Walk | Talk | Think Adjusting to life in a pack that was not Secretua was the weirdest thing Eirik had done to date. Even weirder yet was coming to terms with his father's absence. He had hoped beyond hope that Rune would eventually show up, that he would be just a step behind them and show up on Fiori's border ready to return to his family with some wild tale about where he had been and what he had been doing. Eirik wanted to hear it - needed to hear it - but no matter how often his rosy pink eyes shifted to the border to look for him he never showed. Eventually he stopped looking outward and began looking in. A new admiration for his mother and her inner strength had grown since they had trekked to and joined Fiori. She remained a pillar around which each of her children could gather and lean against though Eirik could only guess how badly Rune's absence was hurting her. The love between his parents had always been a clear, visible thing, even if subdued in nature. He might never have felt it for himself, but surely it had an effect now if it meant so much to them. And his younger siblings. He assumed his baby brother Icarius's quietness was his own way of coping, and while his turmoil was kept closely inside Sarai was the total opposite. Eirik feared her tirades would irk the generous members of Fiori and though initially he had been relieved not to hear her whining on and on about how much she hated it there he quickly became worried when he realized the absence of her whining was because she was not there. Half suspecting that the daring girl had begun a solo trek back to what used to be the lands of Secretua, the pale grey elder brother left the boundary of his family's new home and set off tracking the scent of his little sister. They did not lead in the right direction to be heading back toward their old home, meaning Sarai either had a really poor sense of direction or home was not her destination. The burly young wolf padded quietly along, his rosy eyes worriedly searching. Was she close? With rivers creeping up into sight around him, his nervousness only grew. "Sarai!" He called for her as he searched, hoping after the first time that his voice would draw her out instead of drive her away. OOC: Figured running away or hiding outside of the territory would be a Sarai thing to do, so hopefully this works to start! xD

OOC: I'M SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG I'M THE WORST She didn't care that their mother had decided this would be their new home. She didn't want to be here, she wanted to be back in their old home! She begrudgingly sat in their den or just outside of it in this new place every day since they arrived, making sure everyone around her knew just how little she wanted to be here. Today it seemed everyone was off doing their own thing or whatever, leaving her in the den alone for a moment. She huffed irritably and glared at the watery world outside their den till a thought finally dawned on her. No one was around to stop her from just going home by herself. She was almost a year old now! She was basically an adult! With a majorly over inflated ego and the stubbornness of an ox she climbed out of the den and headed out toward the trail that she remembered taking to get here. It felt like everywhere she went around here she just couldn't escape this freaking mud and water! She splashed through yet another thin river and sat herself down on one of the many small islands in the delta. With a huff she started licking at her pale forepaws in a futile effort to keep the white fur clean. That was when she heard her brother's voice calling for her and her gray ears perked at the sound. She groaned disappointedly and looked around for him. It looked like she had been found out. She stood again and finally spotted him on the other side of the over inflated, shallow stream between them. "What do you want, Eirik?!" she called at him, her pale pink eyes glaring bullets at him. "Why won't any of you let me go home?! I just want to go home!" "SPEAK!"

Art by Evelyn

Walk | Talk | Think A new panic had settled in the moment he had called out his little sister's name, and it prevented him from doing so again. She was such a stubborn little creature, so determined to do things her way with no regard to how her actions worried and scared those who wanted to keep her safe. She was so prone to acting for herself that Eirik feared giving away his presence as he had might give her the idea to hide, to avoid him and keep putting distance between them before he could catch her scent and follow her trail. Please don't, he thought nervously as he traveled along, the worried look on his face only deepening the further he traveled after her, please, please. To his relief, she was in a more combative mood than secretive, and rather than hide she called out to him with her typical rebuttal. Home. That was all any of them wanted, really. He was sure of it, even if the rest of them did not express their longing for the place quite so vocally as Sarai did. With his dark-tipped ears perked forward, Eirik spotted the young wolf standing on the opposite side of a stream, looking fierce and determined to either stay where she was or go back home as she had said. As he always did when she got this way, the big grey wolf sighed. What did Mom say when little Sarai got like this? How did she calm her down and coax her into staying in Fiori for another night? As excited as he had been to get another younger sibling, Eirik was beginning to think he was not quite as prepared for the experience as he had thought he was. "You know I can't do that," he answered gently as he approached the stream from its other side, stopping clear of the water to give his argumentative sister space of her own on which to continue arguing with him. He almost thought she enjoyed it with as often as it happened. "It's safer here in Fiori. There's more wolves here who can keep you safe." Part of him knew it was pointless to speak of the benefits staying in their current pack provided them. They never seemed to work on Sarai, no matter how much he tried to explain the logic of the choice. But it was the truth, and an easy argument to fall back on when she got like this, and since he had not thought up another one to offer her, he stuck with what was easiest.