Aurielle Adravendi

It started with a distant, horrifying thunder that Aurielle was certain she’d never heard the like of in her life. It brought her head snapping up from the traces of deer she’d been investigating in the moor, breath sticking in her throat. Fear. There was nothing visibly wrong here on the Moorlands, but still, her instincts were screaming. Her throat closed as she gazed off to the east, where the noise had come, peering into the night. There was danger. Deadly and already pouncing like a great cat from the shadows. She felt it, trembling through her bones, then, as she was trying to decide what to do… the ground shook. Her eyes dropped to the earth beneath her paws as she steadied herself. Something was coming, and Valhalla needed to get together. Now. Her body twisted in a graceful twirl as she spun on her haunches to throw up a howl. It wasn’t the usual gently call to a meeting. It wasn’t even one of mild urgency as it had been when she announced their neighbors at large. It was a full-on demand, one that brooked no argument as she pelted for the standing stones, knowing the pack was likely to gather there, as Gwen had called meetings there in the past. When she reached the stones, she didn’t hesitate as she flew up onto the leaning pillar, howling long and loud again, urging the pack to be faster, don’t tarry. Even as she glanced toward the east again, her heart stuck solidly in her throat. A glow permeated the far horizon, violent and bright, rippling. Even from all the way in the west, the volcanic fury lit the sky with flashes of ashen lightning. It was like in the stories, passed down from her great grandmother to her daughters, and through Surreal to Regulus, and through Regulus to Aurielle and Aramis. The tale of when Mount Animi erupted, sending all the creatures into an exodus to Boreas, for to stay was to die. Would Valhalla have to leave the home it had held for so long, off and on through the past many years? Where would they go? Where would the other packs go? Her allies, her family—Lirim might be in danger. She clenched her teeth. First the pack, then the rest of the world to worry about. She paced the pillar, fighting the tremors that were wholely her own this time. But as soon as she heard the first sounds of paw steps approaching in the night, she turned and stood, projecting a firm, strong mask to hide the utter terror she was battling within. They didn’t need hysteria she could contend with on her own time. They needed her to be strong. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think

The sudden shudder of the earth had nearly knocked her from her sentry perch on the wall, more from the surprise of it than anything. Aurielle's first call went nearly unnoticed as she stood with legs braced far apart, staring in horror at the horizon's sullen glow, at the stars slowly winking out. She found herself trembling, gaze fixed on that distant sight. What... what was that? A wildfire? Wildfires didn't make the ground tremble. Aurielle's second call dragged her attention back into the pack lands, freeing her from her frozen panic though she still felt the wings of fear beating at her heart. She gasped out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding and whirled, racing the short distance to the stone circle. She came bounding up with her golden fur puffed out around her slender body like a fearful cat, tail and hackles bristling and green eyes wide. "What is that?" she blurted out between breaths that heaved from the sprint.

Curled up in her den, Justice was sound asleep after a long day's work when she woke disoriented, with dirt raining down on her from the ceiling of her den and no idea what was happening. Groggy and confused, she nonetheless wasted no time and scrambled out of the den which, luckily, showed no further signs of imminent collapse. What on earth...? She shook hard, flinging bits of dirt and root matter from her coat and clearing the sleep from her mind. Was that an earthquake? As far as earthquakes went it wasn't so bad... she'd been lucky to get out of her den unscathed, sometimes dens could cave in completely during an earthquake but she'd only gotten a bit of dirt down from the roof.

But then her mind caught up to what her eyes were seeing, and Justice stilled, gaze trained on the far horizon, at the dull red glow. It looked like a distant wildfire, but no, not with the earthquake that had woken her. She looked to the glow, glanced up at the sky with it's rapidly disappearing stars, and triangulated where the glow was coming from, and the answer she came up with gave her a distinctly queasy feeling.

That was the volcano's location.

Simultaneous with Aurielle's calls, Justice began to swear viciously in a low voice. There were an awful lot of packs over that way. People were going to be hurt, were going to need rescue.

She covered the distance between her den and the moor with bounding strides, sliding to a stop before Aurielle and Viviane with an expression that was unusually grim. "I need to get out there," she said before anyone said anything to her, her voice void of the usual note of sarcasm that came naturally to it. "People are going to need help."

Red had been slowly familiarizing himself with the land, the boundaries, and the animals that called Valhalla's lands home. He would need to learn the habits of prey and predators alike here, to more easily fit himself into the dance of life and death that played out every time the pack would need to eat, or a predator removed. He'd stored his crafting supplies - what remained of them after the festival - in an unused nook in Aurielle's family's cave system, but he hadn't yet decided on a place to den up at. Even with the autumn weather it had been warm enough in the west for him to simply sleep under the stars, so that had been what he'd chosen to do for now until he found someplace that spoke to him.

He had been out late patrolling the border, partly to watch the habits of the night-dwelling creatures in addition to guarding the pack lands, when everything went still for a moment. No birds, no insects, just the wind in the grass. He stopped as well, uneasy... and then the ground beneath him convulsed. Just that once, that hearkening to some far distant event, but that was enough to cause alarm. Aurielle's voice rose over the pack lands a moment later, and Red gave a nod to himself. Truth, it would be wise to call a meeting now, before anyone had time to panic, and to get accountability of the pack members. He turned to follow the sound and stopped dead at the sight of a strange glow far off on the horizon. Well now, that was right unsettling. Volcano, was it? He had seen one once erupt once, back to home. It had devastated part of the kingdom's lands that year, but it had only been a minor eruption. He had never been to this volcano, and wasn't sure how far it was from Valhalla lands nor how large it was. How much would they need worry?

He wrapped calm around him like a cloak and strode off to meet the rest of the pack, but he didn't stop thinking. They'd need to send off a scout or several, likely, to see the extent of the damage, but it would be a dangerous mission. Aurielle might prefer to err on the side of caution, and keep them all close to home to keep them safe. He wasn't sure, not knowing her or her leadership quite well enough to say just now. He came to a stop quietly and greeted Aurielle with a nod, though his gaze strayed back to the glow on the horizon, viewed through the mists.

What was happening? At first Caelia swore she'd been dreaming. She'd been barely asleep for a good portion of the evening, drifting somewhere between wakefulness and unconsciousness, sporadic images flashing through her mind - it was only when a loud crack began to echo through the night sky that she became aware of how lightly she'd been dozing. At first she swore it was just her body trying to wake itself up, but when the rumbling continued she realized it was no dream at all. Adrenaline flooded her immediately, her senses shifting to high alert as she scrambled to her paws and tried to (somewhat groggily) figure out what to do. Were they in danger? This wasn't a normal storm, something was off... As she slowly crept from her den and peered into the night sky, she began to realize just how off this something really was. The sky was dark, ever-dark, but as she felt the world slowly but noticeably trembling beneath her paws, she swore she noticed a glow emanating from the horizon.. and surely it wasn't the rising sun. Caelia was at a loss for what to do, and she was grateful when she heard Aurielle's hurried call. She wasted no time in reply to it with a firm call of her own, hoping to alert anyone else who might be closer to her, if they happened to find a way to sleep through their leader's howl. Grateful to see that a few had already arrived, including her sister, Caelia wandered toward Viviane and sat, attention directed only briefly to her - leaning lightly into her, to extend her support as much as it was to find some comfort of her own. Where were their siblings, and what was going on?

Cairo Lanze Adravendi

He’d been attending to his sentry duty, sitting on the wall in the shelter that was meant for the sentries. He scanned the outlying mists, gazing toward the neighbors that now shared the west with them. A sudden, distant explosion, like thunder but far more ominous, sent the fur along his back bristling with alarm. His ears perked so hard the bases almost hurt. And then the shockwave struck, almost when his fur had settled. He scrabbled to his paws, breath coming in short bursts, eyes wide. Aurielle’s voice, urgent and fierce, brought his attention to the pack-lands, and he swerved around the edge of the shelter to bound to the ground, racing toward the stones. Cai came skidding into the circle, spraying dirt and moss, grunting with the jolt of his forelegs stopping him. His eyes swiftly swept the wolves already gathered, a huff of relief escaping at the sight of both of his sisters, whom he immediately gravitated to, standing close to Viviane, both to calm his own racing heart, and offer comfort. What was—his eyes flicked to the east and he stilled as he finally spotted the growing red glow in the distance. His fur bristled before he forced his coat to lie flat along his back and looked to Aurielle. Where was the rest of the pack? Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Paladin 'Knight' Ancora

He’d been sorting through herbs, tossing out ones that had spoiled and rearranging the stores. He was glad to have escaped his cough with none catching it. He would be approaching Viviane soon, to ask if she would care to become his apprentice in healing. The offer was open to Geoffrey as well. His musings on future lessons were interrupted by a sudden jolt. He was too far to have heard the explosion of the eruption, but his instincts squirmed fretfully in his gut even as he dashed from the cave system, hearing a scuff of paws behind him that said Regulus had felt it too. Aurielle’s distant, urgent howl reached both sets of ears and both men were racing flat out, Paladin a full length ahead of the old crimson male. It took them longer to arrive at the Circle. Paladin skidded to a stop as he spotted the glow in the distance, then glanced over the rest of the pack, noting who had arrived and who had yet to do so before he chose a spot beside Justice, Regulus slipping to a place near Aurielle.

Regulus Anatolii Adravendi

He was curled beside his wife. Her stillness troubled him. She was fading. Not dead yet, but just clinging. He wished so deeply that her eyes would open and see him, and not the shadows and terrors of her time with the slavers. His ears fell back as he listened to the labored, too slow breaths. He had never envisioned this. To be laying beside a dying wife too deeply scarred by her past to recover, despite her initial attempts at trying. A jolt shook him from his painful thoughts, and his head popped up from his paws, a shudder running down his spine. An earthquake? Paladin’s rushing paws outside the alcove brought him to his feet, loping after his cousin. It was Aurielle’s urgent howl from the Moor that spurred the crimson giant to run flat out at a jarring pace to his old bones and being mostly tri-podded by his crippled leg wasn’t helping it. But he pushed through, a father needing to get to his daughter’s side. Where was Aramis? Was he with Aurielle? Where was Laisren? He hadn’t heard his younger brother call any pack hunts since his promotion. Disappointment in the man was rife among his many tumultuous emotions. He glanced up and nearly stumbled as he saw the red glow in the east, sickness churning in his gut as he pushed more energy into his aging legs, glad to stop once they reached the Circle. Fathomless sapphires swept the group as he slipped to sit near the base of the pillar near Aurielle, worry filling him as he didn’t spot his son anywhere in the group. It had been far too long since he’d seen the young man.

Artur threw his head up in surprise when the ground beneath his paws rocked suddenly, nearly throwing him to the ground entirely. With a snarl of effort he managed to keep his footing though. He had been making his way back to Valhalla, commuting between where his brither was holed up studying, and where the rest of his littermates continued to participate in Valhallan life. Viviane had been too fearful of losing her place in their birthpack to stay away any longer than she had, so he had escorted her back to Valhalla long before this. Though he didn't have his sister's fear of losing Valhalla, he did have family there that he needed to protect. He had been splitting his time between. He had been most of the way through his return to Valhalla, nearly to the pack's border, when the sudden earthquake stopped his progress. And then, one by one, the stars went out. His havkles prickled, and Artur instinctively spun to face the direction he had been travelling from.

A sullen glow illuminated the underside of a massive wall of... smoke? No, he amended, realizing that the glow came from the volcano south of the mountains, it was ash. The volcano had erupted with enough force to shake the ground all the way over here. And over there, he realized, was where his brother was still.

His lips peeled back from his teeth in a rictus of a snarl. He needed to go back, to find Geoffrey. But his sisters were here, so close, and could be in need of help. Earthquakes had been known to collapse dens, and in the middle of the night they were likely to have been sleeping and unaware of their danger...

In that moment of indecision, Aurielle called for the pack. He stood a moment longer staring towards the mountain before he spat out a stream of foul words and turned towards Valhalla. He was here, and even at his fastest pace he would be unlikely to reach his brother in time if he were in dire need. And if he weren't, his clever brother would be able to wait long enough for Artur to check in with their siblings. But hell or high water as soon as he could assure himself that they were well he would be setting out to find his brother.

His pelt was still bristling in a silent fury when he swept in to the hiddled pack. A narrow blue-eyed gaze speared them, relaxing when he saw all three of his siblings together and, it seemed, well enough. He moved to stand behind them protectively. Though his body wanted to shift restlessly, impatiently, with his need to be on his way now that he had seen his siblings, he forced himself into stillness. He was already here, he could wait to see what Aurielle intended for the pack so he could plan accordingly. He would not wait long, though.

Aurielle Adravendi

Viviane was the first to arrive, and Aurielle glanced over her shoulder to gaze at the sky to the east. She wished she could say it was morning coming early. “Nothing good, I’m afraid… I just hope we’re far enough away to avoid the worst of it…” She couldn’t give a more comforting response that wouldn’t also be a lie to the young girl. As the pack arrived, she took a head count. Out of all that should be expected to arrive, there were three that were missing. Her eyes swept over the pack as Artur arrived, and she swore within the confines of her own mind. Tp Justice’s words, she nodded agreement. She waited as long as she could, but when she became certain that Laisren, Geoffrey and Aramis were not coming, she quelled a rise of bile in her throat and turned to the pack as a whole, announcing as calmly as she could, with authority. “It seems the Mountains in the East have woken. Most likely it’s Mount Volkan. I wish I could say for certain that we’re safe were we are, but I cannot. As such, we must send out scouts, both to check and see the expent of the damage as it stands now, and assess the threat and help any who need it, and to search for possible grounds Valhalla can retreat to if we must..” Her eyes flicked over the pack, assessing before she turned to Justice. “Justice, you will head east. Check on the other packs, our allies especially. Take Paladin and Laisren if you can find him. If you can’t find him, please, keep an eye out for him, make sure he’s safe. Assess the damage and see if you can get a handle of how far the eruption’s damage will reach to the west.” Her eyes turned to her father then, and she continued, still in a calm, firm tone. “Father, You, Red, and I will scout the lands to the west of here for possible places to retreat to, whether it be mainland or islands. Silver Island may be a possibility. Red, if you will, I’d like you to check there. Father, take the Sweetgrass Basin—it’s as far from the, mountain on the mainland as it can get. I’ll take the Dancefloor.” She turned to Caelia, glancing at the young wolf with appraising eyes as she went on, “Caelia, take Viviane and Cairo, and scout the northern lands. Winterfell is to the north. Check in on them if you can.” Her eyes turned to Artur, studying him hard. As a whole, he showed little care for truly participating in the pack or helping it thrive. However, this was something she doubted she would have to ask of him that he would disdain her for. It was his brother, after all. “Artur, find your brother.” Her head turned as she gazed at the far mountain, before she leapt from the stone, calling, “Time is of the essence, everyone, move out, please… And please… come back safe.” It was a plea to all of them, present and missing, before she stood at the west end of the Circle, waiting for Red and her father to join her before vanishing into a fast darkening night with a flick of her tail. End of Meeting, Exit Aurielle unless stopped? Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think