Archainn Tunnels I got miles to go 'til I ever get home

I have to keep doing the same thinking of Celandine's connections LOL I'm like wait Borlla isn't the mom anymore, and Triell isn't the uncle??

She knew that he was telling the truth for sure when he spoke of Triell leading Oak Tree Bend, and of the wildfire that had become a legend in itself, passed down through the generations of Tainns, and.. well, she didn't actually know what his last name was. "Yes! Yes, he did! Grandpa told us about it!" Then, because she had to know, "Who was your father?" Finding someone here in this strange land who had grown up hearing those same stories was.. weird. So weird.

She was happy to note that the mess of family ties seemed just as confusing for him as it had been for her, and was appreciative that they had settled the matter with cousin's cousin. "I can't believe it, either. What are the chances?" The Gods had clearly brought her here for a reason. Was it to meet this man, and his traveling companion? Maybe the Tainns been targeted specifically? No. Her last name hadn't stuck a cord with any of the wolves she had been travelling with, so it couldn't have just been the Tainns who were captured... Huh... Whatever the reason for her arrival in these lands, Saga could only be sure that it felt significant, like she was supposed to be here, and for now that was enough.

"I think it will be, too." Well, at least she would have one story to add the very short list. "You're the first two Tainn, or Tainn adjacent wolves I have met out here, but I also haven't been here long. Uh.. " She wasn't quite sure how to phrase it, since she didn't want Azra to think she was completely nuts. "Were you.. were you guys dropped here too?"

Sága is currently travelling with Huddy, Aubine, Adelard, Rhaegara, Riven, Maugrim & Hrun

phone post here we gooo!

”Serach! Serach Donata!” The sudden mention of his father and he instantly clammed up, frozen. Lowering his tail, Azra said softly ”He uhm... passed though, after the fire that burnt down our part of the forest.... that was uhm. Bout six seasons ago..” Maybe a normal, trauma-stricken wolf might not have brought this fact up so much, but it was a part of his own story he had to tell. It was hard to remember that this was considered “over sharing”—something he had been told he did a lot.

But Saga’s excitement made him want to push through it, at least for now. ”I know, right? Bonkers.”

If Saga hadn’t met any other Tainns—on the west side of the mountain, of all places—then it seemed, strangely, that all the packs of Relic Lore had suffered the same fate. They were no more. Just gone. And Saga hasn’t been here long.

”Pardon? No uhm. I came here. Like of my own volition. What... whaddaya mean dropped off?” This wasn’t really a turn of phrase he was familiar with. Saga seemed almost embarrassed to ask about it. Perhaps something bad had happened?

Her ear flicked at the mention of Serach, though she could only vaguely remember it's mention.  She might have thought more on it if she had not noticed the way he seemed to freeze up. Bright eyes filled with confusion, and then understanding as Azra continued to speak. Her own tail lowered, and her ears flashed back to rest upon her crown. "I'm.. I'm sorry to hear that." The closest Saga could come to understanding his pain was when her maternal grandma passed on, but she had a feeling that wasn't the same. She thought to tell him that the dead were never truly gone, and that someday he might roam the forests of the Gods with his father once again, and her mouth had even opened to do so, but she shut it quickly. Her beliefs weren't ones held by the Tainns, and so it would be unlikely that her words would even be helpful.

"Yeah.. uh we were taken by.. humans." Regardless of how many times she said the word that Hudson had taught her, it never failed to taste bitter on her tongue. "They poisoned us, held us somewhere else for a while, and then put us here, and we don't know why." It was all very confusing, and there were so many things that she couldn't even explain, because she didn't have words for them. "And before you ask," Because she thought he inevitably would. "They're like big featherless birds, with fur on their heads, but they actually don't look a whole lot like birds." It wasn't usually like Saga to overshare, but once she had started talking she couldn't stop.

(This post was last modified: Feb 03, 2021, 06:03 AM by Saga.)

Sága is currently travelling with Huddy, Aubine, Adelard, Rhaegara, Riven, Maugrim & Hrun

Squinting a little, shrugging like some teen boy in a movie he tried to smile, "Nah it's okay.." He hadn't meant to derail their happy discussion of family ties with such a bummer statement but it was hard. It was hard not to tell Saga everything. Azra felt like he was making up for lost time, the same way with Annie: like they should have met much sooner, known each other their whole lives since they were small.

Oh! Hoomans, which Saga pronounced with a bit of an accent. "Huh," he said, thumping his tail against the ground, utterly mystified. "You know, surprisingly you're not the first wolf to tell me that kinda story. I met some other boy that said the same thing." The boy had expressed similar confusion about how it had all happened, and why. But if Azra knew anything about humans he knew that they'd never probably know. "Starting to sound like the hoomans dropped off a bunch of wolves. There was never any hoomans here when I was growing up..."

"Strangest thing, too... is this land is just empty otherwise. And it was never like this. The east side there shoulda been like.. 2-3 packs and they were just gone. Maybe the hoomans were trying to fill it again." That seemed like an awfully weird thing for them to do, but he had heard a lot stranger things. Certainly, it was not any stranger than being poisoned and waking up in a new place. "Just so weird. I'm sorry that happened to you... Were you taken in a whole group?" Saga made it sound like there were others with her.

Sorry for the wait ;A;

Saga offered a sad smile, and allowed the topic to slip away, but kept note of it should she ever run into her grandfather again. He should know, at least.

She watched her words pass over the man, waiting for confusion, or apprehension to blossom over his features, but it never came.  Instead, his tail slapped the ground, and he offered up information about another drop off that he had met. So there were more.  It wasn't just her, or Hudson and his family, and it wasn't just Tainns and Macieos either, since Azra hadn't mentioned running into anymore of them. Saga wasn't sure yet if this new information would complicate things, or offer clarity, but surely any information was better than none? "You didn't happen to catch his name, did you?" Maybe he had been taken to one of the places she and Hudson had been taken to. Maybe he knew what had happened to their families.

When he asked if she had been taken in a group, her sad smile returned. "I'm not sure.  I know Hudson's family was, but I wasn't very close to home when they caught me, so I have no idea if mine were taken or not. And she still wasn't sure which she preferred.

"I just wish I knew why. Why would they be trying to fill this place, and... did you say the packs were just gone? Did they steal them away too? And if the humans weren't here when you were growing up then.." Her mind took a little longer to connect the dots than it should have, but as soon as she realized it, she cut herself off. "Wait.. so this.. this is it?  Oak Tree Bend is here?" This was it! This was the key! Saga knew that Oak Tree Bend was somewhere South of the Springs. How far, she had no idea, just that it was south. If he was right then she could go home! She could.. suddenly the woman felt a strange sinking feeling in her stomach.. though what caused it she had no idea.

Sága is currently travelling with Huddy, Aubine, Adelard, Rhaegara, Riven, Maugrim & Hrun

Azra shrugged, "Nah, he didn't leave a name. He just wanted to find the ocean, but he'd been dropped in a burned down forest. I'm assuming he meant the Wildwood." The fabled trees that stood like grave-markers of the Tainn's ancestors. Unless there were more fires than he knew of, more trees burning down in the years between his cubhood and the present. Certainly he hoped not. Did Saga know about the Wildwood, he wondered. Maybe it was a story for another time.

Hudson must have been another one of these stolen-wolves. Azra pursed his lips as he stared at her, feeling awful as he imagined her feet pounding against the ground but not being able to escape the hoomans on their moving boulders he had heard about. She couldn't have even howled for help, far from home. An awful feeling hardened like a stone in the pit of his stomach, this was all just awful. All Saga could do was wonder. It felt awful that all he could do was stare back helplessly underneath his worried eyebrows. She trailed off...

And when she came back he had at least some answers this time. "Back the way I came. Not more than two days," he declared proudly, head aloft.

Softly, he added, "I'd love to take you there...sometime."

(This post was last modified: Feb 19, 2021, 09:47 PM by Azra.)

Saga was definitely disheartened to hear that the man didn't leave a name. It could have been one more step towards solving the puzzle that was.. well.. she didn't actually know what the puzzle was. The human conundrum? The great wolf-napping? Adding, 'naming the puzzle' to the growing list of things she needed to do, and figure out, the Tainn moved past it. There was no point in dwelling on the step that could have been. In regards to the Wildwood, she offered a contemplative,"Hmm." Though she knew the cataclysmic story, the woman didn't remember the forest's name, and couldn't be sure whether the forest he spoke of was the forest, or not.

Her tail swept wildly from side to side as Azra confirmed her suspicions. So all she'd have to do to get home would be to follow the tunnels to wherever they led, walk for about two days and then it would be a kinda? straight shot home. Maybe? She.. actually wasn't a hundred percent sure since she had never made the trip herself, but seventy-five percent was just as good. If she could just get sort of close to home... "Oh that's perfect!" But it would have to wait until after spring. They had all made a deal to stick together until then, and Saga wasn't one to break her word.

The woman smiled at his offer, wishing that it were possible to accept it immediately, but given that she had already been gone a few days, it seemed unwise. What if her traveling companions left without her? "I think I'd like that.. sometime." But she really needed to be going.. "Thank you, for everything. Really." Whether he knew it, or not, Azra had given her a wealth of new information to consider, and potential directions home. It would have been greedy to ask for anything else. "We are following the herds until spring, and after that.. I don't know, but maybe I can take you up on that offer then."

Sága is currently travelling with Huddy, Aubine, Adelard, Rhaegara, Riven, Maugrim & Hrun

i suppose you could wrap it up with your post?

Sometime. They were going to go their separate ways now, though. Azra could feel that their moment together had run its course. Shrugging and nodding along with a grin, the boy accepted her thanks. He wished that she didn't have to go, or that perhaps he could follow her. Saga was pseudo-family, after all, just like Marian was. He wanted them to meet. He wished for a more casual, longer stretch of time that they could discuss things of great and insignificant importance. Azra wanted to know her.

But it would just have to be another rendezvous, after this woman went wherever the herds took her. It sounded like a grand adventure: Saga and a band of stolen wolves roaming the western valley of Relic Lore. But he felt his paws rooted back on the east side for now. Azra was not ready to leave it behind, yet—possibly never.

"We could meet here? Else I don't know how I'd find you again. Maybe when the snows thaw?"

If it weren't for the commitments she'd made to the other's waiting in the Orchard, Saga probably would have picked up and gone with Azra. She wanted so badly to see the bend, and meet his Tainn friend, Marian, and learn whatever else there was to learn about Tainns, and well.. she didn't actually catch his last name, but she wanted to learn about them too. Unfortunately though, their time together would have to be cut short.

Saga's tail waved at his offer to meet again after the thaw, she just hoped that wherever the herds took her, she'd be able to make it back by then. "I'll do my best to get here." And really, she would try. "I'm really glad that we met." And with that, she set off, making her way back through the tunnels.

Fade.

Sága is currently travelling with Huddy, Aubine, Adelard, Rhaegara, Riven, Maugrim & Hrun

A young fawn has gotten separated from its herd. Hunt Opportunity, +8 Health