Stone Circle With his gun, with his head held high

takes place after the meeting with Leta. Valette made him join BTS

Arlette watched as her mother left and told her to introduce the newcomer to Easthollow grounds. She wondered where to begin. She glanced at @Kaito. Her introduction to the male had been... interesting to say the least. However, after finding out that the young male knew about healing Arlette had been eager to know more about him. Her aunt Nanook had told her that the art of healing and medicine would be something for her. This male, who was not bad to look at, could be the one that teaches her. She had not really informed him of that. Only that she was interested in herbs but didn't have the opportunity to study it yet.

The girl smiled softly at him. "Okay, follow me," she spoke. She kind of wanted to show the showstopper of the territory first, their stone circle. But she decided against it, then he might not want to stay if he would see everything else would be boring. She showed him the field with the bison, and a hint of the stone circle. She told him about the fields and the dangerous beasts they hunted. "But before we go to Stone Circle, I will show you the forest," she stated and showed him a hint of a smile, tail wagging gently. She couldn't help but keep being flustered as she was not used to having a male her age that wasn't related to her.

Arlette turned into the forest. She looked around to what she could show him. Oh! Of course the river! She trotted next to him, she wasn't tall so she didn't take big steps. "The river. Lots of moss. Mom told me moss is handy for when someone is sick and needs water," she spoke, looking at him to see if her mother info was correct. She hopped gracefully onto a stone and then onto the other bank of the stream. She wondered if Kaito was going to stumble once more. She giggled softly at the sight.

"Further up is the clearing where most wolves sleep, with the alpha den, to the east of it more to the stream," she explained and continued on to the clearing. She automatically trotted to one of the trees with big roots around its base. "I usually sleep here," she spoke, and blushed deeply, not really knowing why she would tell him that or why he would need that info. "But I guess that is not really info that is useful for you," she muttered softly.

Greyback watched from the treeline as Valette handled the boy's entrance. He was young, seemed to be around the same age of Arlette, and awfully lanky. The features reminded him of a baby bird, one to not quite steady on it's feet, judging as how the lad stumbled about.

Greyback had never been keen on letting males join the hollow. He knew those not connected by family blood would eventually get testy in spring, leading to several situations he would rather not talk about. Especially to his daughters..And with spring around the corner Greyback was adamant about keeping that way. He would watch the pair, keeping out of sight until they reached the river where Arlette commented on her sleeping quarters.

It was then that the male chose to make himself known with a distinguished clearing of his throat and a tip of his head. "Of course it isnt," he quipped, stalking towards the boy with a face of stone. Arlette had always been like a daughter to him, and as far as he was concerned—she was. He wasn't going to let this newcomer infect her.

"Greyback," He greeted, exchanging his name. "I am Arlette's father, I see that my mate has allowed you entrance into our pack. What might your name be?"

In many ways, Easthollow reminded Kaito of Chandor. The forests, the rivers, the field that roamed for miles and miles. They even had a mountain! Or, at least, were even bordered by one. Arlette had yet to show him that, but he wondered if they had a place like Raptor's Roost, where they could brave the slopes and come away with treasures collected from the nests of eagles and hawks. He'd always admired the feathers his mother wore -- one of which had been his father's.

As it was, the trees resounded with a different sort of birdsong - gentle, yet full - and he found the chorus beautiful, just as he found all the land Arlette showed him beautiful, in all its simplicity. The trees that seemed stamped into this forest, one after another, a maze he only hoped he'd one day learn to solve. The easy trickle of the water over the smoothed out river rocks. The soft sound of Arlette's voice, when she spoke to him of moss, and healing -- to which he risked a lift of his gaze from the root-strewn ground, and smiled, bright and excited by the topic she proposed, "Oh, yeah! You can definitely use moss for that! Or, I've even heard of some wolves who strip the trees of their bark and use that to scoop the water up to carry to their sick."

He returned his eyes to the ground, for they had reached the river, and he followed after his guide with a new sort of smile on his face, paying close attention to where he put his feet, though his mind roamed elsewhere. "Or -- oof! -- you can also -- use moss -- to cool down -- a fever," he huffed with each bound (which were filled with exaggerated energy, a by-product of his heightened sense of self-awareness). He furrowed his brow and stuck out his tongue, like he always did without knowing whenever he focused real hard on something he thought was very important to get right, but both these faded when he reached the other side and caught the tail end of her giggle, to which he smiled at Arlette as his stomach did flip flops inside. "Did you know that?" he asked, as she led him further on.

It didn't help, that she seemed a little torn for words herself now. He was just about to take a look closer at the spot she'd led him to when she mentioned that was her bed, and though he laughed at her stumble about her sleeping quarters (as he himself stumbled a little bit away), he couldn't help the slick of his ears, or the nervous grin that plastered across his face. "Yeah -- well, heh, at least now -- " but whatever he had been saying was lost to a new voice, deep and unfamiliar, that peeled from the shadows, and Kaito turned around.

His eyes fell on massive legs, and when he tipped back, a massive chest. Huge, and grey. And only when he tipped his head waaaay back, only then could he see the face of the other, who wasted no time to reveal that this was Arlette's father, oh shoot, her father. And he did not look happy.

Kaito's face flexed into an instinctive look of confusion and intimidation, and he looked to Arlette with a flash of concern before he realized Greyback could see every expression that so easily played across his face. The boy flexed in lips into a nervous smile, but inside he was screaming. How could this be Arlette's father? "Um, hello, Mister Greyback, sir. I -- uh, my name's Kaito," and he shuffled a paw against the ground, "Um, I was just about to say that, um -- that with Arlette's information, I can make sure that I take a den, you know," and he glanced aside, and cast his gaze to search outward around the clearing, "uh, well away from hers. As is, um, as is proper." And he nodded with that final word, certain the only den he'd be taking at this rate would be a grave in the ground.

Arlette eagerly took in the new information about moss. She quickly replied to him that she hadn't know and that she would remember it. She couldn't help but beam a smile at him. And to think that she judged him so wrongly. Kaito had been really kind and friendly so far. Arlette had no clue that she had been followed by her father. She had been oblivious to it, hello, she had a handsome boy paying attention to her. The last thing she would think of was her father!

When she heard his deep tones she turned around with a smile. Always when she would meet her father or when he would join the conversation it was always pleasant. However, her smile faded a bit at his expression. She had never really seen him so strict. Her eyes fell on Kaito who looked like he was sweating. She realized that outside of the borders even she had made him sweat a little bit. Arlette felt sorry for Kaito. Plus, if Greyback was being too tough on him then he might not want to teach her. She had to intervene, especially now her thoughts were thinking about being curled up against the male at night. The weather had been cold lately.

"Dad!," she beamed with big red eyes. She hoped that would soften him a little bit. "Kaito is going to teach me about medicine and how to be a healer. Then I can help the pack even more, just like aunt Nanook suggested! Thanks to him I can become a healer. Isn't it great?," she smiled, she had not really told him that plan but she guess now he would. She had told him she was interested in herbs but not her complete plan. Plus that was an excellent excuse to spend more time with the male. Little did she know that her father just accepted Blondine in the ranks who also knew about healing.

Greyback watched as both Arlette and the boy turned around to face him. Arlette's eyes were wide as always, the striking red gaze cutting through everything. He had long since gotten used to the sight, having no longer been unsettled by it as he did in her puphood. Her reaction did little to faze him, the boy however—his reaction was priceless.

A feeling deep down in the patriarch was satisfied having seen the boy nearly pee himself on the spot. In front of Arlette. As much as Greyback wanted to smirk back he willed himself not to do so, and continued to look down with composure that fit his title. "Kaito. I'll commit it to memory."

He turned to Arlette after that, his gaze slightly softening. Damn her looking like her mother, he could never be so stern in front of his daughter in law. "That's great, my dove. Im sure you will do well, especially with such a smart boy." Greyback spoke with emphasis on the last five words, an overly friendly smile painted over his face as he talked about the boy. It was more of a warning than a friendly remark, and the patriarch hoped the boy would pick up on it.

"I'm sure your mother will be proud to know her daughter is taking up an essential part to play in the pack. Let me know how your progress goes."

And with that he turned around and left from where he came.

He laughed, a singular, nervous laugh, when Greyback said he would remember his name. That should have been reassuring, only, with the Patriarch's chilling look of stone, the words hit Kaito more like some ominous utterance than anything of comfort. Kaito's ears splayed to the side, his uncertainty still quite evident on his face.

The only thing that shook him was what Arlette said in what he assumed was an effort to appease Greyback, but Kaito only turned his head to her with a lift of his brows. She had definitely not informed him - he was going to what? A flutter of both unease and excitement filled his stomach like some horde of moths, and when he turned his head in subtle question of what she was doing, he also flinched with a smile that in small part reflected the look on her face.

Greyback's words pulled him forward again.

The Patriarch might never know how his words stung the boy to his core, and made something rise in him he had never much felt before. It was a peculiar feeling, unpleasant, yet not wholly unwelcome, one which simmered in his chest like a swath of kindling first introduced to fire. He did not know that this feeling is what had driven his father for the first years of his life, through his exile, and through Duskfire, until the world and its sorrows had tempered him down, and his Icarus wings had touched the sun, and burned him out into the raging sea. Kaito had never touched the sun. He had hardly touched the sea, but in this moment he felt his wings unfurling.

Did Greyback think there was some reason to assume Arlette was in danger with him?

Nerves still held his face, but he procured a smile for Greyback that stretched a bit further than before, and his eyes glinted with that streak that had touched his father before him. "Don't worry, Mister Greyback. If your daughter's anything like my sisters, she'll hold her own with or without a smart boy to help her."

He allowed Arlette to have the final word, torn between dying inside or feeling elated as his thoughts skipped like a broken track over what he had just said to the Patriarch. Somehow quipping back didn't quite seem like the best way to win his favour...

Once Greyback was out of range, Kaito turned to his friend, and his smile dropped to a look of utter dishevelment. "That's your dad?!" he gawked under his breath, and he glanced over his shoulder before he continued, "Does he always do, you know... that to new people?" his voice cracked with his final word, and pressed through another laugh, the natural extension of his nerves. "Or was it, was that not normal? Frick! He looked like he wanted to kill me!"

Arlette perked up her ears when Greyback was kind to her and supportive of her decision to become a medic. She hoped that if she would do well that he would see Kaito was a big help in that department. Otherwise she might have gone to different packs to have to learn the skill. However, she did notice that Greyback had been far sharper than he ever had been. She wondered why, since he was normally always so kind. A friendly giant. With his final words he turned and Arlette was relieved that Greyback did give her some alone time with Kaito. She was an adult after all, she didn't need to be monitored like a pup.

She couldn't really blame Kaito for being shocked. Arlette's ears fell back in guilt. "I'm sorry, normally he isn't like this..." she admitted to him. The female had wondered why he was so intense towards Kaito. He had done nothing to spark such behavior. "He is the big friendly giant, you know, the main protector of the pack. He has been more on edge since my sister Leta was attack on our borders," she admitted and then offered him a soft smile. "I'm sure he will warm up to you," she curled her lips into a smile. She wanted to tell him that Greyback wasn't actually her biological dad but somehow, she wasn't sure if that was relevant really. She did seem him as her dad it didn't matter that she was not of his blood.

Arlette then flushed more deeply. "And uh... it is winter so I guess my mom and he... Always around this time he is more on edge... for some reason," she ended in a mumble. It was not just some reason she knew that but to talk about breeding and such things with Kaito... well... She decided that she wanted to say clear of that topic. "Don't worry. I am sure next time he will be kinder," she smiled trying to end this with a positive vibe. Though, she wasn't 100% sure if Kaito was willing to teach her anything after that with the fear of his father's wrath. "So um... Next stop on the tour then?," she asked tentatively, kind of expecting him to go off on his own after this.

Arlette explained, in an attempt to reassure, but she seemed... uncertain, and Kaito kept his eyes on the spot where Greyback had disappeared, his feelings still riled between hurt and understanding. Of course he didn't expect everyone to like him, but he, I dunno... at least expected everyone to give him a fair chance, like he always tried to give others. Like he should be giving Greyback, and he tried to reconcile his heart with Arlette's words. If Greyback was a protector, then perhaps he was just one like Nikolai. Hadn't he wanted to be a protector also? And he had been similar, in his coldness and severity. The only difference was that Nikolai was his brother, but perhaps, in what he had learned through living with him, he could make this work...

He blinked and frowned at the mention of Leta (his reactions slow, distracted as he was by the processing of everything else), and when he turned to inquire, Arlette had already continued on, carrying forward like this was news that everyone knew. Everyone but him -- yet he hesitated to ask, and instead, simply said, "I hope so."

Kaito didn't understand Arlette's sudden bashfulness, or the hidden weight behind the words she offered. He had, of course, learned about the rituals of spring, having lived through the season once before, but he failed to piece together what Arlette implied. There were many reasons for wolves to get testy around winter. "It could be hunger. Eating helps with a lot of things. Thinking straight, keeping emotions clear," he shrugged, and smiled, even though it made very little sense to right now, "I mean, you did say you just came through a famine."

At her suggestion, he nooded, with a "Yeah, of course!" Weird encounters could hardly dampen his day, and he began moving in the direction Arlette would direct. "Maybe we could see the mountains next. I was wondering -- " and he very nearly began sharing about his parents, their adventures -- stories he had never been able to share with anyone beyond his siblings -- when his face took the slightest frown, and instead let his question finally drop, " -- who... what happened with Leta?"

Arlette looked at Kaito for a moment to see if he was joking. However, it was soon clear that he was serious about Greyback perhaps being hangry and that was why he lashed out. Arlette was not sure she did agree with him, she had seen her parents during mating season, or well seen was a wrong way of putting it. They were both on edge when not together. "Maybe you are right," she just commented with a hint of a smile.

She dipped her head when he said that he want to see the mountain. However, then he asked about Leta. "Oh, yeah.. Well she was attacked on our border. She was there with mom even and there was this pale female with a black colored head... She just attacked myself sister who was only three months or so,' she explained while walking him to the mountain part. "It was very stressful for my parents, they thought they lost their child but luckily Leta lived," she assured Kaito. "Which you know because you met her," Arlette chuckled, remembered how she found Kaito.

He walked on with her, and listened, brows drawing closer the more and more Arlette explained. "Wow," he finally breathed, once he was sure Arlette was finished fitting all the pieces in place. No wonder Greyback had been so severe with him! Kaito knew he would never do anything to hurt anyone, but how would Greyback know? He was the stranger here, to Greyback and the pack, and trust... trust just didn't come to strangers like trust had come to him in Chandor, where he had been born, where he had been raised. A trust like Arlette and Leta would always receive here, and one that he would maybe never receive.

They were family, after all. Born of like blood, a line to which Kaito would ever be an outsider, only given chance after chance to prove himself worthy of their trust. Yet where despair might have yielded its face at such an insurmountable prospect, Kaito kept the understanding to consider later, in the quiet of his heart.

Now, he shook his head. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that... and I'm glad your sister's okay. I mean, if you hadn't told me... I never would have guessed... I can't imagine what that kind of thing could do to someone..." yet there was one detail that bugged him, and his unspoken thoughts wrote their way across his face in a troubled frown. "Did you ever catch that black-headed woman who attacked her?"

For that description of her reminded him of that woman... that pale bodied, black-headed woman he'd sought to help, torn and wounded, by the lake.

Arlette nodded. "It was pretty scary when we all thought she would die. But, luck was on our side and she survived. Things were very tense in here," she admitted to him. It had been much like just now with Greyback. Perhaps, there was something in that. Perhaps Greyback thought Kaito was going to hurt her. Arlette would have to make sure to tell him that Kaito was good and kind.

Arlette shook her head. "No, we never did. They are still out looking for the female," she admitted. "I don't really like to think that she is roaming free past our borders,' she spoke softly. She looked at Kaito for a long second and then glanced away. Her red colored eyes uncertain for a moment. She really liked to put that thought far away though.

"It was months ago, and she has not been seen close to our territory. I hope she isn't coming back," that would be the ideal world. If she would return she would probably need to hide somewhere. She would be too scared to fight. She decided to steer away from this conversation. "Why did you leave your family?," she asked curiously.