Blackfeather Woods Do they always walk away from dead bodies?

When movement caught her eye near the borders, Towhee reacted immediately. She sprang toward it with deadly intent, ready to dispatch the threat. When it turned out to be a rabbit, it didn't give her any pause; she resumed the chase, hot on the hare's tail as it zigzagged toward the neighboring prairie. Towhee snapped at its enticing white tail, though she was left with only a few downy furs stuck in her teeth as her prey quickly scrambled into a hole and disappeared underground.

She stood there a moment, catching her breath, orange eyes naturally drifting toward the dark woods nearby. She tipped her head into the wind reflexively. When the scent of wolves filled her nose, she felt her heartbeat quicken in her chest. Towhee's head tipped back and she located X circling overhead, likely disappointed over her failed hunt. Her gaze then returned to the forest and, after a moment's deliberation, she moved toward it.

But Towhee stopped short when she felt a telling featherweight settle on her shoulder. "I need you," she began slowly, eyes still fixed steadily on the trees in the near distance, "to go find @Quixote—and whoever else he might want to bring along—and bring him back here." She paused. "Do you under—" But X had already swept off her shoulder and winged back toward the caldera.

She didn't look after him. Towhee refused to take her eyes off Blackfeather Woods even as she stood there, still as a statue, fire building in her veins.

Colt had been curious about the forest and kept meaning to stop by, but so far hadn't honestly wanted to know.  With his sister's new kidlets and their pack rough after the last bout, he didn't want to risk needing to go back, and personal curiosity wasn't a good enough reason to start shit.  But when he scented Towhee's trail departed to the west, he followed, and was silently grateful to see it led where he expected.  Well that's solved that.

He slunk up a bit after she sent X, coming around in a rare show of thoughtfulness towards her hearing.  He didn't want to spook her so close to the apparent pack's return.

His opinion? Let them be and hope the lesson stuck.  But from the anger in Towhee's bearing, he assumed she wouldn't agree.

Phone post so r i p @ any mistakes in this. Also, tags for reference, you guys don’t have to pop in if you don’t wanna

Often was his time divided three ways, between @Shivali, @Relmyna and her children, and the borders; he’d noticed @Maegi’s scent leading away from them but didn’t yet think too much into it, silently supporting her desire to explore, which he assumed was what she’d decided to do. The time was not evenly split, however, the borders claiming the majority of his attention following the dark one’s intrusion into his lands. And today was no exception to this, the Inuk having found his way to the borders per usual, where he meandered along; he stopped frequently to mark the borders, returning them to how they once were with urine and lengthy engravings in the trunks of trees showing the claim he held over the forest. The man’s patrol had only just begun when he spotted two forms in the distance, neither familiar visually, but the scent they carried was recognised with ease.

Kove slowed to a stop, a white mass against the shadows at his back. He stared out towards the duo, watchful, before separating himself fully from the shadows as he started towards them, posture relaxed. He never reached them, however, stopping just a few paces away from his home before calling out to them: “If you’ve come again for Vaati, you’ll have to look elsewhere.”

He'd been snoozing away quite innocently and didn't wake to the sound of the hawk's cries overhead.  Why would he?  Quixote was a wolf and hawks were just another of the critters that would go after kills once the canines had their fill.  It was only when there was a sharp yank on his tail that Quixote snorted and came to consciousness.  Kind of.  HEY-- oh. It was a bird, not Colt. How weird. I'm not dead, sorry.  Flop.  His head went back down.

There were a few light steps in the snow.  A pause.  SCREEE!

Quixote just about jumped out of his pelt, startling his feathered companion pretty well in the process, who'd flapped backwards about a stride length and landed awkwardly, wings askew.  Aaaugh! What the--- Oh.  ... Towhee?  With his brain now done processing the excessive volume, he could smell her scent clinging to the bird.  X ruffled his feathers, then lowered his head slightly, giving Quixote a stare that quite obviously questioned his intelligence and powers of observation.  It was as close to saying 'duh' as he could. Then the raptor took to the skies, circling over head with another screech before heading off away from the territory.

Quixote followed.  He didn't know what else to do, but he was pretty sure that the bird probably wouldn't bug him unless Towhee was in danger or something.  Maybe?  Who the hell knew. Maybe X was just bored as hell and wanted to screw with the wolves.  He had to go at a fairly good clip to keep up with the bird, but once the forest was vaguely on the horizon, it gained a new sense of urgency, his own as-the-bird-flew path meeting with the alpha's scent trail.  What had happened?

Apparently not too much, yet.  Colt was there too, but they were just standing around.  A wolf was at the edge of the forest.  So it wasn't abandoned any longer.  Well.  Hell.  His pace slowed from a sprint to a determined walk that would carry him up into Towhee's peripheral vision.  Assuming Colt looked over to Quixote at his arrival, he'd respond with a sideways-flicked ear.

Why hadn't the Blackfeathers just stayed gone?  He'd missed enough what the white wolf said that Quixote was going to look to his pack mates to give him a bit of guidance of what little he'd missed.  It didn't seem like a new war quite yet?  Someone should make sure it stayed that way.

I don't mean to meta-play, so I can edit out the mentions of scents in my posts if they bother anyone. :)

Despite his best efforts, Towhee jumped and growled when Colt materialized beside her. She quickly sheathed her bared teeth, however, upon recognizing him. She shot him a grateful look, happy for his presence here even if they weren't the best of friends. She finally afforded a glance over her shoulder, though there was no sign of X or Quixote yet. And when her orange eyes drifted to the forest, she jumped again at the sight of a massive white wolf standing just beyond the fringe of trees.

There was no reading his lips from here, so all Towhee could go by was his body language, not to mention his mere presence. Every single blade of fur on her body stood on end as a snarl thundered through her. She wanted to charge at him directly, wipe him out and then proceed to slay whatever refuse this black forest still harbored. She could smell them from here, perhaps a dozen different scents. The fire in her veins raged.

The young Alpha lowered her head like a battering ram getting ready to charge. But instead she dug her toes into the earth, her snarls going abruptly silent. She thought of helpless little Tywyll and Cinder, back home in their den, curled to Finley's breast. She thought of the previous litter and how they'd only just graduated into the adult ranks. She thought of Sebastian, that poor beast, still healing after all this time, his mind possibly permanently scarred. She thought of Andalusia, probably killed and left to the crows. She thought of Eljay and how hopeless he was at fighting. She thought of them all.

It made her furious, knowing how long they'd prepared, how hard they'd fought, only for their enemies to reappear here as if none of it had ever happened. Towhee let the fury flow through her a moment, her every muscle vibrating with tension. The hardness in her body softened only when that comforting weight came to rest upon her shoulder blade once more and she sensed Quixote behind her, even though her gaze hadn't wavered from the white wolf by the tree line.

"Fuck this shit," the Alpha eventually muttered, shooting him a murderous glare even as she turned to glance at Quixote—confirming his presence visually—and then at Colt. "Fuck this shit," she repeated. "Stand down," she added totally unnecessarily, since nobody—their nemesis included—had made an aggressive move. "We're going back to the caldera. If you two don't mind watching my back..."

She paused just long enough to let her two companions react and perhaps speak up, should they have anything to say about their Alpha's actions—or lack thereof.

She still jumped, but at least knew he was there.  Colt watched the male approach, then state some Vaati wasn't here anymore.  Nope, not looking for him.  Colt watched silently, tensely, fully expecting Towhee to make a charge for it and silently pleading with her not to.  Fun as the fight would be (oh hell yes) Colt was, for once, happy to do the smart route.  Half the pack was too young or too busy to fight right now.  They couldn't have another war.

He breathed again when he cursed, then shot a disarming grin at the stranger (when she had looked away). He felt like someone should say something before they just peaced out.  "Dunno who that is, or you are.  Quite a diehard lot for this patch of ground though, aren't ya," he said, his tone conversational.  He didn't want to start anything, but if anything, maybe this guy could show where they stood.

Cameo for now, feel free to skip over me!

Since her return, Shivali became even more recluse than before. She avoided any and all interaction, except the few exchanges she allows Kove, but keeping to her own company will keep secrets safe. Her wounds, however superficial they may have bee, have more or less resolved. Her thick, northern fur covers most of them and the distance she provides between herself and anyone else prevents them from seeing them. While she keeps to herself, her efforts are not going to waste. She stays on the borders, just inside, keeping an eye on any and all that may cause hard. Mostly, she doesn’t want to see him. His scent has been detected but she hasn’t seen him since, so she isn’t sure if it is her mind playing tricks on her or his elusive form hunting her again.

Voice are noted ahead, though the words are foreign to her, and she moves quickly. Kove’s form is seen ahead, quickly departing the break in trees and she scans out to see three other wolves with great distance between them. Her ears twitch upon her head to listen (to no avail, for the words mean nothing to her) and she steps up, breaking away from the door forest in silence and keeping her distance from both her leader and the stranger wolves ahead.

cameo!

the scent of redhawk was on the snow-laden wind, and relmyna bristled from where she had left the glen, heeding her instincts and moving through the trees until kove's deep, even tones were audible. the wolves who had attacked were not within the wood, and relmyna would come no further, keeping herself from view.
while instinct cried that she join her dark master in the guardianship of their borders, the evoker turned away and cantered back to where her spiderlings lay curled in night and sun together. @Averna the patchwork wolfess grasped first, knowing @Astara's sable pelt would blend more aptly with the deep shadows of the glen, and here she placed her pale daughter at the entrance to the tunnels below blackfeather.
one by one, footfall by tedious footfall, relmyna bore her children beneath the earth to meldresi's keep. the whelping glen was well protected, and to it perhaps she would return, but for now the woman refused to risk the eyes of enemies upon her or her brood. 
settling them into a nest of winter-dried herbs, relmyna curled her body around the squalling pair, tucking them closer to her breast with her slender forelegs. it was not until they had begun to eagerly nurse that the evoker realized she had left the rock of tongues in the den above. no matter; no words were necessary here. and while her body had found its lulling relaxation, relmyna could not rest, peering upward tensely with sharply quivering ears as she listened for the telltale footfalls of vicious interlopers.

Another arrived and his posture straightened, eyeing the now-trio as he waited to see what they intended to do—if they were to do anything at all, though it seemed as if they wouldn’t. Still, he did not allow for his own gaze to stray from the group, prepared, mentally, for anything. The words that spilled from the falconer’s mouth made him all the more alert, for a moment, her words taken the wrong way; he was not ready to lead his pack into another war, not so soon after the last, not when many had left and the woods housed a fresh brood. His focus remained on her up until he was addressed by another, the Inuk’s gaze then relocated to the other male. At the same time, atop his crown, ears turned at the sound of approaching steps, yet he did not offer his pack mate a glance nor greeting; drawing in a breath brought to him the familiar scent of his fellow northerner, which was all he needed to offer a flick of his tail in acknowledgement.

“This is our home,” he said, words directed at the tawny man. “We have had wolves born here, this is the only place they know. We have had wolves die here, and we cannot leave their souls or graves alone. We can’t leave.” Kove, especially, could not abandon the forest. He had sworn to protect it, to ensure Meldresi’s memory was never forgotten or dishonoured, and he would do so until the day he died.

Towhee already seemed ready to leave, which was kind of irritating that he'd ran all the way over here and now they were just gonna go all the way back.  What a waste of his time.  Given the scenario, he wasn't about to show that, though, keeping coolly neutral as it was the safest stance in this sort of scenario.

Quixote snorted at the white wolf's response to Colt.  So?  Didn't every pack that had existed for any length of time have those that had been born and died on the lands they inhabited?  It didn't make Blackfeather special -- the only thing that had was that apparently they were the aggressor in the local politics and Quixote had shown up to help end that nonsense.  He looked between Towhee, the Blackfeather and back.  He couldn't talk to that guy while being in a position where she could see what he was saying -- or maybe she could, honestly he was just making a vague guesstimation which could be wrong.  An annoyed tilt of the ear at that, but he did eventually turn to call out at the assumed alpha.  You and every other pack.  The real question is has anything changed?  To a certain point he doubted it, but the fact they hadn't been met with fangs, even at this distance, nagged at him.  What if they had?

Quixote did kind of wish he'd been the one to show up and make the discovery on his own.  But then, given his luck they'd have ripped him to bits instead.  What would Towhee have thought if he'd gone and made a truce behind her back?  Quixote would have to consider it, but he wasn't going to get a chance to do so in the short term.  Rash decisions would be made before he'd found the guts to be political.  However, in the present, he kept an eye on his alpha -- he wanted to know what that other guy would say in response but he also wasn't going to be left too far behind if she scrammed right this instant.

Colt and Quixote seemed more interested in engaging the white wolf than saying anything to her. Towhee tolerated this for a moment, watching the exchange out of the corner of her eye while refusing to look directly at her sworn enemy and thereby missing what was actually being said. It didn't matter. There was nothing he could say that would change the track her mind was now taking. Sick anger bubbled in the pit of her stomach, yet she clenched her teeth against it and redirected her gaze, almost rueful now, to the caldera in the distance.

"Stand down," she eventually repeated, her voice quiet. She paused a beat before adding, louder, as if speaking to the beast behind her, "We're leaving." Towhee motioned her pack mates to walk with her as she began heading home, her barely-throttled fury flickering like fire in her orange eyes. She did not deign to speak as they walked, stewing in absolute silence, X's fierce gaze directed backward to keep an eye on the archenemy.

There’s another exchange. Kove attempts to talk to them again, causing her to close the distance so she stands closer to him. Regardless of what he says, she backs him up. They chose their home, despite the result of war, and the risk is great. Now, they face another wrath but today is not that day. Today, they are lucky. Shivali glances at Kove with a knowing look, worried his stubbornness will put them in danger again and they can’t take the same assault this time.
 
Shivali lowers her head a bit to touch Kove’s rear, making him aware of her closeness so not to startle him.

ive been informed it's my turn in here >> sorry guys!! For some reason I thought it was kove.  Wrapping Colt's part!

Fair enough.  They were determined if nothing else, and it confirmed that it was in fact the same pack who had dwelt there before.  Colt didn't recognize any from the fight, but this meant nothing.

He didn't have anything else to add, so simply turned to follow Towhee, wondering inwardly what course they would choose to take with this information.

Given how much has changed since this started, and RHC moved, just gonna close it up.

Whether or not they Kove takes their words for what they are, the Redhawks have turned to leave. They don’t have enough wolves to pursue after them so she shoots the leader a glance for instruction and met with retreat. The other wolves have little interest in an attack right here, even though they outnumber she and Kove. But she takes it as a win, for now... until they return with reinforcements. Shivali licks her lips and when the others are out of sight, finally takes her leave.