brothers run free.

@Osiris perhaps? or @Antares or any Empyream members!

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The scent was stronger now with many claiming to the Nameless Mountain. Though no one truly knew what name to give, and thus continued being 'the mountain.' Internally did Desdemona chuckle at how bad they all were at naming, but her outerier remained the same. Stoic and cold, dutiful to the borders. Finally did she march down the mountains path, as she grew familiar with the upper regions. Her place was always lower on the terrain, and she knew where it would be her denning place.

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The matriarch had been ahead, but hearing the sound of another was given pause; looking over her shoulder, she saw her cousin emerge from the treeline. Hydra loosed a low whuff to announce her own presence; she was glad to see her comrade, still here and still well. Somehow it was a relief, as though this somehow might not be so. It was not something Hydra hoped to understand, because it brought about thoughts of dread... and so she dismissed it, while not ignoring it. Her intuition was something she always could (and would) trust. But whatever had happened had past them, both—relief presented itself for a reason, did it not? 

Once Desdemona arrived to her side would Hydra resume her own walk, but in the meantime she herself would not idle; the raven Queen lowered herself to the earth to scent-roll, easing the groove of her shoulders into spaces they could fit as she did. Satisfied, Hydra rose to groom the furs she could reach so that they fell neatly into place as she waited.

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Often did she find herself with the company of Hydra, before and after the night of the past. Desdemona saw the other as a savior of sorts, someone who brought her a home that had been lost so many times. Given her a place and rank to be proud of, and overal, wolves she could wholeheartedly count closely to. Though the term 'friend' still stayed on the tip of her tongue, at times feeling reluctant if she deserved such a time, but many more, did the others reassure all was fine. Her heart warmed whenever the Queen called her cousin.

Upon catching up to the other, she had seen Hydra groom herself, and so Desdemona moved on over and started to groom the area's she could not reach, "The land has changed, but everyone remains the same." The obvious was true, but the words were like she was comforting herself. Her greatest fear, was to lose it all.

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Hydra trusted Desdemona enough to offer the woman room to groom, comforted by it; vanity willed it, and though Hydra was never one to mind getting her paws (or teeth) dirty, she preferred to be well maintained. Mindfully, and satisfied with her own work, Hydra moved to mind a knot upon Desdemona she had spotted. That done, the matriarch rumbled her satisfaction. “Yes,” she answered in turn, “and I hope the rest will be found, soon...” 

Faces she could not remember in their entirety, fractured in her minds eye. But once she saw them, smelled them, she would know. “We will claim this place, Desdemona; surely our scents would be familiar to them, and this place is as a beacon with its own great heights. If they remember one thing before the rest,” she drawled, “let it be my love for the grandiose,” she quipped. Would there not be some sort of pull in that strange tether, though? Where would that thread lead? 

Home. Home to them all.

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"The stars are so different, but with time the air will be the same." She always saw Moonspear as a grand pack, even before she had joined, they held strong against many, and were known for power and longevity. The first time she had seen Hydra and her siblings, at the time the Queen did not have her throne, and upon settling within the chair, did it grow even stronger with her grasp. Fondly so did even other packs send their warriors to train amongst them, and become a warrior of their mountains.

Without the wolves she so knew, it would not be the same mountain. Every one, was strong in their own way. Fondly could she recall each wolf and their spirit, and felt empty when she could not smell them yet, "do we carry the same name, or new?"

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Hydra looked up then, to both the sky and its stars. True some constellations were not the same as the place they had come from, but Hydra knew the stars to change with seasons. That was not so disturbing a thing, nor a concept, but had her father not enjoyed the stars himself, and her mother, nature, Hydra may have seen the changing sky as some sort of omen. All she could think then, though, was of Spring; a new beginning to their new beginning. Spring brought with it the rebirth of their world. It was the spring air she thought she breathed, hours earlier when the sun was high... though there was still March's chill in the air, at this hour. 

Desdemona's question was a valid one. “We carry who we are at the heart of us,” she drawled; they would always be Moonspear.  A rose that went by any other name was still a rose, after all... and it still wore its thorns. But, still, “...all the same, we make a new legacy here. A new name, I think, in respect of this,” Hydra drawled, considering. That thought in mind, Hydra stepped forward now to move toward a protruding stone to mark it. One ear backturned to listen for Desdemona's thoughts on the matter, hopeful she would voice them. 

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"A new Empire." In understanding she nodded at the thought, however was at no use to help in name bearing. Rather she was also relucta[nt, feeling that the matter was far too great to even suggest. Desdemona would remain silent on that matter, hoping someone would come up with a name. Though she did not know how Moonspear came to be as a name, neither did she know of Morningside- even her own homeland, the names seem to be out of a thin air, or someone's imaginative mind.

"I'm settled as a lower guard to the Queen and King." The ranks, were obvious as well. While she wasn't aware of a new system that may be in place, the ranks that held and who claimed them were quite obvious, as there was only two rulers within the mountain, and one below them so; Jarilo.

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italicized text written by Iris <3

---

 

Empire.

Hydra rather liked that word. 

It rang a bell—an old one. 

And she heard her fathers voice. 

"I have a dream, Hydra, and in it you would step from our shadow and take your intended place in this pack and in this world. Your charisma will build a world my grandchildren deserve... I believe you are ready. I would advice you and make you strong, and from this mountain we will take the valleys below. Everyone would hear our name and quiver rather than take ours away from us as they did to... Our family would rule supreme from this star-tipped mountain, and we would have soldiers that we make sure are loyal to us to make this happen."

Some things forgotten, there—names she might not ever remember. But what she could remember was one of her many purposes. What she had only just begun to do, before the abrupt change where she and others had risen here. Moonspear, hers—the Glen, hers. It had been the start... and they had hardly reached their full potential, before coming here. Some way, some how. 

“Yes,” she drawled, “with the same heart.” Cold and unforgiving to those that wronged them. But a different thing altogether, to those they protected and loved... one another. Family, each of them. Looking to Desdemona, she nosed her cousin at her own proposed rank though said nothing as to that quite yet. Truth be told, Hydra was still coming to terms with all that was happening in this place... like that they were still here. While she had accepted this to be the new way of things, it was plenty to navigate and work through as she figured out the rest along with it. 

But of course Desdemona would be a guard, as that was who she was; a protector, just as she herself was. That she was here... Hydra could hardly put into words what relief it brought her, eloquent though the matriarch was. “I am glad that others seem to be finding their way to us,” she hummed, with that in mind. That, too, was a relief.

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fade?

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She was rather quick to adjust, as while she missed the mountain that she had grown to love, Desdemona prioritized the wolves in the mountain moreso then her own comfort. She found love for those she protected, and would watch the world around her crumble for their safety. As long as she had them, she thought all would be well. Though in her heart she also knew others would not have it as easy, especially for the Ostrega's who grew up within their mountain slopes. She held too many changes in scenery, and only begun an attachment to the starry mountain much later in the previous life.

"They all will." A confidence in her voice, despite the knowing that this could not be true. 

It was her one wish to the heavens, that Desdemona long ago lost faith in.

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Fading!

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Hydra believed Desdemona's words; sooner or later, they would be found and return. Hydra would look for their faces, their scents, when she could... but her greater responsibility was to those that had been found. Her gaze shifted to Desdemona, heart swelling with gratitude that she was among that number. Releasing a quiet sigh through her nose, she shifted just so toward the other and closed her eyes to rest alongside the family member she had been fortunate enough to find.

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