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"Oh, the land in the gorge used to be theirs. And I think it's part of why there's mint bushes there but I still don't get how that's connected." squint. He didnt think for long. "Oh, well. Like us... smaller, sometimes, without any magic for the most part." he paused, glancing down awkwardly. "I don't know what else to show before you talk to mum or Neji. It all leads far away, or to the top of the dens here. ...still trying to figure out how to move father's statue back up there, or maybe fix the cracks." stone had met its match with steel, and big brother Pain. Grumblegrumble.

"Where the Darkmoons rivals? Or your neighbors in a friendly truce way?" flicking her ear as a fly flew near it. Must've been attracted to the weird gunk on part of her nose. Then, "How are you going to move a statue?" Which was a more puzzling question than the first.

"...mmmno, I don't think so. They were mostly gone by when I was born, I just know of father originally conquering them with Tmavy, but... Letting them stay together. They went to war with the wilds against the ancients. Lots of packs did. I just know by what I've stumbled over or been told, though. There were cannibals, and elementals on the other side of the gorge; elementals near the mountains, and cannibals in the wastes. Somewhere further than that you would find nightmares, and so on." much of it fell within the protection pillar boundaries, and had been subject to curiosity and his superpower of confusing flashbacks that weren't his, with time. "There were other packs in the forests and so on, and we mostly leave it be. Our pack isn't... Quite as large as it should be."

"Oh." She looked out across the trees. Maybe she could find her answers here. Answers as to why she woke up somewhere without memory or why she was miles away from the forest which is more of a natural environment. "Do you think I may have an elemental power? If so, how would I know it?" Val laid her head on her paws.

"Uh... I'unno?" his feathers and talismanic imagery may seem shamanic, but he hadn't quite found his way, much less anyone else's for them. "I think I have a few myself, but I don't tend to explore them. A bit afraid of family history." his ears laid back briefly, near scowling. It left quickly. Still, he was a bit of an arcane timebomb genetically. He prefered his earthy approach. "Maybe mum can tell you. She's smart and old--well I mean--don't repeat that part. I'm only three. they're like, a thousand times that." oddly he was not exaggerating.

Bella growled and snapped at Sol when he attempted to defy her. "Not that I have to answer to you, but I don't care why she left. She deserted us when we needed her, and she was supposed to reign as King just as much as you were. There were a lot of things she could have done. She could have asked to go look for you, instead of running off without us knowing where she went. She could have asked the family for help instead of running off alone."

Her tail was lashing, and she was still not pleased. "Now where is she?" She wasn't going to go back on her decision, and no amount of arguing on Sol's behalf was going to change her mind. She had never much cared for Drathir, and perhaps some of that bitterness was showing through, but she intended to talk to both of her siblings at once.

He had clearly been wrong. There was no lingering concern for him left in her. He couldn’t say he blamed her though it was painful all the same. However he was now concerned for his twin which at least gave his cause to focus. He hesitated again despite her insistence. “She came to me because I needed her.” He kept his tone level though his eyes pooled with conflicting emotions of sorrow, anger, regret and trepidation. He held her sight for a moment more and then, despite the knot that was twisting his stomach, he threw back his head and howled for his sister.

She had been nearby. Knowing that her brother had gone to speak with Bella she had remained in the vicinity as she had no doubt that things would not go well. She knew Bella’s attitude and expected no forgiveness or sympathy from her no matter the reasons she and Sol had for leaving. It was only a matter of time before she heard her brother’s summon.

When it came she moved at once to follow the call. She kept herself calm and collected and walked confidently, keeping her tail straight and her ears perked. She could smell and hear other wolves but she had not the time for them now. She headed straight for Bella and Sol and was soon standing beside her brother. She face Bella silently once she had given a comforting nuzzle to Sol which he half-heartedly returned. Her ears twitched as he spoke. “Sister...I’m sorry...” He lowered his head shamefully. But Drathir licked at him affectionately. “I made my choice brother.”

Both then turned and looked to Bella. Sol was silent as Drathir spoke for them both. “Bella...What have you decided for us?”

Bella waited patiently for Drathir to arrive. "Sister." There wasn't quite as much venom in her tone as when she had addressed Sol. She wasn't as close with Drathir, and therefore hadn't felt as betrayed. "If you two are returning to the pack, these are the rules you will follow." Her tail was still swishing, "You will not be taking your place as Kings of this pack."

If they were still listening she would continue, "You are demoted. Lowest rank until you prove to me that these lands and your pack mean more to you than whatever petty fears you may have had. You will be on patrol duty with Aurcoh."

She wasn't quite done, "And you will both read the inscription Father left for you on the base of his statue at the top of the plateau, and think carefully about what he had to say. If you cannot read the language Auroch will help you." She was standing tall, her ears perked and her tail raised. She wasn't going to be a pushover and just let them take over again because they'd decided to return. "Father taught me that family doesn't turn their back on family. I hope that in time you can learn this lesson as well." It seems the biggest bone she had to pick with them was the fact that they had left. "Do you both understand?" It didn't seem like there would be any leeway in this matter, she'd made up her mind.

She laughed and found that it didn't hurt to anymore. "I think your spit maybe working." Val grinned. "I understand what you meant." Then she yawned and looked up at him again. "And your element, if that's what you call it, would be what? Earth?" she assumed since he had a way with herbs.

He stared off at that idea. Him, earth? "No, I just learn about it following dad's shadow. I don't know if there's an element for chasing ghosts. Memory, I guess... And beyond that, things I choose not to feed. Don't know if you ever heard about the good and bad wolf. I decide to live within the land and natural limits... Don't want to really find much more about what I am. I know that sounds lame but... It's complicated. Mum is air though, and can hear almost anything. It's scary. Goh was chaos, and then law... We even have peace and war here. Elements are rarely as simple as the typical five."

"Hmmm." More than five huh? Then if she had to find out which she was, it just got a great deal harder. "Um, how far exactly can your mum hear. I mean since were talking about some of her and some of the others...." She trailed off, then stretched and stood. Shaking out the fur that had been laying wrong in some places. "Is there anymore to see now that I can at least smell a little and talk better?"

"Uh... Anywhere, I think. Just a matter of knowing what she wants to listen for, I think." he waddle-wiggle-slid out of the den, only to scratch. "Goh could feel what moved on the land... I wonder if he gifted that to Neji? Or does that only work when you die?" he was still unclear on some of the laws of their ken. "Mm... I could show you dad's statue on the way back around the plateau, maybe see if they're less busy yet. It used to be at the top, but during the war it descended and... I guess went back to sleep there." he hung his head a bit. "He used to be posed all badass, like," he took overproud, heroic disneylike pose for a moment. "Now he's mostly comfortable to sleep near when I'm having a bad night." he took a few steps, coaxing her to follow along the plateau's face, back towards the original meeting point, and where a statue a small mark larger than auroch in frame, but curled up on the ground and sleeping. Auroch's ideal for dangling feathers and talismans had, in a few ways, been sculpted off-

-his father's imagery, though that was even an idealization presented on his last day. Of course, the statue had been made larger to impress stature... But when auroch settled in next to it, he was only marginally smaller. "Not sure which way I like it better." the statue's pose, that is.

She was really lost. Was he telling her that the posture of the statue would...move? Auroch looked a bit said. "I can try to help you move it, though I'm not sure I would be capable." She lowered her head to look at it from a different view. It would take a lot of force to get it to move she was sure.

"No... Um..." he looked from the statue to the sheer natural wall's tip. "I don't think I can either. I'd think maybe he just wanted to be there, but... Someone else was buried up there with him and I think they should be together again. I'm thinking, I've channeled him before apparently," what he knew he had to be told, though, and wonder on other moments. "maybe I can... Nudge him long enough for him to go back? ...hasn't worked yet though."

Val was getting even more confused now. "Alright." She simply said, since she really couldn't understand what he was going on about. Though it interested her a great deal. "You must miss him..." Sadness outlined her face as she sat, wrapping her tail around her feet as she looked at the statue more closely now.

"Mm, yes and no. Both of my fathers," as if that wasn't confusing enough, "were dead before my eyes or ears were open, I think. I know Onofre was on the day I was born, and Helix..." he tilted his head. I might remember a shadow of him walking away, but all was dark. Bella raised me, and Tamesk and Goh for a while, too. Neji of course... So it's not like I feel empty. I just find memories he left in the land. Like the mint bushes."

Valona listened to him speak and didn't say anything, but a small noise to let him know that she had heard him. She never had parents, or a pack to live off of. Or she though she hadn't. Waking up to a world of sand and heat with no recollection of where you were or where you've been makes you think that way. If she did have a family, then why had they left her there to die?

He jerked upright at the sound. "Aw... Don't look so..." he emitted a similar whine, stepping away from the stone and toward her, where he looked almost ready to butt noses in comfort, but stopped short for obvious reasons. His lip sagged in a frown. "I talk too much. sorry... Didn't mean to say something to make you..." he drifted off, and his eyes diverted to the dancing tall grass nearby. "Um... Do you want to see if they're free to talk to yet? If we get a little closer it'll be easier to hear if it's quieted down..."