if you have time,
@Harlyn if not no biggie!
There was a lot afoot. The pack might not agree with things, in fact, he expected a great deal wouldn't. Stark was supportive though, understanding the motives between the two females to try and make the pack as strong as possible. Of course it left the questions if Warbone returned, but, Stark had no interactions without the rest of the pack there - he only remembered seeing him in the Tangle. The dark male licked his lips, making a pass along from the entrance to the Crook out towards the more vegetated areas of the Keep.
He was hoping he might find something to eat, especially with the additional mouths to feed. It brought more pressures to the pack, but, how could it not benefit them in the long run? Stark had hopes. Maybe it was a steadfast determination, maybe it was a dreamers outlook, maybe it was foolish optimism - he wasn't going to be one to buckle and pout. Not like some of his packmates had been.
Instead, he would work. He would push.
yay! :D
Mordecai's return had brought great joy to the Druid and to her family, but it had also consequentially brought suspicion. She had not forgotten the words Trick had spoken with gentle tribune. The more she thought on it, the more his commentary seemed to her like highly subdued belligerence, likely done simply for the fact of her presence. Since then, she had grown more attuned with the wolves of the Keep and she was beginning to see at last the subtle disquiet in their ranks for Tavi's recent decisions.
Harlyn had yet to determine what the best approach would be to relieve the discord. For now, she simply went about her business to serve the pack as best she could, hoping it might prove her worth to them. Words had always been more of her forte - words and healing. But there was no one to mend, and these wolves did not much seem like ones who would care for her words.
So, she tried her luck hunting. While she did not have much luck finding prey, she did come across the dark frame of Stark who seemed to be partaking in the same hobby as she. A gentle bark slipped past her lips in an effort to gain his attention as she quicker her pace to a lope in order to catch up to him.
Stark turned when he heard the woman approaching, tail giving a couple slow sways - he didn't mind their presence, he trusted Octavia. He offered her a smile before it quickly turned into a little grin, adding a wink as he lowered his head in a respectful bow to her. "It's good to see you," He offered, turning his blue eyes back towards the growing foliage. "Everyone settling alright?" He asked. There would be time to get settled properly into a hunt, if either of them caught sight of anything worth investigating.
Stark was curious about the newest members of the pack, he'd only heard some things from Octavia. It wasn't much to give, from her words, but she would let Stark learn on his own and he respected that. The dark male was actually relieved to have more people in the pack - especially Harlyn, to stand with Octavia. He knew the rest of the pack didn't share his feelings.
Harlyn slowed as she reached him, offering a friendly wag of her tail as greeting. "You as well," she replied promptly when he expressed his pleasure at her company, for she too felt it in return. Stark was one that Tavi had seemed to trust above others from the beginning, and she'd admitted it herself only a few days prior. The druid was intrigued by this and was eager to learn more of him, particularly if he was meant to join them in the leadership of the Keep. Tavi was confident that he would be loyal to them both, and Harlyn was inclined to believe her. It never did hurt to further form an opinion of her own, however.
"I think so, yes," Harlyn replied thoughtfully, "I'm still very grateful for the kindness everyone has shown us. And for the guidance you gave my son the other day in his first hunt." She had been so proud when she'd been summoned by the triumphant pair. It was a moment that had always been meant for the boys to have with their father, but Mordecai had been away then. It had been beyond time for them to be introduced to the hunt anyway, and the need had trumped any sentimental aspirations.
As far as his impressions of the female she was respectful, even tempered. The pack needed that. They'd had a rough start and too much was going on to make the pack itself fester. Stark wouldn't be so callous as to send anyone away during the famine but the looming threat of their impending doom should have been enough to make everyone aware of just what they had rather than take it for granted.
Stark grinned at her when she mentioned Silas' first real hunt. He gave a shrug, not wanting to take the credit really. "He slipped up a couple times but he was eager - I think he'll get really good." Stark said encouragingly. "And it was nice to see him all excited - it sounds like you guys haven't exactly had an easy time of it." None of them had lately, but, the Ostregas especially.
Stark's comments made her smile and her heartbeat quicken with joy. It had been a long time since she'd seen her children happy. Silas was clearly beginning to come into his own here in the Keep. Larkspur was more trouble, for at times she seemed like she was healing, but others she tended to fall into herself. She thought of Dierdre, this friend her sundrop had made from Donnelaith. If only she could bring the girl here to give her daughter a real friend. But the adolescent had her own family to be with, and Harlyn had made a committment to the Keep that she would not go back on now.
Pippin was another story altogether...
"No, the world has not been kind to my family, not for some time," Harlyn replied gently, her mind straying to her tawny boy, "But I believe this will be a new start for us." She smiled, praying silently that it be true. "How did you end up here, Stark? I've known you for many days and yet feel as though in some ways, we have yet to meet." And she was curious about him. Their trip to retrieve her family after being accepted to the Keep had been mostly silent due to the weight of the circumstances. Times were better now, and Harlyn was ready to move forward.
Stark didn't know the other children. By faces alone he was familiar with them, but he hadn't heard Larkspur speak a single word, and Pippin...well. He remembered the times he had seen the child and how exhausted he looked. He hoped that the rabbit Silas had caught had helped his siblings some, too. Stark frowned when Harlyn admitted that times had been troubling - he could only imagine how rough that had been for the family.
"There isn't much of a story, not much of a good one at least. I struck out on my own after my first birthday and ended up here. I meet Octavia just after she'd had Tambourine - it must have been the first time she'd left him on her own. The rest is history, as they say." He said, a slight smile on his face at the memory. Coming here he had quickly settled, although in many ways he barely felt like he had really acclimated. He had Octavia and Tam, and he had his sisters. Grace was a friend too, and he liked Trick enough. "What happened before you guys got here?"
Harlyn was thoughtful as Stark spoke of his past. It seemed he had come to the Keep about when she understood Tavi had. She smiled to know that he had been the first to greet the new mother when she's left her son for the first time. It seemed to her like he had a habit of being in the right place for Tavi at each turn.
He turned the question to her and Harlyn gave a pained smile. "My mate and I had a pack to the East," she explained, "We fell on hard times, left, and now we are here." The alpha paused then, pondering when a real smile came across her lips. "But I believe it likely that you know that story already," she commented, "Is your time with the Marauders the first you have ever spent in the Wilds?" She assumed that he would recognize the name of the greater lands in which they lived, but prepared herself in case he was unaware.
Stark hadn't pried, hadn't moved too much into looking into their pasts. Instead he'd focused on their futures and what that meant for the Keep together. It wouldn't be divided anymore, there wouldn't be the endless pulling and tugging against each other. "I'm glad you guys made it though. I can't imagine how rough it was with your children though." That was a benefit too for him - he didn't have to worry about children. Not before, anyways. Now there was Tambourine and how things were going for him and for Octavia.
"I settled here fairly quickly." He admitted. "I had met Lasher, in Donnelaith before, but I'd barely laid any tracks down when I found Octavia." Ultimately it had been a move for survival first, but after that, snowballed into wherever they were now. "If the locusts hadn't cleared everything out I might have wandered more. Learning, exploring - those are things I love." He constantly searched for more knowledge in whatever form he could get it.