Quaking Vale the garden of words

set a few days before askan arrives in otb (so before 12/01). Shitty post but oh well. @Kino
Light snow, late afternoon
Territory Discovery! Name Pending - general location is very south east umbra copse
Though the darkness of Umbra Copse is seemingly archaic, tucked away in its southern reaches it is possible to discover an astonishing change in the density and gloom of the woods. Several hundred years ago a single Populus tremuloides seed took root and the crisp white-barked, shivering tree began to flourish and multiply its root structure into the impressive colony of quaking aspen that it is today. Each tree in the forest is a clone, connected to all the other trees as one single organism—though one wouldn't notice this from the surface. In late autumn this forest turns a brilliant yellow before the wind picks all the leaves clean, leaving a sparkling boneyard of white trees in the snow. The trees grow relatively farther apart from each other than average for Umbra Copse, leaving the place bright and airy such that it is a haven for small critters and herds of deer. NAME PENDING is a welcome respite from the more usual darkness of the Vale—one of its best kept secrets, perhaps.

The world was so white it was breathtaking. Sahalie had never seen tree trunks so bright before: white as snow, white as bone, and she had certainly had not expected to stumble across them here of all places. The dark girl had wandered farther south passed Heiress Loch than she normally would have, which was as painfully obvious as the contrast of her coat against the winter scenery. Motes of light—light! in a place as dark as this forest—danced in the golden afternoon above her head and somehow the girl found herself transported far north, reminded of the awe she felt looking up at the impossibly tall redwoods of Kingsfall. It surprised her that her corner of the world could have places like that, too, even though they were not so vast or even so grand. This forest was much more modest, but in comparison to the cozy blue fog and shadow—because even with all the foliage gone, the clutter of trees meant that their world was still more shaded than other parts of Relic Lore— that stretched for miles north this was like a brilliant gem.

She liked it immediately.

Happily, the girl trotted through the spacious woods and admired the charcoal knots and lines that marked the narrow trunks. They seemed like inverted versions of normal trees: white, instead of dark; sparsely arranged, instead of close. How bizarre! Sahalie greatly appreciated this break from her normal routine of caring for the children and trying not to worry about what her future was. Moving her legs made her feel better, like she was accomplishing something rather than being the passive, inactive lump she had become since Alastor had come back. Somehow, instead of motivating her to work harder, his return had made her complacent. She had just wanted a break from it all and the girl had seized it easily.

(This post was last modified: Apr 19, 2017, 11:05 PM by Sahalie.)

 

Today he had decided to actually venture out of the Red Fern Forest and go in a new direction, the Copse. He wasn’t entirely sure why he’d wanted to go to the stiff, thick place but perhaps it was because it would be a nice break from staying in the same area for as long as he had. The Copse wasn’t somewhere that he frequented and therefore it wasn’t as known to him, which made it all the better. He traversed through the thick foliage, crinkling his nose at the muskiness it emitted. He knew there was likely to be a lot of animals for he could smell them, but they were so effectively hidden that it was increasingly difficult to tell where they were if he did want to catch a meal. Well played, pray. Well played.

As he went, he paused with auds flickering forward in surprise. He’d know the scent that fluttered across him anywhere. But what was she doing out here? A sigh escaped his maw as he knew that he was going to inevitably follow it to make sure she was okay, be her protector like usual because he simply couldn’t help himself. He followed the scent, having more trouble getting through than her small, lithe frame probably did. He managed to squeeze past a pair of trees before he was suddenly met with a grouping of trees quite unlike the rest of the area. They were pale white, covered with dark knots and slashes and extremely skeletal. He looked at them curiously, padding up to one and scratching it its bark, which he found to be surprisingly soft, to check it out further. He gave a snort, the cold causing his nose to drip and he rubbed at it with a paw before turning and venturing further in. There, amongst the tall white trees Sahalie stuck out like a sore thumb. “You know what these are?” he called, looking around them.

"No," she called, not surprised to hear his voice.

As if in response—or because of her voice—the thin trees shook and rattled their branches. Her eyes traveled upwards as she slowly turned around towards Alastor, wondering what the trees were saying or if they had a particular name. She was sure Quentin would have known, because he liked plants, but now she was entirely without a teacher and every day she was forgetting what little she knew about herbal medicine. Giving a definitive shrug, her eyes returned to the ground, landing on her silver friend at last. "But I like 'em."

There was something about him that was bothering her, though, and as she tested the breeze again she realized what it was: the earthy scent of oak leaves was barely traceable on his fur. It was as if he'd just sort of been close enough to the borders to catch a trace of the woodsy scent in his coat like a burr before moving on. Alastor had come back to Relic Lore just over a month ago and the girl had almost taken it for granted that he would be back in the pack that she just had not noticed he did not wear the scent. Usually when they ran into each other they were close enough to the territory, between the crisscrossing scents of her packmates off on the hunt, that it was easy to miss the emptiness of his scent. It just hadn't crossed her mind.

Her mouth fell open. "Are you.....gunna... explain?"

 

”No, but I like ‘em,” was her simple reply and he chuckled, shaking his head. That was definitely a Hal thing to say. She didn’t even really know anything about the trees, for all they knew they could be poisonous or something yet she automatically decided she liked it from what she saw on the outside. In retrospect, maybe he and the trees were a lot alike. He moved forward, inspecting the area even further trying to put the surrounding to memory when a very indignant set of words escaped the girl’s mouth. His brows rose and he turned around to face her, her mouth open and she almost looked...shocked? Hurt? A mixture of both? Either way he was instantly alarmed. What had he done?

“What do you me--” he began, puzzled, then something occurred to him. This was the farthest he’d been from the borders of the Bend since he got back and perhaps he’d been so close with his meetings with the girl that he’d simply been able to blend into the scents. Now he was basically out in the open and he could see that she was not happy about his hesitance. He squirmed under her gaze, turning, unable to meet her eyes. “It’s...complicated okay?” he said. The silver boy knew that would never be sufficient to her, but he might as well try, right?

Somehow Sahalie could barely be mad at anyone but she could be mad with Al. Not that she was truly that mad. In fact, she felt more confused, more mislead. Though she couldn't trace the memory all the way back she had thought she had asked him about coming back to Oak Tree Bend and was pretty sure he made every indication that it was his obvious intention. It didn't make sense for Al to make a loner, nor did it make sense for her—and this was, truly, what made her feel like a fool—not to realize until now. But the girl had seen, had smelled what she wanted. Complicated? Her eyebrows twisted skeptically and her lips were taut as she thought, Yeah, it better be complicated..

Complicated enough to lie to her. Clearly there was something about returning fully to Oak Tree Bend that had made Alastor anxious. She was frustrated that she hadn't noticed, but she had been so busy. He had said nothing. What was there to be nervous about? "Complicated how?" If she were a human there would have been a hand on her hip. There was doubt in her mind that Spieden or Serach would welcome Alastor's homecoming. They might get a little frowny but no one would be cross, not like she was now. Did he really think their leaders were that coldhearted? That they didn't care about him? This made so little sense. That left only one option, one that was even more upsetting. Her heart wavered.

"Is it me?" Her bottom lip trembled a little. She blinked. The trees shook.

 

God, she was all over the place. For a moment he was preparing himself for a scolding, a lot of hot words from a small, eccentric body. Next she was suddenly staring at him with big, wavering eyes and pouty lips and he was feeling his resolve slipping. If there was one thing Kino Lagina could not stand it was causing her pain, and yet they seemed to have an excellent way of doing that to each other. ”You? God, Hal, no. Just...no it’s not you.” Okay it was kind of her, but that wasn’t a topic he wanted to breach. Not yet...probably not ever. She’d made it clear that she wanted nothing to do with romantics, nothing to do with him in that way and if he repulsed her that much then maybe it was for the best. Sometimes wolves were best left just not knowing something.

“I just don’t know how I feel about coming back. Don’t get me wrong I really like it there, honestly I do. It’s better than...before but maybe that’s why. I’ve been gone for so long, when you guys needed me most. What kind of wolf leaves their pack in the middle of winter with five pups to care for who can barely even eat solid food to look for some ghost who they didn’t even end up finding? And what the hell did I even think I’d do when I found her? ‘Hey, listen I know you picked them over me and you might even hate me now but could you maybe come with me? We can totally make things like before our father was murdered, our mom died, and I was thrown out of the pack. Sound good?’ I was so stupid, so maybe I shouldn’t go back.” he raved, his brows pulling together in a mixture of hurt and just plain annoyance at himself. “Someone could have gotten hurt. You could have gotten hurt while I was gone and I wouldn’t have found out until I got back and it was too late.”

There is a deer that was killed by a lynx nearby. +10 Health

@Kino I totally have no idea where I meant for this to go like a MONTH ago so ....bleh

Not her? She was not exactly convinced but she could not exactly remember enough of that night to feel confident. All she could remember was a headache and some very awkward words exchanged between them. The girl let out a sigh of relief, wanting to believe Alastor bad enough that she was willing to let go of the fear.

And just like that she was done with being pouty-sad and she was back to being pouty-frustrated. It seemed like Alastor was letting a whole lot of nothing get to him, and the girl had to wonder where it all came from. Did it come from his past? It wasn't like anyone would have held a cub only months old responsible for anything, or that he would have witnessed them turning members away. Did Alastor even realize how he sounded? The girl inhaled deeply, trying to take another moment to understand before opening her mouth. Her friend was frightened, anxious, and she shouldn't have been so confrontational and accustatory. "Look Al. It happens. Wolves leave, they come back, and we understand. Yeah, it started to snow, but it's hardly winter for real yet. We're all doing fine. There's many of us. Spieden is a chill lady and Serach is a reasonable guy."

"You're gunna need to start trusting other wolves besides me, ya know," she added, tilting her head back to stare at him directly. "A pack is more than just me and you. And we all gotta rely on each other. We're not like the wolves you knew as a pup. We're good wolves. We don't throw out children to survive on their own. It's gunna be fine." Alastor always thought that she was the one that needed protecting, but it was pretty clear now that he was the more damaged of the pair. He needed help just as much as she did. Then, abruptly, as if she was done with the subject, the girl turned around to survey the bright forest.

"Now are you gunna help me name this place or what?"

 

Kino knew what she was saying was logical, he knew that Spieden was a pretty decent wolf and all and that the Bend certainly wasn’t lacking in adults that wanted to lend a paw. But, there was still a part of him that would find a way to blame himself for something. To pin something on himself so that he couldn’t ever be content. "You're gunna need to start trusting other wolves besides me, ya know," she said and he wanted to correct her, to say that there were plenty of wolves that he trusted...but then he would be lying. Truly she was the only one, and he didn’t see what the big deal about that was. But, then again maybe that was the problem.

As soon as the subject was broached it was decidedly cut short with Hal’s swift change of subject and he was forced to bite his cheek. A name for this place, huh? Looking around he attempted to think of something that might fit the area well, something that was unique. Names flew by in his head but none of them seemed to fit. He wasn’t someone to name things anyhow, he wasn’t the creative one in their duo. “Uh, Inside Out Forest?” he said lamely, squinting at the trees. There was just nothing slapping him in the face.

Alastor didn't say anything else and she considered the matter settled. He would be rejoining Oak Tree Bend or she would drag him to the borders, pee all over him, and then let Serach and Spieden acknowledge that he was back in. As for trusting others, Sahalie knew that this topic wasn't settled by a long shot. Alastor would probably need years before he trusted another wolf, and he would never do it as freely as she did. But she hoped he would work at it. Sahalie intended to nag him as much as necessary. Maybe, if one day he led beside her, he would at least grow to trust the wolves underneath him, the ones he brought in or would know since their birth. Sahalie had known practically everyone.

That probably made it easier.

His suggestion made her face scrunch up. "Really?" Insite Out Forest? That was the best he could come up with? She tried not to laugh. "What... What makes it inside out?" The inside of the trees were still inside, she was very sure. She hoped this would not be another argument about whether or was a bird or a frog making some noise. Still, she wasn't going to give up on him, instead trying a different tactic if Alastor could not produce a name out of thin air. "I like the way they shiver. We could try to name it after that...Like. Shivering... Shaking..."