Swiftcurrent Creek in ruhig fließender bewegung
2,664 Posts
Ooc — ebony
Master Guardian
Midwife
Sitter
Offline
#1

the shadow he cast over tiercel's den was a solemn one. 
wylla had taken her duckling and departed, and while mahler was not one to assign blame without some measure of proof, his last words to the silver woman had been harsh. the vanity that suggested he alone was responsible for her leaving did not exist in mahler, but he was certain his treatment had not helped.
there was a rage growing in mahler as he sought out the dragon-woman who he found reticent, though her mate was even moreso. wylla was gone, chusi still locked in the omega's role despite her contribution of children to the pack. and while his anger was not the doing of his alpha female, rather the lashings of frustration long gone unsnarled, it was nevertheless a heavy tread that carried him along the path of her scent: she would hear his grievances, for he was fair fit to burst with them.
[Image: 2711649b07fc604164cb120b1b417fa3cf47bccc_00.gif]
252 Posts
Ooc — Rebel
Offline
#2
She had not expected Wylla's departure to pain her as it had. Although their relationship had been a rocky one, Durnehviir had come to appreciate the coastal female having remained despite their disagreements. In recent weeks, with their children grown enough to support themselves for longer periods of time, they both seemed to have become significantly more useful in tending to the borders; enough that the russet Alphess had begun toying with the idea of asking Wylla to aid in rebuilding their ranks by standing at her side as Beta.

But it was not to be, and it was with a heavy heart that she wished Wylla and her young daughter well on their travels. She trailed slowly through the territory, eager to be alone with her solemn thoughts, before movement behind her caused the backward cant of a ginger lobe. She paused in her tracks to look over a slim shoulder and observe the gargoyle's approach, and waited for him to catch up. "Mahler," the dragoness greeted the dark guardian softly, entirely unprepared for the scowl that she rose her gaze to find etched on his features.
everything mortal fades away in time, but the spirit remains
2,664 Posts
Ooc — ebony
Master Guardian
Midwife
Sitter
Offline
#3
the sight of fire came to his eyes; mahler paused as durnehviir made motion of recognizing him. and while the aesthetic of her being was comforting in some small way, the musiker did not waste time in cutting to the heart of his disagreement: "chusi's punishment seems extreme, frau," came his frost-rimed rumble; he did not intend that his words be turned aside by some iteration of 'i know better than you.' a leader he was not, but justice was something the beast knew well. all the same, while his tone was firm, he saw no reason to threaten her with his size, or disrespect her rank. therefore he kept his stance docile, though the cut of his lavender eyes was inescapable.
"do you happen to know vy it vas that vylla departed?" came his next inquiry. he felt it was the fire-woman's duty to know, while maintaining even in himself that this was unfair. the silver she-wolf had been a thorny and withdrawn sort; it was not durnehviir's fault if she did not know. 
but mahler was frustrated; this showed plainly in the taut blinking of his gaze, the way the pelt along his shoulders bristled but did not rise. and while it was not truly with durnehviir, his ire, he could not let go the idea of her as a scapegoat.
[Image: 2711649b07fc604164cb120b1b417fa3cf47bccc_00.gif]
252 Posts
Ooc — Rebel
Offline
#4
She was surprised to hear Chusi's name spill forth from  his rgged lips, and she felt her jaw tighten in immediate irritation. Demoting both Chusi and her paramour had primarily been her decision and while Constantine had supported her choice wholly and completely, she took sole responsibility for shaming the new mother into her place as Omega. "No," she answered calmly, a sharp edge to her tone as she looked at the gargoyle pointedly, "banishing her would've been extreme. Killing her newborns would've been extreme. She was a newcomer to my pack when she mated without permission, so I would not consider the bottom of the hierarchy to be extreme when she and her babes got to live."

She rumbled then, her tail lashing the air in a cat-like manner she felt the guard hairs of her nape threaten to stand on edge. Only recently had Durnehviir chosen to free Chusi from her belittling title, though she did not share this information with Mahler; let him figure that out on his own. He moved onto the topic of Wylla, whose departure had affected the russet Alpha and still felt raw, and she exhaled heavily through her nares. "Her reasons were her own," Durnehviir stated firmly, still clearly irked by her subordinate's accusation that her treatment of Chusi was unfair, "though if you must know, she felt the need to seek her family elsewhere." Truthfully, she was curious as to why he had not been informed by the former Gamma herself, for Durnehviir knew that the ashen guardian had come from Wylla's coast.
everything mortal fades away in time, but the spirit remains
2,664 Posts
Ooc — ebony
Master Guardian
Midwife
Sitter
Offline
#5
im sorry ;;;;

she spoke, anger flickering 'round the edges of her words. as durnehviir began to point out exactly what constituted an extreme punishment in her world, mahler's countenance began to take on a vague horror. the concept of murdering newborns clenched the gargoyle's stomach with bile; he stared for a long moment at the she-dragon.
gone was any need to mention wylla; mahler's mind had fixed upon durnehviir's insistence that she had shown chusi and her babes any sort of mercy. "she should be grateful you did not murder her children?" the charcoal man growled, and this time the hackles along his spine rippled with a righteous indignantion.
in this perhaps it would be clear that the musiker was lacking in dire areas of knowledge regarding his own kind's behaviour, but it was unpalatable to hear such from the woman who led swiftcurrent. and while mahler avoided wolfesses in season, the pull of them upon him was undeniable; he thought of nyx in grimnismal for a somber moment, and how wylla had reacted.
would the seawolf have also murdered nyx's children, had not her brother fathered them? mahler did not know how it had gone for her; he was stuck helplessly upon the idea of dead cubs, and it thrummed in the back of his skull that he had seen such before. his breathing grew shallow, and then his nostrils flared with anger, and reason escaped mahler completely.
"you are a mother. wylla is a mother. chusi is a mother. why should she alone be punished?" the confusion around the law that had before escaped mahler was clear in the hesitance of his tone, but he burned all the same. for a moment, a white spear of purest relief that wylla had departed this place resounded in mahler, for durnehviir had now made herself a threat to tiercel in the gargoyle's mind. 
and sternly he felt it was his right to question his leaders. if they wanted to be shepherds to a herd of blind sheep, let them, but he was not such a one. mahler wished to depart, to remove himself from beneath the fire of her eyes, but he did not fear her as he had feared wylla. but there was a healthy wariness there; he was still, quiet, wanting answers and yet knowing they might be arrested by the dragonness' own annoyance.
[Image: 2711649b07fc604164cb120b1b417fa3cf47bccc_00.gif]
252 Posts
Ooc — Rebel
Offline
#6
"She should be grateful you did not murder her children?"

Her eyes widened momentarily, before they narrowed to dangerous slits. The russet Alpha could not deny that she'd considered Mahler's very accusation, but she was unprepared to confess it out loud. Chusi had been lucky that Swiftcurrent's ranks swelled with strong bodies at the time she'd conceived her litter, for if their ranks had been as bare then as they were now, Durnehviir would always choose her own babes over those of another. "Yes," the dragoness hissed in response, her crimson hackles on edge as she turned to properly face the one who saw fit to question the decision she'd made when faced with an impossible choice.

It was the way of the wild - of the wolf. As a mother, it was Durnehviir's responsibility to ensure that her own litter was successful. But as she grew into this role, as she watched her children develop, and their pack gained an additional three newborns, she learned to appreciate those of others as well. She had maintained distance between herself and Omega's brood, had even mostly steered clear of Wylla and her own, because her own offspring were and would always be her absolute priority.

"Because she broke pack law," she defended with a low growl. "When Wylla discovered her own pregnancy, she offered to slay her own cubs because they could be considered a threat to my own. I refused to let this happen. Do you think me a monster, Mahler?" Chusi's offspring had lived - thrived, even. They had a doting mother who, despite having been of the lowest rank, had been fed and tended to. She'd been shamed into Omega, yes, but even the most belittled wolf was still considered family because they were part of Swiftcurrent, which the gargoyle seemed to be missing.
everything mortal fades away in time, but the spirit remains
2,664 Posts
Ooc — ebony
Master Guardian
Midwife
Sitter
Offline
#7
. she continued to speak of laws, and mahler's ire grew more within him. the woman acted as if this method of governing was universal, when in fact it was not. had it been, he would have known of it, and not shamed himself with his own anger. as it were, he was rapidly beginning to find her arrogant despite his efforts at maintaining some semblance of objectivity.
she demanded to know if he thought her a monster; the gargoyle gazed upon her with an empty expression, his features settling into a cold impassivity that leached the earlier anger from his countenance.
"my children are dead, frau. i vant no more. yet children are a blessing. they are the pack." what she had said regarding wylla was something mahler had immediately shelved along the back of his mind, processing suspended until he was able to deal with the heated conversation at hand. "are you saying your children deserve more than the others in swiftcurrent?"  the lilac eyes hardened. "and if so, vhy?" they were all of equal importance to the gargoyle; each one of them would grow into a wolf that would swell their numbers and claim. 
and herein was the missing part of mahler; some flaw soon noticeable by those around him, and as the moments passed, the musiker felt the familar sense of unterschied creep across his charcoal withers. momentarily he was shaken that he had pushed durnehviir so far; momentarily he felt a quailing within him at the ire he sensed kindling hot within her. but in the next he was cold again, mind trying valiantly to keep from consideration of the last time he had seen his own children alive.
[Image: 2711649b07fc604164cb120b1b417fa3cf47bccc_00.gif]
252 Posts
Ooc — Rebel
Offline
#8
Her own anger bubbled within her breast, threatening to spill forth with the subtle twitch of an upper lip. The gargoyle glowered down at her with a hardened stare, her own champagne eyes sharp as they bore into his own with the silent dare that he push her further. Instead, what followed was something that Durnehviir didn't expect: a confession that he had been a father, and had lost his offspring.

For a moment, she faltered. The dragoness' furrowed brow softened as she cast her gaze downward in consideration of what terrible chaos Mahler must've faced in his lifetime, before she made to look upon his face once more. "I am sorry for your loss," she told him genuinely, though her defensive edge remained, "and you are right. They are pack." She was not insensitive to the children of Swiftcurrent that were not of her womb, despite the distance she put between them. 

Mahler had not seen the hardship they'd faced in Ravensblood. Their move to the Creek had been to start fresh and provide the best for their royal offspring, away from the crowding on the coast that had begun to threaten their hunting grounds. So when he asked her pointedly if she felt that her pups deserved more than those of others, Durnehviir curled her lip and bore her fangs in a silent snarl. "No, I am not," she rumbled, "we were unprepared to have so many litters so soon after we relocated, but I have never thought less of Chusi's children. I demoted their mother, not them."
everything mortal fades away in time, but the spirit remains
2,664 Posts
Ooc — ebony
Master Guardian
Midwife
Sitter
Offline
#9
his revelation had surprised her, mahler read in the lines of his leader's lithe body. but her tone remained firm; she was fervent, vehement in her defense of her decisions. the musiker did not understand and would not; at length he lowered his eyes and stood beneath the twin flames of her gaze in silence. wearied further by his progression into a conversation he did not wish to have, examining swiftly the elements that had led him forth, the gargoyle nevertheless regarded durnehviir with a remote expression when at last he lifted his broad muzzle again.
"i am angry, frau. and i do not mean to be. i do not understand your vays. but i vill not question them again." it was his approximation of an apology; as he had not changed his feelings about chusi and her babes, mahler did not know if he could truthfully say he was sorrowful for having confronted her. 
but as he had known through all this time, durnehviir and her choices were not at the root of his frustration. he would defend a babe from any wolf's teeth, mahler knew, but she had not slain the omega's children. and he saw no reason why she would. he had been wrong, and it was as bitter dust clinging to his tongue.
"i vas harsh to vylla when last we spoke. i loved her child." a disjointed pair of sentences; the nuance of them was remorse and a father's misplaced affection for the duckling that had never been in hope of belonging to him. it was a feeling that should have been completely excised from mahler following the death of his own children. but it had not, and now his anger had grown and led him down a perilous trail ending with dragonfire. 
some small part of mahler begged that durnehviir might dismiss him; another sensed she would punish him. and yet another wished to remain cold, impartial, to deliver his report of the territory he had discovered on his travels. but the exhaustion was growing, and the words weighed heavy at his tongue.
[Image: 2711649b07fc604164cb120b1b417fa3cf47bccc_00.gif]
252 Posts
Ooc — Rebel
Offline
#10
When at last Mahler stood down, albeit reluctantly, the dragoness sheathed her fangs. Her sharp gaze continued to flower at his dark features even as his own lavender stare lingered on her coolly.

"Harsh," she repeated the word with a questioning tone, her nape still bristled. "Do you believe yourself responsible for Wylla's departure?"

everything mortal fades away in time, but the spirit remains
2,664 Posts
Ooc — ebony
Master Guardian
Midwife
Sitter
Offline
#11
the air between them still hung with a tension he stubbornly refused to dispel. but she had not reacted as he thought; he was wary and answered directly, his voice a gruff monotone. "no." withdrawing, his earlier ability to piece longer sentences retracted without desire behind them. a glance in the direction where wylla had made her den; mahler's attention returned to the flame. there was nothing more to say; he had shared far too much already. no — he was not the cause for her departure. but the musiker did not think his behaviour had made swiftcurrent welcoming for the silver she-wolf.
[Image: 2711649b07fc604164cb120b1b417fa3cf47bccc_00.gif]