Blackfeather Woods I'm not scared to be seen, I make no apologies

@Aries

A squirrel dangling from her mouth, she returned home with a strut that was highly unusual for the usually serious and calm Nyx. Ever since returning to the woods, she had felt rather great. She had settled into her role well and, whenever a new war would be brewing, she knew what she had to do. Make sure everyone paid for what they had done. Blood would draw blood, and this was no exception. Blackfeather would never be broken, and it was time everyone knew.

She stuffed the squirrel in a nearby cache and then stalked through the woods, rubbing her scent on trees and plants. This was her home, after all.

The Svartell felt far more comfortable being able to disguise his presence in the shadows coating the Woods in an eternal darkness, paw steps silent as he weaved swiftly around trees in search of nothing in particular. His mind drifted back to the wolverine, and perhaps out of instinct he peered around to glance at his scarred shoulder, but it did not give him anything other than satisfaction. Because he had dislocated the arm of that creature, reopened a dangerously deep wound, and enraged it, but had bested it. The thing had left as soon as it realised it was at a disadvantage. That, and the scars across his shoulder only made the Reaper appear more dangerous to the eye, marks to show he had fought and survived. He would grow to be deadly opponent if he was not that already.

He was hardly a boy anymore, this dark and serious man. He had seen it in his mother's eyes when the sylph looked at him but a few weeks before - his father, too. They knew he was not the same innocent boy that had curled up at Olive's side and nibbled his ebony sibling's ear. He was becoming a killer, a soldier ready to follow commands and commit deeds seen as ghastly by another, though it affected him very little. This was him, and the path he had chosen.

Aries prowled the dark domain of the Blackfeather wolves now with no intentions, not until the wind passed a scent to his nostrils, one that made his ears cup forward and his curiousity spark. With a small puff of air releasing through his nose and creating a cloud of frosted breath before him, the svelte yet muscular wolf began to head toward the source of the scent. Once he caught sight of her, he emerged from the shade of the trees like a shadow casted by the tall wood, chuffing a greeting to alert her to his presence.

The chuff came as a surprise, but not as a big one as soon as she could sense him. She had watched Aries grow up from a distance, and he had grown into quite a man already. He did well here and it seemed taking him with her all those moons ago had not been a waste of time and resources. She blinked a greeting, a slight smile playing upon her lips.

Aries - how have you been fairing? She purred to her ward, curious as to what he was up to these days.

Slightly crap post *-*

Nyx turned to greet him, and her distantly familar features caused his muscles to relax. The two wolves had not spoken for some time, both content to their own devices, but an opportunity had presented itself as a moment of peace amongst the silence of the Blackfeather domain, and he took this within his grasp. 

A slight curve of a smile graced his dark lips, and the ashen soldier of the Woods nodded slowly. "Well. Yourself?" He was a Reaper now, perhaps the largest change of the recent times. Many dark deeds he had committed, many more were to come, but the young man mentioned none - surely it was just assumed that every member of this land was a dark soul, and not even murder was flinched at.

She shrugged off the question with an unusual warm smile. She couldn't complain much, but still it felt like there was something missing. A mission; a goal she could work towards. She had nothing like that.

It has become so quiet around here. She commented, mismatched eyes saddened about the realization. Hopefully this would be enough to satisfy his lust for her answer; she wasn't fairing all that well without her beloved by her side. The past haunted her more than anything.

At Nyx's words, he gave another slight nod - indeed, the Woods were always silent but at the moment even more so. It was as though this dark domain was becoming more and more void of life, but it bothered Aries very little. He was arrogant enough to assume they'd do just fine even with the lack of a few extra wolves. "Yes, it has." The confirmation fell from his muzzle smoothly, but he picked up on the sadness in her mismatched gaze. The ashen youth was tempted to mention Lonzo and how he could potentially join them at the Woods, but thought it better not to speak of him just yet. "I am sure it will liven up again soon."

He wasn't great at comforting but he hoped that would suffice.

Perhaps a younger Nyx would've believed her ward's words, but she didn't now. The woods had been defeated, and even now that they had returned, wolves had fallen. Their reputation would dwindle and all that would be left was the remains of a mighty dynasty, together with their own remains. Sometimes she thought of leaving with Aries and with Maegi if she wanted to come along, but she couldn't. Leaving was as much of a sin as betraying, especially since her father was their leader now.

What shall we do if it will not? She asked carefully.

His attempts at reassurance did not work as he had hoped, but he knew Nyx grasped logic in her words - indeed, what did they do if didn't liven up again? The dark domain had, before the battle, had not been so quiet, so empty. If the kingdom was to fall, what would they do? The ashen youth flicked a tail in silent contemplation, pondering her words with a distant sparkle in his orbs of ice. "If the ranks drop too far, we have no choice but to disband." As much as he disliked the idea, that was always an option that held strong though everything. But still...

"There are other ways to liven the Woods up... but I am not sure if they will work, or if anyone is willing." Yes, there were various possibilities and potential outcomes, though the Svartell was unsure if any would appeal to the wolfess of ink. "If someone was to bear young, there would be new life here." He wasn't quite sure he liked that idea of all of them, but there it was. It could work, but only if there were wolves able and ready for such a feat. "That, or we can work hard to recruit wolves - I know a man by the name of Lonzo... I could bring him here." Aries mentioned him with slight hesitation, but he was certain if it came down to it, the snake could be of use.

If not... well, leaving the confines of Blackfeather seemed the only possible option. But he could see Nyx did not want that, and neither did the Reaper.

Disbanding was the obvious course of events. A pack of just four or five would not survive the winter, even if it was so very far away now. It was the events after they would disband that chilled her to the bone. She knew they weren't normal, she knew she wasn't, and she doubted she would fit into any other home. It was also why she had not left the woods altogether yet. And then, Aries? Could we function in any other pack? She asked, a slight panic in her usually fearless tone.

I have been waiting for the day I could give my love his young, but neither my body nor my love is ready. If anything, the possibility for me to bear young for him has withered, for he is no longer among our woods. She sighed softly. As a young girl, it had been the only thing she wanted to do. Serve her forest king, give him all he could wish for. Now she wasn't so certain.

You should ask Kove about that. I am no longer the Dark Mistress, but we need any help we can get.

If the young man could see into her thoughts he would have agreed - they were not normal. None of the wolves residing in these dark woods was normal... the very borders held marks of violence and blood that would not have been displayed upon the edges of the domain by most. Of course, to Aries it was familiar and it bothered him very little, but he knew to others it was seen as ghastly, a sight that could send even the toughest of wolves reeling. The looming trees within the Blackfeather domain hid many untold secrets and the Reaper found himself unable to imagine residing in a pack other than this one. "I don't know." He spoke truthfully, distate shining in his orbs of ice. Of course, he did not want to leave this place. "Guess we'll cross that line when, and if, we get to it." 

Nyx spoke of her love and the desire to bear young, but after she moved away from the topic he decided not to question it any further incase it was a sensitive subject, which it surely appeared to be. The steel soldier briefly remembered a dark figure that he and an old rival, Kahlil, had once been introduced to but the memory was faded and he could not picture a face. As it seemed, that man was no longer among their ranks.

She mentioned asking Kove and Aries comitted the task to memory, intending to seek out the Dark Master at some point in the near future. Besides, he hadn't properly met the wolf that now led the Blackfeather wolves and it would be a good idea to do so.

Though raised in shadows, Nyx was not the dark creature she had wanted to be growing up. She was a rather compassionate and caring woman, surprisingly, have set prisoners free without being punished. Nyx smiled to herself. She felt better doing good things, which was probably why she had never killed before. Not a soul she had taken, just some tongues. At least the ones she had harmed could still redeem her some day...

Many have left. What if I were to desire to leave with you? She didn't, truly, but testing Aries' loyalty to her had to be done now he had grown. She couldn't have a ward that thought of her as less than the pack. The Night looked at him then, mismatched eyes eyeing his scars as her own prickled beneath her midnight fur.

Nyx spoke questioningly, voice an elegant sound to soften the looming silence within the woods. Branches creaked above their heads, but then the dark tranquility returned and with it came an even thicker quietude. Of couse, he knew his answer from the moment the inquiry fell from her lips. After a heartbeat, a slither of silence to ensure she knew he was certain about what he said, the young man presented her with his choice. "Then I would leave alongside you."

And he had no doubts about it. So as she placed her gaze upon his scars, the Svartell simply returned her mismatched eyes with a dip of his head, a sign that he would follow through with his words - Aries' loyalty was sworn to her, and he would not break this promise.

The woods were silent then. Though some found it unsettling, she found it calming. She had grown up in silence and shadows, the shine of the moon and stars having found her pelt to settle in something just as dark as the void. A raven softly cooed and in turn, her ward spoke.

It were words she wished to hear. Her expression softened, silent appreciation clear as the day outside of their shielding foliage. She knew it to be wrong, but she stepped closer, quietly placing her muzzle to his shoulder and her scarred and speckled chest against his own if she were not to be met with his teeth. She sniffed in the scent of death and decay the woods were known for, a settling smell that calmed her beyond words. For a moment, The Night felt peaceful, pressed against her ward whom she felt was her only comfort.

Want to finish off here? :)

It seemed the Svartell's response was a desired one, the softening of Nyx's features displaying all he needed to know. He had not anticipated her movements, nearing him in such a way, but for once he did not turn her away - there were very few who could gain such a closeness to Aries, dark beast that he was, but the star-furred woman was one of those few and so he accepted it. It was, nevertheless, a strange concept that he of all creatures could provide any sort of comfort, but here they were...

Two monochrome figures alone in the shelter of the dark domain, simply embracing the silence that engulfed the Woods, only ravens as witnesses.

Feel free to archive or post one last time :)

The Night felt at peace knowing she at least had the child she had found and somewhat raised stood behind her, even in the darkest of times. She could not expect this from anyone else, she knew, but she believed one wolf who supported you through thick and thin was enough for life. No one needed more than just one. And she had already found just that one.

She rested there for a moment longer until she pulled away, leaving her thanks unspoken. She glanced at the woods around them, lifting a paw as to say she was leaving for her den until night came. She offered him a smile and a slight wave of her tail before she retreated, back into the shadows she was born in, keeping in mind that further testing his loyalty was not necessary. He would receive her thanks in some way, one day, if he decided to stick around until then...