further than our false schemes of wrong and right

With water still dripping from his coat, Altair turned to look back on mountains distant—of home as he knew it, nothing more and nothing less. It was a good day to go out and stretch his legs as summer fell away fleeting and fast, like a surefooted hare in the still tall grasses that stood every bit as proud as he did along the ridges of the cove.

The swim had been refreshing, though it wasn’t his first of the day. Crossing the river in the predawn hours had been a bit tricky to navigate, but perhaps not quite as daunting as the climb up out of the cove from where he had drifted downriver. While the ridge and cliffside had been steep to clamber up, he had managed it well—as he should have, being mountain-born—and from on high could survey the span of the gash and it’s watery backfill.

He had never looked at it from such an angle, though he wasn’t sure if there was anything out of the ordinary. The terrain was maybe a bit more even here, suitable enough to travel across; the glass-like surface of the cove’s eerie and still waters were disrupted by water fowl that had merrily swam across. It was the sort of thing he thought perhaps he would one day come back by with @Osiris, or even his mother… at least when she wasn’t busy nesting last minute.

Deciding to linger there just a bit longer, the yearling reclined to his haunches.

It was a particular nice day, after all, so why rush it?
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Slowly, the weather was changing. A few days prior, Osiris noticed the shift in the air; the gentle, rolling winds, the chillier nights—the colder season was approaching, and he had to prepare. Following his realization, Osiris had divided his time between hunting and keeping an eye on their mother as she nested. 

Today, Osiris decided that he needed a break from it all. 

The summer had been cruel to Osiris—grief and uncertainty had been weighing him down—but now things seemed to be on the up and up. He and Leta had made their courtship official, and he now moved with undeniable certainty. Still, even with his renewed confidence, his tank was slowly draining. So to avoid burnout, Osiris traveled west. 

He had hardly explored the mountain's neighboring territories, and with the weather as lovely as it was, Osiris decided to investigate. Along the way, his path intersected with Altair's fading trail, and he decided to follow it, as it had been a while since he had spent time with his younger brother. 

When Osiris found Altair, it was along the shore of a cove. He had never seen anything like it—the reaching, rocky walls, the still waters—he thought that it'd be somewhere he could take Leta when things calmed down. So he took a moment to take it all in before he began his ascent away from the lake. 

"Altair" Osiris called once he had reached the slope's lower range, traversing the rocks with general ease. When he was on solid land, he approached Altair.

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Atop the cliffsides of the cove as he took in the view, the wind caught hold of his coat and tousled it gently. The vista was definitely one to behold as he let his gilded gaze sweep outward, where further out past the path of water fowl was the natural ebb of the river as it spread out into a delta-like plain—the point where it he had come across. From on high, it didn’t seem nearly as large in its span as it had felt, but the current had played a part in it.

Then just as he was dwelling on his venture there in his respite, a familiar voice reached up from beneath him. Immediately his gaze dropped to find Osiris making his way along the stony path upward, a smile broke across the younger Ostrega’s features in the same beat. He hadn’t seen too much of Osiris as of late, but given the funk that his brother had been stuck in, Altair hadn’t begrudged him of it. If he needed space, then he got it, fair and simple.

“Osiris,” he hummed, “I didn’t expect to find you out here!”
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Osiris smiled. "It's good to see you," he replied in turn as he approached. Osiris couldn't remember the last time he had spent one-on-one time with his brother, and he felt a sharp pang of guilt. However, he knew that their distance was because of him, and he would do better moving forward. 

Osiris bumped his shoulder against Altair's and noticed how strong his brother felt. He was no longer the little brother that he remembered—he had grown into a full-ass adult man."How have you been?" he asked next, pulling away from their brief embrace.

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“I’ve been… okay, I guess,” he said as Osiris joined him, nipping after the whiskers at his chin. “Been doing a lot of exploring out to the east to see what I can find, and I’m hoping I’ll make it a bit more to the north before winter sets in.” He shrugged his shoulders with a certain nonchalance; he lacked a better way to sum up how he had been other than just okay. Could have been better, could have been worse no doubt, but the yearling Ostrega had few complaints.

Reaching with a hind leg to scratch at an ear, he was half-tempted to ask Osiris how he had been but felt he knew the answer; he was well aware of the malaise that had taken hold of his elder brother down to a fine reason why, and it was a pain that he felt acutely. But it attributed to his necessity to keep busy if nothing else and by extension, another sort of question was off his lips instead.

“I thought today I’d check out this place though, wanna join?”
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Osiris was happy to see that Altair was exploring, and he wondered what his brother had discovered beyond Empyrean's reach. "Did you find anything interesting?" he asked. Osiris was still trying to get a lay of the land, but he hadn't traveled east. "I didn't go that way when I was out," he elaborated, "I went north." The north had been cold and harsh. They lived in perpetual winter, and Osiris had not been a fan of the area. He preferred the summertime when prey was plentiful. 

"Yes," he answered when he was invited to explore. "Have you been here before?" he wondered as his gaze regarded the sprawling cove. It was unlike anything he had ever seen before, and he was keen to see what wonders the territory held.

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“I haven’t been on this side before,” Altair answered, “but I’ve been along the rocky edge with Dad a while back.” There were subtle differences, elevation and structure being chief among them. The northern side seemed to rise and roll like the hills and mountains it was nestled into, but the southern edge seemed to slope downward more gently, suitable for the grasslands and forestry presently at his back.

“I had been hoping that he and I could go out to the east together soon, but I know he and Mom are busy. There’s a lot out there I didn’t get to see… though I did see something interesting—” his breath was baited, the pause unconsciously there “—Leta told me about the stones from her home, right. Well, somewhere around here there’s some like that, but I found more out east. Everything’s pretty flat out there honestly. I mean there’s some trees and creeks and stuff but just lots of… growth. Grasses, flowers—kind of like how things were beyond the Glen.”

Another pause—did Osiris remember the Glen? This world was a tricky place and Altair had come to realize it as such, for even he at one point believed he had been apart of a dream. And for all he knew, occasionally the thought that he was still in a dream lingered. Yet reality seemed to play a different tune and the yearling Ostrega was no stranger to the fact that others did not remember events as he had.
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Osiris nodded, quickly surveying the area that Altair had mentioned. There were noticeable differences in the land's lay, but nothing interesting enough to hold his attention. 

His brother then expressed his interest in exploring east-ward, and he nodded, not knowing what territories were in that direction. He had stuck closer to their home since returning from his scouting mission, as his trip had scratched his itch of exploration. 

“—Leta told me about the stones from her home, right." Right. Leta had told Osiris about the stones. "Well, somewhere around here there’s some like that, but I found more out east." It was intriguing, and he leaned closer. Everything’s pretty flat out there honestly. I mean there’s some trees and creeks and stuff but just lots of… growth. Grasses, flowers—"

"—kind of like how things were beyond the Glen.” 

He thought about it for a moment, trying to remember. "Hm," he drawled, struggling. "I don't remember too much about the Glen." Leta had helped him remember bits and pieces—chiefly that he had led a pack—but his memory wasn't complete. 

"What do you remember about the Glen?" he asked.

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