Swiftcurrent Creek meadowline

lestan had set off rather eagerly from moonglow, in the direction of where natigvik had been. and very unlike himself, he had said goodbye to no one else save amalia.
the moment he was out from the spine, he felt lighter. and crossing the great bear wilderness gave him the chance to acquaint himself with the wildlife.
he looked for deer. he examined wolverine tracks, old by now. lestan shivered and moved on at once.
when he came to creek, he knew he had taken a wrong turn. but the sight of wolf-blood and chunks of bloody fur halted lestan at once.
at least one of those scents was familiar. what had happened?! "hello?" lestan called tentatively, spinning in all directions with hesitant, unsure steps.
two trails led off. the mayfair dawdled anxiously.

With a fervor dripping in desperation and anger. He moved through their claimed territory. Paws taking him to the scene of what would have been a massacre if the wolves had kept fighting.

A smaller brown wolf was there. Arric growled lowl and stepped into view. Ring around his eye. Wounds fresh though covered in herbs

who are you?

had lestan sonic rings, he would have dropped them all. he was not expecting the mammoth of a man who confronted him, let alone his wounded features and the aggression that accompanied it.
"oh! oh! i am —" the traveller panted a little with the beginnings of a panic attack " — lestan mayfair." his ears flicked. "i was passing through to the taiga, and i smelled the blood. but — i know some of these scents."
finally he shut his mouth and looked warily at the very large person. "w-what happened? are you in need of more — help?"

“Recognize who’s scent?”

The shadow runner emerged close behind Arric, wraith-like—stone. His pale eyes swept over the earth wolf with rolling suspicion—did the red-eyed wolf not say there were more of them during their attacks?

A rumble pressed in his chest—tattered, but not quite broken just yet. 'Mayfair,' the other had greeted Arric, and he swept his gaze over the other. "Your surname. Where do you come from?"

Arric grew silent. His growl quieting as Akavir made himself known. He titled his head and eyed the other.

He didn't wish to cause any issues or interrupt so for now he'd be a silent guardian as they conversed. Only adding when he needed too

lestan had scarcely spoken when a second and equally battered man came lobbing another hard question. two.
"well, that there is — well i knew her from natigvik. before it disbanded." his brow furrowed. lestan had become rather good at tracking. faced with the opportunity to look away from the brutes, he hunted around the scene. "and the red one. i never knew her name, really. they all left together, though, i caught the trail."
and then the ragged, laughing man. "ah. this one. see, i knew it wasn't like the other two, but he —" lestan suddenly returned to the present and leapt back to face the brooding pair. 
"well. i am from loch teine first." he swallowed but kept a brave face. "and then natigvik, and then moonglow, and then — nowhere, i suppose." the mayfair was jittery and it made him quite bursting with words.
had sadey truly been here? fighting?

The question had been asked with the expectation of getting some names—what surprised the  dark wolf was how quickly the earth wolf deciphered who had been here—scent alone, and from the sounds of it, given they hadn’t run together recently (allegedly), from memory.

“I want their names,” he rumbled, the demand in his tone softening as he realized the gruffness of his voice. Champagne eyes skimmed over the stranger, glancing toward Arric only momentarily to see what he might think of the situation. “Your friends came in here and attacked us.”

He recognized none of the packs listed and so allowed that subject to slide.

Arric listened followed the tracker with his eyes. There was a twitch to his ear as he considered. His soft drawl finally com8ng forth.

You're saying that white wild thing and the red girl wouldn't have attacked had not the male said so? Or youre saying you didn't see it coming? Cause true personalities very rarely hide. Lestan Mayfair.

Arric dipped his nose to the ground. why did this Natigvik disband? What is back that way?

He motioned towards the river wondering if this man had an inkling of what the unkempt man had promised.

lestan's ears fell back. "they were not my friends. sir." the little brogue rose and fell. and that did hurt to say, because he certainly did count sadey as a companion. but these men were dangerous. and he would not simply hand her to them without so much as a conversation! that was not companionly.
he was worried about her.
"as i said, i don't know the red one or the white one. i knew the man. bricks," he said resolutely. he had not once met colt; the man had stuck to the fringes, allegedly slept with sakhmet, and drifted off. "he and my leader had maybe — well, her husband left and there were —"
he reddened and left that at once. "he is not a good person." lestan still did not understand how sadey of all had been led into this.
"natigvik did not have the numbers for winter. they left with their relatives. as far as i know, nothing is back there." lestan had settled now. his eyes moved between the pair.
"i'm sorry this — battle — occurred. perhaps you'll allow me to do some hunting for you while you're — healing."

‘He is not a good person.’
“No shit,” he drawled, gaze flashing from Arric back to the stranger, unable to contain the sardonic snort that escaped him. Of course, Akavir also just threw the barely conscious man into a creek—maybe, just maybe, he shouldn’t be so quick to judge.

It rankled him, that thought.

“The man said something was back there. Something bad.” The threat had been vague—could have even been said in the heat of the moment, but Akavir wasn’t overly keen to shrug it off as nothing.

His jaw set. The earthen rogue offered to hunt while they healed. “Why would you do that?”

A small lift of lip was all that Arric offered in reply to the words of no shit though he tried to be nice to their present company. After all it wasn't his fault.

The offer seemed genuine, but he did wonder at it. But if he wanted to hunt arric would join him.

lestan pursed his lips. "if he was willing to attack and to wound you, i would not go in that direction." his eyes flicked between the man with the curious white ring upon his face, and the golden-gazed blackbird of who he presumed to be the leader.
lestan scrambled for an answer. "i am a peacemaker. i was acquainted at least a little with them, so i feel compelled to repay."
he wanted them softened before he tried to find sadey and hear her truth. if they caught wind of his true affiliation with her, why they might just execute him too!
"if you'd rather not, I'll go!"

It didn’t fully add up. The man claimed to know them, and then not to really know them—but he knew the man. But if he had been here to fight, he would have started it by now—Arric and Akavir making easier targets now then they would in a dew days.

He trusted the other Mayfair about as far as he could throw him. And the look he shot to Arric reiterated this. “You wanna help?” The rumble of his voice was low, his eyes falling fast upon the younger man. “Fine. Go hunt, and take it to your red headed little friend. She’s not doing so good but I’m finding my ‘fuck’s to give’ are a little low after she and your other friends came to our land and attacked us.”

Arric watched him a little and then nodded. Try and find some poppy too. That little girl gonna need it.

Arric straightened and stretched out his body, wounds and all. He now just wanted some peace and quiet and maybe a real nice rest. Rest was the best thing for his wounds. Not this mess, but he knew they'd need to  have patrols if not because of the little girl, but because the others would probably try adn come back for her. If they were stupid and possibly not dead. Though he seriously doubted they would be alive, but he'd been wrong before an they both seemed spiteful enough to evade death.

lestan's ears pinned back. he would not argue more about these wolves as his friends.
the former riverwolf gave both men a glance, but turned and trotted off at once to fulfill the orders.
and all the while he had never received so much as a name from either!

The stranger was off—Akavir’s gaze following him raptly until he was from view, and then he looked to Arric. It was unspoken—he should have killed them when he had the chance, probably—and allowed Arric too, as well—but for some reason, the thought hadn’t sat well with them.

And it was easy to see the writings on the wall—none of this mess was truly over.

“I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to take off,” he offered to the dark man.

Arric grinned and shook his head. I bled for the land so i'm staying for it. And I like you well-enough.

Arric shifted and cracked his neck. Licked at his shoulders, an irritation there. Though every swipe of tongue against his cracked muzzle made him want to swear.

That boy knows more about those fighters than he wants to admit. What are we gonna do about the girl? Let her go? Try and mend her ways, what?

They were in rough shape—there was no getting around that.

Akavir gave a nod to the other’s words, considering their next move. “If they keep coming back… we meet to the standing stones, yeah? There’s a pack there. No one should die for a piece of land.” Akavir might not have had anything left in life to lose—but Arric still could.

“Yeah, I don’t trust him. And as for the girl? Dunno. She’s in rough shape… figured she would just bleed out with the other woman if they tried to drag each other’s hides away to safety.” He shrugged. “Wait it out, for now. She’s free to go whenever she wants.” He paused. “What do you think?”

Arric gave a soft growl at the wound he was licking at. Not at Akavir, but rather the fools that continued to attack and belittle.

Or somewhere else to settle. I don't think it's the land they want. I think they're just those type that grew up mean and angry. They take it out on the world. Perhaps they were raised that way, but at a certain point. Well then you make your own choices and they made the wrong ones.

Arric hummed in response thinking. She's a quandary. I'd tell her if i were you, but I Think she's to scared to leave in case they won't be able to find her and she seems to think we are keeping her here. She's a sad case, but there's no changing her mind I don't think. They'll be back for her though.

He knew what the blue-eyed man spoke was true. They would be back—even if they had the girl in their numbers once more, they would be back. They weren’t the type of wolves to take losing well, and Akavir held no doubt they would want a second round.

He could only hope they had more numbers by then, and that the others also hadn’t grown. Perhaps, if the Creek wolves were lucky, the others had succumbed to their wounds or drowned in the creek.

Otherwise, he held no doubt they would be back… probably sooner, rather than later.

There was little else to say right now. Stiff from injuries and fatigued from nearly everything, Akavir simply gave a nod to his companion, muzzle tipping forward to brush the other man’s soldier in both gratitude and fortitude. They would need to rest for now, and prepare for what was to come next.