Sun Mote Copse but every word seemed to date her

backdated to shortly after this @Wraen

ever mistrustful of the looming mountain in the distance, arcturus studied its dark shoulders in contemplative silence.

would meerkat find haven there? would she have fun, and grow? more importantly, would she be safe?

these questions, along with several for bronco's wellbeing plagued the mountaineer. how could niamh and towhee be so blase about his experiences? did he mean nothing to them?

he knew the answer. it welled a bitterness in his throat.

tipping back his head arcturus called quietly for wraen, for if any wolf could disseminate the pieces, it would be her.

After her talk with Towhee, Wraen wondered, if she had gone too far ahead in assuming that she might talk out either Maia or Arcturus from coming with her in order to have Firebirds as little loss of man-force as possible. Because, what she valued above all was free will and was against making decisions for other people. In a nutshell her offer to the resident Sovereign had been a weak attempt to soften her blame in taking three people away from the ranks instead of one.

She happened to be nearby, when Arcturus called for her, and happy that she had met first of the two people she intended to talk to today, Wraen hurried to greet him. "Hey," she greeted him with a smile. "Everything's okay?"

it was not often arcturus saw urgency in wraen's gaits; he slowed as she neared, a wave of his tail given in half-greeting.

her question, however, merited a very real and honest response.

"no." arcturus started, speaking baldly -- there was no haste to his words, but he did not drag out what could be said in ten words or less either. "meerkat is gone, i made towhee even more upset, and i do not like any of this." a hardness shone in his eyes, but it softened as he queried next: "are you okay?"

"You too, huh?" Wraen sighed, wondering, how well that conversation had gone, but seeing that neither her arguments, nor his (she could easily imagine, what they had been like) had convinced Towhee otherwise. It did not matter anymore either. Perhaps, after he had heard, what she had to say, he would stop worrying too. 

"I just had my second conversation with Towhee. Less heated, more level-headed and thought-through," she said. "And we came to an agreement or... let's put it like this, I suggested that rather than fight over this new alliance with Moonspear, I will leave, while we can still talk to each other as friends. Firebirds has much to gain from such a powerful ally - politically speaking, and I would not want my reservations get in the way," Wraen shrugged. 

"So, in the competition on, who upset Towhee the most, I think I won," she joked, but without a smile.

arcturus hoped as he listened to wraen, she might tell of how she smoothed things over, maybe even talked some sense into towhee ... but the longer he listened, the more wide his eyes (and jaws) became, until at last he was staring at her in much the same disbelief he imagined towhee had.

"wait, leave?" arcturus blurted, feeling his stomach pinch and drop. somewhere, nausea was knocking on the front door. he pushed it down abruptly. "why would you leave? i.. we finally --" he cut himself short. he had come dangerously close to spilling. he of all people knew why wraen objected so fervently to their alliance with moonspear.. but, is that what it was? was it truly an alliance? arcturus was first hurt, and then angry, that he had not been consulted about this. if anyone had a leg to stand on about whether or not they were to be allied with moonspear, it sure as frick was him.

"okay." he took in a deep breath, closing his eyes and steadying his nerves. when he opened them, there was no reservation at all -- simply a misty sort of sadness that cleared as he looked at wraen. "where are we going?" arcturus' tone was that of one speaking with finality; there was no budge or give at all, and he would not be talked out of it. he had every intention of following wraen to the ends of his earth or death, whichever came first, and that was that.

"The alliance might not be official, but how do you imagine Firebirds sending their kids over to Moonspear and then declare - sorry, we are no friends of yours. Towhee and Niamh does not realize this yet, but they already owe to Moonspear, are indebted to them. Forever for that matter," there was unbridled disdain in her voice, when she repeated the mantra of the Ostregas. 

"I refuse to be in an alliance with a person, who I cannot respect. And since it is me and probably you against the rest of the pack, who have had bad experience with the said pack, I don't see, why I should stay and hinder it. If they want to build a better and brighter future as sister-packs - so be it, but I won't take part in it," Wraen recounted her conversation with Towhee. 

"Besides... on a more personal matter... as free-thinking as this pack is..." she cast a glance around and sighed... "it is conservative at it's core. The building block is a nuclear family, and with Blackthorns and Redhawks running here around, I and few others are a minority. I can't have children, I will never be able to lay claim to the alphaship and, when it will come to decision making in the future, I will always lose to those, who have their kids, grandkids, aunts and uncles surrounding them."

"I have been a formal alpha for a long time now," she sighed again, not realizing that Arcturus was the only person she had revealed this nagging thought. And, while saying this monologue, she entirely missed Arthur's last question. "I would rather leave the battlefield with my head held high and with many friends still as possible."

arcturus whole-heartedly agreed. as full of disdain as wraen's voice was, there was a truth to it: they were now dangerously in the mountain's pocket.

arcturus had lived his whole life under that shadow -- it was not a noose he wished to feel once more.

he was silent as wraen recounted her conversation with the now-sovereign, moving on to discuss how she did not quite fit into the picturesque scene of the firebirds. arcturus did not know the expression, but it was much like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. he had also often felt he was on the fringes looking in -- someone who lived among them, but was an eternal outsider.

more than anything arcturus wanted to contest wraen's absurd (in his mind) conviction she could not have kids; she had never had a mate, how would she know? his heart sank, but again those nerves came crawling to the surface -- if only his tongue could speak what his mind willed!

he too, would also rather leave -- if only because wraen was going. to arcturus there was not a question at all about where his place was; it was besides wraen always. he hardly thought a battlefield as wraen put it, was a good place for friends or firebirds -- but wasn't that how it always worked? his worst enemies hadn't lived outside, they had lived within. "then we go. when?"

Arcturus did not argue with her, nor did he shower her with a stream of words himself. Wraen took a beter look at him and realized that a lot of times she had interpreted his silences for slowness of his mind, when in reality he was listening attentively, taking in every word, without missing a single one. In a world, where people mostly needed others to listen to them, ability to be a good audience for someone else was a rare treat. 

"I should not feel surprised, should I?" Wraen replied him with a question of her own, though deep down she had known that Arcturus would have come regardless. If it was not for her, then it would have been because of the new alliance with Moonspear and Hydra specifically. Hydra... she could imagine her "I knew it!" expression, when Towhee would tell her that Wraen had taken off with a substantial portion of the pack. History repeating itself all over, but, though she felt a little sorry for the resident Sovereign, she did not have any other scruples because of her decision. She did, what she believed was right at the very core of her heart. 

"Maia is coming as well. I think... I do not want to drag it out for too long. In few days time so that you and her can tie things up, where you feel necessary," she said. "As for - where - I have not the slightest idea. There is no particular destination in mind, though it will be as far away from here and Moonspear."

arthur listened with his normal consideration, one ear canted to wraen. a smile crept to the mountaineer’s features and he shook his head. no. he would go wherever wraen went, and that was that.

learning maia was to come along and their time here would be brief, Arcturus wondered if there was much business he needed to take care of before he went. other than towhee, there were few wolves in the glade he had known. he could simply slip off in the night and he imagined his departure would be met with indifference. i have no ties here. it is on your time. arcturus resolved to tell towhee he was leaving, but other than that was ready at a beck and call. can we visit the sentinels?

"Sure. It is on the way out of the hinterlands, towards the wilderness. Right next to the shores," Wraen explained, having never considered that she could take the southern route to reach the other side of the mountain barrier. To be honest, she had never used it and did not even know, how long would it take or would it take her around at all. 

"You do then your farewells and I will go and find Maia," she told. "And, when I am... we are ready to go, we go." She smiled one last time at Arcturus and then left him to his own devices to inform her sister about her plans.

Last one from me.

<3

arcturus' eyes sparked with hope that they could visit the sentinels -- it made their trip seem a little less grim, and a little more like an adventure.

wraen bid him to make his own farewells. arcturus nodded complicity, ready then to seek out towhee. only... a certain sense of dread filled his heart as he silently stalked away.

it was one thing for wraen to leave, but how would towhee feel about the mercenary who had used their resources, and was now leaving on another's whims?