Cypress never explored back this way and Raven had never thought too, at least not until Awan had gone this way to find plants. The black wolf shook her neck, blurring her white marking as she did. Her tail flicked as she leaned back to prepare to leap, then landed gracefully atop the fungus riddled log. The massive tree must have been centuries old before it fell, managing to land perfectly over the bubbling brook. Raven glanced down as she passed over the water; her stomach churned at the thought of falling in. She hopped quickly over the other side and followed the obscure markings left by Awan and herself.
After walking on for a while the trees finally revealed the wooden structure. Half-collapsed and leaning to slightly in on itself, the cabin stood alone in a clearing.
Awan said it was an old human den and Raven feared to go in to at first, remembering her father's stories. Awan had assured her it was perfectly safe and abandoned long ago. Now, Raven leaped lightly up into the entryway, she had visited this place many times since then, with and without the company of Awan. Whenever she had free time, she came here. It was much quieter here, away from the crying pup and nagging couple. Raven hopped over a splintered piece of board and padded over to the corner of the shack, the only area where the roof was still intact and shaded from the sun. Raven chuckled as she stepped onto soft furs, she and Awan had decorated the place and she still found Awan adding things here and there. She curled up on the newly placed elk skin and eyed the dried flowers that she had stuck into the cracks of the wood. She kneaded at the soft elk skin, it must have taken Awan a while to prepare the skin. Raven could smell Awan approaching before she could see or hear him, so she wasn't surprised when he leaped into the doorway.
"Good evening." Raven nodded in a formal greeting.
Awan looked up. He was carrying a bundle of mixed herbs, so he only smiled in return.
"More herbs?" Raven leaned forward to watch Awan tuck the plants away under the broken floor.
"Yes." Awan pulled his now empty muzzle from the floorboards. "Your mother has gone a bit overboard on how much herbs she thinks Miska needs. As if that pup isn't fat enough already!"
Raven's eyebrows scrunched together. "She isn't my mother. My mother is dead."
Awan's flattened back, "Yes, of course, sorry."
Raven grumbled and lashed her tail.
She often reminded Awan of a furious mountain lion, only he'd rather face a mountain lion.
"And Miska is a perfectly fine size!"
Awan rolled his eyes when Raven turned to glare out a sunken window.
"I don't want to argue with you, Raven. I'm leaving these herbs here with you. Your father told me it's time for me to leave. Fawna and the pup are fine, and Cypress is now a fully functioning wolf again."
"Leave?" Raven turned from the window, her eyebrows unfurrowing into a look of disappointment.
"I can't stay forever. What did you expect?"
"But... trusting me with the herbs? I don't know anything-"
"You know enough." he cut her off with a wave of his paw, "I've taught you enough, haven't I? Why do you care so much anyway? We aren't family." Raven scowled again, her eyes glistening, but she lacked the passion of real anger.
"I'll be back to visit." He promised, walking around the broken planks to join her on the elk fur. Raven turned and tucked her muzzle under Awan's chest, this made him uneasy, he wasn't used to affection. "I'll miss you, you're my only friend you know." Raven sniffed; Awan blinked. Is she crying? He puzzled.
"Friend?"
"Yes, you dummy, you've been so kind to me. I've never been treated as anything more than a daughter." Tension released from Awan's neck and he rested his head on Raven's."I'm tempted to stay," he admitted, "but others need my help."
"I know. I'm being selfish."
They laid like that, for a moment. Raven nearly falling asleep, until Awan broke the silence.
"I should go, the sun is setting. Do you know how to find me?"
Raven nodded. Having been shown the direction of Awan's den, she could find her way by scent.
Raven sat up, stepping on a withered flower that had fallen from the cracks of the wood. She paused, then pressed it towards Awan, "Return it someday."
Awan chuckled quietly as he took the daisy, "It will be my sacred duty." He joked. Leaping back over the broken planks he left Raven sitting in the corner of the cabin, alone. Awan stood in the doorway for a moment, "Take care of your sister."
"My sacred duty." She mocked, and he laughed once more before disappearing from sight.
Raven watched the door-way long after he had left, hoping he might reappear.
He didn't.
YOU ARE READING
Great Wolf Children Book one: New Beginnings
一般小说Raven was never fond of Fawna and her father being together, but she held no grudge against her younger half-sister when she was born. She'd do anything to protect her, but the wilderness doesn't discriminate on who lives and dies.
