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Post by Tala on Oct 12, 2011 14:28:39 GMT -5
The trip to Amaranth has been a long one to say the least, and Kachina has not been very forthcoming with either Wiraqu or Arroyo. Yes they are cougars, and they have been rather nice to her but she is unsure about trusting them, or anyone else at the moment. Unless it is the wolves who saved her, the Ute will always hold a special place with her, they gave her back her life after all. An she felt bad having to leave them, and Ikuna after everything they had been through.
While the trip back to the mountains was mostly quiet there came a few points in the tavel that Kachina started to refuse going back, mainly when she recalls an area near the 'hole' where she was kept all those months. She was sure the pair of older cougars were bring her back to stick her into the hole and even spent a few days up in a tree refusing to get out of it until she was sure they was not taking her to the hole.
Now that they are approaching the cougars land she is not sure about crossing that boarder, her gaze drifts over the area and she licks across her maw and she peers into the forest and so forth before glancing back to the two other cougars as is waiting for them to show her what else she is to do now.
The thought of meeting her mother, or brother after being gone so long does bother her, and then there is the fact that they (from her point of view) never came to look for her.. After all if it wasn't for the wolves she would have been killed. Not that she is in great shape right now, so thin her ribs can been seen along with others across her form. Sure she has been eatting thanks to Arroyo and Wiraqu but it will take some time for her to gain back the weight and muscle that she lost during her time in the hole.
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Post by Pavane on Oct 12, 2011 16:58:15 GMT -5
Wiraqu has been patient on the journey up the mountain. He goes hunting regularly, bringing back deer and rabbits for the two females. Travel is nothing new to him. What is new is the way he always returns; the way his travels have a companion. It's still something new and strange, a fascinating thing to slowly explore.
With Kachina, he has been patient; speaking calmly but seldom pressing. When she put herself up the tree, he spent the night curled up on a boulder nearby, one ear perked. Close, speaking from time to time, but mostly simply waiting until she felt ready to proceed. Why rush? He's enjoying the journey, as he always does.
As the group approaches the border, he too looks for direction from Arroyo. He knows this area, of course; he's teased at the border more than once. The male also knows that he doesn't belong here. No - didn't belong. At Arroyo's side, he now belongs.
She is the one who knows this place; she is the daughter of Amaranth who went out on her spirit journey and now returns. Perhaps wiser, perhaps touched with enlightenment... but certainly with a mate and cub in tow, though the cub isn't actually hers. Still, it paints a pretty picture if you don't know better.
The title of 'Matron' seems far more fitting now for Arroyo than when she left, though she is not yet full grown.
So what does the Matron of Amaranth do, as she returns to her tribe's land? Both her companions look to her for the answer.
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Post by Curiosity on Oct 13, 2011 13:26:05 GMT -5
Home. It seems as though it's been forever since Arroyo last stepped foot in her family's lands, though in reality it hasn't even been a full year since she first left on her ordained spirit quest. As they skirt the edge of the lake that flows into the waterfall back to the north, the not-quite-adult cougaress takes a moment to just breathe in the familiar scents of pine trees that surround the snow-capped mountain to the south, letting the warm memories of home and family wash over her.
There is no welcoming party for the young matron-to-be at the border - but then again, she's back a few moons earlier than expected. Things don't always go quite as planned, but she's learning to take the strange twists of fate in stride. Even so, she has a subtle feeling that she will soon see who they are meant to meet...particularly Kein, her father and current chieftain. Whether it's her youthlike chirp of a call, their combined scents on the wind, or simply another sign of destiny, there's little doubt that they will end up happening across someone expected as they press further into the heart of the Amaranth.
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Post by Therdde on Oct 13, 2011 16:48:22 GMT -5
Even Kein, wizened, skeptical Kein, cannot doubt that the gentle persuasion of the spirits often guides his actions. Without that guidance, he and Nyssa would have left Amaranth with their cubs seasons ago... or perhaps even worse, Kein never would have been there to meet Nyssa when she first crossed that border to begin with.
So guided, Kein has broken from his trend of sticking to the southern sections of his territory, where he can keep a distant eye over his most recent grandchildren and their mother, who has only seldom allowed him to get close enough to actually see, talk, and play with them, since they were born. No. Instead, he is near his northern border, and his ears perk at a sound equal parts familiar and foreign long before his nose catches a mixture of scents... almost... entirely foreign.
It is only that vague sense of the familiar that keeps the old male relatively relaxed as he approaches the source of the chirp. It has been only a few weeks since another small group of visitors came to Amaranth, and Kein suspects that this one, like that, will be staying, and does not need to be greeted in any sort of hostile manner.
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Post by crescendo on Oct 14, 2011 5:35:08 GMT -5
During the time Shanira has been back with the tribe, she's done her best. Her best as a mother to the one cub she still has nearby, all the while worrying about the missing one. She's still mighty protective of Chaska in her own way and perhaps it bothers him, but Shanira refuses to lose the one family member she has left. The cougar lands are safer than the forest where they were all alone, but from Shanira's point of view, any place is a dangerous place.
She's nearly lost hope of getting Kachina back and has been lacking her usual spark for a while now. She still keeps a close watch on Chaska, but is otherwise very detached and listless - when not pacing back and forth, calling out for a cub that refuses to show. As she walks now, she's calling out again, ears perked for a reply that has yet to come. There are scents all around, the air crisp, and when she catches the scent of the chieftain, Shanira stops midstep, hesitating. Perhaps she can just turn around and walk a different way. There's no thought in her mind that her calls might well have announced her presence already.
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Post by Azoto on Oct 14, 2011 17:03:42 GMT -5
Mom has been driving him batty. Yes, that's about the best Chaska can say for the matter; because Shanira hasn't been mom since they arrived, she's been 'Mom! Mom! Mooom stop that mom!'. At the moment he's following behind his mother, grumpy as usual, and casting his yellow eyes about for something interesting in the snow. He's lost most of his spots by now, turned near uniform in sandy coat color except for the pale along his belly where freckles remain. He looks like a cougar in miniature.
And he looks like a grumpy guss in all it's glory!
"Moooooom," he says, after a moment, frustrated, "I'm hungry. How am I gonna learn to hunt if all you do is call for Kachina? I mean s'bad enough everyone else here close t'my age is a /baaaaaaby/, but you spend all your time lookin' for /her/! I wish DAD was here, he'd spend time with me."
Kids really are the crulest people.
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Post by Tala on Oct 14, 2011 19:38:56 GMT -5
Kachina doesn't think her mother, or brother for that much would be looking for her, let alone her mother being calling out for her. She rests quietly upon her haunches, head lowered and eyes back while her eyes close. Someone is tired, and weak feeling a the moment, its been a rather long trip, and a rather long and stressful time for the young feline. A ear twitches to sounds around her but she doesn't go looking up at the ones near her.
Though there is someone new around, a small sparrow rests near Kachina, unseen by all save for herself unless they have a special sight like she does with the dead. Her gaze drifts to the bird, someone she hasn't seen in a very long time, a faint sad smile seen to her little friend. Her thoughts wandering, if the bird is back perhaps things will get better..
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Post by Pavane on Oct 14, 2011 20:15:40 GMT -5
Patience and waiting. Wiraqu lifts his head, sniffing after scents, and then flicks his ears to the faint sounds of voices.
A few moments after Arroyo calls, he figures he might as well announce himself as well, and so he gives a short chuff. It's an almost awkward sound; neither challenge nor a greeting to a friend. Sort of the 'uh, hi' of a neighborhood boy being brought home to the parents for the first time.
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Post by Curiosity on Oct 15, 2011 8:23:03 GMT -5
A brisk winter breeze blows upwind from the south, bringing with it a familiar scent that matches the markings left sporadically throughout the area, and there's a few muffled sounds echoing from the same direction; Arroyo's nose twitches and her ears cup forward alertly as the signals register in her mind.
"Father?" the growing adolescent calls out in a hopeful tone, scanning the wooded surroundings for signs of the current chieftain. She doesn't yet notice either of the other cougars scouting about nearby, too preoccupied with the promise of seeing some of her family again after so long away from home -- and what it will soon mean for her.
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Post by Therdde on Oct 15, 2011 11:12:04 GMT -5
The sounds from behind Kein threaten to distract the current chieftain for a moment from his task of calmly investigating the strange and familiar scents up ahead. But then there is a voice, one that holds that same odd mixture of qualities calling out to him, and it takes him only seconds to figure out who it must be. His other daughters, after all, are securely within his territory, while Arroyo...
The old male's pace quickens, as he is no longer concerned with whoever may be behind him. Rather, the male is most eager to see his youngest daughter. Nyssa's daughter. The...
She has gotten big. And she is not alone. These thoughts occur to him as his other thoughts are cut off by the sight of her, but they do not stop him from focusing his attention on Arroyo, from trotting up to the young female in order to greet her with a loving nuzzle and a purr. She is back, and she is safe. Although this also means soon all their lives will change in big ways, for now... that doesn't matter.
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Post by crescendo on Oct 15, 2011 17:47:52 GMT -5
Chaska's voice draws Shanira's attention away from what's ahead of her for a moment and she turns to nuzzle her son. Any mention of Tantallon still hurts, especially when it comes in the form of a complaint. "We're going to hunt," she reassures him, licking his head, "I just want to find your sister first..." She doesn't know how many times she's said that and not had it happen.
Then the scent of Kein mixes with scents Shanira can't quite place - and once she can. Is it really..? The only way to find out is to approach, right? The bothers of a few moments ago are gone and she moves forward through the forest towards the scents and sounds ahead.
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Post by Azoto on Oct 16, 2011 14:48:44 GMT -5
"You aallllllways say that," Sighs Chaska in the full throes of near-teenage grumbleygrump. "We never find her though, and then we go home hungry and you lay around like a lumpy log, and--" He stops as he sees his mother catch some scent, ears cupping forward as he too lifts his nose, wrinkling his snout in the familiar cat reflex of catching scent. He knows at least one of those scents -- The big scary 'Cheifcat', Kein. But there's something he can.. barely remember, too, and others.
When his mother takes off, he frowns. What in the world..? Ears back, the young male starts off after his mother, pausing a moment to shake some snow from his paws mostly because it's annoying when it clumps in the fur about his feet.
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Post by Tala on Oct 16, 2011 17:18:43 GMT -5
Kachina sits quiet as she watches the sky now, as if waiting for something that may appear. Her tail twitches at times and soon the girl settles down to her stomach, forepaws pulled close to her chest as she quivers. Being up in the mountains its gotten colder, and her rather thin form is having a hard time deal with the colder weather.
She hasn't caught any new scents coming her way of her mother and brother so she has no idea that they are anywhere around the area.
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Post by Pavane on Oct 16, 2011 19:08:00 GMT -5
There's Kein. Wiraqu recognizes the scent - it's the one that patrols these borders to keep rogues out. Today, though, he does not slip away. Today, he stands firm a short distance from Arroyo, clearly with her but not interfering with the reunion of father and daughter.
He looks over at it, then glances away. It's a bit awkward to watch, and so his eyes wander over Kachina briefly before looking around, peering at the woods to watch for other comers. Is that a glimpse of tawny fur, moving through the trees? Wiraqu peers closer, twitching ears and whiskers.
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Post by Curiosity on Oct 17, 2011 10:48:47 GMT -5
Arroyo's maw spreads into a sweet smile as soon as she spots her father emerging from the treeline, easily returning the offered affection with a subtle purr of her own, before pulling away a moment later. "It's good to see you again, father... How is mother?" she inquires after her missing parent, her tone clearly interested despite her somewhat formal phrasing.
The sentimental moment of familial reunion passes, and the pale-furred female glances back over her shoulder towards the pair of other mountain lions she's brought back with her. "The young one there is Kachina. She was separated from her family a few moons ago." Her amber gaze then shifts over towards the adult male accompanying her, then back once again to the chieftain. "And this is Wiraqu." No further explanation is given yet - which no doubt says enough as it is - as Arroyo waits to gauge her father's reaction to this first.
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