There was tension in the creek. Arric had no idea what it was and he wanted it to stop. Akavir was keeping shit from him and it bugged him. He was beta he was supposed to know if something was amiss, right. Instead his friend ignored him. 

Ah but maybe they weren't friends. Maybe Arric had read their ease wrong it was possible. He was usually a good read of others, but maybe he'd lost that tiny edge as he had become pack wolf.

He snorted and looked around. Checked on the pups and then headed towards the borders. Maybe it was a time for a change. He could probably go to one of the other packs. He chuckled to himself maybe switch with one of the alllied wolves for an internship or something.

He hiked his leg and began to mark. Blue eyes watching the same land he watched everyday, thinking, turning the thoughts over in his head like precious gems or shards of glass. He took a deep breath of the morning air and soldiered on. Perhap it wasn't his business and he had a job to do anyway. It was time to just do that. 

He'd been that cold once before he could do it again. The thought made him a little ill. But he'd done a lot for everyone and maybe he didn't deserve it, but he felt like a little considerstion of his staus and the job he'd done was due. But then again he should be used to it. He presented like he was fine 99.5 percent of the time. He didn't argue, didn't fuss. Took care of everyone when he could.

A shake of black furred head. A gentle reprimand to himself. stop being a mopey max fucker, you can do it.

Then he continied on his way. Long limbs and big body curving through the creek.

A sense of general unease clung to him—Wren’s confession and Silvertongue’s avoidance at the forefront of his mind… not to mention a very distant Moss.

Had he known Arric was considering leaving, it would have been the cherry on top, surely.

The dark wolf found the man marking the borders. Aside from how he and Wren’s conversation had ended, the beginning had brought about one thing for him—and uttering a low bark, he began to close the distance between them, eyes studying the man, wondering if he was feeling at least a little bit better since his birthday.

“Hey,” he offered, gaze drifting to the borders, a tension in his shoulders as he tried to roll them back and relax. “How are you?”

A stiffening of his shoulders as Akavir came up on him. So lost in his own thoughts he'd forgotten to be observant of his back side. But then again why should he. Who'd attack his back in his home. Well perhaps it was best not to think to fully on that one. Someone might.

Arric turned and studied his friend and for a moment he was angry or hurt or irritated honestly he couldn't tell. But then he saw the general unease that Akavir held. The tightness in his shoulders and the way he couldn't quite roll them out. He frowned. 

Look's like i might be better than you fuck face. What has you all keyed up?

Arric—as always—brushed off his own well-being to check in on his pack mates. A wry smile was offered, and for a moment, Akavir considered settling himself down for the talk before them… but thought better of it—he needed to keep moving.

So with a sweep of his muzzle in invitation to continue the direction his friend had been going prior, he began to assist Arric in the border marking. The creek had grown to a comfortable amount of wolves—but they could always use more within their ranks.

“You might have been right about Wren and Eshe,” he told his friend, nose to the dirt before he lifted a paw, scratching at the surface of where an old scent clung to. Nothing threatening. “But… what I think we really should talk about is something Wren and I found out about on our trip to Akashingo. It’s not pretty. But it’s not really our story to tell, either… but… I think you need to know, regardless.”

The big black beast had been fully intending to talk to Akavir about his own current unease and the intrusive thoughts, but when he had seen the careworn way Akavir held himself. He couldn't bring himself to be that guy. So he had shoved and pressed them further down. He'd meditate later, maybe make it go away.

Arric smirked. Told you so. He shook his head. At least he wasn't losing too much of his observant nature. That was good. He was concerned about it.

Arric tilted an ear towards his friend and gave a shift of his body. His stomach tightening in knots. Is your daughter alright?

He was immediately concerned for the girl he'd never met. What if something had happened to her and that was why Akavir had been so strange and here he'd be a right bastard about it. Moping to himself and being a general wet blanket. What kind of ass was he. Cheezus.

“She’s still missing,” he informed the Beta, a shrug of his shoulders holding the note of weariness he felt in his heart on that tidbit of information. Lilitu was still a priority to him—how could she not be? But he was comforted with the knowledge she was not within the realm of Akashingo, and for now, he would need to pause his search for her.

“But that’s… not what I’m going to tell you. It’s about Silvertongue.” He paused, giving a gentle nod of his muzzle to the man before him, indicating maybe he would want to sit down for this, just as he settled to his haunches as well.

“The man who led us… Germanicus? He told us his history with this Akashingo—and Arric, the place itself is… Corrupt. I don’t know how else to explain it. They live lavishly… within walls of this large mesa, and rooms for who they deem… important? They have slaves to ‘tend’ to their ‘royals,’ and their visitors. Marriages for convenience, to use other packs as political pawns…” His jaw was tense, but there was a spark in his eyes as he continued speaking. “But that’s the thing, Arric… this Germanicus guy… He… traded Silvertongue to this pack once before. He gave her to them as a slave. A pawn in his previous pack politics.”

Arric took his words and chewed on them. A dangerous silence settled on his shoulders. There was a buzzing in his ears and he was torn between flipping out on germanicus and also grumbling that it wasn't his story to tell. He should have sought to get permission to speak such a private thing. Even if he had a part in it.

Arric opened his mouth and then closed it again a furrow in his brow. He looked down.

Well thats fucked up. it was all he could think to say.

He warred between disgust and despair and sadness and weariness.

“Lilitu isn’t there. I don’t know where she is… but they haven’t seen her in a long time.” Allegedly.

Still, he was grateful for that. His eyes skimmed the features of his friend, noting the way Arric seemed to war with himself on what he wished to say—or what to feel. He knew that feeling well—a gut punch, to know something existed so close to home. To someone they cared about.

“Germanicus isn’t to set foot in creek lands,” he said then, waiting to see if his Beta would agree on the matter or not.

A bone weary sigh rattled his chest. What the hell was going on lately. But he nodded Germanicus wouldn't come in pack lands.

Though honestly he wasn't sure if he even knew what the guy looked like. He'd hunted with him once. But he could do this after all. As second in command he was to defer to Akavir. And in this aspect he would.

Alright. But we're gonna have to talk to our allies. He has ties to both.