Pitch Pine Trail anther

@Aponi

NOVA
a dawn in me a dawn in you

Home. She breathed deeply to fill her lungs, giving a thoughtful hum from her disfigured throat, followed by a sigh from her blemished maw. Nova could smell it in the perfume of the pine needles that littered the damp soil, just as she could feel it in the unmistakable energy that hummed all around her that set her hairs on end as if electrified. In the scant light of the early evening, she could see fireflies dancing between the trees, adding an ethereal luminance to the fen. There was an essence to the Lore that she had taken for granted having been born and raised within it's domain, but had sorely missed in the past several moons.

She would miss the Oak, but she knew it was time for her to leave. A fortnight ago she had seen the sign herself, a shooting star arching a languid path across the night sky, leaving a tail of white light as it streaked towards the western horizon. After speaking with her sisters, they had agreed with her choice. The goddess was calling her there, for what purpose she did not know, but it would be foolish to ignore such a summons.

Though she hadn't intended to, her paws lead her up the small incline to a secluded rocky den. It was empty and overgrown, and for anyone else it might have simply melded into the background as little more than a mirage. But Nova recognized it at once, the den where she and Camio had once carved out a life, where Nalda had taken her first breaths and walked her first steps. Nova clenched her teeth, the muscles of her jaw aching. It wasn't quite a happy memory, not anymore. It was like a dream now, a memory from a past life.

(This post was last modified: Sep 26, 2016, 05:32 AM by Nova.)

I love that you actually used mirage xD

It was by far the longest trip she had taken outside of the Bend since Lila's birth. Leaving early at dawn Aponi's legs had needed a stretch and then her paws had not wanted to stop, carrying her further and further from the borders. The woman would be sure to bring back some kind of prey or perhaps some herbs to make the trip worthwhile and had no concerns about the pup. She was old enough now that she no longer needed milk to feed and they slept within the communal den, she would have plenty of wolves around.

Instead the Aquila revelled in her regained freedom, easily falling back into the quick trot that had carried her so many miles over the last three years. Testing herself at times when she could in gaps in the trees, sprinting until she couldn't. She stopped rarely throughout the day besides for water or to relieve herself far too soon she knew she would need to turn around and return. It wasn't that Aponi didn't love her daughters or the responsibility of being second it was that she sometimes woke within the night craving the days she needed to offer no explanation for being gone from dawn to dusk.

So when a scent reached her that was so familiar yet so foreign at the same time the she wolf didn't think twice about increasing her speed to investigate. Which was exactly how she now stood, icy blue eyes watching the form of what had once been her sister. Taking a single step forward gaze focused on the scars that riddled her face and throat Aponi broke the silence, "Nova."

NOVA
a dawn in me a dawn in you

The skin along Nova's back prickled, her head lifting just as she heard a voice call her name from behind her. Nova moved slowly, long limbs carefully rearranged beneath her as she turned. Nova stared for a few moments, her cadmium yellow gaze flicking over the silver wolf that had appeared. Her eyes rested the figure's form in a fleeting moment of doubt, wondering if her eyes were deceiving her, but those cold blue eyes were unforgettable.

Of all the wolves she could have come across upon her return, she would never have expected it to be Aponi. Nova knew it couldn't have been simple chance that brought them together now. "Aponi..." She murmured, a sort of dark feeling welling up in her chest, thick and acrid like pitch sap.  The last time she had seen that face, it had been twisted sour by hate and fury. A bridge had been burned that day, its ruins crumbled and decayed in the two years that had since passed. They had both been yearlings then, children, practically. Nova remembered having thought herself so very grown up at the time, with Camio at her side, inseparable, she felt like they could have taken on the world. Of course, nothing was ever so easy, nor that simple.

At the very least, Aponi seemed more or less healthy and whole, and had apparently not drifted far from the last place she had seen her. "I see you are well. Do you... still live here, in the Vale? I am just passing through." Nova said formally, a painfully neutral expression settling stiffly onto her features in an attempt to keep old emotions under check. Aponi could very well be a different woman now.

(This post was last modified: Sep 26, 2016, 06:58 AM by Nova.)

Her sister turned in slow motion as if everything around them had paused or she had just woken up from a long dream. The blue eyes scanned over the scars once more as they came into her full view and the silver brow furrowed in response. Nova had not been in her life in a long time, their history twisted with hate and jealousy but the thought that someone had done that to her was infuriating. Perhaps it was her daughters at home or becoming a mother but she felt protective over the wolf in front of her in a way she never had before.

The words were formal and the face kept perfectly neutral and so the silver woman raised her head slightly, questions written all over her expression. "I joined a pack  north of here at the end of last winter. And you, where are you passing to?" The tone matched what had been said previous, formal and neutral despite how Aponi's face may have looked. Unable to stop herself the mother's paws moved on their own accord taking a few steps forward until she was less than a wolf length away.

The furrow in the Aquila's brow only deepened the closer she got. Unable to hold the question back any longer she spoke, "Nova who did this to you?" Finally the emotions cracked through, a confusing mixture of anger and maternal protectiveness as well as a deep wariness and the weight of all the years that had passed since they last spoke.

There are several fresh rabbit tracks in the mud. Hunt Opportunity

NOVA
a dawn in me a dawn in you

Nova listened politely as Aponi gave the unembellished, nutshell version of where she had been in the past two years, in turn asking where Nova was headed.

"I'm... not sure." Nova replied, a small smile settling onto her lips. There was no destination, and for all Nova knew there would be no ending point. She would travel as long as she needed to, stop when she knew she had to, like a dandelion seed on the wind. "Wherever the goddess guides me, I suppose."

Nova blinked, unsure at first as Aponi drew closer. Was that genuine concern? She wondered if she should pinch herself and see if this would all dissolve into a surreal dream. Perhaps this really wasn't the same sister dearest she had known all those years ago.

She felt a hot flash of shame course through her as she tried to think of how to answer. They were the marks of a liar, a punishment that she had deserved. She could have died, but she hadn't. If it wasn't for the whim of the goddess, the sisters might not have come across her as she waited for death. It was to them Nova owed her life.

Nova shook her head dismissively, as if she had been asked about a scratch or a stubbed toe. Aponi needn't worry herself. "He's gone now."

The brows that had been creased down low over the icy blue eyes shot up at the mention of some goddess. What the fuck kind of situation had her sister gotten herself wrapped up in now? Always so easily swayed by the words and wishes of others, first mother and then that mate of hers and now some goddess apparently. Sighing and shaking her head slightly Aponi could see clearly that despite her altered appearance Nova hadn't changed. "Nova you're talking nonsense. What goddess? Where did he go? What was his name? Why did he do that to you?" The tone was pressing, but the eyes were much softer than anyway she had looked at her littermate in the past.

Family had never meant much to the Aquila as a child but now the nagging thoughts of Kyna and Lila pulled at her mind. Sisters meant a whole different thing when that's all you had than when yoy had two daughters of your own.  Frowning slightly Aponi stared Nova dead in the face, "Whatever you've gotten yourself into I can help you. I...I have wolves I think you should meet, daughters." The last word was accompanied with the smallest of smiles pulling at the corner of her mouth, but the eyes remained planted and serious. Whatever it was Nova had gotten into this time she would get her out.

NOVA
a dawn in me a dawn in you

Nova's ears folded slightly as Aponi quickly dismissed her belief. Clearly she did not view the goddess the same way that Nova did. It wasn't nonsense, not to her. It was something she breathed and felt, and had truly seen, and she couldn't expect Aponi to carry the same views. She could only feel sorry that Aponi had not yet seen the way.

Nova shook her head, giving a small laugh. "I'm fine, I don't need help." She had already gotten all the help she'd needed, "Don't you see? I might not look it, but I am healed now, inside and out." Nova assured her earnestly. "It's by the goddess's will that I am here today." It was obvious that she was ignoring the questions that probed at her attacker's identity. She was still too ashamed to admit much, and once one detail was out the rest would follow. It was safer to keep it close to her heart. While Aponi was putting on a great show of concern, Nova wasn't ready to trust her. Though her kin seemed to have changed, it was still too soon to tell whether or not it was a facade, whether or not there was an ulterior motive.

She sighed. "What has passed is too long a story, it's behind me now." She said, quickly changing the subject, "Your daughters, I would love to meet them. How old are they?" She said with a sort of bittersweet expression, reminded of her own Nalda.

One more post for you and then I can fade out and we can start one with the four of them?

The look of disbelief only grew on the silver woman's face as her sister continued to spout on about the goddess and how she had healed her. Maw held open slightly as a single brow lifted in a silent question, apprehension clear on Aponi's expression. So Nova had spent the last two years getting tangled up in some kind of cult then. All of her questions had been ignored which made the mother even more suspicious of exactly what had happened, "And did this someone who is gone now attack you as some kind of test for this goddess? Did you need to be mauled in order to be allowed to heal? Nova this is crazy." A lot had changed about the Aquila but her stubbornness once she had made her mind up certainly wasn't one of them.

Aponi knew the ways of the wolf; you lived or you died, you won or you lost, you ate or you starved. There was no goddess or divine interaction in that besides mother nature and her cruel games that she sometimes played. The way that she saw it was that mother nature certainly wasn't a goddess, more a demon if she was anything really.

Shaking her head slightly she tried to clear her mind of everything Nova had said about whatever craziness she had convinced herself was true this time. "Kyna is a yearling now, Lila is only a few months old," pausing for a moment a slightly bemused expression danced across her features, "Actually Lila looks a lot like you, you'll see." Her daughter wasn't anymore barrel chested or lanky than a normal pup but their pelts were almost identical now that Aponi saw Nova. Turning the mother took a few steps out of the clearing, pausing only to see if the other woman would follow.

NOVA
a dawn in me a dawn in you

It was Nova's turn for her face to twist in disbelief. Never would her Sisters have harmed her in such a way, it was almost unthinkable. Nova stared hard at Aponi, almost wondering if the woman were joking but seeing clearly that she was seriously concerned for her sanity. "No! Of course not," Nova shook her head strongly, trying to dispel the understanding.

But she couldn't explain. Aponi was so quick to jump to conclusions, she had a feeling that trying to explain the coven, or the situation that lead her there, wouldn't go over too well. Not only that, but it was an embarrassing tale. She had no choice but to leave out the less-than-noble details, the deception, the intricate lies that had nearly gotten her killed.

"The Sisters had nothing to do with it, but they were there for me when no one else was." Nova said with a small huff. She leaned apprehensively from one paw to the other. The Aponi of today seemed different from the one of her childhood, but Nova hadn't yet forgotten the mercurial, hair trigger girl that she had grown up with. Perhaps Aponi would prove her wrong, but until then Nova held her cards close to her chest.

Instead Nova smiled, the expression uncomfortably pulling the scars on her face. Kyna was Nalda's age, she had to wonder if perhaps they had crossed paths already. "Does your family live nearby here?" She asked