Whitebark Stream atê

in silent defiance he retraced his own steps. at dusk he hunted, and through the night chased scavengers from his kills. he did not think of her. he would not think of her.

blood on the wind; death whispered in its rushes. kairos was drawn by the faded scent of it. something had happened here.

perhaps he would find someone to tell him the story of it.

in time the soldier found a girl — no, a woman, wreathed in the scent of flowers which set his jaw into a hard line of unwanted remembrance. kairos stood silent and drawn to full height, eyes sharp upon her.

she would have preferred to remain undetected, but her hackles raised at the feeling of eyes on her back. she looked back over her shoulder at the unmoving mass. 

he was dark, at least from this distance, gilded only by the soft filter of moonlight. combined with the sound of water, it reminded her too of something unwanted. 

she wheeled to face him as her unwarranted annoyance mounted. 

can i help you?

"doubt you're qualified for that." kairos snorted, stepping closer to take in the scent of her. her — and her pack.

"but i'm sure i could find a use for you." a grin now, lecherous and filled with malintent. another step brought him closer. his gaze openly roamed her figure, never meeting her eyes.

men

in this moment they were a monolith, and she held blood-soaked hatred for them all. presumptuous, possessive, blessed with muscle and mass to match their overgrown egos. 

a growl rose from hell itself to tear from her throat; a sound too large for her stature, it wounded her flesh on the way out. she flashed her teeth to stop him in his tracks. try, it said, i will castrate you, i will make you pay.

she had come to the wilds a maiden and found herself battle-tested. if he dared to come closer, she would rend his flesh from the bone. never again would ilse find herself violated at the hands of another.

he smiled at that.

"that's right. take no shit, yeah?" his tone eased as his posture relaxed. this time his step closer was friendly, unguarded. if she sought to mark his flesh with teeth nonetheless, kairos would not stop her.

he'd started it, after all.

"what happened here?" a gesture toward the pack he knew lurked near.

although she had been ready for a fight, she knew it would have earned her no favors. wylla had taught her how to gain the upper hand even with her smaller stature, but every fight that had ever occurred was a roll of the dice and she was not sure that fate would favor her given her circumstances. outside of that, what would come of her if she returned to the river injured? who would take care of her when she was the resident patch-up extraordinaire?

although his demeanor had changed, she did not trust him to come closer. to be able to code switch like that meant this guy was absolutely bananapants. who was to say that he wouldn't just turn again once he had closed the distance and gained his advantage? she snarled, stepping back.

her voice rasped now thanks to the intensity of her outrage. i don't know shit about fuck and even if i did, there's no chance i'd be telling you. he already thought she was stupid, she might as well play into it.

no teeth, but more ire. kairos drew in a slow breath, already bored with her stubbornness, but his expression was unchanged. "for the haunch of a goat, then." he studied her as he spoke.

was it truly worth the meat? he supposed he would ask himself that later, when the bargain had been struck.

the stranger extends an olive branch. unfortunately, it’s one that doesn’t make any sense for her. she had the support of a pack; her captor was a caribou hunter. there were many mouths to feed on this earth and hers wasn’t one of them. but for what little information she had and what meager part of that she was willing to share, a haunch of goat was a gross overpayment. fine, she concedes. you lead.