Muddy River — The Shape of Dreams

Caedwyn had not been the only busy bee buzzing around the bustling blooming bluffs and bleak bogs. After agreeing to help Caedwyn build a home here, she did what she did best: put herself hard at work. Perhaps it was to help distract her from her missing companions. Perhaps it was to prove to herself that she could make this place a home. It wasn’t an unreasonable thought. She’d done it before in her life. She just hoped - nay prayed - that this might be the last home she would have to make. She couldn’t lie to herself. Enya was getting older than she’d like to admit. She was by no means an elder wolf, but she was now well traveled and versed in the different varieties of worlds and cultures. She’d learned a massive amount of information throughout her five years of life, held loves and and lost them, birthed children and watched (albeit without their knowledge) as they took off into the world to have lives of their own. However, Enya was tired. She was tired of searching. Tired of ending up empty pawed. Tired of being ran off and out of her own homes because they weren’t really ever her homes. They were the homes of others that she had moved into. Vrolga, as much as it was her first home, had hardly ever really been hers. Sure, she’d lead it. Sure, she’d commanded the entire force and ruled as Queen, but it had never been hers. She had taken over the home, and eventually relinquished it, to those who truly belonged there and grew up there. The Kingdom, it had never really ever been hers at all. She’d been given a promise and held a wish, both of which had manifested into nothing, simply a fake position of power. Caedwyn had offered her something that no one else had. This was not a home already formed. This was not an established pack with history to learn and adapt to. This was all brand new, and this was theirs. In truth, this was Caedwyn’s. It had been his idea, after all, so in her mind it would be his but she would be there beside him. She would be there to support him. Nothing had changed since the very first day they had met so many years ago. The conversation they had held together, the exact words had escaped her. However, the feeling of the meaning still remained firm. He had offered her a place of refuge and she would accept his offer. After exploring the depths of the jungle, Enya had made her way south and had stumbled upon a coastal region. Seeing the region made her heart ache, suddenly missing the pack of pirate wolves she’d grown so fond of as Queen, the first pack she’d practiced true diplomacy with (and succeeded). She did find some stragglers here and there scattered about and fishing the beaches, but there was nothing organized that she could find. It also seemed that those she found weren’t exactly fond of outsiders. They’d done their best to chase her off and she had let them succeed. Across the waters she’d found desert wasteland. She’d turned away from it almost immediately, not willing to relive the memories of her beloved frozen in stone. Back to the jungle she had returned to settle into the small pond she’d found. Caedwyn had been here recently, but she couldn’t find him in the immediate area. So, Enya did what she did quite well at this point. The crystal around her neck began to glow and her teal eyes turned almost to an ice-like color as she stared into the pool, thinking strongly of Caedwyn as she did so. In the water his figure appeared somewhere in a region she couldn’t identify immediately. She focused her energy further and saw several glimpses of him in the past - leaving the jungle in a northerly direction - crossing through some forests and over mountains - entering plains - finding more mountains and rivers. A heavy gasp left Enya as her magic vanished, her eyes returning to their usual teal color. She panted hard as the crystal around her neck ceased to glow. She couldn’t see everything he had done, but she could see enough to know that he had gone north somewhere. She was going to go find him. The tropical jungle with its heat and humidity was left behind as she took her days traveling north across waterways, through forests, and over rivers. Luckily she was so familiar with his scent that tracking him was not too terribly difficult. Occasionally the trail was lost but with some effort, she could recover it and pick it up once more. At last, she’d found her companion lounging near where she’d last scryed him just the day before. She overlooked the dried riverbed from the elevated bank, picking out his figure after some effort. It was impressive, really, how well his red and brown pelt could blend into the landscape. Especially when it seemed that he’d taken the liberty of slathering mud across his legs and lower half. Enya barked a high pitched yip from her perch above then quickly ducked back behind the ridge to hide her figure, toying with him. Slinking down south of the ridgeline, she peeked her head back over the edge once more and grinned at him, letting out another yip. Instead of hiding this time, however, she leapt down the ridge to land in the ravine, stumbling and catching herself at the base of it. Unlike Caedwyn, however, she would not be coating herself in the mud. Blessed with a thin coat, she didn’t feel the need to pant and seek shelter like those with thicker coats. Plus, if she ever got too hot, she could just cool the liquid in the air around her. It was really much cleaner than what he was doing. “You know, if you’re hot you could have just asked me for some help.” She stood her ground on the dryer cracked banks where snow melt once would have pushed the river level higher than it was now. “Or is this some sort of fashion statement I’m witnessing? Doesn’t it bother you, getting stuck in your coat? Between your toes? Ah, nevermind. I’m not here to judge your methods. I’m here to catch up with you, see some new lands, and share what I’ve found so far. Plus, I’m sure you’ve missed my company terribly.” "Speech."