Blacktail Deer Plateau everything moves, everything pulses, everything lies in the eyes of you

@Aningan @Erzulie @Rosalyn

He supposed he should have come here to christen this fruitless trip, rather than end it. Smash the bottle against the hull of the ship, to send his paws tracking in good fortune and favour. At least then he might’ve seen that the bottle wouldn’t shatter, and perhaps he would have spared himself the weeks spent searching the shores, turning over sand upon sand, and finding nothing.

But, who was he kidding, if not himself? Merrit knew he would have made the trip anyway, and knew he would have now only found himself back at Moonspear instead of knocking at the doors of Rusalka in his dawning defeat, rather than in his mounting cry of victory. The brisk morning air seemed to freeze his call in an echo that reached to the heights and filtered across the sun-streaked plains. And he waited, tall, dark, and stark against the budding glow of dawn.

The wolf who called at their borders wasn't one who was known to Rosalyn, and she had no idea the who or why behind the summons.  She approached, slowly, and with some caution.  It had been months and still she didn't trust that there weren't enemies unknown to them out there.  

It was a young male, somber looking.  She wondered if he carried news of Raleska (assuming she hadn't returned), or if he was looking for a scattered packmate of his own.  So many seemed to be.  

What do you want with Rusalka? She asked, choosing to shoot straight for the point.  You've found our border.  My name is Rosalyn.

her flanks were beginning to round, offsetting the usual litheness of her sinewy frame. more often than not she could be found with rosalyn; today was no different. raleska had gone, and it worried the harlot, who was quick to join her wife upon the borders.
satisfied by the corsair's hard tone, erzulie was silent, two-toned stare resting expectantly upon the tall stranger.

Two arrived, and cut swift to business. A pleasant surprise -- one Merrit embraced wholeheartedly. He had already wasted enough time dilly-dallying on his own.

"I am informed a wolf named Caiaphas used to run among you," he said, "until your alpha chased her out." The russet woman was Rosalyn -- a familiar name, one that @Hydra had divulged before he'd set for the shores -- and he assumed the other could only be Erzulie. Second-in-commands, so he also knew, and if this pack stood united, then there was no reason he couldn't wedge a knuckle into a spot that might've been sore for others to speak on. He carried on, "I seek to know what became of her, if you yourselves know."

There was little love lost between Rosalyn and Caiaphas... there never had been.  She hadn't been sad to hear of her demise, mostly because she was sure the queen had in many ways begged for it.  Her actions had spoken clearly.  Still, when the stranger asked for her fate, the pirate found a strange hesitancy.  Why did he need to know it?  What right did he have to the knowledge?

I chased her out, she corrected, taking the claim of that blame on herself.  Aningan would have welcomed her if he could have.  Suspicion was clear in her tone as she continued.  Why?  Who wants to know this?  Caiaphas deserved her fate, but at one time, she'd been Rusalka.

Ani is able to be skipped unless directly engaged with.

Distance kept him away, the summoning of the other male unable to cut a shortcut into the earth. But Aningan did what he could to reach them, a beast propelled across the plateau. And when he finally did reach the stranger, two familiar faces stood with him, conversing. Their being there kept him attentive, watchful of his Betas; his attention faltered momentarily when he heard Caiaphas’ name but, moments later, and his focus was back on the wives. It had to remain on them, lest his mind wander and bring back unfortunate things. For now, he held his tongue, a pallid statue observing those before him.

to her wife's prouncement she gave a nod. caiaphas had not been seen in quite some time; she expected the old woman had found another pack to head, or had succumbed to her hard life and great age. whatever it was, the rusalkan was affronted by the idea that even in her absence they would deal with the woman.
but this man, asking questions before an introduction; her cinnamon hackles began a slow rise.

Whereas the man who had joined them remained neutral, and unreadable, Merrit caught the suspicion of both women, and the odds did not stack against him well. Ah, but no worries, until teeth flashed at his heels, there was always time for him to smooth out his stumbles. "Pardon my manners," he said, and offered a small bow of his head with the name Hydra had grace him with, and the one he sought to redeem, "Theseus Stark. I am bound to no pack, but have, for the time, allied myself to the Queen of Moonspear, and the Sovereign of Neverwinter Forest. I ask on their orders."

Merrit -- under the guise of Theseus, now -- supposed the helpfulness of Rusalka balanced on his words, and their trust of him. If Rosalyn had chosen to chase Caiaphas out, then perhaps these wolves were an ally to the cause which he, Hydra, Mal, and surely, countless others by now, sought. After all, no leader drove her packmates away without reason.

"This woman Caiaphas sought to kill an innocent -- and would have, too, if the child's pack had not been so quick to chase her out. We also saw her ripping out another's throat," he said, encompassing himself in that count of witness, though he simply recounted the words he'd heard from Mal the first night he'd met up with the mottled boy. "Last we heard, she was running at large through the Wilds with two others bent on the same murderous track. Her presence in this place puts every other wolf in danger -- woman, man," and he shifted his glance between the three, "and child. And I will not sit by, only to watch her take more and more lives, or watch her following grow."

Rosalyn's patience abruptly left her as he pressed on with his reasons, detailing Caiaphas wrongdoings.  He could take his crusade elsewhere, she'd already made it clear she was gone.  Then you are in the wrong place.  She replied, and her fur rose with the abrupt close to the statement.  She's gone.

She couldn't help him, and she didn't wish to.  She was tired of hearing the witch's name, of callers for her coming.  Rusalka no longer deserved the shadows she'd led there.  

How did they track them from the sound?

Is that all? If so, then she'd end this now.  Any interest she'd had in playing diplomat died as soon as his credo left his lips.  If he had a crusade to fight, it was his own.  And it was one that would turn up empty, for she knew the siren's fate.

"well, t'eseus stark," erzulie purred in a silken voice that veiled nothing about the hardness of her eyes, "den you know why we are tired of being plagued by her name." like her wife, the harlot was already wearied by the young man's idiotic crusade.
"we called her a witch, an' she is," erzulie said brightly. "say caiaphas t'ree times, an' she will come to find you." a cruel tease; she laughed and stepped forward.
"it is time for you to leave."

These wolves mocked him, and laughed, and Theseus felt some strange mix of indignation and fear well up inside him. Indignation, that they would make a jest of him, of this. Fear, for that singular moment where Erzulie had spoken his name -- and he felt as though she had shredded right through his facade, and he felt the waters surround him again, that dark ocean he'd been treading since before he'd fled Easthollow, before Caiaphas had even attacked. Back, to when father had left them -- when Keen had wandered off -- when mother moved on -- and he had lost himself. Merrit, he wanted to scream, he was Merrit -- but where had he gone?

He knew where Merrit had gone - he was still with him, somewhere there, and as Merrit, he faltered, and drew a step back. As Theseus, he stopped himself, and rallied every nerve to recompose himself before Rusalka. "Aye," he offered, in response to both Rosalyn and Erzulie's concluding remarks. They did much too little to help him -- but Caiaphas had clearly wronged this pack. He would not count Rusalka as allies, yet he would not count them an enemy, either. They seemed a family caught in the crossfire, and he realized he did not wish to know what the witch had done to them. He did not need to know. As Erzulie had said, he knew why they called her witch, and that was enough.

Theseus took another step away, "it would seem so," he breathed out, and then louder, "I will plague you no longer. May these days be fairer than the ones you've left behind," with that he bowed his head and backed away, and would turn to take his leave at a full sprint, once he had put enough distance between them.

Erzulie finished with a twisted humor that Rosalyn couldn't seem to muster, and it did the job well.  He fled from them quickly, perhaps not in a panic, but with alacrity she could finally appreciate.  Good riddance.

She remained silent as he left earshot, then her ears pulled back, though she gave Erzulie a soft touch to her shoulder.  It was well said.... and let them be rid of it.

Her patience was ebbing.  The next to come calling with that name on their lips... well.  Perhaps one more enemy wouldn't hurt.

fading! <3

"good riddance," erzulie spat when the crusading boy was out of earshot; she turned away from his retreating form with disgust that ebbed under rosalyn's kiss. "foolish boy," she laughed, hoping she had terrified him more than the spectre of caiaphas.
she turned away with her wife then, hoping to do more than entertain moronic strangers at their borders for the remainder of the day.