Stavanger Bay The murdered Red Herring

At the borders, of course.

Palisander heard about their Póilín at the family meeting and how she was murdered. Though they didn't get off on the right foot Palisander never met her any harm and just saw her as his sister he could annoy. That she was murdered was quite the shock for the newly formed pack. Especially for Palisander who did not condone violence at all. Alas, it happened and perhaps their neighboring packs knew about it.

He went to the Depths first seeing they were the closest. The agouti male trotted up to a respectful distance at their border and howled for anyone to greet him. He knew they weren't familiar with him but they were familiar with his family so he didn't think that he would run into much problems.

Is it alright if we set this before the birthing thread?

The scent of Teaghlaigh alerted her to the other's presence before anything else. On a good day, she caught whiffs of their coywolf friend on the wind, but never so strong as she could smell him, now. At once, the dusky shewolf's tail began to wag, and she set off toward the borders with thoughts of Furiosa in her head. Though she and Szymon had decided against taking her as a second wife, Doe still held the woman in high esteem. She was mother, a woman of experience, and Doe was rather partial to her kisses.

However, it was not the pale, warrior queen on her borders, but an agouti male that Doe had never met before.

"Hail, brother," she said at length, drawing attention to her presence and moving forward to greet the stranger. He was not someone she knew, but he was her family all the same. "What brings you to the bay?"

Of course! :)

Palisander waited patiently but did not have to wait long before he was met with a female. He pushed himself to his feet. His blood orange eyes were on here the moment he spotted movement. He was not sure if she was pregnant or not. Curious. Especially in winter. Palisander decided not to comment on it. It didn't seem his business. The charming male quirked up his lips in greeting. "Goodday, I'm Palisander of Teaghlaigh which you probably smelled," he explained to her.

The agouti male stepped closer now he was greeted, he was a confident lad though not disrespectful in his movement. "I bring grave news. Furiosa has been murdered on our borders. I've been send out to investigate," he explained to her. "Let me clarify that you are not under investigation. I came here for investigation purposes hoping you might know something about who could have murdered her." He was clueless to the fact that Furiosa had been close to this pack.

Whoops. Doe is not pregnant (though her teats are very noticeably saggy) - another wolf was and Doe will be indisposed with the pups for a little bit, now.

The dusky woman's tail whisked in acknowledgement as he mentioned Arturo's pack. She had known, but she was glad to be introduced to him all the same. She knew, of course, that it was conventional to offer one's own name in response to such a introduction, but Doe rarely remembered to see to that formality. It never seemed like quite the right moment.

She tried this time, though. "Hello, Palisander; I am Doe," she chirped, tail wagging once more - but all levity ended when the wolf's next words fell from his mouth. Doe listened long enough to understand that Furiosa was dead before all else lost meaning to her. Like when Qilaq had crushed Hind's grandaughter under her paw, the red woman felt an unpleasant twinge in her chest, low in her belly. Her face visibly fell, and she stared helplessly at the strange male, unable to male sense of the garbled string of words that followed.

"Osa is dead?" she repeated, her voice shrunken from a chirp to a whisper.

Whooops! Sorry! I edited it!

He was greeted by the female and as he was telling his story it seemed that the female visibly grew upset. If he knew he had been close he might not have been so formal about it but alas he did not know and gave the other an apologetic glance.

"Yes. Murdered,"he spoke, confirming it once more. He was not really that good with these things. He needed information, not a pity session as harsh as that sounded. "I can imagine you are hurt right now by the news. But do you know anything about her past or someone she was running from? Perhaps we can find the killer and give her justice."

Doe knew very little about Furiosa. They're shared together an evening and nothing more. Words had been exchanged, of course, but it'd pertained to the here and now, as most of Doe's conversations tended to. As this conversation surely would; for Doe could cobble together very little about past events.

What she knew was the idea of Furiosa. A warrior. A raging sea. A mother.

"I don't know," she said softly. And then, "She was a mother."

She'd felt so strong and alive that evening in Stone Den, and the memory of her had lingered long after her scent had disappeared. Doe would miss the comfort that the woman's promise had brought to her thus far. That she could be summoned, if the red woman had need of her.

"Will you take me to where she was killed?" asked the dusky shewolf, the words sounding like a request but the sharpness in her voice making it a demand. "I want to know the scent of her killer." Perhaps it was the same wolf that'd injured her Shadow.

Palisander was rather confused about the other's words. She was a mother? As in she was pregnant? Then he decided that perhaps it was a way of describing her. He saw her as a sister, but he could see her as the mother role of all, after all she made it into the upper ranks of the pack. Right under Arturo.

After a brief pause the female requested from him to see the place where she was killed. "It was at our borders. Feel free to walk back with me," he offered to her. "Perhaps Arturo can tell you more about her death. He found her. I could escort you to him," he spoke to her. After all they had a good bond so Palisander decided to live up to that.

"Please," said Doe, desiring that she not be left alone on the walk to Teaghlaigh. Already, she could feel her grasp on reality becoming tenuous, thin. Being away from Szymon, the sea, their pack - it did something to her, and she feared she might lose herself if left to wander on her own.

Focused as she was on keeping her memories in order, Doe did not hear the rest of what Palisander said. She had already begun walking, at any rate, and events were likely to unfold with or without her verbal input. Perhaps Arturo would speak to her, and perhaps he would not. Likely, his words would fall on deaf ears.

The forest was not far from her home, but it seemed to take an eternity to reach the borders. The scent of Furiosa had already gone dead and stale, though it was still strong in many places. It made her heart ache to witness this, and though vengence burned in her belly, she had little desire to visit the place where the woman had been slain.

Still, she would know the scent of her enemy.

"Where did it happened?" Doe whispered, looking around for the male for the first time since accepting his invitation to walk her to the woods. Had he actually accompanied her?

Palisander looked at the other and nodded. He turned towards his home, being a escort for her. Palisander didn't mind. The male liked to think he made females feel save around him. He wondered what went through the female. She was clearly more affected than that he was. The male glanced at her to the side when she spoke. "It happened at our borders," he explained to her. "Arturo found her body there," he added.

He started to gear up the pace, expecting her to follow. The male did make sure to check if she didn't keep the same pace. "In a few miles we are at our borders," he explained to her. Then she could inspect the scene for herself, because that was what she wanted. When they reached the murder scene he only looked at her and let her inspect the ground. The body was gone, buried, but there were some lingering scents. Palisander wasn't sure of whom.

There was not much to see - no gore, certainly. It wasn't what she'd excpected, but then, she hadn't been sure what she should expect. Not this, she thought, but nothing else.

Mechanically, her paws took her onto the scene, and she dipped her head to whuffle at the forest floor. The lingering scent of blood overpowered most of the evidence, filling up her nostrils like a cloying perfume. Doe gave a forceful sneeze and then went back to her task, determined to find the scent of the killer. It took her some time to sort through the traces left by Arturo and the rest of his pack, but finally, she was sure that she would know the killer should they ever meet. Not the same wolf that'd attacked her Shadow, she noted. Doe didn't know if she prefered that or the alternative.

"Thank you," she said to Palisander, dipping her head in his direction. "If I ever encounter the cur, he'll pay for this is blood."

Without another word, she turned and headed away - back to the Bay, ostensibly.

Palisander let her inspect the grounds and then nodded towards her in return when she was done. "Any time. Hopefully it will give you some peace," he offered to her before she left. Palisander would report back to @Arturo that he had spoken with this female and showed her their border. They had another ally with finding the murderer. It made Palisander feel like he helped out, greatly.

- end -

Thank you for the thread! <3