He woke up and, for a split second, he thought he was back home at his den in Moonlight Meadow, curled beside Osprey. Then it all came back to him in a swift, horrible rush. He sat up with a cough that threatened to become a heave, looking frantically around himself. Eventually, his blue-green eyes took on a listless glaze and he stared unseeingly into the foggy woods atop the plateau. Hawkeye's scent filled his nostrils and he retched at the reminder of his new reality.
Without thinking, he rose onto all fours and began to lope through the trees, heading to the plateau's edge. He plummeted down the pathway leading back into neutral territory, passing the spot where he'd met Hawkeye the night before. His heart beating heavily in his chest, he galloped further upriver without looking back. He didn't intend to return; the idea of belonging to a pack other than Flightless Falcons overwhelmed him and he suddenly shied at the commitment to these strange wolves in this alien wilderness.
He reached a forest and didn't stop until he found himself deep within the trees. Sucking in ragged breaths—he felt panicky—Peregrine slowed, stopped and dropped to his haunches, his swarthy head hanging between his shoulder blades so that his nose nearly touched the ground. He squeezed his eyes shut and began to shiver, then shake, his whole body trembling violently with an onslaught of emotion.
Pied felt lucky, having only sustained a few scratches from her encounter with the mountain lion several days back. They were deep but she would certainly survive. All the same, she walked rather slowly and stiffly now, a combination of sore muscles and knitting wounds. She assumed she would regain her normal pace in another week or so, when the torn flesh mended more fully.
She knew she should stick close to the ridge, to give her body a rest and to avoid anymore unwanted run-ins with the local wildlife, yet Pied grew restless and eventually traipsed away from her home and into the nearby forest. She just wanted to stretch her legs a little bit, even if she shuffled slower than a snail. There was no rush anyhow; she wasn't trying to hunt or otherwise accomplish anything that necessitated haste.
The dappled yearling paused suddenly when a strange sound met her gray ears. She tilted her head, focusing on the noise. It sounded like... sobbing. Slowly, she shuffled toward it. As it grew louder, a scent came to her and Pied froze again, trying to place it. It was so familiar! After a few beats, it dawned on her that it belonged to one of her many relatives from back in the Seahawk Valley. Peregrine, she identified wonderingly. She wasn't close to him, yet they'd talked a few times while living in Flightless Falcons.
When she found him, Pied realized it was him making that strange noise. "Peregrine...?" she said uncertainly, limping closer to his quaking form. It was definitely him. "Hey, are you okay? What are you doing here?" she questioned softly. She was tempted to reach out her nose to touch him, yet she stopped short. If memory served, Peregrine took after her grandmother, March Owl, and she didn't want to risk setting off his quick temper.
He began to sob, albeit dryly, making what sounded like dreadful hiccuping noises that kept a rhythm with his bodily tremors. This lasted a long while, exhausting him. At length, the trembling began to lessen and his sobs quieted, though they still persisted. During this slow cessation, someone approached him. Just as with Hawkeye last night, he was not aware of his company until she spoke.
His eyes flicked up sharply and he recoiled from the voice, his lip lifting without a sound. When his eyes locked on hers, recognition hit him instantly. He didn't immediately relax, though he slowly straightened up to look at Pied. The last of his shivering and gasping subsided as he stared at his younger, piebald relative.
"Pied..." he rasped after a moment. They'd never been close, yet the sight of a family member simultaneously warmed and stung him. "I've been exiled. Dad and Mo stepped down and Tyrannus became Alpha. He saw me as a threat and ran me off. There was nothing I could do or say to stop it." He paused, looked around as if lost, then added, "That was only a week ago. Now I'm here. And I joined a pack here last night but I just ran out on them."
He explained his reason for being so far away from Flightless Falcons and Pied's heart twisted for him. She almost asked about Osprey, remembering the tight bond between the two litter mates. She sensed that asking about her might be damaging. Besides, Osprey's absence spoke for itself. It was pretty clear that Peregrine alone had been banished and that he was here alone.
"I'm sorry, Peregrine. I wish there was something I could do," Pied replied genuinely. Then she asked, "Is there anything I can do? You said you already joined a pack—which pack?" she pressed, for the moment ignoring the part where he'd mentioned running out on them.
Pied offered her condolences and though she meant well and sounded genuine, her sympathies actually irritated Peregrine. He resented the fact that she felt sorry for him and his ears splayed defensively. He frowned and sucked in a deep breath, looking at her thoughtfully now.
"Blacktail Deer Plateau," he answered. "The Alpha's name is Hawkeye. She seemed sort of desperate to have me join, despite me being a dick to her," he mentioned wryly. "I take it you live around here?" he asked somewhat rhetorically before abruptly recollecting aloud, "Koontz mentioned you when she returned to Flightless Falcons. She said the two of you had words." Peregrine's look became pointed as he gazed down upon Pied.
Naturally, both the plateau and its Alpha were familiar to Pied, though she didn't bother Peregrine with these details right now. Instead, she bobbed her head and said, "It's a good pack and she's a solid leader." She paused, gauging his demeanor—he seemed moody—and added, "It's not Flightless Falcons but it'll be a good place to live, Peregrine. If you only just now left, there's plenty of time to turn back."
"I do live around here, in a pack called Horizon Ridge," she answered. "I live there with my mate, Kisu. I actually lived in Blacktail Deer Plateau briefly before I left to be with him. So take it from me: it's really an awesome pack."
When he mentioned Koontz and looked at her with eyes full of scrutiny, Pied felt herself wanting to wither somewhat under those harsh blue-green eyes. Yet she stood her ground. "Koontz probably phrased it that way because she was in the wrong. With that said, it's all water under the bridge to me. I'm happy to hear she returned safely to the falcons. Do you know what happened to her pack? They actually lived on the plateau before the current pack did."
Hearing the sound of his birthplace's name sent a sensation through Peregrine not unlike a javelin made of ice, seating itself in the pit of his stomach. He ground his teeth together, stifling any outward emotional response, and tried to listen to his relative's words. It was difficult for him to focus, so much of what she said went in one ear and out the other. He did manage to catch the details of her altercation with Koontz and, satisfied, he stopped leering quite as much.
"Koontz lived on the plateau?" he repeated. Such a small, desperate connection could help him feel more at home there—not that he ever expected to truly consider it his home. "I guess I'll go back. I doubt anyone's noticed my absence or thinks anything of it if they have, especially considering... nobody knows me yet but Hawkeye." He pursed his lips. "I don't really have a choice," he added, an observation which made his chest tighten.
He looked at Pied directly again. He could follow her home to Horizon Ridge. If anything, Pied was a stronger connection than some memory of Koontz. Yet Koontz was his little sister, whereas Pied was a more distant relative. And he'd already joined the plateau's ranks, even if he'd done so in a miserable, desperate moment when all he'd really wanted was food.
"Koontz only mentioned that her pack didn't thrive," Peregrine answered eventually. "She, Ray and a few others turned up around the start of winter. We welcomed them back with open arms, of course," he said, the slightest sardonic tone coloring his voice as the realization that he would never be welcomed back, as long as Tyrannus ruled there, which would likely be a very long time to come.
Pied said nothing in reply to his questions, recognizing them as rhetorical. She did give him what she hoped was an encouraging look, however. Although she didn't know him well and she felt bad about the circumstances leading him here, she was happy to have a relative nearby again. He was also one more bachelor for Hawkeye to consider, she mused.
"Was anyone else exiled or just you?" she wondered, hoping Peregrine wouldn't mind the question. She wouldn't dig too deep into the subject; she was simply curious whether any of the new Alpha's brothers (or other male relatives) had been as unlucky as Peregrine.
He didn't want to dwell on it or talk about it, yet he did both all the same. Peregrine suddenly hated his circumstances with such vehemence that his lips peeled back suddenly and he growled roughly. His eyes flicked to Pied and he felt guilty for this spontaneous display of aggression. He noted the way she stepped back from him in response and wanted to apologize, yet his tongue felt thick in his mouth and he couldn't bring himself around to feeling sorry for anyone or anything but himself.
"It was only me," he said hotly. "I wouldn't be surprised if he started in on some of the other guys soon, though. He went on a power trip and a half as soon as he won the crown. I fucking hate his fucking guts!" He complemented this verbal outburst with another growl and rose onto his feet, now pacing with a savage look marring his dark, handsome features.
The yearling backpedaled instinctively when he growled at her, though she didn't flee entirely. He didn't apologize, which made Pied feel prickly, yet she didn't try to rebuke him for his actions. First of all, she thought that ticking him off might be a bad move. Secondly, she understood his sadness, anger and frustration. She couldn't imagine being ousted from her home, especially not by her own kin.
"Flightless Falcons was becoming a big pack," Pied noted in a measured voice. "Maybe Tyrannus wanted to display his power and control and get rid of his perceived threats all at the same time." She sensed that Peregrine didn't care about these details, so she stopped there.
At his outburst, her gray ears fell backward and she huffed out a quiet breath. She felt bad for him, yet her sympathy only went so far and did not include subjecting herself to verbal abuse, even if she wasn't directly in the cross hairs. She didn't share his hatred for Tyrannus, either, understanding his motives for his actions even if she didn't necessarily agree with him. Of course, she didn't voice any of these thoughts.
Instead, she coaxed, "Go back to the plateau. As hard as it sounds, you need to start over. I can't think of a better place to do it. Seriously. You'll be happy there, Peregrine. And if you want, I can come visit. I consider Hawkeye a sort of sister, so I'll be around the plateau sometimes anyhow."
Pied was right: Peregrine had no patience for the logistics of the situation, nor any ability to see the it from his brother's point of view in any capacity. The mere mention of Tyrannus's name out loud caused a snarl to tear loose from him. His ears flattened to his skull and he looked every bit the scorned wolf.
She urged him to go back to the plateau and start a new life there. Arguments sprang to his lips, yet his tongue wouldn't work again. He didn't want to live there, he didn't want to start over and he didn't want Pied to come visit him. All he wanted to do was go back to Moonlight Meadow, convince Tyrannus he posed no threat (although this wasn't entirely true) and return to the den he shared with Osprey. His heart ached and throbbed with miserable anguish.
"Fine," he snapped much more nastily than he meant, still pacing to and fro. "I don't care," he added a bit more woodenly, meaning he didn't care if she visited. He was being honest right now, though that would probably change once the sting of the situation lessened somewhat. "This situation fucking blows."
Pied's ears flattened too, in reaction to his vicious noisemaking. She suddenly couldn't wait to get out of here. Although she felt for Peregrine, she couldn't stand to be subjected to his temper for much longer. It was trying her patience and making her feel moody. She hoped she would be able to shake it off as soon as they parted ways.
"All right then..." she said simply after his next coarse outburst. "I think I'm going to leave you be. Best wishes, Peregrine. I'll check in soon if it's not a bother." She paused, waiting to see if he would tell her not to bother. Then, she forced an amicable woof, waved her tail once at him, then trotted back in the direction of Horizon Ridge.
Peregrine made a hissing sound between his teeth. He knew he was pushing Pied away, perhaps even frightening her, yet he couldn't control himself at present. He glared moodily at his own forepaws as he shuffled this way, then that way, his ears flicking ever so slightly to indicate that he was listening. He didn't argue with her when she made ready to leave and he only grunted in response to her mention of checking in with him.
By the time he paused and lifted his head, she'd gone. Peregrine swallowed an unhappy growl, resumed his pacing for another ten minutes, then finally broke the pattern. He headed back the way he'd come. The morning mist had begun to burn off by now, yet it furled at his feet as he emerged from the tree line and headed back to the plateau where, just like he'd assumed, nobody had taken notice of either his departure nor prodigal return.