Moonspear Beautiful but fleeting

maybe someone she hasn't met?

Heldi healed slowly, a thick scar covering her shoulder though it was rather fresh looking. The limp did not dissapear but Heldi was determined to not let it hinder her, she would be useful. Her gait was slower than before, the limp particularly noticeable when she ran. 

The bastard of Vledfest crept after the scent of a squirrel with determination, mouth open to scent the rodent better. She found it perched on a log, nibbling on a berry of some sort. The squirrel didn't take notice of her, eating its berry with a twitch of its bushy tail every now and then.

Heldi moved slowly closer, getting into a crouch to jump up onto the log and grab the squirrel. With a leap, she sprung with a slight scrabble and managed to land on the squirrel's tail. It was startled, squeaking loudly and clamping onto her paw with sharp teeth. 

"Ow! You little.." Heldi growled, grabbing the squirrel by the neck and shaking vigorously before dropping the mangled squirrel. In her anger she had shook it too hard and snap its neck almost all the way around. It was a disturbing sight but Heldi was too happy to have caught something to care.

It had been a while since Harley bothered accociating with anyone outside his mate, save for Charon one day a while ago. He felt betrayed that they would let him keep a woman as a thrall, beat down her sense self image and worth. It was appalling, and he would get her out of here, when the time came. For now, she healed, she built her strength and the muscles in her leg. 
When Harley scented a female ahead, he approached, but not with the same carefree innocence as he may have once upon a time. He was wary, but walked with the pride of a Gamma. He knew his place and felt he earned it, so while he was not a dominant man by nature, he sure acted his place. So, tail and ears high but a small smile on his maw, he approached Heldi with a chuckle and a bark of congrats for her catch.

Heldi hadn't met many in her pack outside of the Alpha pair and Dash, but at the very least she knew some of the names of the others. She couldn't recall whom this one was, the strange looking wolfdog but she did remember seeing the shepherd on the mountainside when they hunted. Since she didn't know many, Heldi didn't know his wife was a captive. Likely she would have been disturbed by the thought, she would never know unless she met her.

The agouti glanced at him, dipping submissively as she hopped down from the log. "Hello um...I actually don't know your name, sorry," Heldi grimaced before continuing. "I'm Heldi Rivers-Vledfest. But you can just call me Heldi."

*bounces in*

She had his scent, and she would find him. Thanks to his help, her leg grew stronger each day, and she planned to show him the range of motion she now found herself capable of. She twisted her ankle experimentally before trotting off, eager to find the wolfdog. A half-hour of searching rewarded her, however, with him; however there was another by him. A female, not on that she knew of. Althaia knew of new recruits, just hadn't bothered to see them. At all.

She was in time to catch her name, the woman, or at least the tail end of it. Wearily, she approached submissively, not wanting any of the others to rat on her for not being submissive enough. She knew naught of this woman, and would not take her chances. With a quick glance at Harley, she bowed and submitted to the woman. "Greetings, Heldi. I am..." her she paused, uncertain. She did not know if giving her name would be a good idea, and she had no desire to introduce herself as Filth. "Thrall."

Whoops totally didn't see this was my turn, thanks for jumping in Althaia xD

The woman introduced herself, and with a small smile Harley opened his jaws to give his own, but then his mate showed. He'd missed her approach, but now the smile spread wider, though it faultered as she introduced herself as Thrall. No, that wouldn't do. 
                        "I'm Harley, and this is Althaia."
Much as he wanted to announce her as his mate, he cut off his speech at her name. Charon might not be happy that his thrall was lost to a hybrid. The wolfdog shifted closer so that they were nearly touching though, his tail wagging behind him in happiness. Heldi was a newer recruit he didn't know, but perhaps now was the time to fix that. 
                                        "I hope you're settling well in Moonspear."

Before he could respond, a timid woman emerged from the bushes and crept to his side rather submissively. Heldi recognized the woman from the mountainside, the one who had slid down the slope after Floki. Heldi frowned at the woman's behavior, she looked as if she feared Heldi might strike her or such. 

The woman made to introduce herself as Thrall but the male, obviously her mate, reintroduced her as Althaia. Heldi nodded, smiling at both them friendly. "It is a pleasure to meet you Harley and Althaia. I am settling, thank you," her words were a bit stiff, a reminiscent of her upbringing.

A tinge of confusion entered her hazel eyes, brow furrowing slightly. "If you don't mind my asking, why do they call you Thrall?" The word was unfamiliar to her, unaware of its connotations or of the worse names the Omega was called.

Heldi accepted the name change with a little bit of confusion, but responded to his question before anything. He was glad to hear she was settling, but also knew they wouldn't be here long enough to really make friends. Harley's time was spent taking care of Althaia and planning their leave. 
She did ask eventually of Althaia's "name", and the hybrid mumbled under his breath about it, but otherwise let his wife explain.
                "Bullshit, that's why." 

This woman was totally ignorant of her position, leaving Althaia to explain. She seemed genuinely curiously, and the pale woman took a moment to think on how she would explain the subject. In her brief moment of silence, Harley muttered under his breath a few words that Althaia was just able to catch. She did not heed his words, but she felt a spike of admiration for the male who fiercely defended her honour. He was truly a rarity, was he not.

She looked up at the woman, a tiny smile on her face. "Because I am one. During the famine, I was starving, and a fox caught my attention. It crossed into Moonspear, and I did not heed the border. Long story short, Charon claimed me as his thrall, his slave, and I have served him, and the pack, since." This did not mean she had a horrible life, quite honestly, it was far better then she might have endured as a loner. But that did not mean at all that she intended to stay in this position for any longer than she could.

Heldi had been unable to hear what Harley said under his breath, though an ear turned towards him questioningly. She didn't bother asking him to repeat, most likely it wasn't meant for her ears. Althaia spoke up with a tale of crossing the border and Heldi nodded absently. It wasn't unheard of to be placed as a pack's Omega for such a transaction.

The second part of the story had her ears flattening and her nose wrinkling slightly in disgust. The implications were understood. Being Omega was one thing, but to be so degraded that one was no longer called by their own name? It was horrible. Heldi suddenly found herself questioning what kind of pack she had joined, surely if she had any knowledge of what was to come for the couple and her Alphas her doubt would be much worse.

"That's horrible," was all Heldi could manage to say, greatly disturbed.

Harley did his best to block out Althaia's telling of the story, ears pinning back and amber eyes seeking anything else to look at. Heldi's reaction, however, he listened closely to. It seemed that she, too, was astonished about what Charon had done. Sure, maybe he had a good bunch of reasons, but these were not such feral days. They were more social, and could use reason instead of instinct. 
            "It is, and I feel shame to think I gave my loyalty to this pack sometimes. What does that say about me?"
He wouldn't have thought of such things: sure, maybe he'd have sent her off with snapping jaws if she'd been disrespectful or refused to leave, but only after offering her a home instead. He was kind, innocent that way, and his heart of gold was perhaps his weakness.

She listened in silence as the girl proclaimed her situation as horrible, Harley's words making her uncomfortable. She ducked her head, form shrinking in the slightest, as she listened. little did she knew that in a few days from now, it would all go to hell. She glanced up at the girl again, unsure of what to say. "It's better than having been killed. Or horribly injured and left a loner, during the famine. Really, I shouldn't have trespassed." she finally murmured, the words she was speaking true to her.

Heldi was unable to respond to Harley's words, for she was in fact loyal to Amekaze and Charon. That didn't stop her from allowing him to speak his opinion. That surely wasn't forbidden in Moonspear was it?

"That's true. It wasn't unusual to just kill trespassers in my homeland," Heldi murmured, more to herself. She couldn't help but wonder silently if the couple would be leaving soon, if they were speaking of Moonspear in such a manner.

It wasn't that Harley hadn't been loyal, but in fact just that: he'd given his loyalty and bonded with a pack he'd wanted to die in, just to find out they took trespassers as slaves and broke down their independence. He only dropped it because Althaia was unhappy, and after looking at her with sadness, he fell silent and turned his amber eyes to look for danger.

Well, the meeting with this girl had been...interesting. Maybe she ought to stick to herself a little more. "Best of luck, Heldi. I ought to go now, I was going to try to catch some fish for the caches." she said, and it was sincere. She should be pulling her weight around here, doing more. With a dip of her head, she spun on her heel and departed, expecting Harley to trail after her as he always did. She offered a final small smile to the woman in passing, before heading to the mountain stream she often fished from. Well, tried to.