

Now, as he looked upon his pale sister, she seemed like a completely different wolf than when he had left.. and he did not like it. Conversing with her was still a priority, but when Kyna invited him to stay for the moment and explore, the yearling found himself pausing, feeling as if he should excuse himself.

Celandine would be displeased if he spent time with Aponi’s daughter – but a part of him knew, deep within that his littermate knew he had returned.. and she also had not sought him out, either. What further harm could occur between their relationship?

Nodding his ascent, the larger wolf slipped in closer, his gaze drifting upward to the cavern walls. “I haven’t explored many places like this, either,” he confessed, his eyes drifting back down to the girl.