Stone Circle like a rollercoaster

He'd been rife with grief ever since Keoni's death, but besides that Nikai's leg had been doing poorly too. At first it'd gotten less and less stiff but now it seemed only get more and more stiff and painful every time he moved it, even if he didn't put weight on it. Nikai frowned with worry as he thought of it but every time he worried it was overshadowed by the death of his sister and so he had been doing little to improve it. Other than the leg pain Nikai got by better and better; his other legs were getting used to catching the weight and he could at least walk again now.

It was sunset as Nikai sat by the stone where Keoni lay burried with a mournful expression on his face. "Oh, Keenie... We never did get to travel and join other packs together," he said with a soft sigh, thinking of the time they'd met Rannoch. He'd felt so alive then, and she too had seemed to light up when they were at the Vale. He'd hoped to travel around with her, but now, with his injured leg and his sister dead, it seemed a dream that was so far away.

Birk had heard about a packmate's death and from words spilled here and there he had almost been able to piece the backstory together. He had shown all the appropriate respect and worn a mournful expression, while Valette had shared the news with the rest of the pack, though inwardly he felt nothing but indifference. He had seen death so many times in his life that the fact itself had lost all meaning and gravity.

In the end it was the living, who mattered. 

He happened to be in the vicinity of the Stone circle, when he noticed a dark pelted wolf appear and sit down next to the place, where the burial ground was. Birk observed the stranger for a while, letting it have some time on his own. Only then - when he deemed the time appropriate - he entered the scene and approached the lonely figure in a friendly manner. "Good day!" he greeted politely, stopping few feet away from the packmate, in case his presence was not welcome.

Nikai shook from thoughts as someone greeted him. He hoped that they hadn't heard him chatting to his deceased sister, though it didn't look like it from the chipper expression on the other wolf's face. Nikai was glad it was someone who was in a good mood, because he could use the distraction. "Heya," he greeted with a soft smile, though he was unable to wipe the sad, tired expression off his face entirely.

"I don't think we've met, have we?" he asked after a moment of taking the other guy in. "I'm Nikai." The dude who ruined the hunt. But he didn't even remember if he'd seen this guy at the hunt, so maybe it wouldn't be the best of introductions if he'd add that, especially without the context of what'd actually happened.

When it came to really liking people - Birk was neither easy to impress, nor he handed out empty compliments freely (in regards of the former statement - pretty girls were an exception and unless they proved to be lacking in the intellectual department, he thought highly of all of them). Unlike his cheerful and happy-go-lucky self a year ago, now his choices, which people to befriend and make acquaintances to, were very calculated. If the person appeared to be a valuable asset for future use - the northerner was nothing but pleasant and sincere, if deemed not worth his time - well, then he could become quite nasty. 

However, this fellow fit in that rare category to which belonged people, who who won Birk over easily. There was something very amiable about the young man that made the rationalist in the older counterpart retreat in the dark corner, covered in cobwebs. "I am new and I have seen many faces - maybe even yours - among others, but I don't know you by name. I am Birk," he replied.

It was hard to get his mind off Keoni and Nikai hoped he wasn't coming off too distracted for it. Turned out that the guy was fairly new, which explained why he hadn't seen him around before. Maybe they had seen each other at some meeting or other, but if they had then Nikai didn't remember. "Nice to meet you, Birk," said Nikai with a genuine smile. "It's gotta be hard to get to know everyone when you're new." He'd spent most his life living here but even to Nikai it was tricky sometimes to get to know everyone personally.

"Are you from somewhere 'round here, or did you come from further away?" Nikai then asked, curious where Birk had come from. He himself hadn't been in many packs, though he had often dreamed of leaving to find another pack. His anchor had often been Keoni -- when she'd got hurt -- and then Valette's upcoming pups, and now he wasn't in any physical state to be travelling long distances, though he found himself often dreaming of visiting Alya and her sisters or moving to a pack nearby to her still. But he wasn't able to right now.

Nikai's concern about Birk's ability to adapt to the new pack was adorable, because he himself had no difficulties at all. He made an effort to know people, who were either important or who themselves stepped up to have a conversation, and wasted no energy on those people, who did not care. Quite simple and easy that was, but he did not want to destroy the image the young wolf had of him. Let him think that Birk was a better person than he actually considered himself being.

"I came a long way away, but I have been in these areas on and off for a year now," he did not want to delve in all of the details of him coming to Easthollow. Unless Nikai pressed further. "What about you - a relative to the leading family?" he asked, though it was quite clear from looks and mannerisms alone that it was not so.

Nikai was instantly intrigued by Birk coming from somewhere outside these valleys. He didn't remember meeting someone before who'd come from that far. Before he could ask about stories he was asked about his own comeuppance, and he nodded hastily. "Yeah, Valette's my mother." He didn't bother to share that he was adopted, a fact that he himself often forgot, especially in the light of his excitement for Birk's backstory.

"Do you have any cool travel stories? Things that happened along the way? Scenery you've seen?" Nikai was clearly excited to hear some cool stuff as he regarded Birk with an enthused glimmer of adventure shining in his eyes.

Is she? Birk arched his eyebrows, intrigued by the fact that such a young leader had so many children and no mate by her side. He was a little old-fashioned in this sense, coming from a background, where pups found astray weren't adopted - they were killed or perished themselves. 

But his consciousness reminded his rational and practical part of the brain that Nikai was a very likeable fellow and that he had not met anyone in a long time, who could spark these sincere feelings in him. Therefore he obliged the young wolf's request to tell about his adventures (he would have not done the same for most people, because he did not like to be the source of entertainment), sat down and appeared to be deep in thoughts for a while. 

"Before I tell you - tell me, how much of the world have you seen?" he asked.

As Nikai noticed Birk's surprise he chuckled, realising that it may seem odd as they didn't look necessarily alike. He didn't even consider that Valette's age played into it, for she'd been an adult in his view for however long he remembered, so to him she was totally legitimately mom-aged. "She adopted me and Keoni — our mother died when we were little when we were already a part of Valette's pack then, so she and her mate at the time took us in." Nikai didn't know that Steady and Valette hadn't been mates in their childhood, either; they'd always been together, taking care of him and Keoni, so he didn't even remember a time before they were mates.

Birk then indulged him in his request, sparking another genuine smile on Nikai's face. "I was born on a mountain," he said, falsely assuming that he and Keoni'd been born on Silvertip Mountain, "And we were moved when we were still fairly little to this place. I've explored across the mountain ridge to the west, in the valley below and the Moonspear, the big mountain another ridge over. Oh, and I've been to the ocean a couple of times. I'm a ranger, so I enjoy exploring." Nikai glanced at his back leg as he wondered with a pang of regret if he'd ever wander again successfully. He wasn't even able to hunt yet, so going too far out was out of the question for now.

"Lucky you," Birk commented, thinking with humour, how very much he would have preferred to be adopted by Valette than grow up in his own family. This had happened now in a way, but 3 years too late. No more joys and heartbreaks of puppyhood for him. 

"I was born on the Ice Fields - if you have seen the ocean freeze, then this is kind of a barren place I made my first steps in life at. It's as far North as you even can't imagine - there you hardly see any sunlight for half a year, food is scarce, weather ir tough and in general - I think either idiots or really stubborn people choose to live there," he finished his tale. 

"I decided one day that I had had enough with the cold and continuous fight for survival and left all that behind. And though it has not been the straightest and smoothest way for me, I have never regretted leaving," Birk said proudly. He had - after all - lived up to be three years old - that had to mean something, when on average you are lucky to get another day or week of life, where he came from.

Nikai was about to ask if Birk wanted to talk about his own hardships in life, if he preferred to have his mother murdered at a young age and be adopted. Nikai of course wouldn't know if his life would've been better with his biological mother rather than being adopted. Birk told a story of a harsh place to live, but what Nikai missed in the story was the part where he'd tell about his parents and family. Weren't those what made life bearable?

"What'd you eat?" he asked in awe after Birk had finished the story. "And what about your family? Weren't they nice? Weren't they sad when you left..?" He didn't mean to say they had to be non-nice for him to leave them behind, but still... Nikai had always wanted to go exploring, but he had always kept himself from doing so because he had a family to take care of. Now he no longer had Keoni, the one he'd wanted to go exploring with, and the pups were grown up, but his leg seemed unable to fulfil his wishes anymore... Normally he might've added a 'if you don't mind me asking' there, but Nikai was too caught up in this story of amazing travel from an amazing place to this place that he forgot his manners a moment.

"Whatever we could get our paws and jaws on," Birk replied, without getting in the details. He did not think that cannibalism was a practice understood and approved of here and he also did not consider Nikai to be the person, who should find out about all the horrid things the northerner had had to do in order to survive. As a pack wolf and alone. "It's not easy to live there, but, if you survive long enough, you learn to appreciate the little things in life," he said.

"They were awful people," he laughed, thinking that many words could describe his family members, but "nice" were not among them. Neither were the synonyms. They were clear reflections of the environment they lived in - harsh, tough, savage and unforgiving. "I can't say that they really cared, what happened to me," no tear-stained farewells, where he came from. 

"On that matter - I am sorry for your loss. I understand that you were very close with your sister?" he purposefully changed the subject of the conversation.

It seemed weird that someone would have no family members that loved them, but had awful family instead. Nikai frowned in sympathy as Birk told him the story of his relatives, though Nikai was glad that Birk at least had found a good place to live here in Easthollow. He hoped that they could be a better family to him than his previous'd been.

"We can be a better family," said Nikai, and then added with a sheepish grin, "Though it doesn't sound like it'll be a big challenge..."

As Birk asked about his sister he nodded. "She was my only blood relative left. We were pretty much always together — I loved going exploring with Keoni, and we were going to explore the world together..." He looked at the grave and sighed, "... But maybe now I'll stay in Easthollow a bit longer..."

"Not having been eaten or attacked this long is definitely an improvement," Birk joked in a kind-hearted manner, though in reality aside from him and Valette he had not really got the feeling of belonging here yet. Part of that was his own fault, because he was not actively trying to join or look for company, but then again being a bystander and watching, how lives of others happen, but having no part in that was not verynice either.

"It must have been great to have such a friend by your side," Birk noted, having never experienced the gift of true friendship in his life. His brief affair with the Queen could count as such, but it was laced with different kind of emotions and knowledge that this would not last. "If you are still keen on exploring the world and want a company - I can join you," he offered, because he sympathised with the young man and because he liked him. Had it been anyone else - he would not have been so willing.

Nikai nodded when Birk said that life must've been great with a friend like his sister by his side. It wasn't just because they were born together but also because they had for a long time been the only solid thing in each other's life. Valette had been added to it but nobody could ever replace Keoni..

It was nice of Birk to offer exploring together and Nikai smiled. "Thanks. That'd be great, once my leg gets a bit better again." For now he needed to heal and he hoped that his leg would ever heal again. It felt like forever since the pack hunt but the leg wasn't doing overly much better. Still, it was a good motivation to know he had an exploration buddy ready to get healed.

"Your leg?" Birk furrowed his brow, looking at all four of Keoni's feet, trying to understand, what was wrong with it, and when he did not get sufficient information, he looked the boy questioningly, wondering, what had happened. 

"So, since you are not much of a traveller now," he began, once he had heard the reason behind the injury from the boy, "I may as well tell you something about the North. Nothing better to entertain oneself with letting the mind wander, when a body can't?"

"Oh, right," Nikai said apologetically, not realising that it hadn't been clear he was wounded. It felt like such common knowledge by now that he'd forgotten maybe not all knew. "I hurt one of my back legs in the pack hunt a while ago. It's been healing pretty poorly. I've been getting by alright on three legs, but..." He trailed off, a grimace on his face to indicate he was still a bit worried about it. But he was sure it would get better eventually. It had to.

Then Birk offered to tell him some things about the north and Nikai smiled broadly. "Yes, please. I'd love to hear a story." While he was unable to travel himself, he might as well go for the next best thing by hearing stories of other wolves about places far away.

"Three-legs is just not the same," Birk nodded, understanding Nikai's pain. He could not relate with a similar exerience, because luckily all his limbs had remained working and intact all three, graced years of his life, but he recalled vividly the ordeal with his frostbitten ears last year. The pain and the bleeding ulcers. Having a lesion of any kind was not great. 

"I come from a long line of wolves that believe are related to Jotunns - the fearsome ice-giants - themselves. Though none of the living sons and daughters have ever been or seen the original home with the fire breathing mountains, ice cliffs and the dark, monster infested sea, they pride themselves in being their descendants," Birk told.

"Therefore the names Muspell, Kari, Vili and Nisse, Bestla and others. Because in the far north survival of children is very compromised due to harsh condition. And it is believed, if you are given a strong name, then you will grow strong and tough as well," he continued and smiled. "My name - on the other hand - is after the dwarf birch that is very common there. I guess they never really expected me to make this far in life."

Nikai listened with interest to Birk's story. He had expected a more down-to-earth story about survival in the north and what Birk'd experienced as a traveller, so was surprised when the first subject was ice-giants. Soon though he started about his family and how they received their names, and what his own meant.

When Birk spoke of his own name, Nikai chuckled. "Well, they should see you now," said Nikai with a smile. "Doing very healthy, by the looks of it." It was an interesting thought, to name one's children after something you wanted them to be.

"Proved them wrong and I still think that this has been the best achievment in my short life," Birk declared proudly, because - truly - he had very little other accomplishments in life that he could boast with. But surviving against the odds and being able to kick some stone-cold-hearted asses along the way - that was a life-goal achieved.

"Come to think of it - we have something in common. We have been very lucky to live this long and have a conversation today," he said on an impulse of the moment, because usually he was not very prone to expressing philosophical thoughts.

Nikai chuckled at Birk's positive attitude. It was sure infectious, and it was nice to have met another pack mate today. At Birk's subsequent comment though, Nikai felt his heart ache for Keoni again. He glanced briefly at the grave before looking back to Birk. There was a smile on his face, but his lip quivered ever so slightly to show that he wasn't really smiling on the inside. "We are lucky, indeed," said Nikai, his voice soft while his mind wandered to Keoni again.

Nikai agreed and then fell deep in thoughts, making Birk realize that this would probably be a good time to leave the green-eyed boy alone and let him have a moment with his sister. He had never mourned for the dead, because he had never been very close to anyone, but he had bits and pieces of empathy to others and a common sense to realize that his views of life rarely matched with those of other's.

"I will leave you now - have to check on the borders," he told the boy. "Valette said there is shortage of mercenaries here," he explained. "See you around." With this said - he was gone.

Birk announced his good-bye and Nikai nodded at him. "Thanks for chatting, good luck with that patrol," said Nikai with a smile. He normally patrolled the borders frequently but of late he just hadn't really gotten to it. He watched as Birk left and then fell into silence, staring back at Keoni's grave and letting out a heavy sigh.. if only she was still here.