Blacktail Deer Plateau And the two of us went up in smoke

for anyone but perhaps @Lasher wants to inform?

Evening was falling, and Dante walked near the mountain's foot, looking up at the expanse of stone.  He went with confidence, but was alert, as he'd taken to stepping up his warden game since returning.  Not only did the urge to protect increase, but it was convenient.  If his rest was to be troubled, exhausting himself with circuits of the lands and frequent hunting trips was enough to at least attempt sleep.  He could feel the stress that kept him tight as a bowstring, humming and ever present.

As he walked, he knew he was approaching the burned portion, and kept on.  Despite the ache he felt when he passed through, he had hardened himself.  The scar seared into the platea's forest offered a place of potential intrusion with the strong scent of fire that still lingered.  He had strengthened the borders, but still passed often, staring expressionlessly at the ashen expanse.

This time he stopped before entering, and looked at the line that divided the dead from the living. Thank the gods there had been rain, for things could have been so much worse.

he had not sought out the greyscale man, believing rightfully that he had been in need of a well-earned rest. and so the beta had kept to his everyday rites and routine, though each day he searched for peregrine's scent, or that of fox, in his remaining rage wishing to put paid to them. and yet, lasher knew that he must speak with dante of what had happened to junior.

at the border between the land of of ash and that of verdant green, he found the alpha. sidling alongside him, the beta cast a brief glance at his fellow leader, but was silent. if the man wished to speak, he would do so; they would reside in companionable quietude until then.

For a long while after Lasher joined him, Dante remained quiet. The peace of the forest, and of the still ruin that lay beside it, lay a silence about that was neither awkward nor uncomfortable. The benign calm gave no clue of the raging inferno that had caused it, or the panic that night had held.

He had no desire to speak on that, nor of what had transpired on his end those days he was absent. So he would not. He did finally break the silence, the tone neutral as he delivered an inquiry that instead would focus on what the plateau had faced these past weeks. "Is all well?" After they were spoken, he turned to look at Lasher, truly studying him for perhaps the first time since his return as he awaited an answer.

dante's question went unanswered for a moment as lasher gathered his thoughts, and with effort he turned toward the man. "all is well here. i have not seen harlyn or shar-kali, but neither have i found their bodies." there was a perceptible tremble to his lips that perhaps the silver man could see, but taltos breathed a sigh and began in as straightforward a manner as he could muster.

"i followed a herd of deer into the valley, and came across peregrine in the shared lands. he told me that junior had come to him and gained entry into the caldera by deception and tried to kill one of his new brood. he slaughtered her, as did his wolves, i believe."

his jaw tensed and he was forced to look aside, but a single tear escaped his control.

Dante nodded when he spoke of their packmates.  He had sensed no sign in Mordecai that Harlyn was in peril, and unless he was mistaken, he would have.  Shar Kali was worrying, though she hadn't seemed the type to keep close to others here.  She was also a survivor, age and experience lending her wisdom.  Hopefully she was fine.

His next words though threatened to take the breath from his lungs, and effectively wiped all other thought away.  Junior.... gone?  He thought back to that day, their spar.  Had it been so long ago?  What had possessed her to return there, when he had thought she had finally written off her father's failures?

As with many things, he internalized, and instead of dwelling on the painful rage that threatened within, he connected to another occurrence.  One that provoked even more ire.  "So that was it then.  Without even attempting to rescind his offer to Saena, he would allow her to be killed for her sister's actions.  He would invite her into his land like a lamb to slaughter.  And all without a single ounce of forewarning."  The words fell like steel, and his fur rose threateningly with each quiet utterance.

Even if he believed Junior's death excused, this crime was enough to damn the man in Dante's eyes.  He didn't deserve to be a father.  Had he even tried to spare her? Or had they gone straight for the kill?  He thought he knew.  Peregrine had made his choice clear... Every day he failed to visit, every time he'd sought others but not them.  In fact, it had been clear the instant he had left and not asked them to accompany him.  Not even given them the decency of a goodbye.

Out with the old, in with the new.  If he'd had any doubts, Saena's treatment simply confirmed it.

His disgust rising, he took a few steps away from Lasher, fighting to contain it.  Look to the living, and leave the dead where they lay.  There was no helping her now.  "She needs to know what happened.  Someone needs to tell her."  He finally finished, softly.  It should have been relatively clear whom he was referring to.  What she would do with that information, though... that was yet to be seen.

saena. his heart tripped a beat as he grasped the implications of what dante had spoken -- the evil within peregrine's heart knew no bounds. "fox attempted to slaughter her. he would not have stopped the woman," he whispered in horror, his gaze falling to the loam before him. the devil had abandoned his children long before this -- he simply never believed that it would have come to murder, much less that of a girl who had once called him father.

tears threatened to well in his eyes -- he thought of eilidh, of constantine, of casmir. could he slay one of them? for any reason? let peregrine think him weak -- lasher was not a kin-killer. his teeth clicked together as his jaw tensed.

"i can make the trek, in a few days' time, dante," he offered. no doubt it would be harrowing upon his ageing body, but better he than another. "in your absence i doubled our patrols. i did not say what had happened, but i did order that peregrine and fox be slain on sight. i do not think that they will come here, however. they seem content to keep to their murderous part of the country."

Dante knew it had to be one of them to deliver it.  Someone who knew Saena, who had known them both.  "Either you or I.  I can make the trip this time as well."  Perhaps both should go.  She would likely not take the news well, and while he did not think she would turn ire towards them one bit, he wasn't sure from whom the delivery would be better recieved.

"Thank you." He had not planned on ordering such.. just the opposite, in actuality.  Most members here would know nothkng of this situation and harbor none of the anger they had.  If they failed to do anything but drive Fox and Peregrine from their immediate borders, Dante cared not.  They would find no punishment from him.  But he also knew that he would not spare them, nor any of their kin.  Even if Finley showed up, he doubted he could stop himself.  This, atop everything else, had him in a state he had not felt in a long time.  An awakening of a side of him he had long thought gone.  And he had long feared return.  Now, however, he felt none of that fear.

"So long as they stay there, I intend to avoid the south, and I trust you will as well." He knew not of Lasher's plans for revenge, but he knew well his own inability to let this go, and figured the other similar. "If they come here, we can attack without restraint. But to go there could incite them to bring conflict here. And I would not expose your children to that." They were growing, yes, but still not enough that Dante would bring them war. Never enough for that.

"nor would i," lasher responded quietly, stung anew by peregrine's insinuation that he was weak. but junior must be avenged. were taltos the sort to target the innocent, he would devise a way to carry out junior's murderous intentions, but the devil's children were innocent. all of them. cruelly he predicted that once they had gotten to an age, they would be forced from the nest and tossed aside in favour of a new brood, and such would the cycle continue until peregrine and fox passed their childbearing years, or succumbed to death.

he was silent for a long series of moments; the man nodded. "i will guard our gates if you go, dante," lasher answered. for a seething moment, he remembered how he had felt strongly toward the silver man -- perhaps the feeling remained, though buried beneath the pain they had suffered.

and so he did not proffer a touch -- he allowed the alpha the space he had put between them. dante's words were a vaguely veiled insistence that he provoke no wolf of the caldera, and lasher intended not to go there again -- himself. jaw tensed, he remained as he was, for the other's words, or a dismissal.

He knew after he spoke them his words were perhaps harshly given, and were he of a mind to do so, likely he would have tempered their delivery.  But he was not.  Lasher's confirmation recieved a nod.  He hadn't expected the other would wish such a thing, but he had done his own part by confirming it.  And he would tell the rest as well.  Some were new, and though they had little to do with the bad feelings that brewed, their wanderins in that area could be seen as attempts by him to antagonize.  He would not allow this either.

"Thank you.  I will not go immediately, but soon."  And with a final glance at the male, he departed at a swift pace towards the mountainside.  He did not reach for contact either, choosing to withdraw instead.  He would gather what needed to be said and then call a meeting, hoping some of their more absent number would appear as well as any gained while he was gone.

and Dante out XD

<3

he watched as the silver man departed, his lips tensing into a grim line. they would heal, he believed, in time, but peregrine's life must not be made comfortable. he had slain a wolf of the plateau, taltos' mind insisted as he moved in the opposite direction, and hatred began to burn again hotly within his veins.

poor, abandoned junior.