His life was not a comfortable one. With his return to the Teekon Wilds and the discovery that Chakra Feralheart had not re-established her broken pack, Viinturuth sought the temporary shelter of another until a more solid plan could be formed. He felt like he was settling for second best, for something that could not bring him the same feeling of homeliness. He had loved and defended Neverwinter Forest with his all, bit without it's wolves there was nothing left for him there.
He was not sure what caused the pack to disband all those months ago, but Viin recalled their numbers declining gradually before the snow Queen herself took her unannounced leave. With too few wolves left and with their leader missing, those remaining had scattered. Uncertain, Viinturuth himself had vanished without a trace not long after Chakra had.
His heart yearned for the familiarity of what has once been his home. As he wandered aimlessly for no particular reason, his mind turned to his former pack-mates. Scimitar, Khotan, the beautiful Blanc. Several had come and gone, but there were a select few that he recalled vividly. He and Scim had made a powerful duo, and he wondered where the agouti brute had wound up following their alphess' departure. As the grim clouds above released a heavy downpour of rain, the sable Frostfur retreated into the cover of nearby trees. Shaking his heavy pelt of excess rainwater, he sank to his powerful haunches to rest and wait for the worst of the storm to pass.
Northstar Vale was not a land he had visited before, nor was it within his knowledge the feud that had once exited between a pack that had lived here and Swiftcurrent Creek -- those days were before him, to a time when his allegiance might have even laid with Neverwinter Forest and the exotic Chakra.
The beauty of his former leader had at one point affected him greatly - had had even recalled a nonchalant conversation with his old friend Luka about it.. of course, she had turned out to be like the majority of females and friends in his life and had simply departed without word. It had been a gamble, but the agouti male had attempted to trail after her to no avail and it had become quite clear she had not wanted to be found.. Spare for the bits of fur and blood he had come across. By the time of his return, Luka, Viinturuth, and countless others that had sworn their loyalty to the forest had long abandoned it -- he couldn't blame them. Why stay when even the Alpha would not?
His strides were lengthy in his exploration, and in his thoughts, he had not bothered to glance up the the sky.. else he might have seen the warning as the rain suddenly shattered upon the earth. Drenched within moments, the agouti male loped quicker now, ducking in to a myriad of trees and seeking shelter from the rain as it deflected from the leaves instead.
Whether it was the nostalgia that had surged in him, or a simple trick of the mind, a familiar scent drifted to him then, causing him to stiffen in turn as his aqua eyes gouged the surrounding area.. as if tantalizing him, the shadow of a dark wolf came to view then too.
Viinturuth set about then grooming his sodden fur with long sweeps of his tongue. He arched his proud neck to lick water from his chest and forelimbs, angled himself awkwardly to clean his flank, rose a lion-like paw to swipe his tufted ears. He lowered himself further, sinking to a sphinx-like position and rubbed his soaked muzzle against his upper leg before he reclined to gaze out from beneath the trees at the downpour.
It didn't surprise him that another drenched wolf sought the shelter of the woods, and the dark male barely acknowledged his latest companion. Viinturuth continued to gaze out at the miserable scene before him, wishing silently for the storm to hurry and pass so he could slip away and continue with his exploration in piece. But as though Mother Nature read his frustrated thoughts, a rumble of thunder and the promise of further rainfall rolled across the vale.
He exhaled softly and turned his pale eyes toward the sodden wanderer, curious to see if he shared his desire for solitude. What did surprise him, however, was to settle his champagne eyes on the face of a wolf he remembered so vividly. Gathering himself to his paws, the frosted male gazed across the empty space between them and into eyes the colour of sea glass, and exhaled a heavy breath of relief. There was still hope for Neverwinter Forest.
"Where have you been hiding?" Viinturuth mustered, warmth appearing in the smile that tugged the edges of his lips.
he watched the wolf who groomed himself so meticulously now -- batting at an ear, and sliding down to lay upon the dampened ground. At any other moment he might have considered if he should be doing the same thing (did Bazi not think him groomed enough..?) but there was a far more pressing matter at hand here.. and it was how absolutely familiar the male was.
Somehow, his nostalgia took form before him, and when the pale champagne eyes of a wolf he had once called brethren through pack met his own, he shed all questions to whether it was indeed his old companion or not.
The other recognized him, standing swiftly and offering a greeting that stirred a smile of his own - such a rare thing for the beast. "That way," he nodded his muzzle in the direction of Swiftcurrent Creek, wondering if Viinturuth had actually expected a true answer. "What of you? Have you heard any word from Chakra?" There was a strange inkling that tugged at him as her name rolled off his tongue -- he had crushed on her what seemed so long ago, and what he had with Bazi was intensely real in comparison. Her name was almost like taboo, now.
He and Scimitar were alike in so many ways. They'd been competitive when it came to rank, as they had been pretty much neck-and-neck throughout Chakra's reign when it came to being at the top of the subordinate hierarchy. When first they met the pair had barely breathe a weird to one another, and has instantly developed a strong bond through their shared desire to defend Neverwinter territory. Scimitar was like the brother he'd always wished Sahrotaar could have been, even if they could have potentially butted heads over their place in the pack. Not to mention the attention of a certain snow Queen...
"Here and there." He made to close the distance between them, and offered a friendly sweep of his heavy tail. His smile dipped somewhat at the mention of their former leader and he slackened noticeably. "I'd hoped you might have," Viin rumbled his disappointment, despite knowing that the chance Chakra had regrouped her pack was a miniscule one. She'd been the first of its most established wolves to disappear, after all; surely that should have been enough evidence that she did not want to be pursued. Maybe she realised that leadership was not her calling. Regardless, he couldn't deny that he was sore over it. "Are there any others from Neverwinter?"
Viinturuth moved to close the distance between them, and Scimitar relaxed noticeably – there was no dominance displayed amongst friends. His eyes studied the swarthy male, noting that he looked well. It hadn’t even been a year ago that they had seen each other, and yet it felt like forever.
His words caused the male’s shoulders to slack visibly, and he took that as a sure sign that the beautiful queen of the Forest was long gone. His allegiance laid elsewhere now, but that did not stop the Forest from calling to him.. spare for Dal Riata, it had been the only place he had ever truly felt at home. “No others, no,” he offered, releasing a small sigh.
“I followed Chakra’s scent for a bit when she left – there was blood and parts of white fur.. but I couldn’t find her. I don’t..” He paused, furrowing his brows slightly as he recalled the scene. Bits of fur and blood had been the only remnants of her he could find – death did not seem likely in that case, but he did not overrule it. “I don’t think she just abandoned the forest.” The news was harsh, but the darker male had a right to know. It had certainly felt like abandonment, and without death.. it was in a way. But something had happened to her, and he had not been able to stop it. None of them had.
His heart lurched within his chest to learn that there were no other wolves of Neverwinter left in the Wilds, and Viinturuth frowned deeply. He'd not been particularly close to any of the others and hadn't built with them any solid bonds like the one he had with Scimitar, but it pained him all the same to know that those he'd once considered brothers were no longer around to even entertain the possibility of re-establishing their pack.
That was not all that the agouti brute had to say, however, and what came next caused his his brows to lift. Viin's ears pressed forward and he gawked at Scimitar for a few long, silent moments as he tried to get his head around the possibility that their former leader had been snatched beneath their noses. How could that have gone amiss? How did no one notice, until it was too late? Mentally kicking himself, Viinturuth's guilt gripped him tightly, and he felt great remorse over his prior suspicion that Chakra had abandoned them.
"I would never have thought her capable of capture," he murmured, looking down. Chakra Feralheart had been a fierce, powerful wolfess. She would not have gone willingly, nor without a fight. But had she been slaughtered, and dragged off? There were many possibilities, and Viinturuth was angry that he did not investigate in the same way that Scimitar had. Instead, he'd simply jumped to conclusions. "I am sorry, that I did not pursue her alongside you. Perhaps things might have been different." Perhaps not. He did not know, but it was too late now.
Viinturuth took the news of their previous leader as well as any could – Chakra had certainly held a regal air about her, and she had fetched a few glimpses from the local males of her pack. Scimitar held no doubt that Viinturuth had seen her in the same light as he had – and perhaps, had things been different, the two would have come to blows for her.
Instead, they were able to maintain their comradery, and the agouti male gave a small nod to his companion in turn. “It’s hard to say,” he rumbled gently, almost thoughtfully. Had Chakra not gone, he likely would have remained in the forest to this day – he wouldn’t have been reunited with his sister, nor would he have been captivated by Bazi. Life, it would seem, had a strange way of shifting.
“Come,” he motioned forward, his figure shifting in a gentle stretch. “Let’s hunt as we used to.” Viinturuth would not stay with him, despite his attempt to coax him to the Creek ranks.. but they could at least enjoy companionship for a stolen moment as they once did when pack mates in a previous lifetime.