Homecomings [MadEmperor] [M]

[DragonSong]

"Seems so..." She squinted at her palm a moment longer, then gave a mental shrug and rewrapped the bandaging. "Well! That's certainly useful."

She snorted quietly and shook her head, then looked back to him with a crooked smile. "Aren't you just full of surprises?"

The faint trail they were following began to wind through more and more trees--scrubby pines and stubborn brush, all clinging determinedly to the thin layers of earth that coated the mountainside--and she took a deep breath of the chilled air. "I'd nearly forgotten how clean it smells out here."

[MadEmperor]

As they walked, he wondered what other secrets his new body held. He would have to take some time to find out. Being in what had become his element could well help him discover his capabilities.

When she spoke again, he breathed in himself and sighed contentedly. "It really does. It's nice after so long in civilization. Refreshing."

Just then, he almost thought he sensed movement. She should be able to sense it too if there was something, so he wasn't worried.

[DragonSong]

"Right?" She grinned and bumped his shoulder lightly. "It really has been too long since I've been back, I--"

She paused, cocking her head. Slowly, a smile started to spread across her face. Without much warning, she tipped her face up and howled; it wasn't the sound a human made to imitate a wolf, it was a wolf, echoing out through the mountains in a long, shivering cry.

When she dropped her head she stilled, listening. Then an answering howl came, much closer than a proper wild wolf would have risked getting to an unfamiliar predator's scent. Close enough that they could hear the rustling in the branches as something crept through the trees to their left.

[MadEmperor]

Kahroan was a bit surprised to hear the howl of her wolf form escape her lips. But it set his nerves at ease when the responding howl assured him that there was no threat. The pack had found them.

He turned to look, instinctively showing no fear, though he did have to resist the sudden urge to show dominance. Instead, he would let River do the talking. It was her family, after all. He was just the stranger she had come home with.

[DragonSong]

It took longer than she would have thought for her brother to show himself--and when he finally did, it was to spring out of the trees and hit her full-force in the chest with his two front paws, knocking them both onto the ground.

So much for maintaining any level of dignity.

"Oof!" She glowered up at the grinning wolf, colored in a gradient of darker grays, with the same bright hazel eyes she had. "Ash, you bastard, get off!" She rolled them over, sending the wolf sprawling and chuffing in amusement, a chuff that changed to a laugh as the shifter changed into a human form.

"Oh, you absolutely deserved that!" Ash chuckled. Like River, he wore enchanted clothing to came with him through a shift, though his were just breeches and a light undershirt. "Six months, Riv! What the hells?"

"I've been busy!" she replied defensively. "Besides, I was all the way down in Serendipity--it's not exactly a quick trip back." Remembering herself, River quickly clambered back to her feet and shot Kahroan an apologetic look. "Oh, er, Ash, this is--this is Kahroan. Kah, this is my obnoxious baby brother, Ash."

Ash rolled his eyes at her. "First off, we're littermates, I'm not your baby anything. Second, I'm definitely her favorite." He grinned at Kahroan in a friendly way, though there was something behind his eyes, in his body language, that kept some of a wolf's wariness on meeting a new hunter.

[MadEmperor]

Kahroan had to force himself not to laugh at Ash's antics, but a faint smile did cross his muzzle. Perhaps if she had been laughing, he would have too. Nonetheless, he was glad when the moment shifted to introductions.

"It's nice to finally meet a member of River's family." He extended a hand to the wary shifter, slowly. He knew the instinct well.

When Ash got a closer sniff, he might notice how much the pair smelled of each other... and not quite in the way mere traveling companions would.

[DragonSong]

"Cheers, mate." Ash took the offered hand, then quirked an eyebrow as they shook. He looked sidelong at his sister. "So. New friend?" He was smirking.

River blushed and glared at him. "Shut up."

He laughed. "Oh, Mam is going to have kittens. Six months you don't visit, and then you come home with a Serenian dragonman in tow smelling like that." Looking to Kahroan, he raised his hands peaceably and added, "Which is entirely her fault, nothing against you or anything."

River rolled her eyes.

[MadEmperor]

He narrowed his eyes, insulated for her. "I'm not sure this Yoreiqi dragonman likes what you're insinuating about his ma—about her."

That slip is going to cost me.

He hoped Ash didn't notice.

[DragonSong]

"Hey, it's alright." River automatically reached out to touch his arm with a small smile. "He's just playing, it's okay." She understood why he would feel defensive, but she knew that there was no real judgement from Ash--her brother just tended to be a bit of an ass.

"Ah, no offense meant," Ash added with a crooked grin. Then he hummed quietly. "Yoreiqi. That's...not what I would have expected, honestly," Ash noted, cocking his head. "You're handling the cold pretty well for an islander, aren't ya?"

He gave his sister a look that said he had definitely noticed Kahroan's slip, but he seemed unwilling to continue teasing after the reaction it had gotten.

[MadEmperor]

Kahroan rubbed the back of his neck as he considered how much to say. "I'm fine, comfortable actually. I'm an ice dragon. Which, yes, is unusual for Yoreiq. I... well, I wasn't born like this."

"I'd rather not explain more than once. It... was an unpleasant experience." As he said this, he threaded his fingers through hers for comfort.

[DragonSong]

Ash's eyebrows crept higher, first with curiosity at what Kahroan was saying, and then with something almost like smugness as the dragonman took River's hand.

"Hey, that's fair," he told Kahroan with another vaguely friendly smile. He still seemed to be evaluating the man, though he certainly wasn't planning to be outright hostile. "Well, Storm's on a hunt with Akina, but he'll be back at the cabin by sundown." He glanced up, judging the time. "Bit after us, actually, if we set off now. Seems like you're right on time to meet the whole pack."

It was River's turm to arch an eyebrow. "Akina? How long has that been going on?"

Ash chuckled. "Ah, hells, Riv, you've got a lot to catch up on."

[MadEmperor]

Kahroan noticed the smugness but didn't care. Her touch always put him at ease, and he wasn't going to hide what she was to him.

"Akina?" he asked as he prepared to follow. He assumed she was her brother's new mate, but clarification always helped.

[DragonSong]

"Oh, we've known her since we were all pups," River explained as Ash gave them a nod and shifted easily back into his wolf form, trotting along beside them. "She's lovely, and one of the cleverest people I've ever met. No idea what she sees in Storm, but he's been mad about her since we were kids. Guess he finally said something."

Ash chuffed a laugh and swerved to butt his head against her hip, giving her a wolf's grin. She smiled back and scritched behind his left ear, which he leaned into for a moment before mouthing playfully at her hand.

Or started to. He pulled back quickly when he saw the bandaging and sniffed, then looked up at her with a concerned whine.

She waved him off. "It's a bit of a long story, we can tell everyone back home. But I'm fine, really."

He gave her a Look that said he clearly wasn't convinced, but huffed and let it be for the moment.

[MadEmperor]

Kahroan chuckled lightly at the sibling camaraderie, though it also made him wistful for the family he'd never see again. At least, if hers accepted him, he'd have a whole new one. The thought made him happy.

"I can understand beastspeak, if you want to talk while we travel," he offered, feeling like an extra wheel all of a sudden.

[DragonSong]

Ash gave his sister a startled look, and she laughed with a shrug. "Yeah, part of the dragon thing, we think. Go on, it's a bit weird, but you get used to it."

The wolf huffed and shook his head, making a noise that River took with his body language and instinctively understood while using beastspeech to communicate with Kahroan: You two must have one hells of a story.

River chuckled again. "You could say that."

[MadEmperor]

Kahroan chuckled along with her. "It's been interesting, alright."

"But quite rewarding." He gently bumped against her shoulder with a happy, loving rumble and a languid sway of his tail. He was in love and didn't care who knew it.

[DragonSong]

River smiled back, a hint of color in her cheeks; her brother rolled his eyes theatrically, but there was a slight wag to his tail. He still gave Kahroan considering looks as they continued down the trail--then off the trail, following the two wolves' sense of smell--but seem amiable enough. He was at least content to chat as they walked, filling River in on family news she'd missed or asking Kahroan questions about Yoreiq.


It only took them a few more hours of travel to reach what River and Ash had referred to as "the cabin", which, once they had cleared a dense barrier of pines, was revealed to be something really more like a country chateau: it had clearly started out as a cabin, but over the years more new additions had been tacked onto it, until it was taking up a good portion of the clearing where the house stood. There was a wide stretch of surprisingly green terrain--mostly moss--leading up to the main entrance, and a gaggle of pups, half in wolf form and half two-legged--wrestling with each other in the late afternoon sun.

River glanced up at Kahroan with a crooked smile. "Ready?"

Ash whuffed, alerting their nieces and nephews to their presence. They all stopped, staring. Then, in one voice:

"Auntie River!"

"Oh, hells."

She went down under a mass of wagging tails and squealing, flailing human children. Ash was clearly laughing, despite still holding onto his own wolf form.

[MadEmperor]

He Kahroan couldn't believe his eyes. This is what she called a "cabin"? He had wondered how such a big family could fit in a cabin. Now he had his answer; they could fit because it was practically a mansion!

Then River was buried by a horde of adorable bodies. He burst out laughing in delight at the sight.

Gods. You just got their attention, didn't you, you daft lizard?

[DragonSong]

Five sets of ears--furred and not--all perked up and five little heads whipped toward him to study him curiously.

"Whossat?" Callum, one of Shadow's triplets, asked bluntly, pointing at Kahroan as though he could possibly be referring to anyone else.

Rain, who at seven was two years older than her cousin and therefore far more grownup in her mind, scoffed at him and batted his hand down. "Don't be rude."

Chuckling, River sat up with Minna and Forest--Callum's siblings--still in her lap. Forest was in wolf form, gnawing at her hair, and Minna was babbling something about how River had stayed away too long and it wasn't fair and had she heard that Uncle Shadow was out hunting with Akina and--

"Pups, this is Kahroan," River introduced him, smirking a bit. "He's...gonna stay with the pack for a while."

Ash snorted at her, shrugging upward into human form. "Alright, you little gremlins, leave off. Your Aunt River can't breathe."

[MadEmperor]

The dragonman gave the children a shy wave with an amused glint in his eyes as he lowered himself closer to their level.

"Hello. I'm a good friend of your Aunt River." He was stiff and awkwardly formal, unsure of exactly how to talk to children.