Secret Falls like he's supposed to

Set the day after this thread. Location-wise, this thread starts based in WM, but will involve a journey to BTP which I'm expecting will happen largely behind a fade. Figured it was simplest to keep everything in one thread! Will tag people once we arrive, for this will become open to all BTP members at that point.
@Celandine, hoping for a few rounds first? <3

It had been an excellent night's sleep. Laid out beside Wraith, the spider had slept soundly, for while the next day promised the kick-off of a hopefully-fruitful chain of events, Craw did not fret about it. Once he had left Celandine to her thoughts, he had pushed the matter from his mind, having agreed upon a time and place and what more was there to it? As she had implied, he had other things to do aside from try and please the little princess, and had spent the rest of the evening making sure that the others knew that he and the white woman would be gone for a few days. With the puppies healthy and well, their mother coping just fine, @Wraith ever vigilant and @Greer and @Isuni diligent in their duties, he had no fear that they would miss him for that long.

"I'll be back in four sunrises," he had joked to @Morganna, harking back to her brother's failed promise, nipping at her ear and laughing.

At the first sign of light creeping into the den, Craw's eyes cracked open. It took him a few heartbeats to awaken, the duty of the day coming to him immediately, and without disrupting those who still slept, made his way outside to where the white stones stood silent and watchful. He could not see her immediately, but it was possible she was behind those boulders or still on her way. Chuffing quietly to declare his readiness, he waited for her to appear or announce herself.

(This post was last modified: Jun 14, 2016, 12:11 PM by Craw.)

@Craw

When the sun finally began to rise, shooting fire across the horizon, Celandine had already been up for hours. The woman spent her night tossing, and turning, analyzing every little thing Craw said the day before. Unfortunately, sleep's blissful waves pulled her under only once or twice, never lasting more than a few minutes. Thus, by the time she could expect Whitestone's king to wake, the fae was positively exhausted. She wondered if he'd be able to tell, but then again, why did she care? He was probably dragging her off to kill her, having already served whatever purpose he needed, or maybe he really was trying to gain her trust by breaking her down. She'd already decided that she wouldn't let him, so whatever he was trying to accomplish was moot at that point.

A little out of sorts due to the minor sleep deprivation, the woman made her way to the den which she knew would hold the enormous male. Stifling a yawn, Celandine answered his chuff with one of her own. Gods she was picking up habits from him left and right. Making a note to end the practice sooner rather than later, the woman greeted him with honey on her tongue. "Good morning." She kept it short and sweet, still uncertain as to where they stood.

Have you seen my OOC preferences?

The softly returned call caught his ears, twisting them towards where she approached, his yellow eyes following and falling upon @Celandine's white shape. It was instantly apparent that she was ill-rested, though he could have been mistaking her vaguely ragged appearance with some kind of anxiety or, conversely, eagerness for what was to come. Or was it all three? Craw watched her for a moment before closing the distance between them, offering a bump of noses as his own 'good morning'.

"Did you sleep at all?" he teased, but turned away towards the slope which would take them down to ground-level, expecting her to fall in line beside him. Feeling his limbs flush with warmth as he moved, readying his muscles for a long day of continuous travel, he wondered just how well she would be able to keep up if she wasn't fully ready for it. Craw had no intentions of stopping unnecessarily, for he though that two days might be a reasonably ambitious estimate and had every plan to exceed it.

"I was hoping to talk with you a little, but if you'd rather save your strength for the journey..."

@Craw

She was thoroughly satisfied with the nose-bump he offered, and even more so with his familiar teasing. It meant that whatever comfortable agreement they'd had only two sunrises ago wasn't shattered entirely by yesterday's events. Celandine wondered why it mattered to her at all, but decided that it was much easier to be agreeable with one's neighbor than not. "Oh, that reminds me. I've been meaning to ask whether you've ever slept at all." She bit back with her own good-natured response, well aware that it wasn't as good as it usually would have been, but she blamed her lack of wit on the tiredness clouding her head. She made a note to really lay into him later in an effort to make up for the poor show. 

Craw seemed eager to get a move on, and she couldn't deny her need to just get whatever this was over with, so the woman fell into step beside him. "I'm fine. You can talk." Though in truth she would have preferred a silent journey. Celandine wasn't entirely sure if she could handle however many days they might be away from the monadnock if they were filled with endless small-talk. Gods she hated meaningless conversation. 

Have you seen my OOC preferences?

Whether or not she was tired, @Celandine Argyris would clearly be loathe to let it affect her performance in any way. He'd smirk at her weak but well-intentioned retort, recognising it as her refusal to admit that she was anything less than totally ready. Having rather assumed that this trip was something she wanted (since, after all, the promise of finding this precious Maeve had been the catalyst which had allowed the proud woman to submit to his authority) Craw would have been disappointed if she had backed out or delayed it. He was quite looking forward to finding out the truth of Zeta's words for himself, and had half a suspicion that if the grey woman had lied or otherwise misled him, Celandine would very much consider it his fault.

Let's hope for a successful voyage, then.

He grunted in gruff amusement of her permission for him to speak, but didn't contest it. Instead, he licked his lips in a moment of pause before they started to descend down the goat track, the horizon rising slightly as they walked down it. In truth, he didn't plan to talk much - he planned to listen, assuming that she would have much to say. "I wanted to know more about Maeve, if we're going to such effort to find her."

You can assume that Craw will just want to know more about SMP/Phineas/Erebos and why Maeve is so important to Celandine. So feel free to PP/narrate a discussion between them with however much - or little! - she decides to share with him, and I can write out the journey-fade and having them arrive at BTP? <3

@Craw You can assume all of her answers were short, and she only gave him vague details~ She doesn't like talking about it xD

 Somehow the woman had known that this day would come, that eventually she'd have to offer more of herself than she wanted. Thus, Celandine gave him the need-to-knows, and only the need-to-knows. "We had two illegitimate litters the last year in my father's kingdom. One born to the stand-in alpha female who was not a queen by an stretch of the imagination. Another to my father's mistress. She was as old as my sister, and held no great love for Phineas." The syllables were hard on her tongue. "Aponi was her name. A conniving little thing, though my father was ignorant of it. Maeve's mother 'fell' from the heights during a rank challenge between the two. There were whispers after. Whispers that her fall hadn't been so accidental." It was even stranger recounting the tale now, still wondering what it was that made Maeve so special herself. "I believe Aponi wanted the throne, and she used her little usurper of a child to try and hold a claim to it. I figured Maeve would be the next to fall." And the rest, was history. 

His next questions were answered easily. She told him a little of her father, but kept it short and sweet, saying only that he reigned over his kingdom with grace and dignity. She told him a little bit of Silent Moon, and how it was never quite the same after the cubs were born. She ended with her uncle, offering up all she really knew. That he was there, and then gone. That he was a coward, and that Phineas always seemed to have a strained relationship with the man. She told him of the meeting, when her father stepped down, and Erebos hadn't the ability to lead. It all left a sour taste in her mouth, but she obliged him, because she was a pawn now.

Have you seen my OOC preferences?

It was not quite so painful as wringing blood from a stone, but with every curt, controlled answer, it was made perfectly clear to Craw that the details were not going to flow free. It was fortunate, then, that he had absolutely no qualms with pushing for more, asking for clarification on names and events as she hinted at them, and ultimately he was left with a broad - if very much not deep - picture of Celandine's life before he had met her. There were very few topics which brought out any kind of genuine admiration in the woman's voice, but Craw was certain he could hear it when she spoke of her father.

Still, she answered his questions. He was appreciative. To show that appreciation, the questions stopped not long into the first day of their journey, well before they had reached the great lake, and a more comfortable silence took their place. Without conversation, both wolves were able to focus on simply moving, and they made such good time that they were well over half way around the lake where he had met Zeta by the time the sun set. After a short night's sleep, safe in each other's company despite being far out in neutral territory, they rose before dawn and set off again.

That day's travel relied entirely on Zeta's directions. Fortunately, he quickly recognised the things she had mentioned as they travelled south, keeping the mountain's foot well within range. The scents of cedar and salmonberry was unmistakable, no least because he was searching for them, and as the sun began to fall on that second day, the woodland was filled with the established, criss-crossing trails of wolves, a tell-tale sign that they were close - and not least because he was sure he recognised Zeta's among them.

Following the thickest of those scents brought them to what was unmistakably the borders of a pack's territory, the sound of a nearby waterfall providing a backdrop to their discovery. The sun had mostly set, the sky a darkening smorgasbord of colour, and that pleased Craw; two days here, almost exactly. The way back would be easier.

"Howl with me," he rasped, looking at Celandine, his sides rising and falling steadily with the sustained effort of the day, his limbs feeling warm from the near-constant gentle run which had brought them here in such good time. "She won't know my voice."

Raising his head, Craw called to this Broken Timber Pines, as the representative of one pack to another, for his reason to be here could be seen as business. Celandine's was far more personal. Though he would normally have been far more interested in his side of things, Craw could not deny that he was very much looking forward to finding out if this little grey, green-eyed Maeve would appear.

@Celandine post next? <3
@Iopah @Eirian @Yuka @Eek @Zeta @Delia @Nalda @Arion - and, most importantly, @Maeve ;) Craw and Celandine are at your borders, any and all of you are welcome to come investigate! This is obviously for Cel&Maeve reunion, but Craw is eager to meet his neighbours for more diplomatic reasons.
I'd prefer no posting order (with Craw and Celandine marking each round) so this doesn't go too slowly. Come at us~

There are several fresh rabbit tracks in the mud. Hunt Opportunity

Ah, it's finally happening guys.

Celandine appreciated the fact that Craw did not pry. Her secrets were her's to keep - for now, at least. Even better, his questions stopped early on somewhere in the first day. She was content in the silence they shared, speaking only when it was necessary. Again, she hated meaningless small-talk. The quiet however, provided her with more time in her head than she needed. The young fae had already came up with a million conspiracies, a thousand ways her traveling companion planned on killing her, and a hundred escape routes. So prepared as she was, her stomach was still a nervous tangled mess. 

The second day was easier, her mind wandering more towards the possibilities of finding Maeve. The last piece of her father's broken empire, and all that remained that was truly Silent Moon Plateau. In fact, the girl was probably more the pack than Cela was herself, having derived from Magnolia Glen. Gods it had been years since she'd thought about it. So lost in her thoughts was she, that the melding of scents nearly hit her like a stone to the face. She set to work, collecting the information through her nasal cavities, and processing it as quickly as possible. Her uncle's scent was faint, but there it was. The one she'd been looking for. Perfect.

With a nod, the woman tilted her muzzle to the sky, her voice harmonizing once more with his. 'I'm here.'

Have you seen my OOC preferences?

Ohmigosh I can't believe the day has finally come OuO!!!!!

What Maeve had been doing prior had suddenly lost all importance. The rogue wasn't fully able to comprehend that her life was finally about to change in the good way, though she did have a mere concept of it from what she'd seen in dreams. Today was the day she'd been waiting for, the day her Princess finally came to rescue her.

The howl was unmistakable. Maeve had replayed it an infinite amount of times in her head over the last few months, each time came a stronger promise to never forget who it belonged to. However she'd almost completely convinced herself that she'd never actually hear it in person again. The fae didn't know exactly what she was feeling right then, but there certainly wasn't any time to sit around and figure it out.

Rushing to the boarders of Broken Timber Pines, the orphan couldn't believe her eyes when her familiar beautiful white silhouette finally came to view. She wanted to speed up, close the remaining distance as fast as her legs would possibly allow, though somehow she found herself reducing speed at a tremendous pace. Was she nervous? Or had she forgotten how to greet the woman after all this time? Tears quickly began to flow from her eyes, though it wasn't because she was sad. No, definitely quite far from that. However the exact emotion was still quite unclear.

"C-Celandine..?"