With a heavy heart Armando continued his eastward trek. He'd gotten separated from Motif some time back and with no ties to her captors he'd had no reason to stay. So he'd left at what was possibly the worst time. Though he'd been too far away to see it he'd heard that a volcano in the east had erupted and that was what had caused everything to go sideways. Ash fell heavily and constantly. It choked out the plants and scared away the sensible wildlife, making life difficult for the garbage loving panda. He was used to going a long time without his staple food and having to subside on "junk" such as small birds, bugs, fruit and the like, but now that was a struggle. The potbelly he'd gained since coming inland was gone, replaced with hollow sides.

With the way things were now he'd given up on making a living inland and was now headed back to the coast hoping desperately that his island with its thick bamboo forests was okay. Maybe he'd try again someday.

Armando trudged through the ash with nary a thought to what was around him. He was tired, he was hungry and he just wanted to be somewhere safe. Some time ago he'd stopped shaking the ash from his coat so now he was covered from head to hind in a thick blanket of the stuff. Even his fedora, which he was loath to part with, was covered. What was the point in clearing it off? There were no ladies here to impress. He looked a mess anyway.

Cannival Cannival seemed to be spending every day in a tree lately. From high up on it's branches she could see the world more clearly, and the leaves above her sheltered her from the falling ash. She didn't quite know where to go in life anymore, with the volcano's wrath taking Abaven's lands she'd found nobody left there and Rain seemed to have disappeared too. For all the knew hundreds of wolves did not survive the eruption her friends included. She wondered back to little Motif and hoped that if she'd perished too that it was quick and painless. The pup wouldn't be a pup anymore, she could be a yearling by now if she'd been able to avoid the lava. The thought made Canni said, and she wished she'd had the chance to say goodbye. In the distance she saw a tiny white creature moving across the ash and frowned in it's direction. It wasn't a wolf, too big to be a rabbit. But what else could it be? The falling ash before her made it hard to see clearly, though she could swear she saw speckles of orange or maybe red within it's white pelt. Was that blood? Could the little thing be injured and that was the reason for the dejected way it walked? Cannival leaped down from her tree and padded closer, calling out a cautious greeting as to not frighten the poor thing. "Hello? Do you need help? Are you hurt?" It wouldn't be the first critter injured in the volcano's destruction, and Canni's duty as a healer was to help all she could. "You.""Think.""Speech"

It had become clear to him the longer he'd traveled why red pandas were known as homebodies. Without a long-legged dog to carry him around travel was quite tedious. Even if he booked it he was more or less a tortoise compared to most animals. His legs and his stamina were simply too short. A midgety, three-legged epileptic deer could run circles around him any day of the week. That was just a fact of life. Maybe one day he'd reconnect with Atlas and the two of them could pick up where they'd left off.

"Hello? Do you need help? Are you hurt?" Armando lifted his head slowly causing a small mountain of ash to fall off the back of his fedora and snowball down his shoulder. He stared uncomprehendingly at Cannival as he tried to place her. When it clicked he gasped and inadvertently inhaled a blob of ash. It immediately stuck on the back of his throat and caused him to choke before he could properly form her name. "Cann-hck!" He spluttered, one forepaw fluttering in front of his chest, and then choked the ash-blob down. A cough and a rough swallow cleared his throat completely and he wheezed, "Cannival? From Abaven? It's-" oh frik what had he called himself when he lived there?? Tobias? Rudy? ...Kirby? Kirby! "Kirby! Heavens I didn't think I've ever see a familiar face again!"

Cannival Cannival moved quicker as the little thing began a coughing fit. The poor guy must be awfully sick. As she pulled up upon him though, memories of something fluffy and orange tugged at the back of her mind... and maybe some small resentment too, though she didn't know why. He greeted her when his spluttering was done, naming her and them himself. KIRBY. That little panda who'd stolen Motif's heart! Well, at least now she knew where she knew him from. "Oh gosh, Kirby!" She was stunned and stepped closer, lifting a paw and moving it slowly towards his hat to brush some of the ash from it's brim. "What are you doing out here? How did you escape the volcano? Did the others survive, too? Is Motif okay?" As she unloaded question after question, the lioness shuffled around him in circles swatting her paw above his fur to disturb the settled ash and reveal his true colors within. "You.""Think.""Speech"

Good god he'd forgotten just how big this cat was. Her paw, bigger than his whole head, loomed over him and cast a shadow he could have sat in without spilling over. All she did was brush some of the ash off his hat but good grief, she could have just as easily drove him into the ground like a spike. That knowledge made him covetous of her strength all over again. He missed having a formidable ally. None could take the place of Atlas, whose antlers he'd slept in, but he rather liked the idea of a big friend to run to when his scams went wrong.

He took his hat off and held it in his front paws as she asked about Motif. "It's a long story," he said with a sigh. "For the longest time Motif was held as a slave by a wolf named Sirius, first in Ashen and then in a fighting force called Ashen Armada. We were in the west of Boreas when the volcano erupted so I have no idea how the Abaven wolves fared." Armando rung the brim of his hat between his paws. "I was working to free her when her sister Poem struck a deal with Sirius and traded herself for Motif's freedom." He shrugged helplessly and sniffed before continuing, "We got separated and I haven't seen her since, but she was okay the last time I saw her."

While Kirby removed his hat and looked properly contrite, Canni's expression grew more and more worried. She settled in on her belly before him, laying her head upon her paws to watch him as he told his story. It was almost too much to endure, and Canni wanted to hurt someone more then she'd ever had in her life. "Sirius, no I met a Sirius." She responded with disbelief, her head shaking side to side. "He was kind, I returned to him a lost pup. He couldn't have kidnapped her." Her rounded ears pulled flat and she hoped desperately that the little panda was merely misremembering. Was Motif there in Ashen when she'd approached their borders and held conversation with the direwolf? "Where did Poem come from? She did say if Abaven survived the volcano?"

It  was disgusting how almost Armando's height Cannival's gaze was even though she was laying down. Why were all the predators so damn big? Whatever, he had other things to be thinking about. Like how she had clearly gotten that big guy all wrong. Armando shook his head. "Freakishly tall guy? Big fangs? If we're talking about the same Sirius he might be kind when it suits him, but he bought her and not just to free her either," he said bitterly. Perhaps because he was so used to cutting and running after getting what he wanted Armando had been distressed by his inability to help Motif. It had been a frustrating, disheartening ordeal. He was glad it was over for her and that in itself was a new feeling for the selfish cat-bear.

As for where Poem came from, he was less certain of that. He shrugged. "I assume from Abaven. It certainly seemed like shehad come from somewhere stable; she looked well." Armando was quiet for a second, then added, "Considering it was Mount Volkan that erupted I would imagine the pack had to move...but I couldn't say where."