Zhener

Though he lived with Moon Spirit's pack, and was in close ties with the Eytan's, Zhener loved the Canyon. It was the perfect vantage point, and offered a bird's eye view of the Valley that stretched on before it.

Zhener was perched on an outstretch of rock, his sleek feathers being rustled by the great updrafts of wind that swept past the cliff below. Dark eyes, narrowed against the sharp breeze, strained towards the distant glimmber of the sea. Somewhere out there lay his homeland, but he would never see it again; the Valley was his home, as it had been for the past two years. But still, he had not quite found a friend that could soar the skies with him. And that troubled the usually out-going, exuberant eagle a great deal.

Twilight Beauty

After the attack at the den, Twilight had tried her best to follow her attackers and recover her stolen pups. Yet her wounds had proved too grievious, and they were still sapping her life away as the minutes wore on. Still, the black and tan hybrid was determined to reunite with her pups and save them from their insane captor; Nachi.

Twilight couldn't find the trail that Nachi had taken, but she knew that the Ruins lay along the Croal Mountains, so she decided to start at the begining of the rugged mountain base; the Canyon. To weak to climb, the mother traveled along the base of the looming cliffs. She didn't get far. Her neck and stomach were badly wounded, and drops of blood marked her struggling process. It wasn't long after she reached the Canyon that her engery reserved were spent, and she crumpled weakly to the ground. Crimson blood leaked steadily from her neck, drawing the life out of the mother as it pooled beneath her. "My poor babies..." Twilight whimpered, her long, regal muzzle dropped to the ground, despite her efforts to keep it raised. Her time was nearly at an end.

Sanctuary

The pup had wandered far from her home, following the trail of another from her pack. Being the curious youngerster that she was, Sanctuary soon wandered away after other scents and now found herself hopelessly lost. She climbed the rock base of the canyon, eager to spend some of her energy when her eyes fell upon a giant bird and a wolf. She snuck as quietly as she could behind Zhener then shouted Gotcha! And leaped for the bird. She didn't want to hurt him, she just wanted to play. She was about two months old now, her young pup body unable to do much harm unless she used fangs. She turned her bright puppy blue eyes to Twighlight Beauty and said Hey...You don't look so good. She had only met the wolves in her pack, and Zhener was the first bird she had ever seen up close. She lay her mostly white body on the ground and watched Twighlight with avid curiousity.

Zhener

He was looking down, just catching sight of Twilight Beauty when Sanctuary snuck up behind him. "AHHHH!" The eagle cried out, lurching forward and falling from the cliff. With a few swift beats of his wings, he pulled out of a hectic dive and soared up above the Canyon, glaring down at the pup that had frightened him. This had happened once before; and it was done out of cruelty. But, just before he was about to curse out the pup in his native tounge, he could see that had no ill intentions.

He landed nearby, taking a few big breaths to calm his racing heart, "You scare me, little von. All in fun, ja?" Zhener loved to play, but he had found no one here that would play with him, and after two years, he had all but given up on the idea of it. Waddling towards Sanctuary, he peered down at Twilight, who lay below them off of the high cliff where they stood. "Maybe I fly down and see vhat zhe matter is? Maybe take you down too, ja?" He had carried larger things than Sanctuary before, although they had been carion items. Roadkill joeys, wambats, and the like.

Twilight Beauty

She lifted a shaky head, peering vaugly at the two, ",b>Dus- Dusty..." she whispered, her voice faint and weak. "Please, t-tell h'm." Twilight attempted to rise, but being hardly able to talk, standing was not an option now. Like a ragdoll, she flopped limply to her side, her muzzle resting idly on the ground as her sleek black fur rested calmly over her body. "Th're still... th'r..." the mother swallowed hard, forcing the jumbled words out of her dying self, "..need s'ved... please..."

Sanctuary

She yipped at Zhener and the faint words of Twighlight reached her delicate auds. "Take me down please" She told him. It was as close to flying as anyone could possibly get! She called to the mother "Who? Who needs to be saved? Where are they? Whose Dusty?" She was trying to act business like and formal but it was near impossible. She was just to hyper and young. The female was trusting a small pup and a large foreign bird to protect what was left of her.

Zhener

He nodded his darkly colored head, and sprung into the air. Being as careful as he could manage, Zhener hooked his talons around Sanctuary while doing his best not to jab her with the sharp tips. With some laborous flapping, the wedge-tail eagle lifted the pup from the ground and made a quick descent down the edge of the cliff.

Setting Sanctuary down near Twilight, Zhener himself landed about a foot away and peered at the downed mother. Being primarily a scavenger, he knew when animals were on the verge of death. Taking a few paces towards the hybrid, he glanced to Sanctuary before speaking to Twilight, "Vhere is Dusty?" Although he had grown fairly accustom to this dialect around this place, he had a very hard time understanding her slurred words, and wasn't sure what she had said, apart from 'Dusty'.

Twilight Beauty

Her eyes where glossy and unmoving, staring blankly ahead. The hybrid's chest rose and fell with irregular movements, becoming slower and shallower by the second, "D'sty... pl's, tell 'm... my pups..." Twilight's lids fluttered once, and then her sides relaxed and lay without movement as her breathing stopped. Her life had fled.

Sanctuary

As Zhener reached the ground, she bolted for Twighlight and caught her last breath of words. She turned teary puppy blue eyes to Zhener and said "Shes gone." She knew of Death, her mother had spoken of it to her. It was hard to believe that this was the daughter of Suicide and Cutter. She seemed so sweet, so soft. So unlike the rest of her siblings. She turned back to the female and sat, howling her misery to the heavens around her.

Zhener

He dipped his head down and flexed his sepia shoulders in an anxious manner. His dark feathers sleeked down tight against his body as he listened to Sanctuary's howling. After a few moments, the eagle lifted his head and looked to the pup, "You know vhat she vas speaking about? Know a 'Dusty'?"