Days drifted by, white, lazy clouds creeping across the sky and becoming hidden in the dark, only noticeable by the absence of the stars. The sun rose and fell, dipping toward the horizon like a lark on wings of crimson and ascending as a phoenix, bright and golden. Raindrops fell like tears, caressing leaves as tenderly as they would a fair cheek before being brushed away by the warmth of the sun. Life lingered but time passed with a resolute sort of determination which seemed to the bearlike creature like some form of spite, taunting him. The days of youth still clung about him like burrs fastening themselves deep inside his coarse coat while his heart had aged so much, a leaf dried and wrinkled, prepared to fall from its branch. Time passed but it did so slowly, having little physical effect on the shadowy stranger, but aging his spirit considerably until it seemed to have been borne into antiquity.
There was nothing he wanted more than a reason for being, but he knew the only way to find this would be to submit himself to society once again, and risk losing life and love as he had before. His heart felt heavy and struggled against this reasoning, but only faintly. It did not feel as though it had the strength to hold him back and so he kept moving forward, moving onward to find a place where he could settle in. Nothing meant much to him- he would join a pack wherever he could and attempt to find some sort of foundation there. If he was put to work, he supposed, he would want for nothing. He would have others for company, something that despite himself, he longed for. It would be much better than traveling alone, this much he knew.
Thus, not knowing anything about the pack, he'd tracked the scent of a few wolves to his destination- an unkempt wilderness which bore the scent marks of a pack. The worst that could happen, he decided, would be that he would be turned away- a rejection he could take, given that it would be dealt by strangers. If they decided to put him out of his misery, then that would be a death he could accept. He had no one to live for other than himself, and presently, he was hardly enamoured with himself. He lowered his head to give the borders a brief sniff before he sat down, thick shoulders hunched slightly as he stretched before relaxing them and waiting for someone to come around.
The two mutual paired leaders were officially on top—two leaders, not combined together like mates, who were after the simplicity of things. Styx was usually off and away sometimes, he liked to move about and with leadership had free reign to do such things. Katrina didn’t mind though occasionally she wished she could follow after him. The pair had a strange relationship, if a relationship or not and with this pack now binding them together he would have to see that much more of her. Cheekily she grinned, pleased with her concoction that perhaps even Styx wasn’t aware of.
Within just a couple of days they had gathered a few hearty souls for their crew—Kerberos, Rivet, Turqoise and a young Naga. Together they were surely a team. From Styx’s words she had gathered that Rivet and Turquoise knew each other and had joined together and the other two she barely knew anything at all. Either way they were members and Kat was already much further than she thought they would be. Seemed that being a lone wolf around here wasn’t exactly the best place to be. Smiling, she felt herself lucky that she had jumped on ship with this. Kat doubted that Styx was utter any sort of ‘you’re so smart, thank you for coming up with this’ but she felt it and that was good enough.
The walk around their perimeter landed her in a good mood, knowing that these were her lands and she got to pee wherever it was she felt like. It likely took Kat a good half hour before she came across a stranger whom had perched himself right at before her borders. He did not howl, nor make any sort of noise, he just sat. “Can I help you?” he inquired politely whilst moving towards him and raising her head just slightly as to announce that she was not to be tested with.
Lawless allowed his eyelids to droop slightly, not closing his eyes completely but allowing them to rest so that he did not have to squint against the streams of light which pierced down through the trees. In doing so, he concentrated instead on his other senses and found that the world came alive with a greater strength when he relied on his sense of hearing and smell. The world became softer, gentler when he did not have to stare at it all, when the hushed whisper of trees folding leaves together like worried hands became a lullaby, and the smell of moss blended with that of earth. The scent of the pack's borders, he noticed, became stronger and stronger the longer he stayed there; and thus he was not surprised when he heard the approach of another wolf, announcing that whoever it was that had decided to come toward him must have been an integral part of the pack.
Yes, her scent was that which accented the borders and he looked at her for a moment when she came into sight, a lady with long, trim legs and a coat of solid brown, the shade of cedar bark though darker in places. He caught the glint of silver, the way one might see a stream in the distance, in her eyes before he looked away purposefully, rising to his feet but with his head lowered to show respect and tail hanging limply between his ankles. To her he offered this humble show of deference in response to the way she smelled, and the way the borders smelled of her. He'd struck this pose only moments before she'd lifted her head, and though it wasn't needed, as he'd already been informed by her scent of who she was, he was glad to see her hold her title with pride nonetheless.
"You might," He answered with a calm voice and a solemn bob of his head."My name is Lawless Redleaf-DiSarinno, and I am looking for a pack to join." He said.
Once speaking to him she saw his immediate change in posture and the kindness that he gave her. The male was much older than herself even if age didn’t matter, though she plaintively wondered if he would have any issue here regarding their difference in ages. That likely might be the determining factor of her and Styx’s mutual leadership. The two of them were near the ripe age of one and had many things to learn, even if Kat had a heads up on that department thanks to her mother and father’s teachings. It was going to be difficult sometimes but she was prepared to conquer them. Styx likely was too and if not, then she would face it alone with bravery.
Although she had been interested in his reasons to come here, it only got that much more interesting when he mentioned his name. “Oh really?” she said with a comical smile and a tilt of her head, “that makes you and I somehow related. Athena and Chehalis, litter number two.” Katrina was glad to see someone else of the DiSarinno line here (it was the first she had seen though suspected there were a couple others, preferably the brother she had been searching for) and was even more glad that he had come across her pack. “You can join my pack right here, free of charge!” It was a bargain, chill with family and be sheltered. “I run it alongside a…” friend? Co-worker? Acquaintence? For the lack of know she simply ended with “friend”.
While the female's demeanour shifted almost completely when she heard mention of his name, it did not surprise him when she confessed that they had to be related. For Lawless, this wasn't news- he was already aware that he came from a line of wolves which stretched and branched out in every which way. Rather than introducing herself, she stated the name of her parents, thereby allowing him to see the connection between them- through her mother and his father.
"Nice to meet you, Athena and Chehalis, litter number two." He said, a small smile cracking on his features. The near impossibility of the situation had tweaked his ear and had put him in a better mood. He wondered if she knew how close she'd come to not existing- and how odd it was that they would be related anyway. But he knew all too well that matters of the heart could be fleeting and condemning.
He was reminded, by this thought, that his branch of the family had ended with him. He was reminded of his failed mateship, of the absence of children which had been part of the reason she'd left. He briefly saw her then- a lively and bright young thing, with a butter-cream pelt and long-lashed brown eyes, eyes which had once looked upon him with girlish charm, but the next moment, he saw a flash of boredom and indifference and then those cherished brown eyes were gone.
"My father was Aether, and my mother was Mo." He said quietly, knowing that she would inquire sooner or later where he'd acquired his surname. He was then welcomed quickly into the pack, and he thanked her with a quiet bob of his head yet again. Something intrigued him about the way she spoke, almost hesitantly, about the wolf she ran the pack with, and a quick look was given to the female to read her expression. He knew the look- she was trying not to show that little smile that meant that her friend was something more than a friend. "Uhuh," He said quietly. "A friend. Who isn't really your friend," He said, tone prompting her for an answer. He might not have been quite so bold with any other alpha- but given that she was both younger and a relative- and of high spirits- he felt more comfortable giving her a tiny poke in the ribs. Before she could interject, he bobbed his head once more."Mum's the word." He said, as an indication that he would say nothing of this to her...Friend.
Both her parents had been very doting and loving, giving them everything and anything they needed. Both were strong at heart and held a certain amount of respect for one another that it almost seemed too good to be true. At least, she couldn’t remember a mated pair that saw love in each other’s for such a long period of time but she also hadn’t been around too many. In her time within her old pack she had seen one other mated pair and they had never shown each other much love in public (perhaps in private it was different) but unfortunately the female had become a widower because of her mate’s old age.
“You can call me Katrina,” she answered with a smile as she figured that litter number two didn’t sound so bad but she didn’t think anyone else in the pack would find it funny, just weird. When he mentioned his father and mother, she briefly began to think on it—what were they exactly? It seemed like cousins but she stood there for a moment to lay out the details. “Alright so if Athena is my mother, Aether is your father… that makes Aether my brother and you are my… nephew.” Wow, that certainly seemed a lot creepier than being cousins or long-distance relatives. They were much closer on the family tree than she had thought.
Kat’s mouth quickly shaped into an ‘o’ as he had caught on to the fact that Styx wasn’t really a friend, but she seriously had no idea what he was. They were likely mutual friends though she had never heard the guy say anything about a friendship to her. That would be fine, except for the fact that she found herself physically attracted to him but she had to play it off as though he was nothing but garbage and they were tag-teaming this pack together as mutual partners. But hey, if her ‘nephew’ was quick to figure it out then so be it. “It’s complicated,” she shrugged her shoulders and turned to welcome him into the pack as a new Neverwinter wolf.
He listened while she sorted their relationship out, finding amusement in the fact that he was her nephew- despite being much older than she. But the fact of the matter was that her mother had likely still been having pups even when her son, Aether, was doing the same. He wondered if Katrina would have felt uncomfortable knowing that she could have potentially had great-nieces or great-nephews who were the same age as she. They would have been about her age, he had children with his ex-mate. And so in two ways, she was his superior, despite being much younger in age- she was his aunt, someone who was, in general, meant to be older than any nieces or nephews and she was his alpha as well. Quite the accomplishment for someone so young.
But she seemed bright and ambitious and while her complicated relationship with the alpha male was yet another sign of her youth, he took this to mean simply that the pack was relatively new. She was too young to know how to properly fight someone and if she hadn't become the alpha female by becoming the alpha male's mate, then he took the two of them to be the founders. This much could have been gathered when she'd said that they 'ran' the pack, anyway. "Katrina," He said quietly, and with some restraint, managed not to call her 'Aunt Kat,' though he kept the nickname in the back of his mind in case he ever needed it.
He simply nodded when she gave her resignation- she didn't seem to know what to say about her relationship. He had the idea that he could have told her exactly what it was- it would've been a guess, but an educated one, one from experience, but he held his tongue. "It won't always be so." He said, but was unable to keep a tinge of melancholy from his voice. Relationships could be complicated, for sure...But the complication usually ended, one way or another. "Thank you," He said, with genuine sincerity. He now had a pack- and some semblance of family. Family who knew of his father, but didn't know of him, his brother, or what he'd become. Life could begin again.
It was hard to believe that just from having the notion of passing through this Valley, she would come to the position of having a pack. It had not come in the way that one might expect one should but it was here nonetheless. There were now members of all sizes, species and age with their own stories to tell. There was no secret to it that Katrina was very pleased with herself and the way things had gone. Styx might be an unknown relationship to her but somehow she enjoyed the mystery even if it was complicated. Besides if her mother or father saw her now than they might surely be proud of her accomplishments. Would they have even believed her? Not even two years old and here she was with her own pack!
It was a little strange to look upon this wolf and call him her nephew but in wolf terms, it was entirely normal to have an age difference such as this. Although she knew that Aether was her uncle, she did not know where the side of ‘Redleaf’ had come from as Athena had not known about Aether and Mo’s romantic relationship. It had been some time since mother had talked to Aether and they lived some distance apart in unknown worlds but that was just as life was. Once at certain ages a child must seek out their independence from their parents and learn about the world on their own, just as she was.
Her nephew kindly stated that it would not always be complicated between herself and her co-Alpha but somehow she felt it might be. There was no telling what he thought most of the time as he seemed more aloof than he should have been. However, she wasn’t one to let certain things get to her head. If anyone had an issue with the complicated status of the two as the head of Neverwinter then they could take it up with her or Styx. “No problem,” she answered politely to her new member and hoped that he would find himself comfortable here; otherwise, she just might find that losing members was a hard concept to deal with. Even with that as an end of conversation thought, he had a lot of exploring to do and they could now get started. Kat began to lead him into the heart of Neverwinter, as proud and confident as one could be in her situation.