Walk | Talk | Think
Rune was lost. He had moved to Covari to be with his family, at his aunt's request as well as his sister's, thinking that at last he might have found a stable, comfortable place in which to raise his three children. As much as he had enjoyed being back upon the mountain of his birth, it was simply too dangerous a place to protect and patrol on his own, and the thought of having stable boundaries definitely appealed to him. Not only that, Alamea had even agreed, putting up little to no fight against their moving and guarding her reservations to herself. But the moment he had set foot there he had felt out of place. He was placed amongst the masses, forgotten, left to find his own way within a world where he had thought he had been wanted, maybe even needed. Without a purpose, without direction, he had wandered a territory foreign and uncomfortable to him, shared space with wolves he did not trust enough to relax around, and found himself beginning to regret his decision.
It should have come as no surprise that the pack would simply up and leave around him, though it did. Even the strongest of packs had already been proven to him as shakeable as the next, forcing the first move his family had made out into the wilds to fend for themselves. But his aunt, despite giving little attention to him, had seemed to devote all of her time and energy into Covari, into her empire, and he never would have expected her to simply discard it so easily. The lands might have been empty if not emptying and he might have been as alone as he ever had been but still the dark fur along the back of his neck bristled. This was not how he had pictured things going at all.
Since it still beat as the heart of the pack, even if the pack no longer officially resided here, Rune kept within the boundaries of the Range, choosing a location well away from the buildings and machinery and within the thick forests that bordered it as his temporary base. He stood amid the trees, black paws strangely fidgety as he wished for more to do, wished to be away from the place already. But not before he found his family. His frosty blue eyes were narrowed beneath deeply furrowed brows, his ears alert though otherwise they may as well had lied flat with irritation. Opening his muzzle, he called for them - Alamea, Keiki, Eirik, and Warja - wanting to keep his family close. As always, they were his world. So long as he had them things would find a way to be alright.
He was not the only one seeking to gather the family close. Though he had been listening for a call from his own children or mate, it was his sister, Maia, who he heard instead, calling not for their once-leading aunt or the male who had left her with two more mouths to feed but for him. Immediately his itchy paws moved into action, drawing him hurriedly through the wood in her direction - his family was smart enough to catch his scent and follow. It took him a little while but eventually he found them, his small sister seated with her two boys close beside her. He did not need anything more than a look to let him know that he was not the only one with frazzled nerves. She might have been putting on a good composed look for the kids, but Rune was no child to fall for it. His scowl had not lessened along the way, though his eyes did seem to soften as they settled on the dark colored woman, drifting over the children as he slowed and then stopped before them. "You guys are alright?" he asked, his low, gruff voice concerned as he took a second to glance around assessingly. Blue eyes returning to Maia's green gaze, he added in a quieter tone, "Do you know what's happening?"
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