Redhawk Caldera Five quid for membership and then five quid to get in, innit?

@Teya @Bronco @Sorana

It took all his willpower not to run headlong from the mesa. He took his meal with Sayf, he thanked the man for the time spent keeping him alive and for his training, and then he took his leave.

Between the mesa and the grassy knolls of Brecheliant's cliffs, Reyes tried to find a gift. It felt necessary - perhaps because of his months of conditioning and newfound obedience - this last order had to be done properly, or else something might go wrong when he returned home.

As Reyes came to the outer limits of Brecheliant he had a small goose clutched by the neck between his teeth. Something that had meant to fly with its flock, and yet was stranded. A young thing without much meat on its breast - but a gift, regardless.

He placed this down and then - waited, unsure of what to do next. It had been so long since he'd made much noise at all, or done anything that came naturally to him, that he did not immediately think to howl; he waited as if for permission to raise his voice, and when he did it there was strain to his song.

At last, though, he was home.

the visit with towhee had left teya feeling some sort of way. this clenched her belly until there was no hope of eating. suppose fennec and killdeer showed up next to gawk at the homewrecker?
or something. why was she so sensitive? she knew; she wanted to return to her den with bronco another week, staying there in the warm strength of his arms.
she meant to go find him, to even take a touch from his loving mouth, when the aching howl rose over brecheliant.
she froze at once, heart racing.
fuck.
but she'd known this day was coming, right? teya had always maintained that reyes would never have abandoned sorana — but what about them?
her legs felt leaden when she finally dragged herself to stand in front of him. her coolwater eyes sought his own. she wanted to greet him. she wanted to walk away. "where were you?" she said at last, in a tone that was nothing but blank.

His song was short and strained.

There was no telling what he expected; when a shape appeared he thought immediately that it was Sorana and he felt a tender sort of hope revive at the thought, and he watched as that figure grew to a shape he knew, but it was not her. It did not hold the ruddy tones he'd envisioned - but golds, and soft browns, and a pair of eyes full of trepidation instead of love.

Teya stared him down a moment before speaking, and there was nothing there to welcome him home.

At first Reyes did not know what to do. He could not look at her - he looked down, he hunched, he was a slave to his conditioning. It was hard to be so scrutinized. He could not leave her waiting for an answer and one would come, slowly, as he willed himself to speak.

Away. I was... stuck, and hurt, and... he had some healed wounds to show for it, but by now even Reyes had forgotten what had taken him away in the first place. The seaside came to mind, but he couldn't remember why. I came back. I brought -- there's a gift, here. he looked awkwardly to the goose with its crooked neck and didn't know what else to say.

He wanted very much to look at her and feel welcomed. The delusion of this moment had kept him fed and warm for many weeks now, but it was different here. It was colder here. Sorana should've been here instead. That's how it was meant to be.

teya bit her lip to see him like this. something had happened and she couldn't even muster an iota of pity? guilt replaced it. she placed a paw on the bird and pulled it closer, helpless for how to even reply.
"sorana is still around. keeps to self. she is upset. but i tell her you will come back."
she drew a breath. she stepped back. "this cannot be home for you now, reyes. i know about niamh. i —"
but what else was there to say? my god. teya felt the unfair tears burning in her throat; in her eyes. she wanted to tell him all the rest right away, right now, but she couldn't form the words.
she hadn't expected to still love him.

Teya spoke of their daughter as if she were an afterthought.

Of course she was still around! This was her home. This was where Reyes always envisioned meeting with her again, to tell her how much he loved her, and how badly he felt for being away. She had to be here.

This cannot be home for you now, Reyes.

It felt like the air in his lungs wanted to punch its way out; his stomach churned as if assaulted in the same manner, and in that instant Reyes felt a hot, sick, desperate feeling overtake him. He looked up, saw Teya; saw her eyes, the pity there, the hurt, and the denial. She said something about Niamh but it had been so long that Reyes couldn't recognize the name, let alone remember what had happened.

Only that she was refusing him his home. She was refusing him his daughter.

I — I can't -- you're saying I can't come home? How dare she take this away from him? Who was she to refuse him after all he'd done to earn his freedom, and get back here? How could she refuse the one thing that kept him whole?

But she's my daughter, Teya. His voice was stronger when he spoke of Sorana. You can't keep me from her, she's mine.

"don't, reyes," teya said sharply, backing some feet in subconscious protectiveness over her body. "i not say you kept from sorana. i say you cannot live here. she not baby, reyes. she can travel."
she felt a fierce flush of the same possessiveness over their daughter. he didn't even try to think about why she wouldn't want him in brecheliant. it was just about him, always.
"she ours," the raven reminded him with a low growl. "so we figure out what best for her."
teya let out her breath in a torrent of air and sound. "this not your home, reyes. and i not your wife." sorana was his, yes, and she would not stand in front of their bond. but he had hurt her enough. both of them.
she looked into his face again, feeling that same ache deep in her heart, the one that tore and bit.

It was the same old thing. A woman deciding for him what was right, what was best. Denying him the basic necessities of a home to come back to, of love undying; but their love had died for one another many moons ago. It was Sorana that tethered them together now, and with the girl's growth came some leeway. She could travel and that meant Reyes did not need to stay here - that meant, also, that all his work to come back was for nothing.

You're -- you can't just say that and make it true! He countered, as she decreed she was not his wife. They had married. He was here, he could provide. I was hurt, Teya. I was hurt and I needed help, and I got that. I'm here now, and I can -- I can hunt for you, I can be a husband. But what was a husband who couldn't love their wife? What kind of relationship, of partnership, was that?

He stepped towards her without thinking, punching the snow with his steps. His voice was full of the same old desperation - except there wasn't the same rage as when he'd been here before, that had been worked out of him: I'm your husband and this is my home! You have no idea what I've been through to get back here, Teya. We can talk about this - we can fix whatever this is, but you, you can't just say no.

teya was shocked when he denied her this. as if he could do that! her brow furrowed; her eyes blazed. he was begging now, something she found she could not abide. he advanced and she retreated in confusion until he was inside the territory.
"i say no, reyes," she growled in warning notes. "i needed you when i was pregnant. but what do you say to me?" her sides were heaving; her eyes were burning, and yes, the tears were there at last. "get rid of it?"
and then had come around, and then he had been a father.
"you let me cry and cry. i was in pain. you gave me nothing." she shut her jaws closely, sniffed, and let her hackles raise. "so no. we done. you need to leave. now. we will work — we will decide for sorana outside brecheliant."
her stomach roiled harshly.

Back to that? The sin that he couldn't help but commit? But that was ages ago! And Sorana lived, and they both loved her so much! How could Teya hold this against him for so long when it was over? Their daughter was everything - and he knew he'd made the mistake when he'd said to end it, but that was before. How could Teya use this against him now?

She retreated and he followed. Something stopped Reyes from closing that last bit of distance which would send him over the invisible edge, though. Maybe it was the warning signs of wolf scent, which he'd learned to abide within Akashingo; but he held a lower place now, being an outsider, and he couldn't fight against it.

Let me see her. Let me see my daughter - you want me to leave? I have to see her first. That's what he wanted the most, above everything else. He could give up Brecheliant and he could give up Teya, but he couldn't be this close to the end and be denied.

Sorana? Sorana, I'm home! He called out, letting his voice raise beyond what he'd been capable the past few months, so that it caught and scratched and was more a wail than anything, but he called for her desperately.

"if she wanted to be here, she would be here!" teya shouted, finally losing a good edge to her composure. this was fucking embarassing and it was not how she wanted their daughter to come across them, with reyes close to snapping and she herself about to cry again.
"reyes. leave. please. come back tomorrow. i talk to her," teya promised, ears thudding with blood. "get out. don't make me call for anyone."
her turn to be desperate, her turn to barter, but it was coming to blows if he didn't get the fuck out, now.
the raven's tail lashed and she advanced on the red wolf again.

He wailed and he paced, and he waited to see his beloved daughter's face (one he wouldn't know, even if she was standing right there, because in his mind he'd pictured the little figure he'd pulled from the water and not the young woman she had matured in to by now); and then Teya was there to deny him once more, and to threaten, and barter with him to calm down and to go. Just go.

She was right, and Reyes hated her for it. Sorana would be here if she'd wanted to be here. In the time he had spent away, Teya could've spoiled the girl against him - it was probably Teya's fault that Sorana kept herself away. It couldn't have been anything else.

He slowly stopped his pacing and was out of breath from shouting.

Teya moved closer with a defiant edge to her body, and Reyes deflated utterly.

I won't be far, he answered, his voice crackling and low; that alone was a threat for Teya, a promise. If she calls for me I'll answer. If she wants to meet me, I will be close-by. He leveled a look to her then, and it was Reyes' turn to be empty.

He lingered long enough for that look to land, and then turned to find his way in the opposite direction.

ok. all right, just go. go!
and then reyes was retreating.
then she was following. his crimson figure was gone from the borders but not from her life. the tears came hard, now, hacking sobs that punctuated her return to brecheliant.
she ran into a stand of trees and was immediately ill.
crossing arms over her face, she cried softly until she was exhausted, then numbly and slowly started for home.
home, how tainted a sound.