Wild Cherry Orchard but it's just the price I pay

January 10th; Early morning, after midnight; Overcast Clouds; -5.8 ° F, -21 ° C

Aubine, to put it lightly, had crashed through the Thicket of Secrets for the past several days - stepping in places where the snow was deep where it didn't look that deep, getting her winter fur snagged in brambles, and squeezing through small, thorn-filled spaces oftentimes just to move forward. It was neither graceful nor elegant, but the woman managed to get this far. However, it was with a cautious step that she wandered into the stillness that was Wild Cherry Orchard just past midnight.

The cold had nothing on her thick coat but her breath lifted from her lips. A silent wish offered to the stars that were hidden behind frail, bony branches and dark clouds. With her gaze upward, she squinted; the new moon's untimely and upcoming arrival did nothing to help her navigate the unfamiliar wilderness. No stars meant she would have to pick her way at random and hope beyond all hopes that she would catch up to her age-mate brother. Adelard, in her opinion, had been stupid to think that he could leave her, of all wolves, behind. They had come into the world together, they would weather and wander it together. She could not bear to be without him... Without him, she was just... Aubine. She wasn't as fearless, as determined, or as powerful as she believed she was on her own. She needed him.

At a stand-still near the middle of the grove of dormant fruit trees, Aubine stood, only forced to sit when she thought it safe to do so. In the silence, she simply waited for anything or anyone... just wanting the morning sun to dawn on a new day.

so I risk it all just to be with you
AUBINE GERAU
and I risk it all for this life we choose

Sága made her way west, intending on leaving Hudson for only a little while, though she was unsure why her paws chose to carry her there. Perhaps she hoped she might stumble upon something, some land mark, a tree, a familiar scent that might point her in the direction of home, and without the stars to guide her she would have to make due with her intuition. The Gods would answer her in due time.. when it was convenient for them to do so, or whenever she had fulfilled her purpose in this strange land. They had never failed her before, and for now she had no reason to believe that this time would be any different.

An unfamiliar scent on the breeze brought her a little further north, through a thicket filled with gnarled branches, and brambles that tore at her coat, but still she pushed onward, and into the unknown. Eventually the thicket broke, giving way to a grove of trees, and there the stranger sat, bathed in moonlight, silent.. waiting.  Perhaps she knew something.

"Are you waiting for someone?"

(This post was last modified: Jan 11, 2021, 06:51 AM by Saga.)

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

Such an idiot, Aubine swore to herself in her own head, silently grumbling as she cursed her brother for putting her in her current situation. She was a fine scavenger, a resourceful nose and set of eyes, but what use were they if she could not find her twin. Stupid. Her tail swept across the hard-packed snow, the ground beneath her partially frozen from the cruelness of the mid-winter Canadian chill. Being out in the open and simply put between the dark, spindly trunks of bare fruit trees made her readily recognizable as a night-walking wolf. Anyone could have easily found her.

Although, it was not the creature she so longed for that called out to her first.

"Are you waiting for someone?"

Aubine turned to lock eyes with a silvery stranger, her breath half-caught in her throat. She had been so preoccupied in formulating a plan and spurning her sibling that she hadn't been using her ears. A hasty but crooked smile found its way onto her face, but it was her tail that gave away her easy-going nature first. It waved about behind her as though she were merely a puppy whose parents had called her name. "Me?" for one reason or another, she had to do a double-take. "Um... kinda... yeah?"

She wasn't actually sure why she was second-guessing herself. "But, I'm just-- Oh." A sudden realization smacked her in the face and she immediately stood up. She was more than ready to back away if needed. "I'm not-- I'm not encroaching, am I?"

so I risk it all just to be with you
AUBINE GERAU
and I risk it all for this life we choose

Sága was relieved to find that the woman didn't seem too disturbed by her presence. A little caught off guard, perhaps, but certainly not too opposed to it. Unfortunately, the fact that the stranger wasn't expecting her meant that.. well.. she hadn't been waiting for her. Which would also mean that she probably didn't have the information the silver wolf was so desperately searching for. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. No test ever was. That was the point, wasn't it? To be tried, and to overcome. To keep going, because regardless of what strange going-ons happened, life went on, and so must her own. Pushing away a disappointed sigh, Sága allowed her tail to wave in response, signaling to the mottled stranger that she wasn't in any danger.

"Oh," As she made to respond, to ask who the woman was looking for, the stranger quickly cut in, and stood. Sága watched the woman's features change, as if she had had reached some sort of understanding.

"I'm not-- I'm not encroaching, am I?"

"Oh.. Oh, no! No." Maybe her brain was still foggy. "I don't think so. At least.. if you are, it's not on me." That was a weird way to word it. "Uh.. I don't live here. I thought maybe you did?" Or had the darker wolf been dropped here as well?

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

That certainly was one way to word it... but, if the two women were both here, right now, in this very same moment, then maybe the grove was a free-for-all. Aubine hadn't stumbled over faded pack markers and, apparently, neither did her companion. "Me?" she said again, charmed by the company but still too distant to be chummy or familiar. "Live here? Pssshh... I wish." At last, a smile came to her face accompanied by the waving of her own plume-like banner of a tail.

"I'm Aubine," she revealed, hoping to further break the ice between them. Maybe her newfound acquaintance would know something about her current quest. "I'm following my brother. He..." left me. The small hiccup in her sentence wouldn't have made itself so obvious if she had perfect reign over her emotions. Adelard hadn't left her; he simply hadn't included her in his plan to strike out on his own. "He ventured ahead of me to scout out a new pack." She was about to go on and mention some other things about how winter was rough and maybe lie that they had been separated in a storm, but it occurred to her then that there were more important things. "He's my twin..." she puffed out her chest and raised her tail as if to make a proper impression of what her brother looked like. She even wriggled her eyespots and whisker brows, "tall, dark, handsome..."

A chimelike laugh made her imitation attempt crumble and her tail came back down in a low wag, "I kid... but, a glimpse or a hint of a trail would be nice. A good start... if you happened to see him?"

so I risk it all just to be with you
AUBINE GERAU
and I risk it all for this life we choose

She matched the woman's smile as she spoke, her tone holding an almost playful note, "I mean, if you really want it, it's yours for the taking." The tree filled grove was certainly nice, but the dense bramble-filled thicket was more than enough to make the Sága question the practicality of slapping up borders around the area.

Her tail gave another wave as the stranger offered up her name. She'd expected the wolves here to be more standoffish. "I'm Sága." As Aubine continued, detailing her plight, the smoke-colored wolf couldn't help but chuckle at the impression her new companion put on. It was lighthearted, and silly, and she decided at once that she liked this girl. Unfortunately, as the woman's tail fell, Sága's smile fell with it. "I…" She really hated to be the bearer of bad news, once again. "No. I'm sorry. I am traveling with a wolf a little older than us, and he is all of those things, but he wouldn't be your twin."

"I know how you feel though. I'm looking for my family too." If they were even here. "Were you dropped here too?" It didn't exactly seem like it, considering she had said she followed him here, but Saga had to ask, just in case.

(This post was last modified: Jan 11, 2021, 07:07 AM by Saga.)

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

So, they were simpatico. Two wanderers just trying to find their way - and their families - through unfamiliar terrain. Though, the silver-pelted woman had not seen her brother... "Ahh," Aubine breathed, the note leaving her throat as a wisp of warm air. It was good to know, either way, that she and Sága were not alone in these parts. It was even greater to know that Sága had others with her. Well, maybe not at this moment, but she had someone, whereas Aubine had no one.

The Gerau wagged her tail nevertheless, even as she began to mull over what exactly Sága meant when she said dropped. Her head angled to one side and she had to think a moment before ultimately divulging, "Not... really... I... I mean, the last time I got a lead on my brother's whereabouts, we scaled down a hillside and dropped down into the area?" She ground her molars together, hoping she didn't sound stupid. She half-stifled the smallest of chortles as she raised a paw in a playful gesture; she wanted to be sure that her laughter wasn't directed at her companion but herself, "'Pologies, I don't really know what you mean."

so I risk it all just to be with you
AUBINE GERAU
and I risk it all for this life we choose

Sága responded to the woman's gesture with an understanding smile, though it didn't quite touch her eyes. She wasn't sure if she was relieved or disheartened by the news that Aubine hadn't been one of the captured. Not that she wished it upon her, of course, but if she hadn't been a part of whatever happend, then the earth-toned woman wouldn't hold any answers. "We were captured..." Gods, she hope that this wouldn't make her sound crazy. "by humans." The word Hudson had taught her still felt so foreign and wrong on her tongue. "They knocked us out, kept us for a while, and then dropped us off here."

At least Sága knew for certain that wherever they were, there were wolves who had walked here freely, which meant that they weren't trapped.

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

What came next from Sága's mouth were equally puzzling. The woman had been captured by humans (a word which frankly seemed like Sága was trying to say humains), then left here. Or, rather, dropped there. The masked wolf could only wrinkle her nose, only frustrated that she couldn't understand what exactly the other truly meant.

"Does this mean you're in danger?" it was the only question Aubine could come up with. "Do you need help? Protection?" Now she absolutely had to get to her brother as soon as possible. With Sága in tow. "If-- If we can find my brother Adelard, he'll know how to handle it all. He and I can help!" Her tail shot up in an earnest wag; even her stance became more welcoming. The playful lift of a paw, the openness and alertness of her ears, the peek of her tongue in the slight parting of her smiling lips... The offer was a genuine one.

so I risk it all just to be with you
AUBINE GERAU
and I risk it all for this life we choose

"Does this mean you're in danger?"

Unfortunately, Sága didn't really know the answer to that question. It didn't feel like she was in danger, but then again, it would be unwise to rule out the possibility. Her ears flickered, swiveling back momentarily as her head tilted in thought. Perhaps.. if the humans were still around.. yeah. Maybe they were in danger? Gods if only she could have some definitive answers, or find someone who actually knew what was going on, or tell her why the Gods so quiet?

"I.. I don't think so.. I don't know. Maybe." Her mind was churning as the words spilled out between them. Sága had never had to consider such a possibility. Large predators were usually only an issue for cubs. Hell, even bears weren't that scary if you let them be, but the humans were an enemy unknown to her. Would they strike again? If so, then the smoke-stained woman would have to make sure that she was ready for them.

Without giving it any thought, Aubine rallied to her cause, though the pair could hardly say they knew each other. There was something in that gesture, a ferocity, a willingness to do what is right for the sake of doing what's right that struck Sága's core. Outside of her family she'd never experienced it. "I don't know if they'll come back, but if they do it could be dangerous." She warned, unable to allow her new companion to throw herself blindly into the fire. It was a free pass. The brown-mottled woman could retract her statement and walk away, content in her safety and continue her search without a care.

(This post was last modified: Jan 13, 2021, 10:59 AM by Saga.)

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