Redtail Rise metanoia

The smell of fresh blood caught Saturday’s Sunset by surprise.

For it was not deer, nor rabbit, nor boar…

Wolf’s death, the spirit shuddered.

The silver and blonde child saw the stain on the earth. Pieces of fur here and there. Carefully she approached, head on a swivel, both morbidly curious and afraid.

With caution, Lilia was able to meander a bit through the pack's territory, allowing her ribs to heal slowly without allowing too much stiffness to settle in. Her breaths were slow and shallow in an attempt to avoid pain, as any sharp intake of breath or sudden expulsion caused her misery. Similarly, having to go slow and check herself constantly was irritating. 

So she exercised slowly, feeling useless, until she spotted one of the kids sniffing about. Saturday's Sunset, she could now identify in the distance as her fur had grown lighter in the summer's sun. She smiled faintly, noticing how even from a distance, the youngest of the pack's children had begun to look more wolf-shaped as they approached adolescence. They were all growing up so fast. 

She chuffed lightly, softly as she approached, curious to see what it was that the youth was exploring.

edited due to accidental shadow posting! <3

sunrise and sunset followed each other in the natural order of the world, and perhaps the sisters that embodied this notion are not too far off from this. and it is even in their nature to be so split in personality. sunrise brings the day, it brings energy and life. and then there is sunset, meant to silence the world and bring rest and rejuvenation of what was spent. one cannot go without the other, and surely sunrise knows that she loves her sister.

so she follows her trail, large paws that she still fumbles over doing her best to walk straight without falling over while her nose stays pressed to the scent. but another putrid scent comes to waft in her nose, bringing about a sense of fear.

sunrise has felt fear once in her life. and now she feels it once more, but this time it is not for her own safety. the girl kicks up a gallop to follow the smell, desperately searching for the figure of her sister despite the bloodied smell of iron that makes her queasy. and she sends out a panicked bark to sunset, begging her to answer her if she is not the one that is slain in the scene she approaches.

and wolverine is nothing but a blur in her eyes. the sight of an adult should bring comfort, but sunrise is too engulfed in this rotted feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Like a long shadow, Sunset crept towards the blood-soaked soil. Despite its age, the scent had not deteriorated much – mixed with potent pheromones of near-death fear. Goosebumps, born by a sense of danger, created piloerection of Sunset’s blonde hackles from shoulder to tail.

Sunset’s tongue passed over her nose to whet its leather. The smell intensified. Quickly, like a bitten animal, she withdrew and began to skulk suspiciously around the scene with her head slung low.

Then, a chuff and a bark. Sunset recognized the voices of the Rise’s Beserkr and Sister Sunrise. Quickly, she cantered over to meet them – a yap of her own in return. A kiss on the chin for Wolverine, a head-bump for Sunrise. She shook out her pelt as if to shake off the stress.

We are okay, the spirit says.

She nibbles nervously at Saturday Sunrise’s pelt and looks to Wolverine before her gaze returns to the death-spot.

The scent of blood seemed to have caught Sunset's attention, though she seemed relatively calm about it. She shook tension from her withers with a shake, though Sunrise seemed to express more concern. Lilia approached the area only to notice the few remaining clumps of fur, and the metallic scent the earth had inherited from spilled blood. She licked her lips, and turned back to the girls casually. 

Wolf's blood might've brought her more concern had she not been fairly certain she'd been the one who'd spilled blood in this very area. It was her role as Berserkr to protect the children from harm. She'd distracted the moose from Mulherin just days ago, and bore the pain of it with the pride of knowing she'd done her job. Now, the girls had found blood that had likely been spilled for their own protection. 

She blinke, the corners of her eyes and lips softened when she approached the siblings. She was receptive to Sunrise's alarm, but sought to soothe her with confidence. She uttered a low, crooning note; an echo of the ode she'd pledged to protect the pack.

relief comes in a form of seeing her breathing sister, and soon the recognizing of wolverine's comforting and protecting presence. sunrise is quick to brush her muzzle over her sister, comforted by knowing her blood runs cleanly in all her veins. and despite her normal brash and bold attitude, she remains solemnly quiet as she looks over the sight.

there is a rumble from wolverine, and sunrise sucks in a breath and would press her cheek to the berserkr. death is a common thing in a wolf's life, for it is the nature of any beast that must eat flesh to survive. but perhaps this is a first for both the sisters, to see death not of prey but of one of their own. though, with the seeming lack of true concern, sunrise must wonder if this wolf did not belong to the rise.

she rumbles out her own confusion.

"why dead?" 

her nose only catches fear and blood, but perhaps sunset knew more from the clues she may have picked, or perhaps wolverine would decide to shed light on the children of the ulfhedinn.

Their Beserkr appears collected and undisturbed, unlike Sunset who was shaken by the novel sight. But soon, under her leader’s influence, the girl began to settle. Eventually, the notion of such battles would become commonplace. For now, the sun sisters had much to learn about their world.

Sunset presses against her twin for comfort and heard the rumble of confusion in their question.

Her fangs click together.

A fight? the spirit asks.

cameo!

Ever since the moose incident, he seeks out Lilia at regular intervals. He is her unwitting, silent shadow.

In a way he feels indebted—responsible for her suffering. It is his duty to make sure her recovery goes smoothly.

Today, he finds her with the sisters. A sense of confusion and melancholy surround the scene. He watches for a few moments as they find solace in one another, and realizes it is not his place to interrupt or interfere.

The gleam of his orange eyes disappears within the darkness.

Questioning breaths and looks, wetted noses seek out answers. By this point, Lilia learned how to read the wolves of the pack who did not rely on verbal communication, and while it was her preferred method of expressing herself, she had learned to speak with gestures, expressions, movements and breath as well. 

To the girls she showed her scars, tilting her muzzle to show where the intruder had bit her, ranking his fangs across the bridge between her nose and her eyes. She tilted her neck, allowing the fur to part, revealing healing scars. She then showed them older scars which had healed, and where the fur had grown back pale and sparse. Wounds which she'd received the first time the male had trespassed. 

They had given him his life once- but not twice. She uttered a soft growl though her features remained calm. Trespassers were generally to be met with force- but they would not be given a second chance, especially if they were as much of a nuisance as this one had been. She licked her lips to briefly reveal her teeth, and flicked an ear as she might at an insect- indicating he had been not only a trespasser, but a dangerous pest.

she had never seen such scars before. sunrise would look down to her own knee, seeing where her trip from the toad hunt with mulherin caused her a giant scab. she thinks back to the moment of her tumble and remembers the great sensation of pain that she felt. a sorrowful whine comes from her as she comes to press a tiny pink tongue against the marks on wolverine in a poor attempt to take away the pain that was long gone by now. 

there must have been so much struggle and conflict in her life to have this collection of lifelong marks, faded and gone or still healing. and through the notion of wolverine's annoyance and simmering aggression with her recent collision, sunrise must now come to think that whoever this was caused the pain to wolverine and she gave it right back to him.

a primal lesson in protection and safety, something that young sunrise would not forget as she continued to grow in the rise and see the bloodshed again and again. in an attempt to show her understanding, sunrise offers her own growl towards the blood and fur showing the mangled fight before them, a way to recognize that the pest was not welcome, even in death.

Like her sister, Saurday’s Sunset investigated the marks, old and new, upon their leader. She felt the rough skin with a gentle touch from the leather of her nose. A whisker twitched. She could smell the scar tissue.

The blonde-ruffed girl could decode Wolverine’s charades. The combination of Besekr’s cool attitude and the show of her fangs instilled confidence in the girl – made her feel equally as capable.

Her sister growls towards the scene, and so Sunset becomes exponentially emboldened. She walks over and begins to scuff all four paws against the ground, kicking dirt and leaving her scent. Let the fight begin with Sunrise and end with Sunset. Small as they were, the twins knew they would learn to eclipse any threats towards the rise and become a formidable duo.

The fear and uncertainty in her had gone. Conviction remained.

The spirit meditated in quiet determination.

She felt the gentle tickle of Sunrise's tongue against her wounds, and allowed her to touch the flesh where the fur refused to grow again. She did not flinch, so that the children would know that wounds happened, and that scars healed. The girl was caring, empathetic, clearly. Perhaps she might become a healer, Lilia thought, though she smiled with satisfaction when the quiet girl uttered a soft growl. 

Sunset responded to her sister's voice by striding away stiffly, to scrape at the ground with her paws. Lilia's smile remained, to see the girl's blonde hackles raised as she scent-marked the area. She wanted them to be protective of each other, and possessive of their home. The girls showed promise, just as she knew they would. 

She uttered an inviting growl, moving forward to place her own scent upon the ground, before she began to move along, head lowered so she could smell. An ear flicked toward the girls, and the wave of her tail invited the empowered girls to come along on a patrol with her.

With their leader’s approval, Saturday’s Sunset bumped against her sister like a cat. Then, she turned to follow the Rise’s Beserkr on patrol. The young girl, while usually more even keel, could not hide the pep in her step as she followed. Patrolling - how exciting!