Shadewood Incoming Turbulence

For @Cry. Set immediately after this thread.

Chai had slipped away, back into the darkness of the forest. She wanted to be alone. She wanted to be here less and less. So then, what had stopped her from bursting past those borders, never to return again? Fear of punishment? Of looking weak, or worse, being labeled a traitor?

Clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth, she kicked a spindly twig out of her way as she neared her den - a hole dug out between two mighty roots of an ancient tree. She really was soft. Too soft...maybe even weak. But oh how she hated how the other women were coddled just because they were pregnant! They were still wolves. They still had the same teeth, the same fierceness, if not more so, as the males. They...they could still take care of themselves! She didn't want to be restricted, to be kept away from the borders like she should just because she was a woman! She might be soft, but she wouldn't break. Settling outside the entrance to her den, she curled up tightly...almost defensively and began gnawing on an old bone, her frustrations splintering in fragments beneath her teeth.

Only after he and Reiner had seen to the trespasser being dealt with did he seek to hunt Chai down. It was clear, he mulled as he took careful and quiet steps through the winding pathways of the jungle forest, that she was trouble. Yet the reason she was, the Phantom surmised, was because she was troubled. Troubled from not knowing expectations, or perhaps what new laws were going to be placed for them to function, to survive. Such ignorance was what led revolts, frustration. The Keep Watcher would not allow such to come to past. 

He knew where her den lie as soon as a ‘click, crunch, huff’ registered over his auds- the haste in pace soon followed. His target was soon before him, and without zeal, he appeared before her too. His voice, an unsullied wave of ocean pulling a considerable tide with it. “Chai, what frustrates you.” He wanted to hear the truth from her own lips, pulled from her own mind.

It almost seemed like he was everywhere. That he was the very essence of the shadows themselves that weaved through this forest. He was one of the last wolves she wanted to see right now. Though, it was nothing personal of course.

Chai tensed visibly when Cry appeared, seeming to materialize out of nowhere with the greatest of ease. Her jaw tightened around the ivory leg bone (likely of a deer) she had been chewing on. One final crack resounded beneath her grinding teeth, glacial eyes locked intently - but not harshly, upon her leader. Why had he sought her out? To lecture her...or worse? 

Instead he asked her a question. Why she was troubled. Silence was all he received as an answer, for several dragging seconds. Her tail flicked nervously by her heels, while she debated with herself if she should face him and his questions, or hole herself back up in her den. Even if she did, Chai doubted he'd leave her in peace. "I am only frustrated with myself. Disgusted." She said simply, cloaking her real feelings. If he or anyone else thought she would come right out and say that this place and even his own foreboding change had put her on edge, then they were sorely mistaken.

“I believe you.” It came out perfectly, a soft courting of ease to her ‘disgust’. The assassin knew nothing more than lies and desiccation, of deceit and death. He could only offer such in his profession. 

“But I am not disgusted with you. Nor am I frustrated with you.” It came out boldly, yet his murmur was just that. Bold, but soft. “We are wolves- we all make mistakes. But when given the chance to learn from them, should they not kill us, we need to heed them while we can.” His icelandic stare dived directly for her own, auds struck as direct as a clock chime on her in case words might follow. 

“I know there is much more to you than some might think. I only ask you prove it not just to yourself, but to both me, and this Family of ours.”

Mutely she stared up at him. Clashing eyes of similar but very different shades of blue locked with one another. Strange... She had seen so many wolves with blue eyes in recent weeks. Atticus...Cry, and now Gwen and the stranger she left at their borders. It had to be a silly coincidence.

Her shoulders tensed and then fell with the heave of a soft sigh. He wasn't angry...not even disgusted. That offered her some relief in knowing that. But the turmoil in herself hadn't quite settled yet. "You are right...I see that. I just...I was only trying to do what I thought was the right thing." 

She shuffled up to her haunches, to show he had her true attention now. Her posture was more open...more conversationalist. "...Sometimes I just don't think. I've...always thought of others before myself." Her eyes dropped to his black paws. "I didn't mean to jeopardize the family in any way, back there." And to be sure his words had not gone unheeded, she added "I guess I should start by thinking more with my head, than just with my heart, first."

He listened- one of the many things he had honed to an absolutely lethal point. And once his time for listening was done, his mind processed a reply as quick as silence settling through a freshly fell plain of snow. However, as any hunter, he allowed the silence to marinate, to give the comfort of nothingness, of well trained thought to those who's mind's were cross, chaos, aflurry with mess and incontent stirrings. He gave Chai the ease of him thinking, of him mulling over this presentation as though it had struck him dearly....when in all realiy, his answer had ripened moments prior.

"From every waking moment to every ounce of rest, there is no 'I', Chai. Not in my mind. Every day, I strive to better 'us'. Not myself. From your narrative of priority, you are rigt, yet you simply picked the wrong side of the fence. Now, you know how better the situation. It is us who watch your back and ensure we hunt for the totality of this Family. Whoever he was- he is nothing until these woods prove him otherwise."

This time she had nothing to say in return. His message was clear, and in her pale eyes, it showed that she understood. She was in a pack now, part of it. She could no longer afford to think only of herself. There were others to consider first. Her thoughts drifted to Zodiac only briefly. She nor anyone else knew what kind of man he was. Time would tell. And if he proved a threat to the Keep, would be chased out. Chai couldn't imagine the more extreme option; execution.

Beneath her thick fur, she felt the tension in her muscles begin to slip away. Cautiously, she took a tiny mental step and opened up to her onyx leader. She dared to meet his eyes, seeking what emotions lie in their depths. "Cry...thank you for being so patient. I...appreciate it." She tore her eyes away, looking pointedly into the distance. "It's just...it feels odd being in a pack again. Not that I don't want it...I'm still adjusting, I think." Memories of her family clouded her thoughts, vying with those of the present matter. Her almost mistake and effort to help (though blindly) felt all too familiar of many a time back home.

wrapping this up so we can catch up! XD

He nodded at her explaination, understanding her inability as well as he understood everything about himself. “If there is something I know well, it is the life and customs of a loner. I do not fault you. But I will be expecting your change to come soon enough.”

And with that, he departed her peace, returning to the swallow of shadows.