Only twenty-four hours (or so) had passed since her return and already Bones felt worlds better than she had in some time. She had eaten three small but square meals since her return and although the abundance of food had made her temporarily queasy, she felt her strength returning. Rest did a body good as well, though the absolute best thing was the complete absence of taunting and other ill treatment.
Speaking of which, she took a bath in the creek to cleanse away the last of Tortuga's filth, then wandered around looking for the perfect patch of sunshine to air dry. She spotted one not far from the borders and stretched out on the summer grass with a sigh. Instead of falling asleep, though, Bones rolled onto one side and curled into a ball to inspect her hindquarters. Her fur hid a lot of the damage, yet there were tooth and nail marks knotted all over her rump and quite a few scattered along her spine and shoulders as well.
There was likely internal damage too but Bones didn't want to think about that. After her brief inspection, she straightened out again and let her eyes close and her mind wander to lighter things, like her upcoming visit to the plateau. It would be good to catch up with Cap'n Aunt Fox and her father and see how much Uncle Perry's pups had grown...
Coping with Jinx's death wasn't easy and Ira wasn't even sure he was coping. The stage of denial had long since passed — there was no denying that the only mother he had known was dead. His curse, too, had taken her from him and the worst part for Ira was dealing with the knowledge that they had been on bad terms when she had departed from the world of the living. That he hadn't been there with her. Ira hated being so vulnerable, hated that he could not close himself off as he had any other time. Hated to admit that he was lost. He did not have Jinx, or Bones, or even Lecter. He had never been so alone. Secluding himself off had been one thing but looking around and realizing that he had no one left. No one that he loved. Nothing that he felt an attachment to anymore. Thus, he was left to linger in the festering consequences of his behaviors; yet ...he could not stop himself. The Princeling was him and he was the Princeling, and in the wake of his devastation he only clung tighter to the persona he had created to protect himself. It had ceased to be a shield. He would endure, because he had too. Because he was destined for greatness and there was nothing else.
Except today he sought something familiar. Fox. Ira did not know that she no longer resided in Swiftcurrent Creek and had been making his way there since he had parted, heart broken from Sitri. He paused as he neared the Creek, lifting his leg to scratch at the fading pink scar on his neck, stomach roiling against the notion for a few seconds before the itch went away and he stood once more. The pallid Princeling drew in a deep breath and let out a call for Fox needing someone that he liked to talk too — though he had considered stopping at The Sunspire to pick a fight with Jace in attempts to make himself feel better. He had bypassed, needing company that liked him and vice versa.
"Ahoy there! I'm afraid Fox doesn't —" Bones began to say as she neared the stranger, only for recognition to suddenly register. That white fur, those icy blue eyes... Ira's voice was deeper than she remembered and he looked bigger and more proportional, but it was him, all right.
"Ira! It's me, Bones!" she shouted, grinning and waving her sterling silver tail. That was when she saw the distressed look on his face and remembered that he'd called for their former Cap'n. "What is it? What's wrong?" she added in a slightly softer voice, tentatively stretching out her neck to touch her nose to his wintry cheek.
Something dark furred and scrappy came loping towards him at the borders, and though Ira felt extremely lost in his grief he was not so lost that he did not feel a surge of annoyance. He scowled, rolling silver eyes, not recognizing his girlfriend (or ex-girlfriend?) initially. The approaching girl began to speak and Ira's eyes snapped down, his heart giving a painful palpitation in his chest as he drew in a sharp breath. Part of him wanted to believe it ...that it was really her but another part of the Nox Princeling told him not to hope, that Bones had been stolen from him and that he wouldn't ever see her again. Ira made a choked noise when she said his name, fierce silver eyes furiously studying her, committing her face to his memory as adrenaline pulsed through his body though, irrationally, he had no idea why. He wasn't scared. Maybe it wasn't adrenaline at all. His heart seemed to swell with relief, elation and something else that he instinctively shied from as he allowed himself to recognize that it was really, truly Bones. Even as his heart bled for the death of his mother. It was the most conflicting mesh of emotions but he didn't care.
His feeling hadn't gone anywhere for the Tortuga girl and Jinx had known it. He had lied to himself in the hopes of returning to his mother's good graces but he hadn't been able to lie to her. Ira didn't know if Bones still felt the same way, but at the current moment all he cared about was her and that she was there and that she was alive.
When he declared his mother dead, the yearling's eyes cut sharply to his face. "I'm so sorry, Ira," Bones murmured. She didn't mean to change the subject, yet she couldn't stop from asking, "Ye came? For me? Ye didn't fail me, Ira." She wondered how he'd found out about her abduction and shuddered slightly. "As far as I know, yer the only one who did," she finished. She didn't hold that against anyone, though it was incredibly heartening to know what Ira had done for her.
Ira drew in deep breaths, drinking in her scent hungrily, knowing that he didn't want this moment to end. If he knew how to freeze them in that moment he would have; and that knowledge frightened him. Eventually his curse had caught up to Jinx, too. The pallid Princeling trembled slightly, not wanting to acknowledge the severity in which he cared for Bones but not wanting to lose her by denying it, either. He was conflicted, though feeling such was nothing inherently new for him. He accepted her apology silently. He was sorry too. He regretted that they had fought, and that he hadn't been there for her in her final moments. Yet, regret wouldn't bring Jinx back. Bones changed the subject and Ira found that he didn't mind. He had dwelt too much on his mother's death for too long and all it had done was confuse and drive the knife a little bit deeper into his chest. He had sought Fox to distract himself, but he had found something much better. Perhaps Jinx's Bear Gods had not given up on him, after all. Not that Ira was religious, but somehow they had found their way to this point. There Bones was right in front of him.
Ira shivered slightly when he felt her nose touch the marred flesh of his neck.
"Ira, I — I'm sorry, I can't..." Bones said with decidedly uncharacteristic hesitation, her voice a strange, whispered squeak. "I'm fine now. I'm safe," she said with a bit more strength, then looked at her paws as she admitted, "They did things to me..." Bones couldn't bring herself to describe said things, though even young Ira could probably put the pieces together. "I don't think I can ever be intimate with anyone or bear pups. I'm sorry, Ira," she concluded frankly, speaking in a soft voice.
Ira's pupils blew wide within their pools of sharp silver until there was nothing of a thin halo of iris left when Bones' words began to stutter and his blood froze within his veins. Ice pooled in his stomach as he considered that she was rejecting him. He stopped breathing, not even realizing that he had sucked it in, that his lungs refused to expel it until they had begun to ache for oxygen and he released it sharply. A small sliver of hope remained when she specified that the wolves of Tortuga had done things to her, that she didn't think she could be intimate nor bear pups with anyone. A low growl erupted from within the strong column of the pallid Princeling's throat meant for those who had hurt her. If it was not for the value upon his own life he would have torn himself away and stalked all the way to Tortuga and took down any of them that he could before they tore him down. However, he collected himself and nudged her cheek wanting her to meet his eyes.
"I know. I know." Bones's voice was still soft. She shifted her weight. "I'm here. I'm not going anywhere for a long time," she promised, "and I'll be yer friend 'til the end of time, Ira. But..." She chewed her lip, which was still chapped and healing from a split a few days ago. "I don't think I can be in that kind of relationship now or maybe ever. I'm sorry. Ye deserve more anyway. I'm damaged goods now." To offset these dark words, Bones smiled to show Ira that they'd taken her shine but not her shimmer. She was still herself and still happy to be here, alive.
So it was a rejection. Ira looked over her head, unseeingly into the distance. His ears slicked back to his skull as he took her words in. He wasn't exactly disheartened — it wasn't in Ira's nature to just give up but he did not want to disrespect her or push her too hard. Maybe she needed a little time. Or maybe she could never love him. It was better that way, he knew. Safer for her. His heart still hurt, though, the backlash of her rejection stinging him. Used to hiding things like that, however, he veiled it so that she didn't feel bad for it. He didn't blame her. Ira drew in a heavy breath and let it out in a long sigh.
"Yer not a monster, yer a blaggard," she told him affectionately. "What will become of ye now, Ira? Will ye stay in Jinx's pack? There's space for ye here. Yer not obligated to stay with me, 'course, considering..." Bones trailed off a bit sadly, though her lips remained curved in a smile.
"Hey," she said after a beat of silence, "once I'm feeling better, I'm gonna visit me dad at the plateau. That's where Fox lives now. She's actually me aunt; she's mates with me Uncle Peregrine," the yearling divulged. "If ye still wanna see her, ye can come with me." Her silver tail swayed back and forth as she tilted her head inquisitively at him.
Bones saw absolutely nothing wrong with Ira's wish to meet Atticus. "I'd like that!" she said, regaining significantly more of her typical enthusiasm. It might have seemed strange, coming from the bruised and battered youth, yet that was Bones for you: tough and unconquerable. "Let's make a trip of it in a few weeks. Aye aye?" she said, lifting a paw and giving him companionable nudge with an accompanying wink.
Ira didn't want to be anywhere where Bones wasn't but for the sake of respecting her wishes he kept that to himself, teeth grazing his tongue as he pretended to consider it.
Bones seemed to like the idea of Ira meeting the elusive Atticus. Indeed, Ira was looking forward to meeting the only parent that Bones had that didn't treat her like crap. Or, at least he hoped Atticus would never mistreat Bones.
"Thank-ye again for tryin' to rescue me, Ira," Bones said, turning back to him with a soft smile and a much rougher nudge to his cheek. "We're a couple of matching scarred scalawags now," she pointed out. Her scars were a permanent and painful reminder of her slavery to Cutlass's will, yet if she made light of them, perhaps they wouldn't hurt her as much anymore.
It was Bazi who came.
She and Ira had never really interacted - he was one of Jinx's wolves, which tied him to Lecter, and the Swiftcurrent Alpha was not the shaman's biggest fan. Both were long gone now, unbeknownst to her.. and Ira's return to the Creek made her suspect that it wasn't all sunshine and roses on Silvertip Mountain.
He was the smirking type. She could tell without needing to see an example. It made her wary.
"I remember you," Bazi announced when the two wolves were within hearing range, striding up to meet the pair of them. To Bones, she offered a friendly nudge, wincing inwardly at how painfully thin and frail the pirate still was. Her eyes went to Ira. "I take it you missed flat ground."
Ira shot his pirate queen Bones a cheeky little grin when she told him to behave long enough so that he could stay with her, mirroring the cheeky smile she had gave to him. It had been some time since Ira had last used his ability to charm — too long. He wasn't even sure he could play that role anymore but he would put on his best Princeling behavior because of Bones; because he wanted to be with her in whichever way she would allow him to be. Because Bones had asked him too.
Ira could not entirely snuff out the hope that maybe if he stayed with her, if he held fast to his learned patience — the same patience he needed to be an assassin, that he could show her that he wasn't going to leave her, that he wouldn't let anyone hurt her and maybe, just maybe Ira hoped, she would heal and come around.
It grated furiously on Ira's nerves to have to submit, to swallow the biting comments he desired to let loose, wry and crass as they were in his mind. It was hard to force himself to obey when he desired only to be himself. To calm the annoyance that rose inside him when Bazi assumed that he had missed flat ground.
The Alpha female arrived promptly. Unlike her counterpart, Bones had no qualms in submitting to her superiors and happily bowed her head to Cap'n Bazi. Her eyes danced quietly when the leader announced that she remembered Ira. She wondered if that was a good or bad thing... Bones turned slightly and gave Ira an affectionate smirk.
After Ira spoke, declaring his intent to stay with her — which made Bones's heart glow, even if she knew they could never be an item — the elder yearling said, "Cap'n Bazi, it would mean a lot to me if ye let Ira stay here. I need him and he needs us. His mother — ye remember Jinx, aye? — just passed away," she shared quietly, unaware that Ira might not want to divulge this information.
New of Jinx's departure distracted the Alpha from her bitter thoughts. Jinx was dead? Just like that? Bazi's expression softened. She looked between Bone and Ira, questions lining up on her tongue. How? And what about Lecter? God, she hoped he had perished too. Perhaps Ira would lie about that.. but why would he? .. why does anyone lie about anything? No - later. She didn't trust this .. this snide little shit (who submitted, true, but so had Shadow). What on earth did Bones see in him apart from good bone structure and the potential for healthy sperm?
"That's news to me," she started, turning her cold eyes from Bones to Ira. "And of course - if that's what you want. I'm sure you'll make our favourite girl proud, Ira. Welcome back."
Ira's eyes of silver with starbursts of crystalline blue around the pupils flitted from Bazi to Bones, unafraid to look the Tortuga girl in the face. In truth, he wasn't afraid to look Bazi in the face, either, but out of the desire to be with Bones he kept a tight reign on his own leash. No matter how annoying it was. The pallid Princeling grimaced, slight chagrin flitting across his face only because he let it when Bones told Bazi that Jinx was deceased. He did not think that Bones' words were exactly true. As far as Ira was concerned he didn't need anyone but Bones; but Swiftcurrent Creek and Bones seemed to be a package deal and he could not lose Swiftcurrent Creek without forsaking Bones.
He looked to Bones then, expectantly, wondering if it was safe for them to go ahead and finish catching up with one another, or if Bazi had anything more she wanted to say to him.
"Thank-ye, Cap'n Bazi," Bones said, her voice cheerful but much more formal and less exuberant than once upon a time. She tipped her head and smiled at the leader, then turned to her fellow yearling and added, "Wanna go on a walk? We can reacquaint ourselves with the lands."
"Wait -," Bazi began, but her voice was too coarse. She cleared her throat, and started again in lower, softer tones. The boy had lost family, after all, even if her opinion of them wasn't entirely favourable. "What about.. Lecter. Did you leave him behind?"
When Bones turned to him and asked if he had an interest in relearning the lands, Ira offered her a silent nod, deciding that it was better if he kept his mouth tightly shut and didn't speak, even though he would have only spoken in response to Bones. But there was always a chance something would come spilling out that might cost him a place in the Creek and Ira was willing to do what it took to make sure he could stay with Bones, even if it meant playing the falsity of being mute. He followed behind Bones, only to pause when Bazi called out for them to wait. Silver eyes peered at his new alpha female, brow furrowing at her question. A part of Ira did not want to answer. But remaining silent might have revealed him for the rude little shit he truly was; and he was trying to be on his best behavior on Bones' behalf.
It was an easy assumption to make, for there was no secret that there was no love lost between Ira and Lecter.
"Sorry, Ira," she whispered, giving his snowy cheekbone a nudge before nodding once more to Bazi and then retreating a few feet. She was prepared to begin their walk, though she would of course wait patiently if Bazi had any further questions for her companion.
Bazi successfully masked her first reaction and nodded solemnly at the two wolves. "I filled a fresh cache near Njal and Tuwawi's old den this morning," she said to Bones, and turned to leave. Her heart wouldn't bleed for Lecter, but Ira had lost everything.. apart from Bones, and she would not begrudge him that small comfort.