He had been busy hunting, but not going too far from the woods. He hoped that Colten's scent would come to him, that he would return home and the boy could have his family back. But what was strange was that he forgot he had more family. He had his uncle, and his cousins. He hadn't thought about them since he left Arcanum... since Colten had a son... Thoughts still strayed away from his mind as he came back from a meal, leaving some meat behind since he had kept himself in shape. He returned to the two dens, one that had started to grow weak from being empty. But he wasn't ready to enter, the moon hadn't even shown in the sky yet. Instead he did what he did every day he came home early, sat in front of his den and waited. Waited for someone to come home... He had grown lonely, but he wasn't even aware of it. He was so used to having someone by his side, even after mom died. Not having anyone was something his mind hadn't really kicked into. Maybe he would realize it soon... but for now it didn't matter. He was the way he had always been, happy and carefree. Walk "Talk" Think

Walk | Talk | Think

Eirik traveled outside of Fiori's borders, and for once it was not because he was chasing Sarai. As much as he wanted to be there for his mother and younger siblings, as much as he wanted to be their doting older brother and spoil them rotten because he wanted always to see them smile, he simply had to get away. His happy family was not nearly as happy as they used to be. While the loss of their pack had taken away the one true sanctuary that he and his family had had throughout their lives, it was the disappearance and prolonged absence of Rune that truly caused the most distress. Eirik could tell now that it had been his father to keep everyone together, to keep everyone safe to the point that they never had to worry and could always smile if they chose to. Without him, everything felt different in the worst way, and with each passing day he missed the stoic, serious man more.

Witnessing his siblings, his mother, coping with their loss and new lives only managed to make the feelings worse, and a break from it all had been necessary. His large black paws carried him away from the scented border at his back and further into territory that he was slowly beginning to realize was somewhat familiar to him. He could not recall how long ago exactly it had been that he had visited the place, though the creature he found here was unforgettable. With a spotted white coat and brilliant blue eyes, the large cat was not the type of creature one just forgot about, nor could he considering she had been the subject of many of his tall tales as a child. Eirik almost smiled as he remembered those days way back when, and wondered briefly how they might go over with his younger siblings now.

As he traveled, only vaguely aware of the common, natural scents that wafted through his nose, one in particular tugged at his senses and stirred an odd sense of recognition within his brain. His brows dropped into a faint but curious frown as he made himself stop and draw in another couple of breaths, attempting to place the smell that stood out. For only a second he warred with what it might be, but that was all it took, and suddenly he was dumbstruck. No, he thought, his frown deepening as his rosy pink eyes began to look around the willowy forest with a new interest, it can't be. He knew that scent, he did, but it was one that he had not scented in quite some time. Months? Years, even? He had all but assumed he would never smell it again, and yet the individual's trail led off through the trees was unmistakable. Was it really him?

Unable to help himself, driven by a disbelieving auto-pilot, the grey wolf tracked the scent that he had identified, following the path that it took through the trees. He practically stumbled along in his haste, more attentive to the scent than he was to what was before him or the placement of his feet. How he arrived at the wolf did not matter so much as long as he did, and as he finally followed the last, strongest bits of the scents to find a spotted figure seated patiently outside of a den Eirik felt his chest constrict and the whole of his body freeze in amazement. This was him. This had to be him. The spots, the features: how could they be anyone else? "Amar?" The sound of his own voice was pitiful - hoarse, almost squeaky, and completely dumbfounded - but not nearly so pitiful as threat of tears that suddenly choked him up.

A well known man was up on his tracks. And though the scent had entered his own air, he was dazed with thoughts on how times used to be when he had his family. He wanted that back and that was the only reason he was still waiting here. Every day, every night, he would wait here until the end of time if need be. But that familiar scent lingered around his nose as he dreamed...  That was until a voice had struck him and made his head perk into the man's direction. Eirik was more of a brother to him than Colten had been. The two had a strangely strong relationship and even as Amarant looked into his cousin's desprate eyes, it was still there. It had almost been a year since he last saw him or Rune, but he could still see the  family he wanted back inside those eyes. "Amar?" He questioned jokingly, standing up and taking a light step forward. "I haven't seen that hunk around here in a while." A grin came across his features as he waited for some kind of odd emotion to come out of his cousin. Amarant was filled with bursting joy, and he should have been holding back tears just as Eirik was. But he hadn't seen anyone in so long. "Eirik..." he turned into a more serious note, "It's good to see you." Maybe his tears would hit him later. Seeing someone who was family. Someone who felt like family. Colten was his brother but they seemed to be in two different worlds. They didn't seem like family at all. Amarant had actually wished for Kylar after their departure from Arcanum. He was more family than his brother had been... Walk "Talk" Think

Walk | Talk | Think

"Sensitive" could easily have been Eirik's middle name, and he proved it now. The lump in his throat obstructed any other words he might have said to his cousin, and his rosy eyes filled with tears that blurred his vision as he stared at the spotted wolf. It was him! It was Amarant! He could not believe it, even with the younger wolf standing right in front of him and offering one of his trademark statements of self-flattery. There was no doubt in Eirik's mind now as he gave a short laugh, the lump in his throat cutting it off and threatening to let loose all the tears currently collected in his eyes. But that was no use either. As he blinked, they fell, and it seemed as they went they took the last shreds of his composure with them.

He cried quietly as he smiled and approached the younger wolf, not bothering to even ask his cousin if a hug would have been okay as he moved in to wrap his neck around Amarant's. His eyes clenched shut as he held his cousin close, so sure that he never would have gotten the chance to again. With two sisters, Amar had been the one Eirik had taken to quickly, a younger brother of sorts that he wanted to take under his wing and act as a mentor too. Circumstances had prevented that from happening, but in no way had they diminished Eirik's regard for him.

"It's been way too long," he finally managed to roughly mutter, his voice still hoarse though a bit more under his control now. Sniffling just a little, he drew back, trying to draw himself together as he smiled, still somewhat teary-eyed, into Amarant's face. "Where have you been?" he asked, desperate to know what had kept him away so long. "I'd started to believe you were gone." Like Dad. He would need to mention that fact at some point, Eirik knew, but for right now he just wanted to spend a happy moment catching up with his younger cousin.

Amarant wouldn't be fazed by the tears that finally came to fall, but inside his heart hurt and burst just as much as Eirik's did. In all the time he wanted his brother back he had forgot about his cousins and Aunt and Uncle. He was so focused on getting that back and it was unbelievable to him how he could forget such a strong and happy part of his life just like that. As Eirik closed the space between them, Amarant wouldn't resist. Instead, he would push his own body into the man's with a sturdy thud and wrapping his nose onto Eirik's shoulder. He would too let the moment last as long as it needed for his cousin to recuperate. And eventually, he would. Eirik's eyes still showed his found desire to know, but he needed that moment to let it flow. He asked where he had been, and though the boy could not completely recall he would reply, "I've lived here for quite some time." Not taking  his eyes off the man he would continue, "I went on a long trip near the battle field to hunt; but..." his voice turned sad with concern as he then removed his gaze and brought it to the ground. "Colten was gone when I came back." His concern for his brother would only grow when he heard his Uncle was away too. Family was most important to him. He didn't want to lose  anyone else. Walk "Talk" Think

Walk | Talk | Think

Eirik felt a sudden guilt surge up within him, and his black-tipped ears tucked backward against his head. Amarant had been here this whole time? But that was so close! The territories of his new home even shared borders with this one, but at no point, not even during the long march from where Secretua once resided to the pack lands, had he seen signs of his cousin's presence or noticed his telltale scent. "Seriously?" he asked, feeling entirely dumbfounded, but more so frustrated. For months they had practically been neighbors, and yet neither of them had known it. Still floored by the information, Eirik could only shake his head in disbelief and confusion.

Amar seemed to have been considerably preoccupied during their separation, and a well of concern and sympathy filled him as he was informed of Colten's absence. Though he had never been as close with the reserved one of the two brothers, the pale grey Fiori wolf had still wanted the best for them both. To know that Colten had disappeared on his own, leaving Amarant without a word to spend countless days awaiting his return, only made the short distance that separated them even more aggravating. Eirik made himself draw in a breath and release it slowly, willing his frustrations with his other cousin and the whole situation to leave him before he spoke in a voice that sounded calmer to his ears. "I'm sorry." What else could he say? "You don't...know where he might have gone?" he asked, desperately seeking some hopeful spin that he could put on things. "How long as he been missing?"

Amarant hadn't been to this land for some time when he went away. Eirik could have been traveling when he was away, but that wasn't a reason to not sense Colten. Sure they were neighbors, and though Eirik thought that he would never see his cousin again, Ammy wasn't looking for him. Maybe Eirik had stopped wondering too... Concern flowed through his voice as the man spoke, asking how long Colten had been missing where he could have gone. But Amarant didn't have a clue. Colten didn't show that he wanted to leave this sanctuary, they didn't seem like they had any more problems since they moved here... "I don't know..." His own voice showed concern rather than sadness, "I was probably gone a couple weeks. He and Ekko and... their son," He wasn't sure if Eirik knew of his child, "They were gone. Nothing left but their den." Amarant was starting to lose hope that they would be back. Either they had run far away because of him, or... They were dead. But he would never admit that it was in his thoughts. Walk "Talk" Think

Walk | Talk | Think

Eirik listened through a worrisome frown while Amarant recounted what he could recall before Colten's disappearance, which admittedly was not all that much. Amar seemed to have been gone for quite a while, allowing a big time gap in which his brother could have decided to part ways with no way of getting word of it to his brother. It was all very confusing, but not nearly so confusing as the news of this Ekko wolf and the pup Colten had apparently had. "Wait, a pup?" Eirik interjected, not even thinking as he interrupted his cousin's tale. Pup? Colten had a pup?

If he had been dumbfounded before, he was completely floored now. Pup! Good lord, the last time he had seen Colten, he had only been a kid. Hell, even Amarant was still a kid as far as Eirik was concerned, and it only made him even more confused. But as he considered the news, he thought he saw a possible scenario. Colten and this Ekko wolf must have left for the kid. Being loners was not the safest route a pair of wolves could take when raising their children. It was what had driven Eirik's own mother and father to join the packs that they had. And as much as he wanted to be mad at Colten for abandoning his brother, he could understand the logic. Assuming that was what had happened anyway.

The pale grey male sighed, once more shaking his head. "I'm sorry," he repeated, at a loss for what else he could say. It was just a really poor hand to be dealt, and it was unfortunate Amar had been forced to live with it, alone and waiting here for someone that was likely not coming back. "You've been okay though?" Eirik asked, his concern for Amarant returning with a gentle tilt of his head. His cousin had spent a lot of time on his own, fending for himself when he knew better how to live in a pack. He hoped dearly that nature was being kind to him.