ooc:

Only for a short while, she had assured her Family that this was how long she would be gone. Just long enough to gather a few lost items on the prior home of Ichika then return with a promised meal, especially for the young one. But it had been nearly two days since she’d left Kre’tnork in search of her treasures and like a child missing its mother, she was begging to miss home. The woman had faith the Family would be fine in her absence; they were a group of able bodied individuals led by one of the strongest males she knew. One that had the fortune of being loved by not only one, but two and had given his heart in return. That alone would surely give him the strength to guard their precious Family til her turn and they could protect them together as a single, formidable force.

By the afternoon, her thoughts had taken her from the mountain to the land she tread, with muzzle buried within the fragrant grasses and twitching for faint scents of where her den used to be. It would not have surprised her at all if the keep was taken by another, but she trusted in the ancestors to make this realization as far from a certainty as possible this day. She did not want to explain why she scoured her old haunts. A simple in and out then return to home would have sufficed if they were willing to accommodate her.

As she stepped along into the woodland path, her paws remembered the steps she had taken routinely through the trees and led her effortlessly toward where her family shared their home. Little more than the stench of a marten remained, conveying the home was still uninhabited much to her relief. But as she stepped toward it, the autumn wolf froze in mid-stride. Such an eerie feeling, returning to a source that held many memories both good and bad. It was here that she had shared her home with Nayru and Saul til they made a home for themselves, and it was here she loved and was loved by her mate, Saluce. It was here that she cared for Sophie and Boothe, and little Salvador for a time. It was here where she believed herself to be pregnant but realized painfully that this was not so. And it here where she hid from the world many a night when the demands of a pack felt too much when she was truly alone and needed a place to weep. Though those wanted tears would never come. Had it been like this for Saluce, she wondered, when they wandered down the path of his own home. He was a man of commendable strength not to falter as she wanted to then, to stand before the remnants of the past and brave face when the heart demanded recompense in tears.

Her Ombre. Her beloved. Once her heart’s desire… how she missed him.

She could not blame this feeling on her body still under siege from the hormones, for this was a longing she had had for a while. And it only became more apparent in the face of another’s happiness. The moment shared between herself a Jaden would never leave her mind, nor the confession that was uttered not in word but in a silence. The ancestors were cruel at times, to interfere with a love seasons in the making, ripened by a time a part and made sweeter by their fond reunion. A beautiful love left on pause for reasons she couldn’t claim to understand, but trusted in regardless. Despite the trials, her belief had never truly steered her wrong and all she could do now was continue to trust in them and await what they had in store. With resolve renewed, she slipped into her prior home navigating through the darkness to the secret cache of her treasured possessions.

For the better part of the afternoon, she ran the territory to collect other items of interest as well, packaging them all into a single cougar pelt. There was no pull to carry the items in her present form and was forced to take on the more able bi-pedal stature to carry the makeshift satchel on her shoulder. Intending to set off again, she cast a final glance toward her home and found two pairs of gleaming red-orange eyes staring intently at her from the safety of a high branch. “And where have you two been?” the woman smiled at her two companions, earning a soft hoot in turn. The young female shuffled closer to her mentor on the branch, ruffling her down in a show to impress. Softly, X’yrin laughed. “And you certainly look well,” she complimented the nameless owlet while lifting her available arm as a perch for the two of them. The Great owl glided from his branch to settle on his true perch, the scarred shoulder of his companion while the little one took the arm. Their extra weight did little to topple the she-wolf but it was enough for her mind to warn her that eventually the weight she bore by her shoulders and arm would bite her in the end. But she was glad for the company as she set her way towards home again, taking the mountain path from whence she’d come.

As the trees began to thin, the barren scent of the sparse woodland made it easier to smell the sentient creatures that lurked. Some fodder still hung about, no doubt clinging to the trees as they did when in the presence of a predator, but the defined canine scent was not easily dismissed especially when there was a slight ruckus to accompany it. The owlet left the perch of the wolf’s arm before a voice could stop her and with a sound, searching cry she led the remaining two toward a frustrated looking pair resting against a tree. The woman’s steps were sound on her approach weighed by both fatigue and cargo. But while her feet were loud in their trudge of the land, her voice was as always soft and kind. “Pardon…” she addressed the female. “Are you alright?”