Quaking Vale Maybe tonight I'll call ya

wait for me to come home

Morganna Archer

Morganna had every expectation that her children would travel up from the south and find the rise, but then again, they were just children, and if they happened to pop up on the eastern side... Well, that could be problematic. She wasn't familiar with the area and while she trusted her signs were clear enough, reinforced by those that Renier might leave as well... But she was used to the best-laid plans turning to shit, so she headed to the east just in case. The snow was beginning to fall in varying degrees and if they didn't turn up soon they might very well end up stranded before ever reaching the lore.

It was on the third day across the heights that familiar scents began to cross her path, the well-faded scent of a wolf she had counted among her own for a while, along with the more dominant scent of family, and her heart made an uncomfortable lurch in her chest. While she knew full well where she stood with Ravenna, her agemate brother was another matter. Her head tipped back to call for @Niles, to see if he might answer. She actually held her breath as ears turned for any sign of an answer. One, two, three...

NILES ARCHER LYALL

Since Castel's sudden collapse, Niles had been wary. He had also been much too scared to leave his mate's side. So, when a call came up in the notes of his name, his jaw quivered and he laid curled tightly around @Castel's small form. His colorless eyes fell down to where she was cradled against his belly, framed between his willowy legs. She always seemed much more fragile, vulnerable this way. He supposed most wolves were in the depths of slumber, but with his love it always felt like she was much more delicate... brittle, maybe, now that he knew about her genetic condition - about how she had been weak to begin with, but stronger than the rest of her littermates.

For several moments - as @Morganna counted the seconds in silence - Niles willed himself to get up from his spot. One by one, he lifted his limbs so that he could stand, watching as Castel settled on the ground wherever he had been before. He stared out at the snow. It seemed as thought it had come much earlier than anticipated this year, but without a firm grasp on time, he was unsure if the hunch was true. His shoulders drooped and he placed the softest of kisses on his Cassie's crown, promising that he would come back as soon as he was able. In the meantime, though - he ground his molars together as he crept away to stand a full wolf's length away from her - he had to trust that she would be all right. She needed the rest after all and he was 80% certain that she would remain this way until his return.

With a black ear rotating to the west, the Lyall sighed to himself before setting out into the snowfall. For a while he searched through the backdrop of spindly trees and dying yellow-brown leaves, instincts and senses on high alert until her scent came to his nostrils. It curled in his nose, pulling from the darkest corners of his mind the few memories he had of his childhood. A twitchy smile tugged on the corners of his mouth and his tail shakily lifted from its place at his heels.

A hopeful woof emitted from him as he stopped, his heart pounding in his chest. If anything, his sister would know what to do... Maybe it had been Fate, for Morganna to come calling at his borders. His prayers answered at last.

He let out an eager whimper as he stepped forward, still unable to see or find his sister.

all you have is your fire

we can say goodbye, just head home, but if we're going to be alone
Chimera is currently traveling with Niles and may hop into this IC thread!

wait for me to come home

Morganna Archer

Of course, Morganna had needed to breathe in the time it took her brother to travel from where he had been resting, else she might have passed out. Instead, her breaths were shallow, paws rooted in the snow as she scanned the strange striped trunks for any sign of movement. Finally, the bark told her all she needed to know, crossing the invisible line with her tail waving as she tried to close the distance between them, pausing after several bounds to scan the trees before redirecting and starting again.

His whine was answered with one of her own as peach eyes finally fell on her pale cheeked sibling. She came at him diagonally with a bark of her own to alert him before they collided chest to shoulder, her head dropping to bury her cold nose in his dark coat. It would be easier than asking to just see what she could glean from the scents that gathered there.

What she hadn't expected was the punch in the gut, a silent No, stabbing her heart as she tried again, and again but the wrongness was everywhere. Her body was stiff though she tried to maintain the wave of her tail, and a growing whine betrayed her anxiety as she continued to sift through the scents, by his shoulder, down his flank, across the top of his head and down the other side. She had to try and separate the wrong from the right, but it was everywhere. What was wrong? Why was it wrong? and in the back of her mind she just kept chanting, Not him, not him, not him.

Her jaw was clenched with worry as she pulled back to look at her brother, brows pinched in a questioning glance all she could bring herself to muster, not trusting her voice to fill the space between them without betraying her.

 

Tell me it's not you.

Shallow water has trapped several fish in a small pond. Hunt Opportunity

Moments passed and soon enough the rustling came, paws on dry debris and soft forest soil. She was just as he had remembered her: dark with sunrise highlights and sunglow eyes. She was probably a little smaller than Niles could recall, but he wasn't about to tell her that; after all, perhaps he had just gotten taller (and, if he had been aware of it, bulkier). His tail rose up, waving about in both happiness and relief. He had missed her. He romped forward once and she was quick to advance and keep him close. His head ducked and his elbows and knees folded enough so that he could find solace beneath her neck and throat.

As Morganna's nose grazed over his neck and shoulder, he pressed his temple into her chest with his ears folded back. The silence lingered apart from his sister's sniffs and for a while, Niles remained there, wanting nothing more than to blend into his sibling's coat and hide away from the world - just for a little bit. She withdrew from him and the sudden sense of vulnerability crept over him like a slow-moving serpent. Grey eyes met peach irises and his own whiskered brows furrowed.

He caught the tightness in her jowls, the unspoken question hanging there in the air like static between them. Then, it dawned on him. His bottlebrush tail lowered and it was with utmost caution that he straightened to his full height. Castel needed him to step up his game; this was a chance to do just that. Being her equal required him to be vocal, to be communicative, and to look after the Vale. For him, for them, it was not out of line to request for help or let others learn of their situation. But first...

"I-I'm f-f-fi-ine," his voice rasped and cracked, its gravelly tone suggesting that he had not spoken {loudly} in quite some time. He cleared his throat, but he merely whispered to spare himself from broken words. He needed to make contact, "How are you? Where have you come from?"

we can say goodbye, just head home, but if we're going to be alone
Chimera is currently traveling with Niles and may hop into this IC thread!

Morganna was used to Greer’s silences so Nile’s stutter didn’t register as anything unusual. She herself was prone to going to days without speaking at a time also, which wasn't unusual for a loner but for a pack wolf...

The change in his stance was something new too, and she even managed a smirk as she considered. "Me? everywhere." There was a lot to talk about but she was concerned about her brother. "I spent 'alf th' year in Torbine, had five kids, thought they might'a took a wrong turn and wound up on this side..." Well, that was the shortest version. "Been ter th' Monadnock, they're all fine, Greer's leadin' a pack on the heights, Sven's makin' promises 'e can't keep an' poor Rav is jus' tryna hold it all together." She would be more than willing to elaborate further, later.

That worried look was back again, "But what about you Ni? How'd yer end up over 'ere?"

"Me? everywhere."

Niles couldn't fight off half a smile. Of course Morganna was going to navigate through the wilderness, within Relic Lore and beyond it. She knew how to make the world kneel before her, whereas Niles could only hope that Mother Nature would grant him a place to stand. He knew neither of them could not make the winds howl or make the rain stop or make the sun shine, but Morganna had a way with other creatures and the lands beneath her feet.

When she had gone, she went to Torbine - the younger wolf's stomach gave a terrible lurch - and raised five cubs. His head did a quick evaluation, trying to imagine now five youths like Sachiel, clambering up and down the mountain and ambling through the Lore. Perhaps if he and Castel had been ready, they might have had their own near-yearlings to look after. As it was, the Vale was cub-less without Draven's and Larkspur's sons. She had been to the Monadnock and found her pack stable and fine. Greer he had already known about but to hear that his age-mate nephew was causing trouble and Rav - Ravenna - was having trouble left a sour taste on his tongue.

His colorless irises fell to her feet, dodging Morganna's anxious gaze, "But what about you Ni? How'd yer end up over 'ere?"

"I left Willow Ridge," he started, voice still quiet and almost melancholy. At the very least he was glad he did not have to bear the news of Angier and Elettra's passing if she had already been to the Ridge. "I found a girl last winter; traveled for a bit with her before coming here... But she's..." He swallowed back the whimper that was building in his throat, "The wolves that first established the pack have left and now it's only me and a few others. I'm trying to take care of my Cassie and I don't know what to do." His bottom lip trembled. He had never told anyone of this particular worry, not even between held breaths. "Winter is here and I'm lost."

we can say goodbye, just head home, but if we're going to be alone
Chimera is currently traveling with Niles and may hop into this IC thread!

How the other willows wolves had allowed him to leave after the death of his parents was beyond her, not that much could be said to lower her opinion of those that remained anyway but she somehow felt responsible. She was far from the oldest of the Archer brood but she was the oldest that was left with no sign of Skoll that she had stumbled across so far and no word from Ravenna or Greer suggesting they had any idea of his whereabouts either. Morganna drew a deep breath and touched her nose to his cheek in silent encouragement as he continued to fill her in on the gaps.

Her lips pulled down in a frown at the mention of his Cassie needing care and she swallowed around the lump that suddenly formed in her throat, unsure if this was any better than her brother being the one... A twitch bought her face back to a more neutral expression, mind ticking through the possibilities. They didn't have enough wolves, but she did.

Her tongue rested against the roof of her mouth, teeth parting behind closed lips then opening again, this time bringing the rest of her mouth open with the movement to inhale deeply, a sigh hissing past her teeth when she was done. "Well, there's only one thing ter do then isn' there?" She mustered a smile. "I've got some wolves waitin' fer me back at th' lagoon, I don't think it matters much ter them what side o' the' mountain we're on. @Renier is there, an' @Celandine. @Maeve should be on her way wi' the' kids if she hasn' shaken 'em off yet. Yer got room fer us? Yer can look after yer Cassie an' we'll take care o' th' rest." a brow arched as she waited for her brother to process her suggestion. If @Greer could spare her a scout she'd be back before the week was through with the rest close on her heels.

While Niles had considered telling Morganna that he didn't feel welcome in Willow Ridge, he was glad he kept quiet about it all... how it had felt as though Sven had cast him out and placed every blame for Angier and Elettra's deaths upon his shoulders, how helpless he had been without their parents, how little and unimportant he felt in the midst of it all. The touch of the older Archer's nose to his cheek temporarily hushed the desperation that threatened to consume him from within. When she had taken a moment to consider it all, his eyes lifted to stare at his Morganna's shoulder.

"Well, there's only one thing ter do then isn' there?"

Niles winced as she smiled. He had no idea. All he had known right up until Morganna had called him out from the heart of the Vale was a single fact: if Castel did not survive the winter, he would surrender the remaining pack wolves to the wild. Larkspur, Sahalie and Kino were definitely more "well-liked" than he was, and without the sort of affectations they possessed, Niles had no means to keep the pack together. Most especially without Castel.

An ear perked up as he heard Morganna mention that she had some wolves - Pack members? Family? Tag-alongs? - waiting for her in the west. His muzzle wrinkled up on one side as she dropped Renier's name but, even as soon as he had made the face, it fell away. Renier might have been there when Angier and Elettra had passed, might have heralded to western Relic Lore that the Leaders of Willow Ridge were no more, but he neither blamed nor consoled the yearling Niles. Apart from Angier's nephew, Niles made a note to remember Celandine and Maeve. That made for four wolves in his sister's little expedition from Torbine, not including his five nieces and nephews.

"Yer got room fer us? Yer can look after yer Cassie an' we'll take care o' th' rest."

Faith renewed and hope restored, Niles slowly looked his sister in the face, peering down into those vivid amber irises. Her offer, of course, was genuine and he could sense it in her voice, but what he had additionally wanted was that motherly gaze, that something familiar that he had been aching for. At his back the Vale seemed to grow still and something in his mind dared to mention that his parents would be disappointed if he cast her away.

Go on, Niles. Don't be proud- and, as Angier might have added, Don't be stupid.

He released the shaky breath that he had been holding, clearing his throat loudly before falling quiet to muster up his words. "Of course we do." He considered the six empty places where Castel's "friends" had once been; without them there were more than enough resources to go around if they all worked together to hunt, teach the cubs, and scavenge for whatever Castel needed. "You're welcome to stay as long as you need. But..." a shiver skittered down between his shoulder blades and spine, "Could I-I expect you all before the next big storm?" He knew full well by now what the cold did to his little love; and, between him and that other guy, Tikhon, they needed his sister and her band as soon as it was physically possible.

we can say goodbye, just head home, but if we're going to be alone
Chimera is currently traveling with Niles and may hop into this IC thread!

Morganna stepped forward to embrace her brother when of course left his lips, cogs already turning in her mind to figure out how to get back to him quickest. An eye turned to what little sky she could see between the bare branches overhead, sure it all looked fine now but who knew when the next big storm would blow in. She wasn’t familiar with this side of the mountain, didn’t know its quirks and habits as well as she knew the west. ”If @“Greer” can lend me a scout I’ll be back in... four days at the most, three if I push it, th’ other’s’ll probably take about a week ter get here.”

But there was more she could do while she was out, ”But b’fore I go runnin’ off, let’s see yer girl an’ what supplies yer’v got.” Worst case she’d call in a favour from Ravenna as well, oblivious to the conflict that was brewing between the height and the ridge as the weather began to cool and hunting grounds came under contention.

(This post was last modified: Nov 22, 2017, 10:47 PM by Morganna.)