Riddle Heights Not collecting dust anymore

around Afternoon, casually cruising riddle heights || All welcome

It was weird, to say the least. For the first time since Vespertio had laid claim to a portion of the lake's shoreline, he was not at the helm calling the shots, ensuring the borders were well kept multiple times a day, discussing with Namid the politics of engaging with other packs and what the future may hold for them. Ah, Namid. The thought of his wife had a frown etching itself onto the inky lining of his lips. That was another thing that was weird for the agouti male. For a couple weeks now he was without the constant presence of his lover and mother of his children. His rock when times had been so tough and times so grand. Oh, how he wished he had gone with her in search of their missing children to convince them to return to where they belonged.


But he hadn't and instead, the retired patriarch found himself with more time on his paws than he knew what to do with. He had spent most of the morning tending the borders out of habit, something familiar to his daily routine before venturing away from pack lands to do some exploring he couldn't truly do before when the pack demanded so much from him. Currently, he found himself lumbering along the rocky slopes of the lower portion of the mountain and following the lingering scent of a rabbit that had darted through the mountain shrubbery. He wasn't exactly hungry but now that he had all this free time he figured it was better than nothing to try and hone some of his skills that had grown rusty over time. Hunting is one of them.

One by one, the founding members disappeared. It was her and Greer left, now – and that was something, but…wasn’t it also saying something? First Ember, gone to look for her sister – then Heigen, gone on a patrol – and now Iyes, without a word. It was the last one that hurt the most, for she thought the yearling to be a close friend. Heck, she was even Revon’s auntie. She was… She was…

Gone.

Kyna clenched her jaw, steeling her resolve as she shifted her tracks a little further outside the path of Aurora Heights proper. It wasn’t unheard of the yearling to wander – perhaps she could track the scent of her missing friends. Heigen had been gone longer, but… Well, anything would be a lead, at this point.

But it was not Ember or Heigen or Iyes that the young alpha scented, tracking along the rocky slopes, but a complete stranger. The scent was vaguely familiar, though she couldn’t place it – and she wasn’t about to let it stand so close to her home and her pup. Once the tawny male came into sight, Kyna barked, alerting him as her tail flagged high over her haunches and she halted several lengths away.

“What brings you here, stranger?”

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A wild dissertation appears!

Don't mind grump grump. He's got some shizz to deal with and get use to.

An unexpected bark soon robbed the agouti man's attention from that of the fleeing rabbit, molten gold irises watching the frantic animal dive for its burrow moments before shifting to settling his gaze on the presence of this stranger with their tail hoisted high and mighty while questioning his reasons for paying the heights a day visit. The honey hued pelt drawing forth no familiar memories, but the scent that faintly lingered in his direction held a taste of something that was and warranted the man to think back to when Kajika had returned from the hot springs with a similar scent on his fur after conversing with a dark coated man. Did she belong to the same pack? 

Halting and huffing unamusingly; being separated from the world for so long and being the one in power equally as long he didn't take too well to others domineering over him, his paws shifted themselves to face his company on a slope higher than himself and his shoulders gave a nonchalant shrug. "Just taking a stroll and trying to catch a quick meal." that you scared away -- but he wouldn't add on that tidbit. "Is there a problem?" Vespertio questioned in return, taking a quick glance around before a creamy brow quirked skyward in mock curiosity for he had yet to scent any nearby pack borders and thus believed to still be within neutral bounds.

“Is there?”

Kyna raised a brow at the sizeable male, clearly impatient with her questioning. It was well within her rights; even if he hadn’t crossed over of Aurora Height’s (clearly well-defined) borders, he was still very near her pack, and very near the grounds her father had once ruled, as well. By all means, the entire plateau was hers, really.

But she would not be the aggressor. He would have to be truly stupid to hurt her when her pack was no more than a minute away.

He smelled like pack too, one vaguely familiar, though Kyna had no names or faces to associate with it. “You’re from nearby. Down the slopes, near the lake,” she hummed, tail waving easily over her haunches. Though alpha, she had no need to force it down the stranger’s throat. He hadn’t done anything to deserve that (yet). “Why don’t you give me your name? Are you on pack business, or your own?”

That would certainly change things. She suspected Iyes might have ventured down there at some point, but that didn’t mean any of the wolves would recognize Kyna as the female lead, not when she’d never appeared herself. Kyna’s fiery stare bored into the man, and she waited.

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There was nothing to give Vespertio any inkling as to whose daughter he was currently dealing with considering the woman before him held no striking resemblance to the ivory male that had sired her and once called the heights home as well aside from her eyes maybe and had he been made aware in that moment perhaps his mood would have taken a stroll further down the sour path. His history with his former neighbor anything but pleasant. Alas, the older, tawny man had not made a point of adding troublemaker onto his list of things to do today while taking some personal time away from the pack. That was something reserved for a more youthful wolf which clearly he was not anymore. 


Shrugging a charcoal shoulder his molten gaze met the fiery hue of her own easily while giving a minor shake of his head. "Wasn't my intent to cause any by venturing out this way so I don't see why there would be." He stated bluntly, proving his point by letting his haunches come to rest comfortably against the ground underneath his paws; not because his joints were starting to act up a tad, while russet tinged ears pricked forward when the woman casually mentioned the general whereabouts of his home before asking for a name to call him. "Indeed I am from down the slope. Vespertio Vuesain from Fallen Tree Cove and no, not on pack business." but that didn't mean this conversation couldn't turn into some form of beneficial pack business. 

Fallen Tree Cove.

Okay, good. This was an improvement. Now she had a name for the pack at the bottom of the hill, near the lake. She’d never actually crossed in (of course!), but she hadn’t spoken with any of the wolves who’d taken to the water. Not for lack of wanting to, of course, but given the recent founding and Revon, she’d been rather…busy. She couldn’t even imagine having more than one of them, good grief.

Her tail relaxed by fractions as she hummed quietly. “It is nice to meet you, Vespertio Vuesain. I am Kyna Argyris Archer, of Aurora Heights.” His answer did leave her a bit curious, of course – if not on pack business, why came all the up to the plateau? It wasn’t an easy hike, and surely there were plenty of things to eat around the shores of the lake. All the living things needed water, and theirs were far more plentiful than the stream running nearby. Unless he was simply scouting? To satisfy his own curiosity instead of on orders; but if he was alpha, she supposed that would benefit both, and if he was friends with his alpha, well, the information would probably still be passed on, anyways. “You are a long way up, for just a walk. Do you fancy the cold air?”

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Gradually; but thankfully, the air of tension that originally rose between them from the start of this encounter began to simmer down with each second that passed them by and new knowledge was exchanged for both sides to take home with them once this was all said and done. A small dip of his head, the corner of his inky lips managed to tug back slightly into a small, but friendly nonetheless smile and the tip of his charcoal dusted tail thumped idly against the soil it rested upon. "Pleasure to meet you as well Kyna Argyris Archer." It was another name to add to his collection of names and surnames he had gathered over the years and kept for safekeeping should any ounce of usefulness come from knowing such monikers. The name of this new mountain dwelling pack earning its own spot in an entirely separate mental category. 


Pleasantries out of the way the honey coated woman posed a casual statement followed up with an equally casual question, or so one would be made to think if they weren't wise in the way of word weaving. Even the simplest of questions could reveal much about an individual depending on how they answered and back when his youthfulness was in abundance, Vespertio had been quite skilled in speaking the silver-tongued language. It was how he wooed Athena Moon in the first place. Now? One could say Namid had made him soft

"Yes, I am a tad far from home, but I could use a good long stretch from time to time and nothing pairs with it quite like the fresh mountain air instead of the heavy and thick air that floats below us. I take it you enjoy the same?" Why else would someone as young as herself choose a mountain of all places to settle down on? 

There is a rabbit's nest nearby. +1 Health