The white wolf did not move as swiftly as he ought to, for there was no desperation in him to make an immediate return to Swiftcurrent. He has chosen to go alone despite his brother's suggestion that he have a pack-mate accompany him; with their numbers waning and the ongoing tension with neighbours, it didn't feel right to leave the Creek more vulnerable than it had to be.
His hip joints began to ache on his descent from the Sunspire range, reminding him that he wasn't getting any younger. Viinturuth, approaching his sixth Winter, had ranged far and wide throughout his entire adult life. It made sense to settle and he was content among his brother's pack - but there was something
missing. All he had, truly, was Akavir. In the Springtime perhaps he would be an uncle again, a more committed one, yet more often he wondered if that title could be enough for him.
Fatherhood was something he'd long avoided. Viinturuth had deemed himself unfit for such a role, and he'd never cared enough for any one she-wolf to root himself. The years were catching up with him, however, and he was afraid that he might be missing out on something.
The day's light was waning by the time Viinturuth neared Brecheliant's claim, and he chose to find a safe place to rest fir the night. It'd be better to seek audience at dawn, he felt, after a decent sleep and with a clear mind. He roamed the Bramblepoint in search of a quiet place, eager to close his eyes for a time.
!!!
slowly she had stopped eating, and beneath the deep pile of her winter coat, the raven became hard angles.
she had returned from the sea in thoughtful silence, expecting to feel somehow better, and for a time teya had maintained herself.
but as the days grew cooler and morning ice sparkled upon weighted branches, she began to slip once more.
the lands around brecheliant offered a respite of sorts, and here she found herself hunting birds, for no other reason save she felt she must return to the caldera with something for her efforts.
but the dove's body fell from her mouth when she saw white blossoming ahead, into fur, into a shape; she could take no more ghosts, no more of sundance's return; thrumming in the beginning of a panic attack, teya veered away and started to stumble in the opposite direction.
It was the soft thud of something falling to ground that drew Viinturuth's ears up. He blinked in the direction on the sound and stopped, burgundy gaze quick to locate the thinning frame of a stranger who stared his way. He watched her calmly, uncertain. There was a wildness to her wide, clearwater eyes; he chuffed softly in greeting.
He had spooked her, perhaps, and the way in which she'd looked at him - as though he were a ghost - unnerved him. Viinturuth followed her stumbling movements in the opposite direction with quiet concern in his eyes and, torn, he hesitated for a moment before he loped after her.
Wait,
he called into the evening.
step heavy, head down, teya plodded like a determined elk from that woodland. but footfalls behind her signalled that the stranger followed. she took solace in the solidity of their sound — it meant he was alive — and halted her step.
but teya could not bring herself to turn and look at him, in case she was wrong and she would see his face contort, hear the scream of a ghoul and see his frame fragment into nothing; her sides began to heave swiftly with racing breaths and when her chest tightened, teya sat down heavily in the fallen leaves, the bony curve of her back exposed.
The startled stranger did not make it far before she stopped short. Viinturuth paused behind her, several yards away, and he hovered with the weight of his own uncertainty. How unpredictable was she? The last thing he needed was to face her fangs, to be inflicted by injury so far from home.
He lifted his muzzle. He did not want to leave her alone.
Tentative, the white rogue dared a single step. Breathe in deep,
he attempted to instruct, drawing air into his own lungs through flared nostrils until they were filled, then out slowly.
He demonstrated, but did not attempt to further close the distance.
Again.
for a white-hot instant, teya hated the man who had followed her and was now speaking. but her mind, desperate for whatever passed as structure, security, grasped onto the pillars of his voice.
very slowly did her breaths subside into normalcy, teya drinking air as though she had never tasted it before. but the tears arrived next, shocked ones that would not have been so bitter for shock alone, but it was not only surprise which drove them. loss raised its head for the opportunity as well.
teya was so tired of crying, and crying aloud in front of others.
when she had wiped her face and found some inner stability, the raven swallowed, moving gingerly to face the man. he appeared quite flesh-and-blood, though a whisper told her you cannot be sure. teya wanted to run. instead she whispered, "thank you" in a voice made small with weariness.
She complied, and he carried on demonstrating a rhythm of deep breaths that the stranger could follow. Viinturuth watched as she regained control, burgundy eyes fixed to the tremor of her flanks as the panic subsided. He hung back, patient and concerned, rooted by curiosity.
What had startled her? They were not far from where Akavir had asked him to scout, and he wondered if this she-wolf belonged to that pack, though now was not the time for interrogation. Pale ears pricked as the stranger shifted her weight and turned to look upon him.
He met her with kindness, offering a single sweep of his tail at her whispered gratitude. Viinturuth could see the dampness surround her eyes, though he did not stare. Are you alright?
he was tall with worried eyes. she felt dumpy and salt-stained, surely having given him the impression of complete insanity. "i will be," teya said in a hushed voice, gathering herself to her paws as she truly shifted to face him now.
she did not approach, but kept her demeanour vaguely friendly. it was the least he deserved after all — that.
"i teya, from brecheliant." and then what else was there to say? her gaze fell away from him, still chagrined for her emotions.
She offered him vague assurance, and he had no more to say on the matter. It was not in his nature to pry into the business of strangers, though he wasn't cruel - he'd never turn tail on someone who needed support. Viinturuth watched her quietly, managing a thin smile as she moved to better face him and offered her name as well as the confirmation that she was a wolf if Brecheliant.
Teya,
he said gently, I am Viinturuth, from Swiftcurrent Creek.
The ghost paused to allow a few moments for his newest acquaintance to digest that information, and carried on: its Alpha, Akavir, is my brother. Do you know him?
akavir.
another blow. another disappointment. another man who had hurt her, albeit indirectly.
her jawline tightened. "i know akavir." they looked nothing alike, these two, for if she had seen any of the dark features and golden eyes, she might not have received him so well.
akavir; she had not thought of him in years, and now ibis came breaking upward, upward, as if the pain had never eased, as if teya had never felt herself thrown aside for some man who had not even fathered the children born to the woman in the fen;
the snow, the way they had sought one another, again and again until ibis had chosen akavir once and for all. until she died, and all teya had left was a gravestone and the emptiest parts of her heart.
"what happened?"
He saw the change in her expression, the way she hardened at the mention of his brother's name. That interested him. Akavir had not shared much of his personal relationship with the Brecheliant wolves, only that they have been in some way responsible for Lilitu's arrangements with another pack. Viinturuth intended to go to their borders only for information on the girl, not to dig deeper into Akavir's history with them.
I seek his daughter, Lilitu,
he carried on, my niece. Do you know where I can find her?
"i not see lilitu in over a year. last we talk, she say she unhappy in akashingo. tried to have baby for alliance. did not work. she come home after that for short while. one day she gone. went to look for sister, i think."
was akavir looking for her now? after all this? she detested him for no reason save that ibis had shut off her heart the moment he had come back.
Oh, Lilitu. That sweet, innocent thing. Viinturuth remembered the Summer days in which he'd found joy minding she and her sister, content enough in the vale to watch them grow until the fierceness of feeling for their mother encouraged him away into the wilds once more. Ibis had enraptured him from the start, in ways no other ever had or ever could.
There had never been anything intimate between he and Ibis, but his fondness for her had felt like betrayal to Akavir. It was a dark secret he would carry with him for as long as he lived, a heartache to endure alone.
A year had passed since his niece had last spent time among the Brecheliant wolves, and he frowned deeply in contemplation. She was an adult now, free to do as she pleased - as he had for many years. He hoped she'd found happiness, wherever she was.
Can you tell me where I might find Akashingo?
"go east half a day." teya truly had no idea what their much larger ally was doing, entertaining, or indulging; brecheliant was rather insular and she had come to prefer that. feeling as though her debt of friendliness had come to an end, she glanced in the direction of the caldera with shadow-soaked eyes and thought she must soon return.
instead, she brought her gaze sharply back to the pale man. "i loved ibis. and she always love him. remind him when you go back to creek."
Teya's instruction was a simple one: go East, a half day's travel. The pallid rogue dipped his muzzle then, feeling as though he'd gained all there was to be said from the scrawny Brecheliant she-wolf. Lilitu was not longer among their ranks, having apparently dispersed in search of her sister, but he was keen to learn more of Akashingo - curious to know what'd made her so unhappy there.
He parted his jaws to thank Teya for her time, though she seemed to have something else on the tip of her tongue. Viinturuth blinked at the boldness of her statement, his tongue snaking over a fang as she requested that he remind his brother of such affection.
I loved her too, the ranger thought fiercely, though knew better than to give voice to his heart. Viinturuth had no desire to press Teya for elaboration. Ibis was long gone, dead and buried.
Thank you for your time, Teya,
he concluded, truly grateful that she'd answered his questions. Would you like me to escort you home?
Viinturuth was sure the answer would be a firm "no", but he had not forgotten her initial panic.
we can continue or u can fade this! <3
she wanted to say no, grappled with it. but in the end teya surprised herself with a nod.
"brecheliant small. all related mostly. what is creek like?" she inquired, her voice steadying as she settled into the diplomacy commanded by her rank as a raven.
and what a poor showing of leadership she had conducted indeed. her eyes found the ground beneath them as they walked.
Surprisingly, Teya did not refuse his offering. Instead she gave a dip of her muzzle in silent acceptance, then moved to begin their wander toward the place where she made her home. Viinturuth padded forward to join her, trailing along quietly at her russet flank and content to trail quietly until she piped up to initiate conversation.
Much the same,
he answered, though less related now. Akavir's brood from this year had all flown the nest, it appeared, and Viinturuth had mixed feelings on the matter. Families could be complicated; he'd been a tender age when he'd moved on from his own, exhausted by the strain between his parents. Small but strong.
Akavir would add to their numbers come the Springtime, he assumed - with Eshe. And it left a sour taste in his mouth to think of that.
small but strong.
she almost told him about her dead husbands. she almost laughed aloud, crazed, at the idea of saying this to the creek man.
"are you married?" it was related. invasive. teya wanted to talk about marriage; needed it; she needed to know someone else was as much a failure at it.
leaves cascaded down around them; vermillion, ochre, sunglow. her eyes felt heavy and ageless.
The next question that came was unrelated, unexpected. Viinturuth felt a muscle in his jaw give a subtle twitch; to anyone else there would surely be a simple retort, but from him came beat of contemplative silence. He knew what to say - no - but found that he didn't want to give voice to his status. It was a deeply personal topic for the pale Frostfur-Mayfair, though after a long pause he released the gritting of sheathed fangs to speak it: No.
He lowered his burgundy gaze to the leaf-littered earth earth then, and thought solemnly of the long years through which he'd failed to settle.
she followed his gaze to the earth.
maybe she needed to feel something.
maybe she needed to throw some of her angst onto the ground between them;
"good," shocking even herself. "husband died." her face crumpled. "second one, can you believe," and then she was jerking away from the man and quickening her pace toward brecheliant, a sob held firmly between her teeth.
The word "good" from her maw was most unexpected, for Viinturuth most often was subject to a different sort of judgement on the matter. It certainly seemed more socially acceptable to have paired off with someone, to have multiple litters in his years, yet he'd never been able to tether his soul to another's. The pale wolf eased his stride, pausing with the skinny wolfess barked about her own partner - the second, apparently - having perished.
Teya trudged on, emotional, and Viinturuth felt he better understood her delicate state. He did not hurry after her, simply followed her movement with dark eyes until she vanished into the darkness. His stare lingered for a short time longer, wondering if he'd been wrong to let her go, before he withdrew to seek a quiet place for himself.