Stone Circle angel by the wings

a month had passed since her meeting with the dark wraith. she had run with Rannoch's wolves, for a time, healing and growing stronger. and as soon as she could, she had journeyed home; where dark news had awaited her. how had she strayed so far from the happy, carefree pup who had just wanted to adventure, to mute, scarred, and faced with the death of her father. 

she should seek out Nikai. she knew very well he ought to be feeling the same hurt as her, and yet she could not. she moved along the borders, drawing in the scents of her father. breath burst from her lungs in frantic tempo, as her steps faltered and she gasped to relieve the squeezing around her lungs, the weight in her chest and the sorrow that consumed her. she couldn't even remember the last time she had seen her father. what had she said to him? she could not remember, and this somehow filled her with more trembling sorrow. 

she had not seen his body. not now, not ever did she want to see her protector succumbed to death. she moved along his fading scents, fading quickly already. half of her wanted to plunge into the territory and seek out her family. the other half wanted to run, run out into the wilds from hurt and hate and a horrible sorrow. and so she paced the line between the two, breath moving quickly enough to score her throat, until she tasted metal.

Sunny had been acceepted back into Easthollow the day before, and had begun to familiarize himself with the territory again. He had found Dawn,His, and Grayday's old den and had made himself comfortable for the Night inside of it. When he woke up it had taken him a few sleep hazed moments to realize where he was again.  

Now he was walking the borders and leaving his scent along them, as well as Familiarizing himself with each amd every smell so he could recognize every Easthollow member by scent. Up ahead of him he could see a white pelt, someone was pacing along the borders. Moving closer he was surprised and happy to see it was Keoni, but he quickly frowned. She was hyperventilating and looked sick, he could see her flanks heaving. "keoni..." Moving forward with a soft chuff he flattened his ears and moved to face her, and what he saw saddnened him and made him angry.


Keoni had a huge scar running along her face, one that looked painful. Sunny studied her face for a few silent moments and decided she was still pretty, and that the scar only meant she had survived something horrible. Sunny could still see Keoni's prettiness, which was what originally made her so incredible to him as a pup. Swallowing thickly he sat down "please...take a deep breath. You sound like a scared rabbit.." There was no joking in his voice, but instead soft and confused concern.

dead. Steady was dead. her dad was dead. 
the many scars that littered her face had healed, the majority of which would vanish into thin lines beneath her fur. but hardly had she healed physically and mentally from her attack that she was dealt another blow, once that threatened that comfort she had gathered around herself. when her name echoed out into the stillness filled only with her raging thoughts, she twisted violently and set her wild gaze on- 
on Sunny. 

the wildness fell from her gaze, replaced by a familiarity tinged with confusion. why was he here? he had left, with the girl Dawn and his father. and she shrunk back, shoulders hunched as she expected the same fear she had seen in the gaze of Rannoch and of Nikai, Rose and others. but it never came, and this added to the confusion reflected in her gaze. she could not put words to sound, not anymore, and none were forthcoming. 

his youthful words of comfort had little effect, rather, the mere fact that Sunny had somehow suddenly appeared here had her pulled out of her anguish enough to study him as he studied her. her flanks heaved labourously still, but gradually, as she watched him, they stilled and slowed, and the frantic beating of her heart too slowed.

He watched as she shrank away from him, and he flicked his ears back against his skull. He must have scared her, and he felt bad for it. Offering her a hesitant smile he lay down so he would be less threatening, something he had seen his daddy do around that timid sheepdog.

"Sorry...I didnt mean to scare you. I came home back because I missed you all. Nikai,Aunt Valette you and-"  It dawned on him suddenly. He hadn't seen Uncle steady around, Valette seemded sad and off, and there had been a strong scent missing from the borders. No wonder Keoni was upset, something must have happened to Uncle steady. "oh keoni..." he said weakly his head drooping. Steady had been Keoni and Nikai's daddy, and Valette's husband. 


There was nothing he could say at the moment so he simply gave her a long look, one of sympathy and shared pain. He had loved Uncle steady during the short time he knew him. Steady was like family to him, the cool uncle and playful adult in his life.

as she watched the pain that flickered across Sunny's face in that moment, she was reminded of how selfish she was. she did not think of Nikai's pain, only wallowed in her own self-pity. the rest of the pack felt the loss of her father as keenly as she did, and here she raced around the borders, driven by frenzy and by pain. she ought to seek them ought! to find them, and to offer her presence and find solace in theirs. for as long as she could remember he had been the steadfast leader of their group, and now he was gone. 

she steeled herself, grabbed the pain and the grief and pushed as much as she could deep down. a little voice in the rear of her mind said that she ought to be allowed to feel like this, to feel the pain so sharply because she was his daughter, if not by blood. but she had to pull herself from her grief, to be strong for herself and for her small and shattered family.

she watched Sunny for a long time while these thoughts moved through her mind, finally moving forward to place her muzzle in the fur of his shoulder in a silent display of sympathy and solidarity. and though she did not know how she would move past this, she knew that she would eventually...she had moved past so much before.

They seemed to understand one another, or maybe Keoni couldnt understand why Sunny was hurting? Either way he had gotten her to calm down enough for her breathing to steady. She stared at him for a long time and he wondered if he had made it worse by sympathizing with her. He was about to apologize to her when she stepped forward and placed her muzzle on her shoulder. 


He relaxed a bit and returned the gesture, placing his muzzle against her neck and sighing softly. He nuzzled her hesitantly and then pulled away, facing her with a look of mixed emotions. He wanted to help rid her of the sadness and keep it at bay, like he was supposed to do for Dawn. Dawn and him were supposed to be happy together and he was supposed to protect her, but he had only managed to hurt Dawn instead. He wondered if she hated him now for leaving her behind with Dad, or if she would think he did it out of spite. 

"I...I can help you and Nikai be happy. I still want to be your friend Keoni. I am sorry this..this all happened" he whispered softly and ducked his head sheepishly. He wasnt good at this, but he remembered how Daddy gray had helped him when he..they..lost mom. It wasnt death really, but loss all the same.

his young voice broke the silence once more, offering sweet words that filled the space between them. did he notice that he was the only one to do so? did he know that she could not? it was times like this, when her maw begged for words to be spoken through it, and yet, her tongue failed her. quite literally, the shredded nub that was her tongue failed to be useful.

sometimes, she wanted the strength to rip into the girl that had disfigured her. to be such a skilled fighter that the power would be to her, and she would not fear. sometimes, such as times like this, she wished she had the tools to help and the heal things physical and mental. she was divided on this front, between the will to hurt and the will to heal.

as if to explain her silence, and feeling comfortable enough around the little boy she had known since he had been a pup (yet grown up now, as she looked to the adolescent before her), her maw parted slightly and let loose a sigh,  before opening just a little bit more. the absence of a tongue was noticable, very much so, and in this she hoped to explain her odd silence. 

Sunny hadnt noticed the odd silence to be honest, he was too sad and angry to notice the absence of Keoni's voice. As she sighed and parted her maw Sunny saw it, the shredded nub where the pink tongue should have been. Sunny's eyes widened with horror, but not at tne disfigurement. It was horror and blatant shock that someone had ripped out Keoni's tongue. That was such a disgusting and brutal thing to do to someone, especially a young girl.


"Oh god. They really did hurt you. I will hurt whoever did this..tear their tongue out too" he promised, his tone darkening with anger. Taking a few deep breaths he looked away until he could speak calmly once more. "you're still real pretty. makes you look a bit fierce too. Dangerous and pretty, like those icicles I got stuck to" he offered a lopsided smile. He knew she couldnt answer but that didnt mean he couldnt try to make her smile or lighten the mood.

Keoni smiled weakly at Sunny's revenge oaths, though at this point if he were to be attacked, he would likely be the one being protected. She would much rather that none would have to encounter the wraith as she had, much less the little boy. when she commented on her looking fierce, she turned away, clouds gathering in her vision. she didn't want to look fierce. if fierce meant having one's tongue ripped out and spending a month recovering from gruelling injuries, she didn't want any of it. she'd much rather be the carefree girl hunting alongside her family when it was whole and complete. 

she felt her composure crumbling again, and thus swiftly shook her head, turning back to Sunny a moment and gesturing that he should follow. she paced along the border a little more, until finding the scent she had noted a short while ago but paid no mind to; that of a group of pheasents. she knew there were many in this part of the territory, and while the scent she gestured for Sunny to smell was old, surely there were more around. 

she would hunt, and in that perhaps find a little bit of herself again.

Sunny hadn't helped make it better but instead seemed to make it worse. He opened his mouth and began to speak but chose to be silent instead. He frowned and stood up, following after her at her gesture for him to do so.


He sniffed at the smell and wagged his tail,drawing In the old but familiar scent. He knew that smell! Or at least he thought he did. It smelled like the turkeys home and his dad had gone after, the same musty, feathery scent but with the slightest different in sharpness. He had no name for it but he committed it to memory nonetheless. He stepped ahead a few feet with his nose sweeping the ground  trying to find the old trail so it would lead to where the bird had gone. "I got it" he said and waited for keoni to come next  to him and get the trail as well.

she watched in silence as Sunny cast around, eventually finding a trail. when he did, she moved to meet him, scenting briefly the trail before setting off at a lope, expecting that he would follow, tracking alongside her as they followed the trail. it was one of the things that she was good at' perhaps due to the influence of Valette. she knew it might take a long while to learn how to do so accurately, and thus occasionally allowed Sunny to take the lead, until the muted scratchings of birds hiding ahead had her pause, and gesture he ought to do the same. 

she looked to Sunny, gesturing that he should stay put; and be alert, her ears flickered forward and her tail twitched, unable to feel the normal excitement before the hunt, but the act of it giving her instead a silent comfort, something else to focus on. 

when she hoped that she had given the message to stay put clearly, she moved carefully around the approximate location of the birds, circling back around to lurk behind them. when she had pinpointed their exact location in the undergrowth did she charge, sending them in the general direction of Sunny, snapping at the birds, a wild leap resulting in her fangs snagging in the tail of a medium sized male.

Sunny followed after Keoni always keeping within close range even when on the lead. Finally the sound of talons scraping against the ground caused keoni to stop, and in turn him as well. He paid close attention to her gestures his eyes scanning her whole body until he got the message. Stay put. He crouched down and nodded watching as she went toward the birds.

For a few moments all was silent until suddenly the sound of wings flapping and birds clucking and squawking through the underbrush made him leap to his paws. He spotted a small but plump female crashing out if the bushes and ran at her, leaping forward onto the birds back and pinning the wings with his legs as he but Into the back of it's neck, wrenching his head to the side and breaking it's neck.


Leaving the body where it was he went to go help Keoni, standing in front of the male pheasant to cut off it's escape and allow keoni to get a better grip on it. He snapped his jaws and moved from side to side, effectively cutting off any route of escape as he slowly moved forward.

she was swift in ending the bird, Sunny approaching as she was doing so and ending any hopes of escape for the bird. a paw brought it to the ground, where a swift yet brutal snap to the back of its neck had it give its last shriek. there would be no more hunting today, at least here, for the alarm calls of the pheasants had frightened away ant other potential prey. 

she nodded to Sunny, gaze roving to his own catch and offering her approval. she couldn't quite bring herself to smile, not now, not yet. she motioned that he ought to pick up his catch with a dip of her muzzle and a twitching of her tail, approving of the plump bird that would feed packmates. another gesture towards the nearest cache, and she off once more, not wanting to be still and dwell on anything. she would deposit her bird within the cache, for she could not bring herself to possibly eat. pause was given as she turned to Sunny, silent question asking, "are you hungry?".

Sunny winced at the loud shriek of the bird as it died and then sighed softly. He could read the approval in the wag if her tail and how she looked at his catch. He dipped his head and offered a slight smile, before moving to pick up his catch and following her to the nearest cache. 


He too deposited it beside hers, and at the question in her eyes he shook his head. He wasn't too hungry yet and he had a few mice he had caught for himself stashed away "not right now.." he murmured and then turned to head back. Pausing before he walked away he turned to look back at her "Do you want to walk back with me? Or be alone? He asked politely.

his words were soft, his message clear. not now. thus the cache went a little fuller, and they went on. the boy turned to walk away, yet he looked back, asking a silent question in the voiceless communication she now found herself favouring. a shake of her head was the answer, for she did not want to be in the company of the boy much longer, she would much rather be alone. beside, she planned to spend the rest of the day pushing herself, hunting until she dropped and no longer dwelled on the horrors of days past. 

her gaze fastened onto his for a moment, and there was, perhaps, gratitude written there. and then she was gone, turning and moving away to the boy.

Archiving!

Sunny dipped his head in understanding and flicked his tail on a silent goodbye, meeting her gaze briefly and watching her walk away. Once she was out if view he turned himself and walked the other direction.



He hoped he had been of some help to Keoni, but he wasn't entirely sure he was. As he arrived back at the pack area he went to his den and lay down in the entrance, taking a small rest.