They'd wish me one more day to stay.

The rains came heavily, but Ciri trudged on toward the mountains with determination in her gait. Eager, she quickened her stride pressed on ahead as they drew closer - if @Keres voiced her disapproval, it would fall on deaf ears. The rest of their family was within reach, and Cirilla Ostrega could no longer contain the brimming enthusiasm to be among them again.

The evening sun began to dip beyond the horizon but from her maw came a series of excited barks as she detected the strong scent of her kin's claim - for her mother, for @Elke, for her aunt @Hydra and uncle @Dirge, for her cousins.

Leaping with ease up onto a large boulder for a better view, the young wolfess squinted against the pelting rain to peer out toward the tree line for any sign of another's approach.


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It was a warm day. At least, warmer than it had been for a spell. The air had been humid for the longest time as clouds bunched up against the horizon and came across. Altair smelled the rain long before the first droplets fell from on high and perhaps against his better judgement, found them invigorating.

Rain meant a lot of things—namely, that the seasons were at least beginning to shift and change. Though the higher points of the mountain would no doubt see snowfall than rain, the elevations he ranged on that day in particular were soon slick with mud and snow melt. The air chilled just a touch, but the warmth that lingered sent him coursing along paths that were not quite worn in.

They were natural paths that the wolves of Empyrean would eventually turn into their own and he knew this without truly realizing it. At least today he didn’t quite find himself plagued with wondering how much of this was reality and how much of it was a dream; he was simply too caught up in the advent of venturing about unattended… or so he believed. Truthfully, he was playing ignorant, certain someone lingered in the background just outside of his view. @Jarilo, perhaps, this time. Could have just as easily been @Lyra too.

But all of that left his mind when he caught sight of a figure standing proudly on a rock, almost caught up in the same energy as he was. It took a moment before recognition sparked for him, but he lit up at the sight of his cousin easily and changed his course to go to her.

“Ciri!” he called out to her, beaming. “What’re you doing up there?”
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Sure that she'd seen a gleam of golden furs among the foliage, Ciri perked her raven ears high. She leaned forward, locking her sights on the movement between tree trunks and evergreen branches, convinced at once that those warm hues belonged to her mother. A whine strained past her lips and with her tail flicking excitedly between sleek hocks.

It was not the lioness who emerged into view, but Ciri was far from disappointed. Her breath hitched on recognising Altair, the most beloved of her cousins, and her expression brightened at once. He called out her name and the young Ostrega swept forward, careful on nimble paws, to pick her way down from her perch and make to close the distance between them.

“Altair!” Ciri cried out with joy, leaping with unbridled enthusiasm to force herself into her age-mate's personal space and aim a series of affectionate nips to the side of his neck, his shoulder, his ears, his cheek - wherever her muzzle could reach. “I missed you so much!”


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Her enthusiasm was contagious, he discovered. Sent into a flurry of emotions that came tied to a reunion, he could not help but return her playful nips with ones of his own. A playful growl slipped out as he butted his head against her shoulder and his tail swung in a wide arc behind him.

“So you found us finally! Made it here in one piece!” Joy eked out through his voice. “I knew you would though,” he went on, confident enough to believe that. More and more of their family was coming together—Osiris and Leta, Keres, even Desdemona had found them in their own time. There was little doubt in his mind that the others would come to them, the rest of his siblings and cousins included.

“And you’re here just in time too—it’s finally not snowing!”
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Elke strode within the thick conifer forest which encompassed the land around their mountainous claim. Elke had yet to explore much of the treacherous mountain reaches high up for a number of reasons. One was that while she was mountain born some of the higher elevations were still beyond her experience in climbing. Another reason was because she had still hoped to find her sister as well as a number of other family members that would come to them from below then above. Last was a more ominous reason, being that Elke remembered being on Moonspear and had thought herself to be crushed to death by falling rocks...

She woke here. Was still yet to fully believe she had survived and just magically appeared in this new land. However, from being told high tales of stories as a pup, did so believe in such a thing as magic. Maybe it were true. Maybe they had been saved, given a second chance.

When she heard the song of her sister through the forest Elke's heart skipped a beat. Yes, maybe they were alive after all! Maybe they had been given another change at life, a better life. She ran as fast as her golden and snow legs could carry her, closing the distance between her earthy coated sister and herself. She rushes upon Ciri in the same manner Ciri had to their cousin. Whining, licking, nipping everywhere and tail whipping to wildly surely she was beating the ever loving shit out of Altair with it.
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Hydra had kept close to the borders as of late, given she knew now the proximity of some of their missing pieces. Close, so close... but not nearly close enough. Until today, that was. Hydra ranged along the borderline, marking to stake their claim upon The Nameless Mountain... though also to stand vigilant, each of her senses seeking those she knew to be on their way to her now. Day in and day out, they had yet to come... but she knew that sooner rather than later, they would. 

Six miles away, Hydra heard the series of barks—and broke into a sprint to meet them, letting out several thunderous barks of her own along the way. She was coming.

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The valkyrie was not far behind Ciri, her voice rising in a short howl when she was some small distance away. The knowledge that this was Hydra and Dirge's lands meant Keres would fly past the borders on paws that might as well have been wings, bounding past the children who reunited with such joy to find the owner of that strong, commanding voice. She knew that voice like she knew her own, and so grey flew to meet black, happily colliding with the matriarch of the mountain. Tail wagging furiously, teal eyes found blue, a wide grin upon her maw.

I knew I'd find you, her eyes said. “Sister,” She said, voice warm as she butted heads with the woman. She was home at long last.
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Nyx, too, had been several miles off at the opposite side of the mountain, but there was some unknown feeling in her gut that drew her deeper into the heart of Empyrean territory. She felt guilty to do so, since she'd considered heading out once more to look for Ciri when the weather took a foul turn, but a large part of her was afraid to venture too far from her newly-returned Elke. The lioness was so blessed to have regained one of her children and quietly terrified that she might vanish as the second had.

In another lifetime, Nyx reminded herself as she stepped carefully across slick wet stone to seek her nearest vantage point. Things will be different here.

Sodden ears pricked high atop her earthen crown, and yellow eyes squinted through the downpour as she heard voices far below. She blinked, noticed the pallid form of her firstborn immediately as she bounded across the land toward another - no, two. One black and gold and one...

Ciri!?

At once the tawny Ostrega veered away from the cliff edge and bolted as fast as her paws would allow, downward toward the gathering below the spears, with her own joyous barks echoing out to announce her approach. With her focus on her raven daughter alone, Nyx soared past her sisters and whimpered as she drew near with desperation to know that her baby was real - not some cruel trick of her imagination.


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“Yeah, finally!” Ciri pricked a velvet lobe at the sound of their aunt's nearby call, the announcement of her own approach, “we woke up in some shitty forest across the water,” she gestured over her narrow shoulder toward the river at her back, then blinked fondly back to her ravengold cousin - warmed to learn of his faith in her. “We heard you all call from over there!”

Their time to reacquaint was cut short, for another figure came bounding from the treeline. Ciri's attention was drawn to the blonde blur at once, her yellow eyes wide and bright with recognition. “Elke,” she whined, and made to exchange an excited glance with Altair before striding forward to welcome her sister to her with joyous laughter and affection.

There was a glimmer of tears in her eyes when at last she let go, and sought the pale youth's lilac gaze in her desire to simply look at her. Her whole body trembled beneath the weight of her emotion, and just as she prepared to ask after their mother, Nyx' calls sounded from the forest. She lifted her gaze to see the she-wolf gallop their way, and Ciri's knees felt as though they might give way as she stumbled forward in eagerness to close the distance and fit herself snug into the place she'd yearned to be for far too long: mom's embrace.


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There she was. 

When Hydra blinked, she saw—

Keres. Bloody, but not beaten. Exhausted, climbing at her rear, her own mouth full and jaw aching—

Her eyes opened, and there was no such image. It ought to have been jarring, but Hydra could only know relief to see it not so. Healthy, breathing, galloping toward her... and the wind revealed to the matriarch there was no blood. If Keres was exhausted, it could only be attributed to her travels. Neither of them slowed, and Hydra knew she would likely bruise from their collision. Pressing her own head against the valkyries, the warmth there further solidified Hydra's belief that all was well now. 

Mother reunited with daughter, and sister with “sister,” came her own low, relieved rejoinder; an echo, but far from softly said. Reaffirming what they knew, and what Hydra had thought the day they had seen one another. It could not have been chance that this was the woman Dirge called sister; all things were meant, and Hydra believed that wholeheartedly. “Welcome home,” she hummed; Hydra withdrew, to whirl around the teal-eyed warrior, wanting to take stock of things to know for certain Keres had not been hurt on her journey home to them.

“You are well?” Hydra asked, looking over to peer at Ciri, “and Ciri?” who looked healthy, too, at first glance.

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In an instant, things seem to become exciting and so very overstimulating at the same time. Elke burst out of nowhere, followed by his aunt Keres and Nyx. His mother turned up in the mix of it all too as he whirled about to try and greet all of them with a joyous, rallying cry.

He hadn’t realized just how much he had missed everyone until that moment.

Like puzzle pieces making a bigger picture, he felt himself in the middle of it all and overwhelmingly content; he wormed himself between Keres and Hydra in an effort to greet his aunt, finding it more of a feat now that he wasn’t just some little underfoot boy seeking attention. He licked at their chins in passing, popping out to headbutt his aunt Nyx in the shoulder even though it was pretty obvious she was busy trying to look after her own children.

He was at a loss for words, his tail swinging to an unheard beat as fast as it could.
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Growing up, Ciri had been the wild, sparky and most outgoing of the two sisters. Ciri filled the gap of Elke's hesitance and filled equally the conversation where Elke might have lacked. As they grew they became unfortunately aware of others outside of their little family, others which should have loved them as equals but treated them poorly. The children had grown distant, nervous, skittish. And when Ciri and Nyx disappeared....

Now they were all presented with a new opportunity, a new life. Now, here, there was no one to look down upon him like those in Sagtannet had. Elke was reunited with those which she loved and those which loved her. Now Ciri could be a part of it too.

Soft lavender eyes looked over her little sister, a bright and happy smile over her white mug. Ciri looked happy, healthy and very much alive as far as Elke was concerned. The sunshine and snow girl then turns as Ciri pulls away only by the calls of her mother, quick after them. By now Keres flashes by to collide with Hydra and Altair bounds between everyone, licking and nudging with overwhelming excitement.

And all the while Elke watches them with a soft and silent smile, tail moving at a great speed, feeling at last home again.
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This post was written from memory so please excuse any weirdness

---

Were she anyone else, Keres was sure that Hydra would have had her head for greeting her in such a way. But Keres was not just anyone; she was family, and Hydra confirmed as much with her heartfelt repetition of the word, warming the valkyrie's heart in a way that few had the ability to do. Behind her, she could hear the reunion of the children, which also pleased her but not nearly as much as her own reunion with her dark Queen.

“We fared well. I woke and found her almost immediately. We travelled from the South.” There was much to tell her, much information to share. She also had questions for the woman, specifically remembering the end, remembering their vow to one another, that they would find each other in the next life -- this one, it seemed. “Who all is here?” She could smell her brother, see Altair, Nyx, and Elke. Surely there were others.
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The joy she felt was indescribable, and as she pressed her snout lovingly amongst the raven furs of Ciri's neck she willed it to remain. Emotion overwhelmed her as she swayed with the force if her sweeping tail, until her head swam and tears trailed each of her cheeks.

Over one daughter's shoulder she caught the pale face of the other, and an excited whine invited Elke closer to join the embrace - to complete the little family unit they had always been.

For a long time, she knew it'd only been the three of them. Briefly before they'd been separated she'd taken them across the world to reside among her own siblings, and though she could not remember the circumstances behind that decision she knew it'd been made to shield them. They hadn't thrived on Moonspear, not in the way Nyx had hoped, but with this reunion came another chance.

Their nameless mountain was a blessed place.


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last from me here!!!

---

 

Hydra listened to her sister and of their journey, turning to look to those reuniting together behind her. Her family, more of them, together again... as it should be. More of her own sons and daughters had not yet come, but Hydra felt certain that someday she would see them again. Until that day, she would be ceaseless in her own searching while cultivating what she had here, making it greater. Stronger. 

An ear twitched to her sisters question, and Hydra was quick to list who among them had been found. “And there are some new faces, too,” she drawled, “which bodes well. This will be a place of continued growth. I only hope that those not yet with us will come to find us soon,” she admitted lowly, looking to her son Altair as he reunited with another cousin. Hydra felt certain he must miss his brothers, his sisters... none of which (as of then and there) were on the mountain, at present. She wondered if it had been a bad decision to send Osiris off on his own search, but found she did not think so if it meant him finding any of them that were lost. Then, Altair would have more than one by his side. She was grateful for any, but the thought of her family lost... alone... 

It was not for greed (perhaps for once, in this instance) that she wanted more of them found and brought home. Her gaze turned back to her sister, and she took a step forward. “Come, let us find your brother. I am sure he will want to hear of your journey, too... but first, you may rest,” she determined with a wave of her tail, darting ahead toward her nieces, nipping them with a gentle sort of fondness to encourage them deeper into the territory. “And eat, too, if you are hungry,” she said a little louder, knowing food to be as good a motivator as any when tiredness seemed to seep deep into their bloodstream and their bones.

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Last for me too.

---

And that was all it took, the beckoning whine of her mother and Elke too came trotting playfully up, licking at her mother's jawline, hitting Ciri aggressively with her wilding out tail as she stood near her. Though by now Elke had grown to be her mother's size everything of puppy hood still set deep in the two daughters. The hardship they had taken on as pups had not ruined them by far. 

And then perked golden ears as Hydra came trotting into their direction, nipping her her nieces which caused a playful preening of Elke's own at the side of her aunt's notched ear. Food sounded great for Elke and she hadn't even been one to have found home from travel. “Come'on.” She prods her sister, eager to show her around.
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