Wolf RPG

As soon as she stirred this morning, Meerkat began gently bathing @Njord’s face in kisses. They hadn’t left one another’s sight since his return, yet she could not get enough of her husband. Waking up beside him again felt like a miracle, one she would never dare take for granted. Her tongue pressed gently into the new knots and scars on the right side of his face, getting reacquainted.

The pair retreated to a small, private glen in the Wildwood near the den where their children slumbered. Though Njord wished for nothing more than all five of them to be reuinted together, there was an innate understanding that there was much to mend between wife and husband foremost.

The physical and emotional journey back to Meerkat had exhausted Njord who, for the first time in a long time, slept deeply at her side in a makeshift bed of dried ferns – wrapped together like two chipmunks in a nest to escape the autumn chill.

The seafarer awoke second to Meerkat’s gentle affections. He rolled towards her, wrapping his lean arms around her shoulders to shift her atop his chest, and began to groom her ruff with small nibbles and licks, humming contendedly all the while. Midway, his head fell back to regard her – her crown rim lit from the dawn peeking behind the trees.

“I missed you,” he breathed – a simple expression for an infinitely complex feeling. A knot he wasn’t sure how to untangle.

When he roused and began his own ministrations, Meerkat wanted to weep. She had missed this man so much. And he had been gone just long enough that she had begun to come to terms with it. Without even realizing it, she had come to accept Njord’s absence as permanent.

So to have him here, every inch of their bodies pressed close, was nothing short of a miracle. Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes and dripped down her cheeks, which ached from how often she smiled, and how broadly.

Once or twice since his return, she had legitimately worried that she was dreaming, that none of this was real. But the marked differences in her husband’s face grounded her. Meerkat touched her nose to those new planes tentatively. It made her chest ache, though that came with a silver lining: this definitely wasn’t any dream.

She didn’t know how he’d come by these yet. They’d been too busy basking in their reunion. And Meerkat’s love was not conditional on the details of Njord’s story, even if it hadn’t been etched so visibly into his flesh. No matter what had happened, what monstrous entity had held him back from his family for so long, she was just happy he was back where he belonged.

But she was curious, of course, and surely Njord deserved a chance to explain. If you want to talk about it, she murmured, eyes shut against the glare of the rising sun, I’m ready to hear the story…

Rest had granted Njord new energy and his bright blue eyes traced Meerkat’s face, refreshed. He watched as her peaceful expression shifted. Then there were tears. Like a new river, drops pooled until they overflowed into a thin stream on buff-colored cheeks. Njord reached his wrist out and brushed them away as he watched his beautiful wife cry, soaking in the present moment and smiling together…praising the powers that be who had allowed them to reunite.

The gentle ministrations to his scars telegraphed what was to come next. It was if they were of one mind, and Njord knew he must step into the space Meerkat made for him.

“Al’right,” Njord agreed as his paw fell to the small of her back, ready and eager to share his heart with his other half.

“It was supposed ta be a quick journey ta Meares Island and back… ta share the good news of our children’s birth with my father an’ tha clan.” Njord’s tongue whetted his lips, sorting the events in his mind. “Meares Island isna like tha mainland packs… families of wolves stay distinct an’ are lorded over by the Laird of tha Isle, my Grandsire, who communes with tha sea,” he explained. “It’s a way of life goin’ back many generations… but shortly after my arrival there was a coup d’etat.”

Njord’s gaze fell as he recounted the violence that took place next. “Two families ‘ad been waitin’ for a moment, a distraction, for the right time ta strike… an’ my arrival gave ‘em that window.” The corners of his mouth pulled into a tight frown. “They jumped us in tha night, an’ we fought at first… but we were scattered… couldna coordinate. My family, strong as we were, retreated insland and tried ta bide our time, but we were found. M’father, Valtyr… was killed as we fought.” Njord’s visage became visibly contorted as shame and pain overwhelmed him, grief fresh in his mind. He gulped for a breath of air -- a momentary pause in his story as he fought to set his jaw.

She nodded quietly when he recited the original reason for leaving. In hindsight, Meerkat couldn’t believe she’d agreed to let him go, especially all by himself. Even before his absence had drawn out much longer than expected—and she’d accepted she might never seen him again—she’d really struggled much more than she had ever anticipated.

It should’ve made her cautious, yet it just made Meerkat cling all the tighter to Njord as his voice rumbled quietly in the morning air, telling a dire tale. Had Njord even enjoyed a single day’s reunion with his family before it had all gone to hell, she wondered? She didn’t interrupt to ask, listening solemnly. She didn’t even know if she could speak, her heart lodged tightly in her throat as she realized how close she really had come to losing her husband for good.

His father had lost his life in the battle, news which prompted Meerkat to sip in a breath and sling her foreleg around his newly slender waistline and squeeze him. She didn’t know what to say, even if she could speak. She couldn’t fathom losing a parent in such violent circumstances. Towhee would probably be honored to die in battle, yet the thought still sent a shudder through her.

When it seemed he was through speaking for the moment, Meerkat just hugged Njord for a little while. She peppered his face with featherlight kisses on either side, still marveling that he was really here. He might not be in one piece, exactly, but he was alive and well enough. If Njord had died defending his family, she might have never learned the truth of his fate, a possibility which sent another shiver through her.

And what happened, she said quietly after some time, after that?

What had become of his other family members? And what fate had befallen Meares Island, in the end? Was it still standing? Was it the same? Or was it, like Njord, forever marred by the events of that night?

Njord managed to keep his constituion together even as Meerkat held him sympathetically. He went on to explain how they coralled the Cortens like a herd of deer, but were split on what to actually do with the freshly usurped. Exile them? Simply demote them? Kill them? Like a dog chasing a car, Njord felt they were surprised they had actually succeded in their attempt to begin with. “Tha whole Isle was thrown inta chaos,” Njord observed, “an’ there I was, seethin’ somethin’ furious in tha middle of it.”

News of the ordeal eventually spread the other families. Some were sympathetic or loyal to their Laird and his family, and would not play a passive role in their imprisonment. It was only a matter of time before support for the other side dwindled to nothing. “The new Laird couldna keep the peace long,” Njord explained. “Me cousins an’ I knew an oppertunity to fight back would come.” And come it did.

Njord spared no detail as he painted the picture of the Cortens taking back their island with a ferocity of a hurricane. The brawling, howling, blood-spilling… “It felt as though Rosencrantz, Kaertok, an’ Kigipigak were at my side,” Njord said, proud at first. “But then a lad sunk ‘is fangs into my face. All I could think of was my father… lyin’ still next ta me.” His brows knit as his expression darkened, conflicted. “So I killed ‘im.” He winced - the memory of a red hot flash of pain and anger.

His gaze fell once more, ashamed, and he shook his head like an etch-a-sketch as if to rid himself of the bad memory. From there, the story fizzeled. The Cortens were able to take their place back, the usurpers were cast into the sea, and the Isle took time to heal and bury the dead. “I dinna remember much after,” Njord said to explain the biased narrative – perhaps, too ‘in his head’ at the time to take in much else.

His recollection had all the trappings of a folktale, a grim one. When Njord mentioned fighting alongside old comrades, her father included, Meerkat tipped her head to gaze up at him. She hadn’t thought of Kaertok in quite some time. She supposed they’d both lost their fathers now, though she had barely known hers and the loss paled in comparison to her husband’s.

She felt a pang for the young wolf who’d lost his life at Njord’s teeth, though only fleetingly. Her face twisted and she looked down at her paws. This faceless lad had torn apart her husband’s face and been party to his father’s murder. Meerkat wouldn’t waste any pity on him. One of her paws clenched into a fist as she thought about the toll such violence must have taken on Njord, who was as softhearted as he was valiant.

The story had a happy ending of sorts. Meerkat let out a sigh, unclenching her paw and putting it over one of Njord’s. She tilted her head again, pushing it gently underneath his chin. She held herself there against his chest for another spell, calmed by the feeling of his lungs expanding beneath her cheek. Meerkat tried to sync her breaths with his.

Leaning back, she remembered to say, I’m so sorry about your da…

And that made her think of their own children. It went without saying that Njord had missed a lot as far as they went. Meerkat chewed at her lip, wondering if her husband felt rested enough to have a proper conversation with their trio just yet. She wondered, too, how exactly the boys and Mercy would react to their father’s return after being gone so long.

His wife slipped into a comforting pose: a paw upon Njord’s and her crown against the crook of his neck. Like a seahorse, his head bowed against her’s and pulled it a little closer – as one did when holding something precious. The seafarer was quiet a long moment… a small hitch in his throat as he swallowed.

“I thank ye, my love. He was a good man… but I’ll spend forever wonderin’ why I was at such odds with him when I was a young man.” Regret would take its place in his heart for a long time. “I wish ye had gotten’ tha chance ta meet.”

Njord un-hooked himself to look at Meerket. “But even though he was my blood… family, even… you an’ the children are, and will always be, my home. When I had fangs in me… I felt… I coulda…” died, he wanted to say. Njord’s lips pressed together, not wanting to even humor the thought.

“Even after all these years away, m’roots still drunk from the waters of Meares Island. It shouldna been that way, an’ I should’ve left at the first sign of a storm brewin’. I’m sorry, Meerkat,” he apologized with sincerity. Being a husband and a parent meant putting your wife and children first, no matter the circumstance or cost. It was a responsibility and vow he had failed to uphold.

He began to voice the dire thought that had whispered through her mind moments prior. Meerkat shook her head lightly, knocking the top of her skull gently against his chin. It didn’t bear dwelling on such things.

Raising a paw to put it on his chest, right over his heartbeat, she leaned back so they could look into one another’s eyes. A frown flitted across her face, wondering why either one of them had thought this trip was a good idea. They couldn’t have known what would befall him, yet the risks had always been there…

She pushed those thoughts away and leaned in to place a kiss right on the tip of his snout, murmuring, It’s already forgiven, as far as I’m concerned. Even after all her own strife, those words were nearly as easy to say as “I love you.” But I think your sons and daughter will need to hear it too.

Because she could only speak for herself. Drawing a little further back, Meerkat caught her husband’s eye again and couldn’t help but think of his first litter. Sobo had never really forgiven his da for that first disappearance, had he? How would Njord fare with his younger children? There was only one way to find out, and Meerkat had been selfish long enough. It was time to stop keeping Njord all to herself.

She tipped her muzzle toward the morning sky and summoned @Stingray, @Swordfish and @Mercy.

Upon recieving Meerkat’s kiss a large sigh deflated Njord’s chest, as if a heavy burden spirted away. He was thankful for Meerkat’s sincere forgivness. Now, the rest was up to him to start showing up and step back into the role others expected of him.

The children… would they forgive so easily? As Meerkat howled, Njord’s own voice joined hers, his heart open to whatever waited for him.

Now only a few moments remained before their little bubble burst and Njord would face the hopefully happy but quite possibly rocky transition back into all their lives. While they waited for their children to arrive, Meerkat made sure to make the most of it and express her support via more kisses feathered along his face. Her head eventually found a resting place on his shoulder blade, where it would remain throughout the family’s reunion.