Grizzly Hollow this ain't a love song

@Oula <3

Silently he stared at the little hole at the base of the tree. The tiny den had been chosen so well that even now, with a layer of snow upon the ground, even with nobody to maintain it, the entrance was clear and unobstructed. Tomen knew the burrow well, but even to a less familiar wolf, it was obviously abandoned.

He exhaled, feeling the rush of warm air on the tip of his nose. It had been so long that he couldn't even smell her anymore, her faded and replaced by the ever-present musk of the tree itself. Once, he had come this way to find that small rodent squatting in her house, and had refused to leave until the intruder was dealt with - permanently.

Wherever the little owl had gone, what if she came back and found that someone else had moved in? How could Tomen explain that? And what if it caused her to turn around and leave again, thinking this was no longer her home?

Stepping forward to press his nose against the tree, in some hopeless attempt to reconnect with the past, with the time when Prudence had still lived here, his eyes drifted up the rough bark of the trunk to gaze wistfully at the branches above. He could follow their criss-crossing and shapes effortlessly, having stared up at this tree more than perhaps any other in the territory, because he had once spent so very much time here, just talking... talking to a little burrowing bird who had never said anything back but to coo at him, to tolerate his presence, to allow him into her life and, for a short time, those of her offspring.

Stepping backwards, eyes still high, his rump fell heavily to the ground, heart thumping sadly in his chest.

Oula wasn't much of a wolf for mulling over her thoughts, but she couldn't get the events at the stream out of her head. She didn't know where she had gone wrong. Just what had been going on when she had been gone? How long had her smallest daughter been strutting around like she owned the place, or terrorizing Pip? She knew her leave had to have hurt the girl, but had everyone been so hands off with her to let a little bud of self-centeredness to grow and blossom into a stickerbush of conceit and disdain? What had @Veho been doing in all this? She had to try hard not to put too much of the blame on anyone else, as she hadn't been there. But she hated to think that this was just Ophelia's nature. Surely she was just testing her boundaries... At least she had seemed to listen to her, perhaps she just needed a firmer hand than anyone else had been willing to give? 

Oula could work herself around and around in circles with the worries and rumination. At the least, it took her mind off of Yvly. She couldn't even raise a child properly, she couldn't expect to lead a pack. But it was all starting to give her a headache, and she had to let out some of her frustrations somehow. 

Oula went on a vigorous run through the forest that wasn't truly hers anymore. It was then she came upon Tomen's tracks in the snow. She'd always liked the boy, and he at least seemed to be somewhat happy that she had returned. She slowed down, tracing after his trail. She noticed they lead towards the little nook of the forest where she'd met his owl friend, Pru. She wondered how the little broody bird was doing now.

"Tomen!" She said with a smile on her lips as she approached from behind him. Her pale green eyes sparkled as she walked closer to him and Pru's tree with an easy gait. There had to be something pleasant left in this forest, even if only a boy and his bird. "How is your friend?" She asked. But Oula's face fell as she came closer, first seeing the dour expression on his dark face, and then the empty tree. "Oh..." Oula's small brown ears crumpled against her head. 

On the rare occasions it came up with the others - usually only with @Nineva - Tomen tried to be nonchalant about it. Pru was just some bird, after all. Most wolves would have viewed her as little more than a potential snack. The owl hadn't been stupid; she knew that Tomen was different, but even then, had never let him get too close, her survival instincts too sharp for that. He hadn't been afraid that the pack would eat her.

But who knew what had happened to her now? For all he knew, his protection and her luck had run out...

An ear flicked out at the sound of his name, the cheerful voice at odds with the melancholy in his head. Oula, he recognised instantly, golden eyes coming about to fix on her, corners of his mouth tugging upwards in a weak smile at her company. She hardly deserved being exposed to his dampened mood, but not being the oblivious sort of wolf, she realised pretty quickly - though not after a painful reminder that there were others in the pack who had known the little owl was important to him. His own ears drooped again, mirroring her own, and the boy gave a sad shrug in response.

"She's been gone since the beginning of winter." His gaze dropped back down to the little empty entrance, able to easily imagine her two wide eyes peering out at him. He snorted, though it carried the faintest similarities with a dry sob. "It's dumb to miss a bird, I know."

@Tomen

Oula stepped forward to stand beside Tomen, sage eyes peering closer into the empty hole. "I'm sorry to hear that," She said as she sat down on the snow next to the dark boy, pressing the nose against the top of his head. She didn't understand it, she couldn't even pretend to. After all, she'd never saw a reason to make friends with non lupine animals, including birds. But, this owl had been important to Tomen, and for that reason alone, it wasn't dumb. 

"A little weird... Sure. I wouldn't call it dumb though. You two obviously had some kind of understanding between you. I think that is something special, and worth missing." Oula shook her head, looking at the dark little burrow and remembering the feisty little owl that had once lived there. She'd never been back to see whether or not there were in fact owlets inside, and now she was gone.

"I can't even imagine where she would have gone," Oula pondered, "If you can fly, nowhere is really off limits. Perhaps somewhere warmer, I suppose?" As it left her mouth, she realized that despite the truth to it, it wasn't really much of a comfort to someone who just lost their unconventional friend.