she had forgotten much of mahler's german, but some words still came to her here and there.
mutter. vater.
bartholomew was a father. bartholomew had been married. and now he was here, alone, and heda was left to feel that she was back to square one when it came to what she knew about her mentor.
today a misty rain washed the island, and heda patrolled, searching for tern nests.
He had long since grown used to being cast adrift. It was his chosen path, these days. Those who had worked so hard to build Atautsikut had turned their backs on it. And now, so did he. The Duskfire turned east, pulled back in the direction of his roots. But he was not ready to re-visit the Glacier yet.
It was with a cruel realization, that as he traveled without companionship, just how truly alone he really was. Both of his parents, dead. His sister disowned. His brother a thought in the shadows. Even his cousins, lost to the wilderness to pursue lives of their own.
Ensio was the sole remaining wolf of his parents lineage. Of Duskfire Glacier's legacy.
It made him bitter. Lost.
He found himself in a strange place, where the land met a vast stretch of water, as far as the eye could see. The air smelled different here. Even the earth did too, slipping easily between his toes. When he bent down for a drink, he immediately spat out the brackish salt water, sneezing to clear out his nose. A strip of land tempted him towards a distant island. But he was hardly in a hurry, too captivated in his curiosity by the assortment of shells gleaming beneath his feet, or the colorful fish darting just out of reach in the water. It was a whole new realm for the Northern born and he was transfixed.
she found one and devoured the eggs. another, the contents also eaten. on the third nest, the parents rose and caught at her ears with their claws.
heda snarled; she snapped. she fended them away and when their lashing feathers lifted, she saw she was not alone. there was a shadow upon the island, but as she looked closer, she saw also she knew this one.
the girl padded down toward him, gaze slightly uncertain. the last time they had met she had been angry. and he seemed the same now. "ensio?"
skippable for now, will probably approach in a few rounds if they don't approach first!
heda.
a stranger.
he was not a guardian, by any means. still he was the spearhead of this island, a religious father, a shepherd. he could be a guardian if needed.
but for now he watched and waited.
The harsh glare of the anger in his eyes all but faded when a familiar voice called out to him. Carried on the salty breeze, the scent of sand and saltwater mixed with her own. When he raised his massive skull, his glacial eyes were filled not with their common disdain. Now they were filled with sorrow. With hurt and betrayal. His ears splayed pathetically to the sides.
"Heda..." He rasped, his voice rough from the lack of use. He approached her slowly. There was no trace of Atautsikut or anyone on his fur. "I...had to go back one last time...to do the right thing..." He lowered his head, catching a glimpse of the island his mother once called home. "But what I found..." His voice choked.
"what? what did you find, ensio?" heda came closer, face now truly pinched with worry. "i went there, last month. i called. they never came." but they had existed! they had been there.
she nosed his shoulder, ears pinning back in concern as the gold of her eyes searched the ice-blue of his own. he smelled of nothing but wild places and wild things. how long had he been away from atautsikut? how long had he wandered?
"Only one woman came to greet me. Calida."He swallowed thickly. His emotions were running high. The anger he felt, he could not bring to the surface. He was almost tired of feeling the same way all the time.
"Lane...Issorartuyok...Tuuluuwaq... Their scents were all long gone. Only Antha, her children and two others remained." His eyes stung, the whites turning red with the threat of tears. "Calida said someone in Lane's family was ill..." Here he could not hold back a grimace. "...But the Tatkret's...Issorartuyok...they abandoned everything. Atautsikut....the children..."
He hung his head low between powerful shoulders, deflated. "I...I was right about them all along..."He exhaled.
but — issorartuyok had seemed so devoted! and tuuluuwaq, well, she had not known him so much. but lane! abandonment? "what is with people and just — fucking leaving their kids?" she hissed, for now her wound had been torn upon, asunder; now she struggled with ensio's pain.
duskfire had once been a home. now he had nowhere left to go, and another father had walked away.
heda swallowed hard. "hey. hey. what are — where are you gonna go now? i uh, i stay here. i've been staying here. there are others but — maybe at least just ... rest. a night or two."
"I don't know." He grumbled. Heda now mirroring, experiencing his tidal wave of emotions. She shouldn't have to. She had been through trials of her own. "But I am tired of it. I am the last Duskfire. I won't be associated with something from the likes those wolves."
"I have no idea, really. I can't bring myself to leave the Teekons." Looking at his childhood friend, he realized that while her time with Duskfire Glacier had been brief, that she was last true tie to it.
"I will stay and rest a while." He looked around with more open eyes. Taking in the newness of it all. "This place...is a curiosity to me. Would you tell me of it...of these others?"
the words did not reach his ears.
but the scene was tense. not with one another, no growls or snaps given in exchanged. bartholomew found himself at a loss of what to make of it all.
finally he approached, on long lean limbs and with the composure of a welcoming neighbor.
ensio suffered. bartholomew approached. heda bumped him again. "he's coming. uh, bartholomew. he can tell you — everything about us." her voice was a bit rushed, and when she glanced toward the shaggy, oncoming man.
"this is ensio." her voice was steadier than she had expected. "i lived with him since — before atautsikut. he's — been through a lot. i was just offering the island for him to rest a while."
was that what god would have wanted? heda glanced toward her mentor.
Heda's soft nudge forced him out of his daze. Registering her voice, he looked up to see the approaching figure. A coat of dark chocolate over a lanky figure. Drooping ears and a thin muzzle. The two of them couldn't have been more different. Ensio was tough and stocky. Carved from ice, snow and granite.
He quite frankly, looked quite out of place on the stretch of sand connecting to the island. He scooted back, finding something humbling about the air of this man. He wanted to trust, so badly. Yet his guard was up. His ears remained splayed, his notched one flicking absently. "Heda is a dear childhood friend of mine, Bartholomew. Um, sir." He corrected himself, just in case he had not been formal enough. "I was surprised to find her here...and the island...I am deeply curious. I know only of the north...of mountains and ice." His voice cracked at the end. It was not hard to see that he was a boy who had lost far, far too much.
he saw heda in the young man.
old, heda. the young hunter who had come to him with a silver tongue and a slowness to share. their relation endeared him further — and it would be nice to seen a young man on the island.
please. just bartholomew.
he laughed, warm like the sea's summer air. the island is open to all, but a friend of heda's is welcomed twice more.
the corner of his eyes crinkled with his smile.
how good it was to see heda follow in his footsteps, to open their doors to those in need. even better to see kind faces return to her.
come and rest, ensio. stay as long as you wish. you should tell me stories of these mountains and ice.
before she hadn't wanted ensio to follow her to the coast.
and now heda realized it was because she'd been afraid she would cling to him, would cling to what they were as the last vestige of the home she had begun to find in the glacier.
heda wondered if she and ensio would have stayed taiga-wolves if duskfire had never moved. it was something to muse over another day.
she smiled encouragingly at her friend and would keep pace at his side, pointing out various things and eventually leading him to the highest point upon the greenhills, long, wind-lashed grass and the open face of god looking down on the island.
@Ensio is inactive so I'm going to wrap this, but he's welcomed here whenever you have time, Mai <3
he would make sure the boy had everything he needed, a place to rest and a meal to eat.
he would stay as long (or short) as the friends wished for him to stay. ensio did not seem a young man of troubling kind, he trusted for his eyes to be elsewhere while the two caught up.
when he did part, it would be with a warm look to heda and the knowledge that she had grown well here.