Qeya River they fight like soldiers, they die like children

Thuringwethil’s time at the river had lessened with the pack trying to form to the north of them and spending some time to the west. When she approaches it, whatever scent markers she had left behind had washed away and faded and a small part of her wants to leave it alone. No one had dared cross it that she is aware of, having patrols on this side of the dragon doubled, and so she withholds herself from laying any scent down. They know the rules now, so she hopes, and for the moment she decides to travel down the pain a little ways.

The dark leader lowers her head as she comes to a stop, lapping up several waves of water. It’s cold against her throat, refreshing, but her eyes travel the length of the river for anything out of the ordinary before she moves again. Lifting her head, she laps at her muzzle to clear what mess she made and begins her trek downward, finding the spots along the way where the river narrows enough to cross. There, she marks her warning, and eventually begins her return along the bank of the river.

Esaro hasn't slept at all, Tavi's words continue to haunt him endlessly. He believed every word she said to him. Over time he calmed down and starting thinking better but the idea of fighting the pack's rival held strong. All he wanted was for the pack to trust him more. He felt that he was being deceived by everyone ever since he pulled out Tavi's true thoughts. He became fully convinced that he had to go fight someone from Sleeping Dragon in order to earn everyone's trust. Knowing he stood very little chance he decided to go to the river once the light of dawn started to shine.

Upon reaching the river bank, he thought about crossing it. But decided not to, it would only cause more problems, that wouldn't be what he wanted. He figured maybe he could find someone who just happens to be around on the other side. Slowly he moved along the river bank, always keeping his head up in hopes to be able to spot someone on the other side. After a while he was growing nervous, He was actually searching to fight someone. He never thought that one day he would want to fight.

A little while longer he spotted movement from the other side of the river. The wolf at the distance was going the opposite way. He was already starting to feel afraid but decided to continue forward. He started recognizing the wolf, that female was the one who attacked him last time. His heart rate steadily increased. He should turn back now! but. Nothing would change if he did. He worked up the courage to continue. The female on the other side would have likely saw him by now. First he aimed to get as close as he could without ever trying to cross the river, yet.

She smells him before she sees him but he’s closer than she realizes when she turns her head. Her head swings to find the tawny wolf standing on the other side of the river and it takes her a little by surprise. One wolf she didn’t expect to ever see so close to the river is the one she’d damaged and sent back, fleeing with a message for the phoenix wolves. Esaro hadn’t been impressive enough for her to think he might come back so for the time being, Thuringwethil remains silent.

Heda turns her weight, shifting so she faces him while he continues to approach. The river between them in wide but there isn’t much distance between where they stand and a place easy for him to cross. She flicks her gaze in that direction but returns, as if she didn’t notice it at all. 

Thuringwethil lifts her head and arches her tail as if he might as well be on the borders of her own home. Speaking with Tavi might have softened her view of him once she learned the pack as a whole failed him, resulting in injuries he didn’t necessarily deserve. She keeps her tongue in check, staring hard across the water that isn’t likely to convey her message, but she waits for his explanation before she goes above her business.

Most of Esaro wanted to turn back but his desire to change his situation kept him moving forward. He noticed a path that would allow him to cross the river. He looked at it for a while and than at the dark wolf across. His heart was pounding, the female wasn't at all going to attack him? That was likely because this time he never didn't cross over? He started hesitating on the whole idea of fighting her. She didn't even look like an enemy.

But he can't just turn around. Instead he took a few steps into the river. He has to try at least try right? Maybe there was a small chance that he could win. He decided to attempt to say why he came here in the first place. "I!.." It was hard to say, this wasn't him. He was shaking already. "I chall!..." Every time he tired he was feeling more and more unsure about this. Was this really going to help him? "...Challenge you!" For some reason he felt like he needed to be polite. "Um, Please?!" He added.

Esaro head and tail was low. He had no confidence behind his words. He barely had enough courage to stay where he was. He wasn't about to turn tail and run. He felt that would be an even worse idea after announcing that he wanted to challenge her. He realized he basically trapped himself and had already pass the point of no return.

He doesn’t speak right away when he advances and instantly her own muscles tense and she points her nose downward, watching him carefully. He only takes a few steps before he speaks and her eyes narrow, staring him down as if her own gaze might get him to turn back. The fumble of words causes her own fur to bristle while the fur on the back of her neck. After meeting Tavi and seeing Reek again, she feels a little confused about what Esaro might show up at the river and destroy everything in the process that might be considered reconciliation. Perhaps, once more, the wolf is oblivious to what happens in his pack and this time his ignorance cannot be blamed.

“Go home, Esaro,” the dark leader commands. She doesn’t step forward, doesn’t push herself into the water. Her lips twitch and flash her teeth as her only warning. If Esaro continues to step through the river, reaching Sleeping Dragon’s side, she’d take matters into her own hands. She doubts the leader of the Phoenix knows of his presence but any further steps through the rushing water, they wouldn’t see him alive again.

Esaro couldn't bring himself to take any more steps than this. He didn't want to break the agreement by going further but that meant he couldn't get any closer. He wondered if the dark female would approached but then he realized that the agreement applied to them as well, they weren't allowed on this side. He felt a little lost in what to do now. He felt dumb for trying to challenge her, it's only now that he understood it.

But Esaro was thrown off track when the female said his name. How did she know it? It just made him want to know and so he asked. "H-how do you know my name?" The only wolves who were suppose to know that were everyone in Phoenix. What did this mean? Were the packs actually friends with one another? He felt confused, He didn't understand anymore.

He struggled in trying to figure out what was the real situation. "What's really going on? I thought we were enemies." He tried to put the puzzles together in him mind but ended up repeating the question. "How do you know my name?" But this time he said it quieter.

He doesn't take anymore steps to cross the river and she doesn't shift where she stands. Her back legs remain bent by a fraction to lunge forward if he were to come across the water. She wouldn't step into the rapid and nor would she lure him, instead patiently waiting for everything to process before questions began stumbling from his lips. Lost, disoriented maybe, and Thuringwethil isn't entirely sure what he has to prove. Does Reek even know he's come this far, threatening the leader of another pack?

Thuringwethil gives him a few seconds to sort out what he wants to say, confused mostly by knowing his name, but she doesn't address it first.

"My enemies are not enemies for long," she says with a slight quirk of her brow. Seageda and the rest of their affiliated armies would remove the threat quickly. Drageda has yet to be of that size but she doesn't doubt what her wolves are capable of as she sets a sudden snowball down only to quickly grow. If her connection with Trigeda could be mended, she might once more reach out to them. In the mean, she's started over. "Reek came to discuss my new terms of the agreement. Your name came up."

Her hardened gaze lifts, a little softer, but her face remains blank. She considers reaching out a kind word but she locks her jaw and waits to see where his foolishness might take him.

He believed what the dark female said "Oh." Of course Reek would give his name. He started to believe Reek did that just so Esaro would take the heat from the Sleeping Dragons too. But in way that would be a good thing. If the anger is all directed towards him then no one else would have to suffer, He could live with that maybe. This wasn't the reason why he came here in the first place. Tavi's exact words came to him. She said that if he wanted to learn to fight he needed to challenge a wolf from Sleeping Dragon.

He rose his head with determination building up. He decided to explain the very reason he was here. "I want to learn how to fight! Tavi said I have to challenge you in order to learn so here I am!" He got a little brave, only because he thought to have a chance to learn something now. Dark female did hint that she would have killed him if he was an enemy but nothing happend yet. He remembered that she told him to go home. The only problem is that he didn't want to return back to the way he was. "I can't go home to a place where no one trusts me. If I change, even just a little, I can prove to them I'm not garbage." He stood there watching, even if he had a little courage built up he was still very nervous.

He moves on to some task he’s supposed to do, something someone instructed him, but the idea seems far too outlandish to be true. His enthusiasm stands out in a strange way but she shakes her head, trying to discourage him from a mistake. “Challenging me will not help you learn to fight,” she warns. Thuringwethil had time to recall the last time they’d seen each other; she’d taken him by surprise but he hadn’t been able to react at all. They had been times he could have made a move but he’d only retreated. Coming for a rematch would only win him more scars.

“Perhaps you should reconsider where you call home.” Why the suggestion crosses her lips, Thuringwethil isn’t sure. The only two wolves to talk about him had been negative and the young leader doesn’t quite understand their dynamic. Even if her wolves had made a mistake, her love would not falter for them. Esaro’s ignorance had hurt him but she doesn’t put the blame on him. She has no idea if he deserves what he’s been dealt but the hurt in his eyes is clear, despite his attempt at a confident posture.

This whole challenge thing was starting to get confusing. Tavi said if he wants to get better he needs to go challenge someone from Sleeping Dragon. But now he is being told that that's not going to help him. If that was true then why did Tavi suggest it? He didn't like the idea that someone was lying to him. It was frustrating since all he is trying to do was improve himself. He wanted to trust everyone but the longer he stays the more it seems that he is only being deceived again.

The Dark female suggested that phoenix may not be the right place for him. Esaro was quick to agree but he forced himself to think on it before saying something. "It may not be the right place for me but that doesn't change the fact that I was saved by them. Even if the wolf who took me in has abandoned everyone, Even if everyone might be lying to me, and even if some treat me poorly, I still can't just leave." He took a little pause before continuing. "Abandoning them would be wrong. Instead I want to help turn Phoenix into a place that, not only I, but everyone could call home. Which is why I need to learn what I should have learned long ago."

He took a deep breath. "I came here knowing that if I did fight I'd likely lose, but at the same time I would have at least learned something if I survived. If that isn't how it works then what can I do to learn how to fight?" He asked. Back then Esaro stood against fighting but now he learned that fighting is necessary. To protect everyone from danger he needs to know how to deal with them. He kind of felt like the Sleeping Dragon was the only place he could learn from right now.

Esaro then begins to rattle off and she’s surprised by the amount of effort it takes for her to remain in place. He lists off his confusion and dreams of what his pack may be for him but he doesn’t understand the knowledge he has given her. Meeting the female from the maplewood not long ago, her defense of Reek, had been enough to confuse her. Now, Esaro’s giving her reasons why he can’t leave his pack that should serve as reasons to run.

The dark wolf shakes her head, deflecting more of his questions she has for her. Thuringwethil takes a step back from the slick bank but her eyes never leave the confused boy. With a voice harsher than she's given him, forcing her point home: “You did not learn anything from the last time we saw each other, you’re not going to learn anything from this. Go home.”

Even if Esaro wanted to attempt some sort of attack, it would be too selfish of him. What really stopped him from doing a dumb move was the fact there was an agreement. He wanted to take on a fighter in hope he'd learn a little from it but he wasn't willing to drag the whole pack into this. He wanted to do this alone but the situation made it impossible to do that. He can't get what he wanted, end of story. It felt like the whole world wanted to keep him from learning to fight.

He decided to give up and turned back. He stopped for a moment after stepping out of the water. He did learn something from the last encounter, even here he is learning something. He turned his head to look at the dark female across. "I've learned to treat injuries thanks to you though. For that I'm grateful." But as for fighting he was just going to have to look else where. Maybe he'll take a few risk and travel a little bit from the pack in hopes to find someone to teach him how to really fight.

Before leaving he wanted to know one thing. "Would you at least give me your name?" He asked. At least having a name would make this whole thing a little worth it. Maybe one day when he finally changes for the better he could call her out and show her what he learned. He started to wonder why Tavi offered such a bad suggestion. He felt like he needed to learn fighting somewhere else before challenging the Sleeping Dragon. He started to ask himself if Tavi actually believed he could win. Thinking on it confused him, Tavi was very hard to understand.

He gained something out of the attack but Thuringwethil can’t feel any differently to the situation. His ability doesn’t concern her and when he accepts that, he begins to turn back in the water and return to his home. The dark leader doesn’t make to leave until she’s sure he’s gone entirely, but instead he turns back with one final request. She blinks a few times, searching his features, and indifferently shrugs one shoulder.

“You may call me Heda,” she tells him. Her name would be known in due time in these wilds but her title comes first. They’ll know more about her, in due time. Thuringwethil falls silent then, hoping it is enough to satisfy the retreating male to keep going.

Now he had a name to go with the wolf who had attacked him. Esaro won't forget any of it that's for sure but that didn't mean he would hold a grudge against Heda. There wasn't anything left for him to do here besides leave and look else where for someone to challenge. Maybe instead of looking in packs he could try to look around them next time. The further away the more likely he could face a wolf at his level right? Esaro decided to believe that for some reason.

He wanted to say some last words before going but in the end he didn't say anything and just left. It will be a while before he ever comes back over here so there was no telling when he might see her again. But when that day comes he would expect that he'd be able to fight and then maybe he could show off a little. He'll hold on to the idea but it's bound to take a while before that day comes.