four months of darkness

[Usdi Tawodi]

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_____At first, the walking had been a little hard to contend with. When they had left the remains of their home to search for another, Tawodi had barely been over a month old. He hadn't understood what was going on, he just knew who to defer to and who to listen to. They said to come on and follow and so he had without much question or comprehension of what had gone on. But as the months had wore on, little things had started to dawn on him. His parents weren't coming back and his siblings weren't going to catch up. Maybe they had died too, maybe not. Maybe some part of the tribe that hadn't been split up and didn't follow Ayegali was simply taking care of them all.


_____But as a few more weeks wore on, he started to lose sight of that altogether. Today he simply didn't have the mind for remembering the sound of their voices or what they even looked like. They were as distant as the place that they left; a place that he didn't know how to get back to even if he wanted to. The memories stopped hurting, eventually. Then the party had strung itself out and he had (perhaps foolishly) chased after what few had continued on ahead to investigate. Now Tawodi had done a good job of following right after the Chieftain, but in the process had gotten himself horribly separated and lost in the thick of a forest.


_____Unsure of how many days he was behind the others that had come ahead of him, he prowled alongside of a stream where he thought sure he was smelling one of the older (not necessarily in age) wolves from the Tribe, furiously pacing over the same stretch of ground for a moment before continuing along the winding trails, which ended up leading him to a dead end: a stream. Any footprints that were there disappeared into the water and it didn't help that both sides of the muddy bank were a mess of footprints and pawprints. A frustrated sigh punctured the air as he rocked back on his haunches, sitting and glaring into the wall of green across from him.

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[Ayegali Kala]

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Traveling had quickly sapped the energy straight out of the dark woman. It was at some point during the early morning hours that she finally settled down for a rest, taking shelter beneath a canopy of trees with Vtsi at her side. As she opened her eyes, slowly to allow time to adjust to the light, she was unsure how long she had been asleep. The first thing she noticed was the fact that the sun was still high in the sky, signaling that she had slept well into the afternoon, but more importantly, Vtsi was no longer at her side. At some point during her sleep her companion had wandered off. It wasn't very unlike him to do so though, which was why she didn't immediately go in to a panic over his loss.


Instead, the groggy woman got herself to her feet, brushing away any debris that had gathered in her fur before wandering forward, picking up the trail of his scent. It didn't take her very long to realize just where her friend had been headed, the quiet sound of water was just ahead, and as she broke through a barrier of trees she spotted him. Picking up her pace slightly, Ayegali continued forward until she was at the horses' side, mumbling quiet words to him and bringing a hand to rest against him as they continued the trip to the stream together. The pair didn't stop until they reached the water, where Vtsi immediately dropping his head for a drink. Ayegali, on the other hand, cast her eyes down across the stream, lifting her head higher at a scent that seemed to drift right to her nose.


Taking a few more steps forward, leaving her companion behind to drink, she continued on until her eyes caught sight of what her head told her was there. "Tawodi?" She called out, cupping a hand around the end of her muzzle to carry her words to him. Certainly he hadn't gone on ahead of everyone else by himself, had he? It concerned her immediately, which showed through clearly on her features as her eyes followed the distant figure. She felt a connection with him of sort, as he wasn't the only one that had lost both of his parents during the battle.

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[Usdi Tawodi]

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_____Eventually he gave in to the desire to drink from the cool water of the stream, once again rising and craning his neck low to the surface of the water. Though it was disturbed because it was constantly moving, he could catch scant glimpses of himself and noted just how much older it was that he looked. One of those days, it would be his turn to venture out and find his so-called spirit guide, that Tawodi truly wondered what it would be. Hopefully not something stupid, like a bug or some weak animal that was supposed to be some representation of himself.


_____The wind shifted through the trees and on it came a voice that he hadn't heard in a quite some time. Maybe it had been a few days or a couple of weeks, the time didn't really matter, but it was a voice that he had been wanting to hear. “Ayegali?” he questioned quietly, but started up the muddy about as quickly as he could go on all four feet. Despite slipping each way along the sloping creek bed walls, he eventually spotted the dark-haired leader and her horse and called out at her. “Ayegali!” From there on out it was merely all tail wags and grins, though he couldn't help but proudly puff out his chest in her sight.


_____“I knew I'd find you!”

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[Ayegali Kala]

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The dark woman heard her name very faintly at his first realization that someone has spoken to him, following him with her eyes until the very moment that he realized it really was her. Despite how concerned she was that he might have gone off alone, she smiled. He seemed happy to see her, especially with the way that he immediately started through the mud in her direction, slipping and sliding everywhere, and Ayegali was just as happy to see him as well. Red dipped tail immediately waved behind her, inching forward a few more steps, just to make their meeting that much quicker. He was there then, closer, and Ayegali waved him on excitedly.


"I didn't expect to see you so soon Tawodi!" Then again, she really hadn't expected to see any of them as soon as she had. "Dohi and Itsihnalv have made it here already also." She told him with a smile. Neither of them had mentioned Tawodi traveling with them though, as she was certain they would have if the younger male had gone with them, which left her to wonder whether others had already arrived of if he had come by himself. She had to remind herself that he was already almost half grown, that he would soon be caring for himself and growing quicker than she could imagine. "Is there anyone else with you?"

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[Usdi Tawodi]

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_____His tail swung wildly out behind him, so very eager to have find her again before he had found any of the others. Tawodi wasn't sure who had gone before him, though knowing that Dohi and Itsihnalv had made it there was a good sign too. “Nope, I came by myself,” he told her, peering up at the dark-haired leader. “I'm not sure if anyone else followed me though, they're really slow.” Maybe it was because they were old or just lazy, he didn't know. Maybe they didn't have the faith that they were supposed to have when it came to finding a new place to call home.


_____“Did we find a home yet?” became his next question, almost a hint that even he was tired of all of the travelling. Seeing things never seen before had been fun and all, but he was only one of many who could have been restless from the months. Travelling had more or less become all that he had known, so a change of pace was something that he jumped on without thinking about. Never mind that he had totally just shown up in front of his Chieftain all alone at his age.

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