-set about the time of the wedding-
Rhythm walked slowly over the once familiar ground, though it was years and years ago that she had been here. With her time in Abaven she had decided to spend some time with the bride to be. Vail was a sweet girl, and had much more in common with Rhythm than she would have liked. The girl was also blind, though she carried that disability since birth. She seemed to be knowledgeable in her craft of healing too, another reason Rhythm had wanted to steal some of her time. 

Her screech owl companion led them away from Abaven, through the falls and into the mangroves. She might have appreciated this place much more when she was sighted. Rhythm tried not to think about what she was missing when she heard Notch call out. Vail didn't dart away so she had no doubt they were in for a surprise rather than trouble. 

She was drawn to a tree, though she couldn't see it the scent was vivid here. The mangrove held mostly tropical plants but as she drew more near this one was obviously a spruce. The scent was warm and homey, a stark contrast to the promise of winter's cold. "Can you see anything special about this tree, Vail?"

Vail followed after Notch as he played guide for herself and her aunt. Vail didn't have as close of a relationship with the woman as her sister did, but she knew her own mother had also loves her and she was the closest to Motif she would get. She missed her mom a lot, especially these days with the wedding so close. She would have given anything for her to have been there with them to celebrate. 

Rhythm had come though, and she did share some characteristics with the old Destruction woman. They talked briefly about some herbs and the best ways to prepare them, and Vail found herself honestly enjoying the morning. She didn't expect Notch to call them over though. While most of the trees here were deciduous, this was obviously an evergreen. Vail could kind of make out the different branch structure, and the tantalizing scent it gave off. Though she couldn't quite make it out there was something else about it. 

"Not quite, but it's definitely a spruce." She tried to get closer for a better look but she tripped over something at her feet.

Rhyme wasn't about to allow his mother and Vail go out on their own unprotected. He debated about sending Imperia with them but has finally opted to follow behind. They weren't much in his sights, but their scent trail was strong. He followed slowly, Imperia in the air above the canopy and Solitude riding along on his shoulders comfortably. Rhyme was beginning to wonder if the smaller raven preferred to ride than use his wings. Of course as he got older Rhyme had every intention of making him fly. Not that he had any luck making either raven do anything. Solitude was still young though, and for now Rhyme liked his close company. 

He felt his body stiffen at the sound of Vail's little screech owl, and made haste to where the sound came from. There stood Rhythm and Vail before an odd evergreen. He tilted his head curiously, it seemed to be decorated. The boughs were decorated with berries, nuts, feathers, and even tufts of fur. It seemed like a few song birds and some squirrels had gone crazy. What was even more interesting were the containers beneath. Skulls wrapped with ivy as bows, tufts of sweet grass wrapped together nicely. Vail tripped over one of the skulls and he made himself known. "The tree is covered in decorations, and nicely tied gifts at the bottom." He added as Vail recovered from her trip.

Not one to miss the party, Shaye would see Rhyme leave Abaven, keeping a discreet distance from his mother and her sister. She grinned as she ducked out of Abaven after them. She was glad to see Rhythm and Vail spending time together, she wanted Vail to know her favourite Auntie.

She perhaps should have let them be, but with the slavers in the area, and that whole situation still ongoing, she was very reluctant to let the two most fragile, most precious wolves in her life out of Abaven without a decent amount of back up. Vail and Rhythm where her softest spot when it came to overprotectiveness.

When she saw Solor sitting sheepishly at the border, she let out a soft, warm laugh, shaking her head at him, her tail giving a friendly wag, even as her her head shook at him. “Come on then” she told her member, flicking him with her tail as she passed. With Solor beside her they would hear the screech of Notch, and well he didn’t sound terribly alarmed, they would both pick up their pace, and brush through the trees in a moment. “How.. do you think monkeys did it?” she asked the gathered group, not even slightly ashamed at what her appearance meant - that she was watching over them all. She couldn’t imagine any other creatures being nimble enough to do this.

Solor

Solor wasn’t terribly surprised to see Shaye making her way to the border at the same spot Vail and Rhythm, and then Rhyme, had departed. He expected nothing else from the Alpha who was protective of both her sister and her Auntie. When she told him to come along, he was more then happy for this sanctioned reason to leave Abaven. He himself would have waited at the border for their return, trying to balance giving them time alone with wanting to know his little blind rose was safe.

He walked at Shaye’s side until he heard the call of Notch, and he moved his pace to match with hers as they trotted into the scene. The first thing he saw, was Vail, half tripped over an item on the ground. He went immediately to her side, steadying her, before moving a little more forward, sniffing the presents under the tree. Shaye ventured forth the idea that this was monkeys, and he was inclined to agree. “Do you think it’s sacred to them? Some… tradition? I wonder if we are about to have pissed off monkeys on our tails.” he said, grinning, as he gently knocked over a present with his nose.

html by castlegraphics

The world of giants was terrifying and strange, where lands had places where no trees gew, and he skirted around those as best as he could. He was already missing home, and his heart felt like it was constantly beating quickly.

When he came to a little forest, he was happy to see it, and he clung to the trees, barely touching the ground, hunting squirrels in their branches, swinging, climbing, jumping his way around.

When he found the tree, he knew it was special. He knew it was something monumental and wonderful. He had to land and scurry up its branches, and they stabbed and stuck to him as he shoved his way through the thick canopy. He had stumbled over the presents at the bottom, and he wond his way through the strange shiny things that clung to its branches. At last, he was near the top, with the smell of spruce in his nose, warming him.

When he heard the cry of a bird, he was just considering lunch, when he heard the sounds of wolves crashing through the land, he stilled, hugging the tree, deep among its branches, high as high could be. He was still and quiet, and he could barely see a thing through the leaves. He could hear the wolves as they stumbled upon his tree, and debated what it was, and why it was here. His lip curled back in a silent snarl. This was his tree. The giants of Boreas couldn’t have it! His fur stood up on end, and his tail lashed silently behind him, but he did not move otherwise. He kept still and silent among the branches, he knew he was terribly out numbered and could only imagine how tall and wild these stupid wolves where.

There's a hole in my heart, can you fix it? Tana was honestly looking for Rhyme today. Basil was left at their tree to recover from the way she had accidentally hurt him to escape the avalanche the other day. Alma was with her doing her best to guide Tana from her head. It took a bit to find where the alpha had went off to but find it she did. She could smell many in this path, Shaye and Vail, along with two she had yet to meet. She moved along Rhyme's trail though aware that he wouldn't lead headfirst into danger. As she arrived she closed the space between her and Rhyme, taking up the space beside him. Her fur brushed his as she did so. She could hear the ideas thrown around but wasn't sure why they thought primates might be in on this. She could smell the spruce but without eyes it was hard to see it. Her ears pinned, with such a large crowd she didn't think speaking up would be beneficial to her. But these were members of Abaven, Shaye and Rhyme said they were to be her friends and family. She turned her head up towards where Rhyme's should be, which was probably more close to the space in front of him. His explanation of what everyone was looking at came and she had to think. Basil and Alma had never decorated something that she was aware of. "I-I d-don't t-think p-pr-primates d-do t-things l-like t-this." She could be wrong but the shift of Alma told her the lemur was shaking her head at this. Was there poisons in the gifts though? She hobbled forward a few paces and stopped when she felt one be bumped by her paw. She lowered her head and moved the gift with her nose a bit. she had no idea about it but it didn't smell bad. She wondered if she should take it back to Basil as an apology for hurting him even though he didn't blame her. She was unaware of the other small wolf that lingered close. Walk, "Tana", Think

Spider had noticed the slow but consistent exodus of Abaven’s pack members and had begrudgingly followed them, still unsure if he was even welcome in the pack. He stood on the fringes, of the gathering, kneading the loamy soil nervously as Abaven proper discussed what could have caused the spectacle before them. It was beautiful he supposed but the consistent gloom that seemed to permeate every corner of his life kept him from fully enjoying the sight. He crept closer, convincing himself that at the very least no one would attack him so publicly, especially not while the air around them was so charged with wonder and bliss. He remained silent as he settled close to Shaye, his ears as always, pinned back nervously. Spider speaking  Toad's voice You

Ace had been patrolling the border with Ignis when he noticed quite a few members had walked out of the territory and seemingly going in the same direction. He stopped what he was doing to watch them go, head tilting slightly as he wondered where they were going. Was there something that the pack was doing he didn't yet know about? While he wasn't the type to intrude, he felt like perhaps he ought to follow just in case he did end up missing something important involving the pack. Turning briefly to Ignis, the pair glanced at each other for a moment before quietly following along. The giant male kept his eyes trained on the backsides of those further ahead, and when they finally stopped he was even more curious. What was going on? His question was soon answered when he came onto the scene. Everyone was gathered around a spruce tree that had been decorated with shiny baubles and bells and all sorts of other things. He had never seen anything like it before, and he could feel the wonder from those around him. Crimson gaze remained on the tree and the things lying beneath it as everyone seemed to try and guess what had caused this. While he had plenty of years on him, he had never heard or seen such a thing before. He remained quiet, however, but hearing a couple others mention primates, he wouldn't put it past such creatures to do this sort of thing. They did, after all, have the ability to do this sort of things to a tree after all. They had hands and fingers and could have easily hung stuff on a tree like this. Crows could have also done it since they liked to collect shiny stuff too right? "Whatever did this, it did a fine job I think." "Speak"

"Talk" Walk Ignis had been patrolling with his uncle, though he was more oblivious to what was going on. He hadn't noticed half the pack walking out, nor when his uncle had stopped until he practically bumped into him. Confused, he followed his uncle's gaze and watched as some of the members disappeared beyond the borders. Head tilted from side to side as he watched, gaze meeting his uncle's for a moment before he was beckoned to follow. Trailing behind his uncle and the rest of the pack members, he wondered what on earth was going on. Was it some sort of training? A secret mission!? Both caution and excitement grew as they drew closer, and when they got there his eyes widened with surprise. What the heck was that? He spotted a decorated tree with all sorts of things hanging off of it, and surrounding the tree was everyone else. He had never seen such a thing before, and it was pretty amazing to see! He briefly glanced around at those who were gathered, and the first wolf he noticed was the strange man he had found digging a den. Within a moment, he decided to go over and sit beside him, though keeping a respectful distance so as not to invade his personal space. He shot the man (Spider) a friendly smile before returning his attention to the tree.