Moonspear Road kill has its seasons

An ear flick of a command was given, unnecessary though it was; her sister had read her mind, and soon all were upon them at once. Gannet suffered, which he ought to. Wrong place, wrong time for him. It occurred to her that Lyra had called Rannoch a liar; she had missed, entirely, what he had said whilst in the fray and dealing with an imminent attack. Lyra and Alya both had stayed Gannet's hand, and her gaze panned toward the features of Rannoch. He was an open book. Her father snapped at him, and Hydra felt disdain for the boy who sought to keep the peace in a situation where a child had died basically before their eyes. No scent of Redhawk upon her? Did he think that was the only way? Did he think Redhawk needed to be the wolves who set the wheels of this event in motion? 

Whatever it was, Rannoch was trying to defend, and not Galaxy. Hydra recognized that, and she was certain her father had, too—it must have been why he had snapped. 

She regarded her mother. Alya, Lyra, and I arrived to see the wolf fleeing and Galaxy on the ground. When Lyra got to her, she was dead—Alya and I set after him when Gannet intervened. Hydra looked down at the wolf beneath them. Gannet made to say something then, and Hydra recognized that he was fading from the pain. Dirge observed this as well; Hydra had not known that he was here, but when her gaze fell upon him, she felt a great measure of relief. 

Korei's loud cry of pain was met with her head snapping in her direction. She was still hovering over Galaxy, and alone, and Hydra felt anger that their sister would act such a way in this moment—make it about her. Her gaze fell to Rannoch. He was a good man—he would be able to assist her best in these times. And she did not want Korei Julia to be alone in her grief—she would most certainly do something moronic. Rannoch also wanted to be a mentor, and he knew a thing or two about grief... who better to help her? Rannoch, she sought his gaze, Will you take her away from Galaxy...? And talk to her...? She felt bad to ask him this, but truly, there was no better man for the request than him.

Last post from Rannoch!

For the first time in his tenure at Moonspear, Rannoch was faced with Charon's fury. Quickly, instinct kicked in, and Rannoch adjusted his posture accordingly. He dropped his body to the snow-covered ground, tucked his tail, lowered his ears, and averted his eyes to appease the dominant male; he had been naive to not expect anger from the news he had given Charon. 

Rannoch remained frozen on the spot as he watched the conflict unfurl. As new details came from the woodwork, he found himself growing increasingly uncomfortable with how it was playing out. The wolves of Redhawk Caldera were being met with violence and fury— a less than ideal setting for the questioning of Gannet's involvement with Galaxy's death. Though Rannoch understood where the anger was coming from, he couldn't help but question the manner in which the leadership presented themselves; he longed for civility, knowing that violence would get them nowhere. 

In the midst of his conflicted thoughts, Rannoch was brought to attention by Korei's wail. He looked over his shoulder in the direction that the cry and come from, and he frowned deeply. It was as he turned back to the group that he caught Hydra's gaze. Instantly, Rannoch nodded and felt relieved to have an excuse to leave; he had grown uncomfortable to be at the forefront of the interrogation. 

Without another word, Rannoch turned from the gathered wolves and set off to where Korei Julia lingered. He moved quickly, as he knew that time was of the essence, and it did not take him long to arrive at the scene. When he did, Rannoch slid alongside the pale wolf and nudged her. "Come on, Korei," he urged, seeking her tear-filled eyes with caution. "We gotta get you away from here, let's go." Understandably, Koeri did not move initially, and instead lingered with her gaze set on her deceased sister. Rannoch would work on moving her to a better location, as he knew that lingering would not do her well. 

"It'll be okay," he promised, and yet, Rannoch had a feeling that it would not be okay.

A lot happened at once and Charon was still trying to process the fact that his daughter was dead. He wanted someone to hang for this, anyone at this point — he just wanted justification and revenge for Galaxy, his beautiful little girl, who had had so much growing to do. They'd saved her from death's grasp once miraculously, but what did any of that mean if she were to die here and now after all? It was blatantly unfair, all of it, and there was no place for sadness right now as his grief manifested in pure anger.

The Redhawk didn't respond — he seemed unconscious, actually — but Hydra did, who managed to stay calm and calculated despite it all (a trait clearly inherited from her mother). 'Gannet' was presumably the Redhawk wolf they'd caught. Dirge said that he'd wanted to say something but it was too late now.

Meanwhile Rannoch took Julia away. Charon was glad that Hydra took control of instructing the other wolves, since he didn't much feel like doing so himself. The only thing he decided was about Gannet: "Bring him somewhere and guard him. When he comes to we'll ask him questions and then decide whether he gets to go home based on the answers." He looked at Ame, his gaze still hardened and not showing any of the pain he felt, mirrored in her icy words and angry stance, though he imagined she felt much the same pain as he on the inside.

A wolf didn't kill Galaxy.

She had only barely begun to process that her harmless daughter was dead, and this sent her tipping into dissonance. No scent, no blood, no real answers and Amekaze felt the frustration boil instantly. How was this so?

Her teeth were barred and she watched more of this unfold. Between Rannoch and Charon, the triplets and the fading Redhawk, and with Korei's scream of anguish, Amekaze's head spun as the seconds prior to her arrival were detailed too. This was fucked.

She refocused when Hydra sent Rannoch to Korei.. and this was best, unless he fancied the ends of Charon's teeth any more than what he had chanced already. Amekaze hoped he would, especially if Korei was going to struggle with that. None of them, all ready to speak with violence, were going to make her feel better in the way she needed. "I will take care of Galaxy," the mother added more delicately than her earlier orders although her bitterly cold fury remained. Just so they knew she'd be seen to, and that Ame would take a look at her herself.

Although there hung the temptation to go streaking off into the wilds to chase the runaway down herself.

With that halfway in mind, the dark alpha returned her glare to the pale Redhawk, their brand new detainee whether they liked it or not. In his shape, surely pained, he didn't have any choice. She didn't expect much use out of him right now and felt no sympathy. To further solidify Charon's decree of interrogating him later when he had his wits about him, she nodded and added: "Keep him somewhere I do not have to see him, if he lives.." to the triplets and her mate before she set off to regroup enough to go collect the corpse of her daughter. She didn't care what they did to him at the moment. He might not have been their main suspect considering the one that got away, but he was better than nothing.

Alya was operating on autopilot - Hydra's voice and cues took charge, and Alya sank back into the furthest reaches of her mind. There was a lot going on, and she couldn't afford to process it while she was needed here. So she held fast to Gannet until he went limp, and when that duty was done, she hovered near Hydra, an automaton awaiting direction.

Words echoed past her, only sinking in when they applied to her directly. Amekaze's command rang through her mind, and she readied herself to carry out the order, tracing Hydra's figure out of the corner of her eye.

Charon couldn't be more grateful that Amekaze said she would deal with the body. He wished he could pretend this had never happened really, if he had the chance, but such luxuries he did not presently possess. Ears cupped forward as she said they should take him somewhere, the Redhawk boy. The command was directed at their daughters, loosely at him, though Charon paid it little mind; he trusted his three daughters to take care of it.

Numbly he hovered the scene a bit longer, casting a disgusted look at the Redhawk wolf -- and secretly hoping that he didn't live -- before he made himself scarce to find Vela. To tell her the news of her sister's death, but most of all to make sure that she was still safe.

Whatever Gannet had tried to say, it had been cut off by a strangled scream. Lyra quickly released her grip upon his leg but felt no remorse for what she had done. He deserved it. He and his kind were as good as guilty and his conviction had already begun. Charon seemed to be in agreement as he snarled at Rannoch before shouting at Gannet, and his daughter looked up with a satisfied smirk upon her blood-stained lips. Dirge's comment was only met with a cursory glance from Lyra, who then turned back to the man who seemed to have been subdued for the moment. She simmered, thinking that he didn't deserve a chance to plead his innocence to herself but she would stand by whatever Hydra and her parents decided.

As her sister filled in their mother on what had transpired, Lyra began to inspect her own handiwork, realising with disgust that now she would have to treat him. The bite mark had been deep and blood seeped from the wound by the gallon. She sighed inwardly, watching out of the corner of her eye as Rannoch was instructed to go tend to Korei, noting the irritated undertones in Hydra's voice.

At Amekaze's announcement, her own voice a stark contrast to her vindictive words only moments ago, Lyra looked to her with a fire flickering behind her gaze. "I also want to take a look over her, if you'll allow," she said quietly. Even though she was the pack's medic and Galaxy was her sister, she felt it was only right to ask permission. It was a sensitive subject, and her parents were grieving. The reality hadn't hit her yet, but emotions still ran high — she wanted to have solid evidence to prove this was Redhawk's doing.

That would have to be later, however, as the task of moving Gannet was given to the triplets. With a nod to her sisters, the three then began to drag the Redhawk boy into Moonspear territory where he would be their captive.

His interrogation couldn't come soon enough.