[Charley]

Of all the times she wanted to be mysterious and independent she picked hours before one of the greatest disasters to hit Nardir. Sure Kyra was pig headed, and when she was angry at you she gave you the cold shoulder and stomped off on her own to do her own thing. So of course she didn't tell Akutan she went hunting on this side of the mountain. Of course she hadn't even been speaking to her father lately at all so he wouldn't know what she was up to in the slightest. Granted her fur was a bright beacon anywhere she went. It was possible that someone had seen her head in this direction or knew she was hunting in the area.

And now here she was in the dark, alone, after the mountain had literally swallowed her whole.
She was starting to come to and taking stock of her situation. Her front legs were crammed close to her chest, she was literally head first in the earth. She tried shifting her head but couldn't even manage to put her ears up. Her chest was feeling squeezed and she could feel her breath condensate on the rocks in front of her nose. She would not last long in this position and her previous folly would not let herself be easily found.

She struggled against the rocks again, pushing her front legs away from herself. It was then she realized she couldn't feel her back legs and it felt like the rest of of the wind in her lungs was knocked out of her from panic. Back broken?? she thought desperately and tried to strain feeling into her back legs. Nothing. She couldn't feel anything. She wouldn't have been able to tell if her own back paws had been touching her belly or not. She couldn't move her tail nevermind know if it was even still attached to her body.

Stars! What the hell happened? At first she was trailing a stupid squirrel and then the world turned upside down! She hated being rescued. She hated depending on anyone else besides herself. She hated feeling weak and helpless and above all... she hated waiting to be rescued. And she was in a tight spot. Again she tried to strain for some leg room or shift her head for some head space but she was locked tight and then her head started swimming from the exertion. She was running out of air. Think THINK! But her thoughts began to get foggy and it was a struggle to stay awake.

Her body was whole, regardless of how she felt about it, buried under a tumult of stones and soil except for a bright red, white tipped limp tail with a brown stripe poking out of the rubble like a war banner of a lost battle.

[Sekirei]

When Kyra failed to make an appearance at the lake, Akutan immediately went from stoic to panicky. It didn't even come to mind that his young cousin, Aeneas, was also missing. Sara was beside herself with fear for her son but all that kept racing through the patriarch's mind was that the one he loved wasn't with them. While search and rescue was being organized, Akutan just paced but the moment the parties started off to look for missing packmates, he didn't even wait for his own back-up. His body was on autopilot and he was racing towards the mountain. He figured she had been hunting near it. His long legs and speed-based body carried him towards the carnage that was a massive hole torn into the earth. While scents were confused because of the shift, he thanked the winds and his ancestors he caught a faint scent. He followed it and found it led to a good-sized hole.

He spotted Kyra's tail and his blood ran like ice. "Winds, no..." he whispered before diving straight in and started tearing away at the soil that more or less buried Kyra. "DAMN IT! Don't die on me! Don't do this to me! Not after we found each other! I can't lose another wolf I care about!" he roared, hoping against hope that she was still alive and she could hear him trying to reach her. His pale green eyes started swimming as he tore his paws bloody moving the earth until he finally managed to unearth her hindquarters and loosened the soil a bit more around her. Not even caring if she chewed him out for the pain he was about to inflict, Akutan sank his teeth hard into her hindquarters, found purchase, and started pulling. His paws scrambled against the now-loosened sand and just pulled. Thanks to the hole forming something of a vacuum, the wind that blew fell hard within and the Maelstrom could almost hear his mother encouraging him to keep going. At the same time, he thought he could also hear the Black Wolf's heavy breathing. Stopping only when he lost his grip, his wild eyes stared up at the lip of the hole at something only he could see and his face was twisted into a rage-fueled snarl. "You will not take her from me! Not this time!" he howled before grabbing back on and pulling.

Finally, he managed to pull hard enough that the soil finally relinquished Kyra and she was finally freed. The effort and sudden success caused Akutan to yip as he slid backwards and fell a bit deeper into the hole. He got his footing and scrambled towards the red wolf. He started licking and prodding her, hoping for a sign of life, tears running unabashedly down his face. If anyone ever doubted his love for her, it would be scoured away now.

[Charley]

The roaring in her ears and her panicked breathing masked the sounds of the shifting earth above Kyra. Her head swam but she was faintly aware of a presence with her. She felt a something like a stinging tingling sensation in her haunch suddenly but it wasn't to surprised her as she suddenly felt like she was being jostled about. The jostling and stinging and perhaps some air from some of the rocks that gave way started to help Kyra's concentration. She could faintly hear a familiar voice: "-Not this time!" then suddenly she found herself dazed in a half light gasping for air with heaving sides at the bottom of what could only be a gash in the earth.

Her vision was blurry with stars blinking in and out. She could vaguely feel a poking and prodding from another entity. Then her face getting smooshed with a hot wet breath that she could never forget the owner of.

"ahh-koo?" She asked the world breathlessly. She felt her face was not only wet from his tongue but in little spots as tears fell from his stark bright eyes. She focused on those bright almost ghostly green eyes and her vision started clearing as her breath steadied. With one big sigh she felt she like could finally breathe properly again and lift her head up slowly.

"What the hell happened?" She asked looking around. She could barely see him in this darkness of the hole save his eyes and mark on his cheek. She could smell his panic coming off like waves from him. One of his tears fell over her muzzle and curled into her lips. He had been crying. Why had he been crying? She made to get up but looked down at her legs as if to ask them why they weren't working. She had felt a tingling before and saw a mark on her leg. Probably where he tried to pull her out. She just looked at the mark and almost dissociatively said, "I think I need a healer."

[Sekirei]

"ahh-koo?" came the small sound. Akutan came back close to her head and sighed in relief. "What the hell happened?" she asked. Akutan just let himself collapse in front of her and pushed his nose to her cheek, giving a relieved chuckle. "Looks like the ground opened up under you and you fell. You were more than half buried when I got here. I...I don't know how long you were under all that when I got here. All I knew was I had to get you out." he explained. Kyra made to get up but for some reason, she stopped and looked at her hindquarters. Akutan cocked his head in confusion. To be fair, his panic was slowing his brain down so he didn't think that after what Kyra went through, she shouldn't try moving yet nor did it occur to him to call for a Halo. She took notice of the bite he had left, which he somehow didn't make her bleed. 

"I think I need a healer." she said. Akutan's mind finally caught up with him and he got to his paws, clambering to the lip of the hole so his voice could carry better. He wasted no time in howling for a healer as loud as he could so any Halos in the area could triangulate their position and come help. He then slid back down to her side again. "Did something happen to your legs?" he asked, his fear still in his voice as he carefully lied down next to her to provide some heat and support. Her hind legs didn't so much as twitch. Spinal breakage and paralysis shot through his head and he was really hoping that her potential injury wasn't that severe. Even though he would never leave her over something like that, an injury of that caliber meant the odds of having pups was slim to none. But to hell with pups right now. Kyra mattered even more and he still very much wanted her. 

As he kept grooming her head, Akutan sighed. "I thought I lost you..." he said, resting his head on her neck. 

[Charley]

She couldn't quite focus on the meaning of his words. She could hear him just fine, but for some reason his words didn't make a whole lot of sense.

"The ground...?" She asked after he said that the earth had somehow swallowed her. How long had she been there? It had felt like an eternity. She hated feeling so confused. She blankly watched him get up and howl and for a moment she couldn't understand why he would leave her to climb so far up and scream at the sky. Oh right, that's how you call the healers... Halos. Would Daddy come? Mixed emotions started swirling in her head as her brain started to process what happened to her. She watched Akutan as he came back and asked about her legs, settling beside her.

"I thought I lost you..." and the weight of his embrace over her neck opened the floodgates of her own tears as she felt safe with him. It was like all the fear suddenly caught up with her. The gravity of what he had just pulled her from hit her and choked her breath as her tears came in gasps and starts. She literally almost died. And holy hell was her back broken? Will she ever walk again? Nothing was protruding from her back, no pierced or broken skin except where Akutan pulled her from the wreckage on her leg. She leaned as hard as she could into her black pelted lover and released her scared confused and anguished sobs into his fur, no longer holding back. Her body uncontrollably trembling against him as the shock was settling in. Where was her father?

---
((Since Sara will be preoccupied with Aeneas, Alue is getting rescued, Kestral is with the Mantles in the Garden with Phillip. Looks like Hakan is coming to the rescue!))

On the other side of the mountain, in the Halo's garden, Hakan was helping the Quasar with the injured and searching for lost herbs. His heart dropped as he heard the familiar howl of the Maelstrom enter the sky. He knew, he just knew Akutan had found Kyra. He turned to whoever was nearby and said, "He's found my daughter." before taking off at a pace he never thought he'd make again. The oldster tried to pinpoint where Akutan's voice had come from but the location had been warped by the mountain side.

"Akutan! Kyra!" He called out trying to find them. He would pinpoint their calls and climb the ridge as fast as he could. Down at the bottom of a
great hole was the blazing fur of his daughter.
"I'm here, I'm here." He said gently lifting her chin to look into her eyes. They hadn't spoken since she had stalked off when he revealed their terrible genetic past to her. He saw a flash of grief in her eyes before they closed against a new onslaught of tears, her body wracked with sobs.

"It's ok, you're in shock... How did you find her? Whats wrong?" Hakan asked Akutan trying to discern how she had been found. He noticed a bite on her haunch but her legs weren't broken.

[Sekirei]

It seemed what happened finally caught up with Kyra because it didn't take long before she completely broke down sobbing into his fur. Akutan felt his own throat close as his own tears fell anew as well but he was quiet this time. He bit his own lip as he shut his eyes tightly as he held her close. His was equal parts relief that she was alive and sorrow that she was suffering regardless and he couldn't do much to ease her pain. After a few minutes, he heard someone calling their names at the lip of the hole they were in and he looked blearily up to see Hakan coming to them. "It's ok, you're in shock... How did you find her? Whats wrong?" the oldster asked as he looked his daughter over. 

Akutan swallowed the lump in his throat so he could answer. "It wasn't easy but the shifting of the earth didn't destroy her scent trail completely. I was able to find her here because her tail was sticking out of the mound of dirt we're sitting on. She was...she buried alive. The bite...on her haunch...that was me." he explained. He swallowed hard again so he could keep talking. Hakan would understand the bite on his daughter's haunch was a remnant of Akutan's desperation to get her dug out before she suffocated. "She can't seem to move her back legs." he then said. He trailed off after that, not sure what else to say or do but look absolutely miserable on Kyra's behalf and knowing that his smarts were failing at a bad time. For one of the rare times in his life, Akutan was at a complete loss on what to do.

"I can't remember if I ever made my intentions clear before but I need Kyra by my side. Come hell or high water, I want your daughter by my side for the rest of our lives, Hakan. I'm tired...of losing everything and everyone. Just once, I want to be able to keep someone with me and she's the one I've chosen." he said, almost in a monotone as he let his head come to rest on Kyra's shoulder and let her scent waft into his nose. It was mixed with the smell of earth but it was still all her. He truthfully couldn't remember telling Hakan he wanted Kyra as his mate but this near-death experience brought it forward regardless and to hell with approval. Akutan made his point and he wasn't about to let anything stand in his way again. Even if she couldn't walk again, it didn't matter. The Maelstrom was a capable provider, as proven with Sara and her pups, which he shared the burden of with Byakko, Ticon, and Buckshot. But if she could still walk, then he would do his part to help her recover from this. His dedication was one of the few defining traits in a wolf who was stone cold against the world and was chained to the past he carried where he had lost so many in a short amount of time. A wolf who had very few hopes for the future and who had few reasons to even be happy.

[Charley]

The old experienced Halo nodded his head as Akutan filled him in. Checking her legs and eyes and ears as he spoke.

"It wasn't easy but the shifting of the earth didn't destroy her scent trail completely. I was able to find her here because her tail was sticking out of the mound of dirt we're sitting on." Her tail was sticking out? She must have been - "She was...she buried alive. The bite...on her haunch...that was me." Hakan nodded, not even flicking his ear at Akutan's confession of hurting his daughter. How else would he have been able to pull her out? It made sense to him. She'll only need some comfrey and johnswort to heal that up. It was what he said next that gave him pause.

"She can't seem to move her back legs."

Hakan froze and looked up at Akutan. Did he say that right? He pulled his green and brown gaze to his blue and brown eyed daughter looking for confirmation. It seemed she didn't even want to look at him.

"Kyra, honey. Just hang on. I don't see anything immediately wrong. I need to look and feel your back. You tell me when something hurts or when you can't feel anything." He saw her nod and let him do his work.

He started carefully at the base of her skull, nosing her spine on either side and on the spine itself. He even pulled his paw out to gently press as he went, watching her carefully for any flinch or movement.
"I can't remember if I ever made my intentions clear before but I need Kyra by my side. Come hell or high water, I want your daughter by my side for the rest of our lives, Hakan. I'm tired...of losing everything and everyone. Just once, I want to be able to keep someone with me and she's the one I've chosen."

The old healer paused and looked up without moving his head. If he had glasses he would be peering over them at Akutan for a moment before continuing to poke and prod Kyra's back. He responded as he did so.

"My dear-, no, you're no longer a boy. You haven't been one for quite some time. If you ever got the impression that I somehow disapproved of your love or intentions I apologize. I never meant to bring up our troubled genetics in that way. You don't need my approval to court or marry my daughters. You'd have to convince them yourself. And since you already had convinced this one here-" He gave a fatherly lick to Kyra's ear, "Far be it from me to intercede and separate you two. They are masters of their own minds. My only worry with any match for my daughters is the dangers of childbirth is, ironically, exponentially more risky for either of them." Ironically because their father is the resident expert of pregnancy, birth and puphood.

He got to her mid back and saw Kyra's head flinch. He poked a bit more around the same area. It seemed during her tumble she got a catch in her spine, a pinched nerve.
"You're not going to lose her. Kyra you're going to be just fine. Hold still still a minute." He hadn't done this in quite some time, and the last time he did this was during his youth and training for it. He had only a few successful attempts of chiropracting before coming to Nardir the first time so long ago. He motioned for Akutan to stand back and shifted Kyra into a proper position with her back legs tucked up and told her to look foreward. He felt around some more on her back and placed his elbow just so, asked her take a breath in and told to let it all out then quick as wink literally jumped on the spot putting his weight quickly and forcefully on her spine just for a moment and stood back.

---

She gasped as her own father practically slammed with all his might onto her back but suddenly it was as if she could breathe again. A tingling a rush flooded her hind legs and tail. During the whole ordeal She didn't want to think about the implications of her future if her back was broken. Then as feeling returned to her limbs she began to cry again. By the Moon she is never crying this much ever again. She wouldn't tell him how happy she had been to see him crest that ridge and come to her rescue finally for the first time in her life, but as she slowly and steadily stood up at his acquiescence she buried her face into his dirt almost olive brown chest and sob.

"I'm sorry daddy. I'm sos-orry." His speech made sense. He had never tried to control any of her aspirations or personality quirks. (Just when she was being rude or about to be rude, as a father should admonish for) For the most part he had just been missing for most of her childhood.

---

Hakan wrapped a leg over her, happy that she could stand again and that she was forgiving him for his own screw ups of the past.
"I know sweetheart. It's really really ok. Now take it easy. It can go out again in the next few days and will be really sore. You'll probably feel every rock that ever hit you tomorrow. Let's get you up and out and headed for some rest. There's others that need me right now. Akutan can keep you company. I'll send someone over-" oh right, he thought to himself, sometimes forgetting, not the head healer anymore, "Or I'll come over myself if I'm available to patch up that spot on your leg and give you some Arnica to help with any bruising."




((Alpha's let me know if this was sufficient separation of posts between characters! I hate rping by myself! I feel like I'm cheating someone else of interacting DX ))

[Sekirei]

"My dear-, no, you're no longer a boy. You haven't been one for quite some time. If you ever got the impression that I somehow disapproved of your love or intentions I apologize. I never meant to bring up our troubled genetics in that way. You don't need my approval to court or marry my daughters. You'd have to convince them yourself. And since you already had convinced this one here-Far be it from me to intercede and separate you two. They are masters of their own minds. My only worry with any match for my daughters is the dangers of childbirth is, ironically, exponentially more risky for either of them." Hakan said. Akutan felt a bit better now that he had actual confirmation. While he had very few doubts that Hakan would've said no, it just felt right to ask for permission. Plus this whole thing with Kyra was pretty stressful.

He watched as Hakan seemed to find the problem with Kyra's back and had him move out of the way. Though he was loathe to do so, the Maelstrom did as he was instructed and watched Hakan shift Kyra into a better position. Judging from things...and Akutan was no healer...it seemed her spine was perfectly fine. It was just that something was blocking the signals to her brain and making her legs unresponsive. He flinched as Hakan slammed his elbow down on her back and that did the trick. Kyra started sobbing again but she was able to stand. She buried her face in her father's fur and Akutan came to rest his head on her shoulders. "I'm sorry daddy. I'm sos-orry." he heard her apologize. Hakan assured her everything was fine and then told her that it was possible that her back was probably going to go again as the pain from getting buried under rocks and earth caught up with her. 

Akutan just sighed in relief as he brought the length of his body against hers. "Lean on me." he said. When she did so, he looked up at the lip of the hole. Fortunately, the dirt had piled high enough that it was just a small step to get to solid ground. He started walking before pausing and looking down deeper into the hole. "Wait a second..." he said. It slowly dawned on him that Kyra had been caught up in a cave-in. He could see stalactites in the gloom. "Am I the only one noticing that we're in a cave?" he asked. Funny what stress could do.


(Since I think I remembering you saying that Kyra would be the discoverer of the Blackreach-like cave under Nardir.)

[Charley]

Kyra

The red pelted girl nodded her head to her father's instruction. She was silently perturbed that it had to take a near death experience from her side to take him seriously. It made her remember that he really did have her best interest in mind. She hadn't been mad at him specifically over their potential genetic issues, and she really had to understand she was just angry at the situation. Along with how precarious she felt with her love to Akutan.

She leaned into said lover, her limbs were still shaking and her body still trembling from the shock. She was half still in shock and half lost in thought as black fur mixed with brilliant fiery red. He had risked his own life clambering after her, desperately digging into the rock to save her. She liked to think she would have done the same. She was obviously his first thought in this tragedy, would he be her first thought if something similar happened to him?

It took a moment for his words to register as he brought their attention to the hole he had found her in. Kyra looked around and felt a new chill shake her bones. She could see through the dimness what looked like teeth descending from above and rising from below.
"The ground really did want to eat me..." She replied with a half in awe, half incredulous, expression on her face. An eerie glow emanated from behind the great teeth just enough to illuminate them like an immenent fire in the throat of a dragon.

"What is it? Behind the teeth?" She asked taking a curious step. Her trembles and body shakes were subdued but still present. The thrill of discovery brought energy to her limbs and a brightness back into her eyes. She walked with a new fervor right into the mouth of the dragon looking for this strange glow. Her breath was quickening in excitement as she picked her way between stalagmites. She looked back to make sure Akutan at least was following, knowing her father was heading back to his duties. "C'mon lets see!" She urged, her previous catastrophe easily slipping away from her mind like water on a whisker.

---
Hakan

The healer was thankful that things would be better between them now and started to make his ascent out of the hole. Akutan brought his attention back to the couple and saw his daughter recover quite quickly. She's going to feel more than that stumble if she persists.
"Take it easy, Kyra!" He shouted after her, his face puckered in concern. She didn't seem to notice his warning. As usual. At least somethings don't change. With a sigh he nodded at Akutan, "Just make sure you guys don't eat anything down there or go too far. Keep an eye on her. Get her home soon." The fatherly tone in his remark was stern and laced with concern. She shouldn't be traipsing about after her accident but try tell her otherwise... Hakan shook his head and entreated the home of the Moon with his eyes before heading back to the healers garden. He wondered who else needing rescuing in this manner.

[Sekirei]

The fact they were in a cave seemed to breathe new life into Kyra who took herself off Akutan and headed deeper in. He nodded assurance to Hakan's words about keeping an eye on her and getting her safe. He followed the red wolf and looked around in addition to watching her back. He, too, had noticed the strange glow coming from deeper within and his own curiosity was sparked. "What is this?" he whistled as they entered a large cavern full of glowing plants. He paused to sniff one and was just overly mesmerized at the sheer...beauty of the place. 

"I don't recall ever seeing any place as beautiful as this." he said, pausing at a stream that ran through the cavern. He sniffed the water and it smelled safe. He dipped his tongue and it tasted really fresh. It must be fed by the river topside that flowed through the packlands as well as melting snow. He started lapping it up, noticing he was pretty thirsty. He finished and looked towards Kyra, appreciating all the while how the glowing plants made her shimmer. She looked downright beautiful in this place. "We should tell the pack about this. All this time, we've had a whole new world under our paws." he said. He wasn't in a huge hurry to leave just yet, wanting to see how big this cavern was. It all depended on Kyra, though. While she was likely ignoring the soreness she got from the fall/burial, that didn't change the fact she had been hurt and needed to get home and rest.

[Charley]

Kyra was usually not one to pause and remark on beauty. That role typically fell on her gentler sister. Though she had to confess the strange glowing from the delicate plants growing in ever increasing number the deeper you went was nigh enchanting. Along with the white and green and blue glow there was this changing twinkling almost calling her name from deeper in.

She looked back again to the Maelstrom as he said his remark about the beauty of the place. She watched as he tested the water and drank deeply of the clear stream. His black pelt absorbed all light, and the glow of the plants made his eyes shimmer even more strangely. She joined him in drinking from the stream, realizing with every lap her body would tremble and relax, shake violently for a moment then be still. Both in excitement and exhaustion.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to conceive here? This place felt blessed and spiritual. To a girl who was neither blessed nor particularly spiritual. Maybe the magic of this place would fix her. Maybe if she tried hard enough she could give him all that he wanted of her. Was that what love was? She certainly wasn't in the mood, but later, when she had recovered, and stopped this weird shaking. The stream was cool and fresh. It gave her just enough energy to tell her brain that she was tired.

"We should tell the pack about this. All this time, we've had a whole new world under our paws." Akutan said as she drank. She lifted her head and took another look around, water dripping from her maw. She watched the dirt that had clung to her face cloud the stream slightly, then lifted her gaze to the ceiling of the cave.

"I never want to leave." She replied finally, leaning into him again. It was like this giant magical den. Maybe they could make their own den down here. Though that would tear him away from the clan. She wondered if there would be new infrastructure of how the pack lived now that these caves had opened up. "Hm... I think home is a little too far away now. Lets rest here for a bit. How's Sara? Is everyone else alright?" She asked drowsily. She was sinking to her paws, exhaustion taking over. She would be ok if Akutan left her to make sure the clan was safe. She felt soothed and comfortable here in the strange new place. She probably wouldn't wake for several hours.