Whitestone Monadnock frankincense

takes place on 1/7 (since their join was technically 1/3) @Kino other WM people are welcome but definitely @Craw

Four gifts, four days.

Sahalie sighed as she dropped the final hare on the round stone she had been instructed to. She had, of course, always done her duty as an member of the Bend, but she had never been forced to hunt so often, with so little luck, in middle of a blizzard. Spectral Woods, though dark and eerie to some, held a wealth of wildlife in all its nooks and cranies even in the dead of the winter. Sahalie could only look around at this desolate, unbroken wasteland of snow on the tundra and feel lost, not knowing the secrets or the tricks for the places creatures might hide or how to get them out from under the endless depths of snow. In spite of everything she had managed her gifts: mostly snowshoe hares except for the worst day of the storm when the girl had managed only a lemming—which she considered to be a very odd, round creature.

In the last four days there had been no Whitestone wolves, but every morning when Sahalie and Alastor returned to the stone their previous gifts were gone. The scent was everywhere: dirt and mud. Somewhere, unseen, Sahalie knew the wolves lurked, though she assumed today they were probably holed up warm in their dens. Her eyes scaled the impenetrable rock fortress, wondering if it even was warm up there, exposed to the ferocious breeze like the mountainside of Serpent's Pass so far behind her. But Sahalie had come too far to let her anxieties discourage her.

"You ready?" she mumbled, finally turning to Alastor.

 @Morganna @Craw @Wraith

 

Kino couldn’t exactly tell how things were between him and his dark friend. After their little falling out they had sort of seemed to resume business as usual and he was glad for it. They’d gone out each day and had to put in a little extra work each to catch food not only for themselves but for the Monadnock. Quite frankly it was a little annoying, but they needed a new place to stay and Hal needed to be with Spieden so they continued anyways. It seemed Craw had been telling the truth about the collections being taken everyday, and promptly at that, because they were always gone when they went back to the strange drop off location.

Finally, they dropped off their final offerings then set up camp to wait. He didn’t know how long it would take for the man to show up, but he quietly hoped it wouldn’t take too long. The sooner this was over, the better. Silver auds swiveled toward his friend as she spoke and he nodded, offering her a reassuring grin to try and calm her tense posture. He was surprised that she seemed more nervous than he did, but of course he thought he understood why.

A fierce wind blasted their scent into Wraith's face on top the Monadnock. Having been pre-warned of their presence and potential joining, the male didn't feel the need to flag his tail high and snarl as strangers became visible on the outer edge of their territory in the lowlands. But he still curled his lip with annoyance. He'd only been back a day and still hadn't grown used to all the new scents and wolves in his home. To have more coming left him feeling itchy and antsy. At the very least, he intended to meet them before they came to the heart of the territory. Throwing out a warning chuff to his Alphas, Wraith raced down the steep slopes of the Monadnock with a reckless speed not many others tried. Though he'd been away, his paws had not forgotten his well chosen path and had been up and down enough since his return to have evaluated the strength of each paw-hold. The brute thundered across the lowlands, muscles warming from the exertion to battle away any cold. He slowed as he drew nearer, though his tail lifted over his back. He wasn't Craw but he was curious how they would react to the rank of a wolf they'd not met. Coming to stand in front of them, his amber gaze swept over them. For all his standards, they appeared strong, capable, and... Wraith frowned, dark ears pinning forward as his nose twitched. Recognition came slowly, for she'd been but a pup when last he saw her. "Sahalie?"

Burtn @DA & Dawnthieves.de

I’m where you wanna be

Morganna Archer

It had taken all her limited self control to not race out onto the tundra and drag Sahalie home just as she had done with Spieden, but Craw was right. She couldn't just go soft and open up the doors to anyone, especially given the season. Still, her lips were pulled in a frown as she considered the implications of this latest development in a land far away and very much what she considered as long past. Peach eyes watched as the small silver and black dots moved closer, musings put aside for now. She didn't want them sitting there freezing their tails off for too long.

But it would seem she wasn't the only one to notice, @Wraith's alert falling on her hears before the scrambling of paws announced his departure. She smiled and set out on his far more hasty trail, taking her time to carefully place paws in the well-worn tracks, mindful of any concealed cracks or ice that could send her plummeting to her death. When finally the earth began to level out she allowed her tail to wave in an easy greeting, bringing herself alongside the dark second with a teasing shove to his shoulder. "So we didn' scare yer off then?" Her words were spoken in good humor, a small smile playing at the corner of her lips as she looked over @Sahalie and her friend.

@Craw feel free to join in whenever but I suppose for now I'll just start a new round and @Kino you can choose to either go or wait for siki /shrug

It was hard to tell if Alastor was as nervous as she was, and it was also hard not to return his smile when she saw it. Her ears flapped up and down quickly. She thought about asking if there gifts would be enough. The rabbits from the first day had been given a cursory pre-approval, but Sahalie worried there were some sort of secret standards that they would be held to, another test. Were the gifts supposed to be all different kinds of things? Were they supposed to appreciate in value over the successive days? What if they wanted the herbs dried, dead, and buried under layers and weeks of snowstorms? But she just had to hope that all her efforts had been enough, that even though things were different they didn't have to be scary or too hard for her.

Squinting up into the sun made it difficult to tell, but the girl thought that she could see a shape descending from the monadnock. As it neared and fell into patches of shade, her stomach did a little flip: the wolf was black, not white. It was not Craw coming for them, and so Sahalie did not know what it meant.

Before she could allow herself to get too worked up about the unexpected black wolf they were nearly upon her, tail raised and... it was Wraith? It was a face she had not seen she was a much smaller cub than she was now, but he was unmistakeable. "You're here too?" she sputtered. Sven had mentioned Willow Ridge breaking apart, but the girl had never really wondered who or how many would have left with Morganna. Wraith had been close to her, for sure—

And then the woman herself appeared. Everything about Morganna was casual. Sahalie had to wonder how long the woman had waited for them. Her head shook slightly, still a little overwhelmed by the nerves and a host of confusing emotions. She remembered how frustrated Sven was about Willow Ridge, about the things that had happened with Morganna. She had just left the willows. Just left. But what made her own situation any different from Morganna's? Sahalie had abandoned Oak Tree Bend for less, perhaps, not even fleeing a "bad crazy" uncle. Her head turned to Alastor, hoping to offer an explanation. "This is Morganna, Al. And Wraith. I met them when I went over the mountains last winter." But that would have been before he had joined Oak Tree Bend. "It's been so long," her smile turned back to them, though inside she still felt so conflicted.

And that was when she remembered that she had forgotten to tell Sven.

Eep sorry. Didn't mean to keep you guys waiting.

As promised he had made sure their offerings were collected, and in fact had taken on the task himself. That wasn't unusual, particularly when it involved loners he had personally given the task to, because he liked a little first-hand evidence of whether or not they would live up to their promises. Given how free and easy the Alastor boy had been with his promises, this was made even more interesting, and Craw was glad to see two distinct leavings of meat each day.

Only meat. Even @Saradathia, their prospective hunter, had chosen to leave a stick for variety, but in this instance Craw could not complain. With how many hunting and scavenging trips were coming back short, he appreciated the free food, and made sure to take each of their gifts back up into the heart of the territory so that the others could help fill their bellies a little easier. They'd completed the task as required, and his pack appreciated the meat, so he wouldn't mark them down for being uninspired.

He had been preparing to go down and wait for them when their scent arrived on the wind, and Wraith sped off after an alerting chuff, his enthusiasm unexpected. Morganna's reaction was less so; once he had realised that Sahalie was someone that she knew, Craw had been glad that he had been the one to meet them four days ago, otherwise he was quite certain that their no-exceptions joining rule, which had already been bent for Spieden, would've been broken some more.

Watching his mate follow after Wraith fondly, comfortable in knowing that the pair of young wolves would be well-attended, Craw finished teasing out the ache in his jaw by chewing on his stick for a few more heartbeats before jumping down off his rock and lumbering down the goat track after his packmates. He watched the congregation as he steadily approached it, watched as Wraith marched up to them, tail high, as Morganna fell in beside him easily, and though he was too far away to hear their words or tones of voice, Craw could see from their postures that they were both at ease.

His own eyes fell upon the second pair of hares once he was close enough, coming to stand loosely on Morganna's other side, for while his packmates were clearly predisposed to introductions and 'isn't this a small-world'ing, he found it rather more important to make sure that they'd done as they were asked. And so they had. Tail curling leisurely over his back, the spider said nothing but for a soft rumble of acknowledgement in the pair's direction, inclining his head to them in greeting.

This was all formality now; they'd spent the last five days catching food for wolves other than themselves, and had turned up here with clear expectations on both sides. The only way in which they were not already Whitestone wolves was the lack of pack scent in their pelts.

OOC: @Wraith you're up!

Kino wasn't surprised in the slightest to find that the wolves who joined them knew Hal. It seemed that everyone in the land knew her. No, he was more curious as to when it was that she had meandered her way this far up north. Of course it could have been during those few months that he was gone. Certainly it was probably then. But, the other issue he was facing was that he was feeling very much like a fish out of water. Weren't there any other pale wolves in this pack? Of course it was only 2 out of 3 that had been darkly colored but it still seemed that the odds were against him.

He stayed back and was quiet, offering respectful dips of his head at each arrival. None of them really seemed to be paying attention to him anyhow. Hal explained when she had met the wolves and he was surprised to find that it was before they'd met. It seemed like that had been forever ago. When the pale form of Craw crossing the planes came into view his auds perked a fraction but that was all. He allowed a dip of his head to him as well as he arrived, topaz gaze traveling around wondering what was to come next. More tests, or would they finally be allowed entry?

Skipping Wraith with permission. Up to you guys if you want to fade here and go to another thread or keep going on this one.

You're here too? The question was met with a smile from Morganna, for where else would @Wraith be? She wondered who else among their ranks Sahalie might know, "M' brother @Greer came with us too, an' Capable," Although she wasn't sure Sahalie would know of the red woman. The familiar sound of @Craw's approach was met with an increase to the wave of her tail, "An' o'course yer already met Craw." She moved in closer to mark the yearlings with pack scent, the action itself speaking more than words as to how they had done in their task. She would move back to allow Craw to do the same if he so wished before gesturing towards the Monadnock and addressing @Sahalie again.

"I suppose yer'll want ter check on Spieden an' the kids? I might have a job fer yer once yer've rested up." It was only an offer and if the girl didn't want it then she would send Greer with one of the white sisters for company, but the Tainn girl knew the the way as well as anyone else and she might have her own errands to run on the way. Her lip quirked in a tug of a frown as she lowered her voice a little, "@Sven's mother is 'ere too." She couldn't know Piety had already spoken to the boy in the weeks before she turned up on their doorstep.

Craw appeared, at last. He was the wolf she was waiting to see. Morganna, Sahalie knew, would always treat her favorably: there was a softness in her heart. But Sahalie was realizing now that she had not wanted this to be easy. Simply by being a Tainn the girl had been given everything, she had wanted for nothing save for her pack to thrive, everything had fallen into place for her. Travelling with Alastor, though, had brought her face to face with the self-centered, sheltered reality of her childhood. Sahalie needed to know that she was good enough in her own merits as opposed to the puppyish guile that had wound herself around everyone's paw. Craw was not so swayed by her. She liked that.

He gave a simple nod and she was relieved.

Maybe it shouldn't have been such a surprise that Greer had left Willow Ridge, too. The boy had flirted with the idea of leaving before. He had said what his family wanted was not good for him. Was this place, Whitestone Monadnock, was it better? How many wolves were left in the ridge? There were some other names, like Capable, Craw, that were vaguely unfamiliar, and Spieden of course, but the final name made her eyes bulge. His mother? Sahalie almost swore. Was she truly awake right now? There were so many questions. Her mouth moved.

"A-alright," the girl stepped forward, motioning with her tail for Alastor to come with her, to stay close to her. 

This was her new life now. For better or for worse.


-fade-