Bramble Falls that girl possessed

Backdated to 1/4, for @Aleister, @Leo and @Kateri only.

The falls continued their roar, even in the face of such frigid temperatures. Chan led the way around them, sounding out warning each time he found a particularly icy spot or other hazard. The last thing they needed was for someone to take a tumble. The icy spray hanging in the air made it difficult to pick up scents, but once they reached the ground things would improve and they would at last be able to fan out and start to cover a wider range.

Chan looked up, back at Aleister and his growing son, and barked out around the fur hanging from his teeth.

Watch your step.

(This post was last modified: Mar 13, 2023, 03:47 AM by Chan.)

Concentrating with the roar of the falls was almost impossible, but with Chan's warnings on slippery spots it was slightly easier to watch his and Leo's footing. Keeping his son close in case he needed to intervene, he kept trudging forward after Chan. Descending the Falls was never easy, but Winter made it even harder. Scents were almost impossible to detect, so the group kept moving until they got to flatter ground to really search for his missing daughter.

Chan looked back at Vuesain males cautioning them to watch their step. Nodding, he looked to Leo to make sure he was sure with his footing.

 

Getting down the mountain was a lot tougher than the sheltered youth had imagined – maybe he was wrong about Kateri after all, could she really have managed this alone; And why would she…? But they’d scoured every inch of the Lake Valley already, unless she had somehow managed to cross the mountain, she had to be down in the woods somewhere.   Leo stuck close to his father, walking by his shoulder when possible or else nose to tail, keeping his ears perked for Chan’s calls up ahead. The warnings were welcome, many of the icy areas hard to spot, especially when he had to keep track of the path winding under outcrops or along narrow ledges.   As they came closer to the falls, the rumble of the water drowned out all other sound, making the boy flatten back his ears to try and lesson the sounds assault on his sensitive hearing. He missed Chan’s latest warning, but as Aleister looked back, his son met his eyes nodding in silent understanding before turning his gaze to his paws, carefully navigating each step until they finally cleared this last patch.   At last, Leo dared turn up his head and was elated to see the land seeming to flatten out up ahead; Finally they could start searching properly. Thoughts ”Speech”

Lakela @DA

So maybe this hadn't been such a good idea.

The young Vuesain-Slayer pup had no idea where she now found herself. It felt like she'd been trying to find her way home for weeks. She was cold, hungry, and her back leg hurt pretty badly. The small prey that she had been able to catch hadn't filled her up much. Her mother was going to kill her when she finally did find her way home if that ever happened. The fear that she wouldn't ever see her family ot the familiar forests of the cove was very real for Kateri.

What had started as exploration and hunting practice within the borders had ended up in a dismal attempt to do the right thing. She'd always understood that winter meant the pack needed more food so she'd decided to take it upon herself to track a deer that she'd come across. It was just outside the border but that had soon led to her going further and further from the cove territory. By the time she realized how far she'd gone the snow had covered her scent, she couldn't find her way back.

Since then she'd wandered trying to find anything that looked or smelled familiar to her. She'd been unsuccessful and now she found herself looking up at the falling water. She sat back on her haunches and looked up at the water with a sigh and tears in her eyes. {B}"I miss you momma and pappa,"[/b) she said quietly into the rushing water.

Darkness was falling and it was getting colder. She knew she had to find someplace to sleep for the night. She chose to stay close to the falls cause of her leg. Thankfully there was a small crevice that she was able to slip into but she didn't sleep much.

He was relieved to see them both elude the treacherous footing, and faced forward once more, dropping from boulder to gravel back to stone repeatedly. The ground grew closer in lunges, and the closer they came the more his gaze began to wander. It settled on a small, black figure huddled at the falls' end, and for a moment Chan froze in shock before lurching forward once more at an even quicker and more reckless pace.

"Kateri?!" he called loudly, desperate to be heard over the thundering force of water. The parcel dropped from his maw as he did so, tumbling down and landing in a misshaped heap far from him. Could they really have found her, alive and whole? Chan bounded over the travel-ready cache when he reached it, not ready to stop until he reached the shadow. The pelt saddled along his spine was likewise lost along the way. He would retrieve them if needed, but first...

"Kateri!"

Look up, his thoughts pleaded. All he needed was to see her eyes, sky and sunshine both peering back, and then he would know for sure.

(This post was last modified: Jan 06, 2022, 12:23 AM by Chan.)

His ocean and golden gaze lingered upon Leo's steps as he carefully descended the rocky terrain. The last thing he wanted was for his son to misstep and injure himself. So, he waited to make sure he was down safe onto less treacherous grounds while Chan took to scanning the surrounding areas. His harsh call of Kateri's name reached his golden ears, making him snap his gaze in his direction. Was he just calling her name in hopes she would hear, or did he actually just find her? Glancing quickly, he saw Leo was safe where he then turned on his heel as Chan started to pull away from them as he bounded towards the fall's end where Aleister then saw what he was yelling at.

All he could see was a dark huddled shape, but it was about the same size of his daughter. That had to be her! He raced to the where Chan was, his gaze searching the figure as much as he could. Perhaps it was father's intuition or the panicked hope, but he was convinced that was Kateri. However, when were the fates this giving. "Kateri?"

He heard the shout even through closed-off ears, eyes snapping up from the path to look ahead. Chan was already off, and Al offered only a quick look before following. Leo felt his heartbeat quickening as he heard them calling her name; They found her?! Without second thought, Leo followed the adults, his overly large paws slipping on ice and gravel as he rushed down the slope, but he hardly cared, pushing forward and using his momentum to avoid falling over.   It took a bit before he noticed what the grownups had already seen, a dark shape huddled at the base of the waterfall. “Kati!” The boy half barked, half gasped, watching for any reaction from the shadow as he continued to push forwards; Is it really her? Could they have found her already? Thoughts ”Speech”

Lakela @DA

It had been a long sleepless night for the young girl. She'd hoped the crevice would provide her some relief from the cold but she'd chosen wrong in her shelter for the night. There wasn't anything she could do but curl into as tight of a ball as she could. She hoped that might keep the cold at bay but her shivering kept waking her.

By morning her leg still hurt and she was still so cold. Her body still trembled with shivers as she remained curled up with her tail covering her nose. She was so tired from her sleepless night that even though day had broken she remained trying to get just a little bit more sleep.

At first she didn't hear anyone calling her name because of the sound of the water. It was only when Chan was right there that her ears turned toward his voice and at first she thought it might just be her wishful thinking. Then she heard the voice that brought her head up to see if she really was dreaming it all. Mismatched gaze blinked out into the light of the day. There stood Chan, her father, and half brother.

"Pappa," she exclaimed trying to pull herself up much faster than her leg would allow. This elicited cry from her dark maw but that didn't stop her. She was able to slip back out into the open limping she went straight to her father pressing her dark face into his agouti fur. "I thought I'd never see you again." she said tears streaming down her cheeks.

She finally heard him, but not until he'd almost reached level ground. It didn't matter, it was her. Relief washed over him in tidal waves, and he slowed only to let Aleister rush him by and embrace his daughter as he rightfully deserved to. She ran to meet him, and Chan grimaced when he witnessed her limp. Hopefully that was just a normal sprain or break, and nothing that would give rise to complications.

He pulled the fur from Aleister's back with his teeth and draped it over the young girl, before pulling away to chase after the things he had dropped. His gaze tracked Leo briefly, glad to see that their bolting hadn't caused him to take a fall, before locating the battered bundle. It's contents, while shuffled around and scanter than they'd started with, were still more than enough to see her back to her mother.

He picked up the hare skin and bounded back to the Vuesains.

(This post was last modified: Jan 09, 2022, 06:26 AM by Chan.)

Apparently, the fates were indeed blessing him in this moment as the dark figure turned and a bright ocean and sunshine gaze stared back at him and called out Pappa...

"Oh, Kateri!" He answered breathlessly. In that moment he wanted to cry in relief as she was found, but as she moved towards him her injury was prevalent and his heart sank. Closing the distance between himself and Kateri, he nuzzled deep into her inky coat breathing in her scent again. "I'm here baby girl, Pappa's here." He continued to embrace her for a moment longer as he felt her wet tears against his nape. But he needed to see how hurt she was, so he reluctantly pulled away from her as his mismatched gaze full of concern looked over his daughter. "Where does it hurt?"