Northstar Vale Yioí

I know I just tagged you in a new thread but then I went and started drama so you get one more. <3 ;w; Sorry…

The Arche prowled back to his wife. His mind hummed with words he had shared with Reyson. Arsenio had been filled with disappointment.

Outside the mouth of their den, the redstone man paused to collect himself. His muscles were taut. His eyes licked with his anger. The Greek man felt himself losing a grip on his patience. The frustration he felt toward his son had started to eat at him. Though he loved his children, Arsenio couldn’t help but feel that there was something wrong with their boy.

@Tamar, he rumbled to her, stepping in to where she was. I need to speak with you, my love.

:O just caught up with all that!

tamar had her paw upon the pulse of epoch.

and it said that tension had come to the vale. she was gathering a meal for towhee when arsenio came upon her. tamar lifted herself with difficulty, looking up into his solemn face.

fear lapped at her belly. "what has happened?" there was — her eyes narrowed toward the slash upon arsenio's muzzle.

Tamar could sense it. He knew by looking at her face. The warm caramel of her eyes found the mark on his snout. She did not ask about it. She did not reach for it. Arsenio blinked, quiet for a moment.

How might he word what had happened?

Something happened with our son and the soldier, Reyson, he said. The boy says that Reyson struck him. That he hurt him. Reyson says that Antigone is a liar, that the boy has hate in his heart. They exchanged a verbal fight. I do not know if Antigone was hurt. It felt like too much to share. He worried. Eyes lifting to her face, he breathed a weighted sigh.

Zosime came to me, too. She was worried. She was afraid.

the mark had been made by wolf's teeth.

tamar's surprise was obvious. antigone and reyson? concern replaced the shock when zosime was mentioned, for it seemed as though she had been present.

but arsenio had not said that she had seen this strike.

tamar clucked her tongue. "and this? who did this to you?" she asked softly, at last gesturing to the fresh wound.

She asked then about the gash that marred his nose.

Arsenio looked at his wife with pleading in his eyes. He did not want to tell her. He did not want to share this moment with her. Tamar was so happy, so pregnant, and full of love. This news was nothing but a dark cloud. It hung over their door with thunder on its light-filled edges.

Antigone did this, he spoke gravely.

No matter his wants, Arsenio would never lie to his wife. He knew better. The warmth of her eyes was knowing and sharp. She would pick the truth from his lips whether he offered it or not.

tamar's eyes flashed.

she thought of the violence in akashingo, of the allusion to it that mereo had always held.

she could see the expression of her husband's sea-stone eyes but her anger coursed and tensed her gravid body with a hard swiftness.

what had arsenio done? tamar could not support striking antigone in return, but this was a disrespect of a highest and most dangerous order. it said their son did not recognize his father as an effective leader.

perhaps it was pregnancy; perhaps it was loyalty to not only her husband but the continued success of her children, but tamar was suddenly bustling away from arsenio, leaving the silent beauty of the saffron grove.

"antigone!" 

she had never shouted for one of her children in such a voice before.

Antigone!

Navy eyes blinked slowly from the surface of the spring. Only pointed red ears and his seafloor gaze could be seen. The rest of the boy’s figure was submerged and soaking. The cold of late winter scratched at his dampened flesh. Like a crocodile, he sunk himself beneath the water and held his breath fast in his lungs. The light from the world above had vanished and he saw only the murk of the spring.

When Antigone emerged, he did so at his own pace. There was no reason to hurry. There was no reason to race to his mother’s angry cries. After hearing what the mutilated man had said, the red-hooded boy understood that his father was weak. Arsenio could not be trusted to protect their home. What a pity, too. All that bravado…

The boy prowled toward his mother’s den. In the last stretch, he saw the fury on her face.

Yes, mother? he asked softly.

The shift of her features had left him shocked. Arsenio did not know the force that had taken her.

Tamar did not ask any other questions. She stepped into the wild and drew back her head to call for their son. The redstone man stood in the dark of their den. His eyes were trained on the sandstorm beauty that was his wife. The roundness of her features had transformed into sharp edges.

When their son appeared, Arsenio could not look at him. The weight of their last conversation hung heavy over his head. He did not understand. He did not know why his boy was so cruel, so angry. Epoch was a good place. He had only ever been a loving father.

What had shaped their child into this?

We can skip over this guy until Tamar's done spanking their son. :')

LOL <3

her son was not contrite.

tamar too, was limned in surprise. the way antigone stood before her seemed to suggest he did not care why he had been called.

her teeth flashed, stopping short of his flesh. "will you strike your mother next, antigone?" her pale eyes blazed harshly.

"i hear your anger. i know what has happened. but none of it excuses laying a hand to not only your father, but your leader. open your ears and hear me, antigone galanis. i will not have it!"

It was not regret that found him.

Antigone was filled with embarrassment.

The red-hooded boy watched his mother with lizard-blinking eyes. His wet coat dripped onto the ground, spiking the hairs along his nape and shoulders. The last light was fading from the sky. Darkness had started to crawl into the heavens, and it cast stretching shadows across Epoch’s grounds.

Tamar spoke with a force far greater than Arsenio. Antigone found he admired it, despite his frustration with it. If anyone should have been leading their pack, it should have been his mother. A cold glance was cast into their den. He could see the shameful figure of Arsenio in the dark. He could feel the penetrating of his father’s glacial eyes.

There is a bad man in our home and he will do nothing about it, the boy said in a sullen voice.

"your father has done more to keep us safe than you know."

iron lanced through the shadowed places of each word. tamar's eyes pierced her son. "we do not move so suddenly, antigone. we speak. we hear. we listen."

"you say reyson struck you. but zosime saw. and she did not say that this was so. i believe you fought. i want to know how far it went. now. you will tell me all of it now."

the flat blink of her son's eyes reminded her of ramesses' serpentine gaze, poised to strike.

Indignant and ruffled, the boy lifted his chin.

He squanders her affection!

How were his parents so blind? How could they be so daft that they did not see the leeching, blood-sucking, monster that was Reyson? Unbridled fury danced in the darkness of his gaze. The boy could hardly stand in his skin. The cold wrapped around his figure and made him quake.

He pouts and wallows and pisses his suffering over everything in our home! His ugliness is a scar on Epoch. And even when I try to help him – even when I try to tell him to grow up and get over his pathetic excuse for a life, he wallows more.

Antigone was burning with fury.

He talks down to me. He holds his pitiful emotions above everything else, including her! And her wellbeing! And I told him, but he said that I was the ugly one.

The red-hooded wolf spat at the ground.

Looking like that… how could he say such a thing?

This outburst did not give her answers. It did not clear the air or open the door to the fights between Antigone and Reyson. It might offer the mother a glimpse at the inner turmoil of her son.

Meadow is good. Meadow is perfect. And he will ruin her.

antigone's angry words brought worry to tamar.

and she felt also a deep pride to hear them. had not arsenio spoken of her also in such sharp-edged passion? had he not too threatened the pharaoh without fear?

yes. at last she saw what she had been blinded toward for these last weeks.

"antigone." her tones now meant to bring his fierce, hateful gaze toward her own.

"when did you know you loved meadow?"

When did you know you loved Meadow?

Antigone was frigid and stiff. Discomfort was worn on his features, drawing his expression to stone.

Who had said anything about love? The boy was aghast that he had allowed his feelings to be revealed and so easily. He could not fathom how she had sliced that from his words. It was not the message he had hoped to impress on his mother. Antigone needed her to see the threat of the soldier. He needed her to understand that they could be happy without that hideous man in their midst.

I don’t know what you mean…

It did not matter how he tried, the boy’s voice cracked and shattered the ice of his eyes. He cast his gaze to the ground, unable to meet his mother’s eye.

"there are few reasons a boy is so rash."

tamar flicked her tail toward where arsenio watched in silence. "meadow and reyson are courting one another. you are not involved. what is more, you cannot decide who reyson is and who he might be to meadow. only she can decide this. by acting on her behalf, you shame her, antigone."

did he comprehend?

but tamar was not finished. she did not listen to her son's response, if he offered one; now she called firmly for @Reyson.

peace would be kept in epoch.

It did not matter what her intention was, Tamar’s words had made the boy feel small. His perception had twisted her lesson. Antigone thought that his mother was speaking down to him. She called him a boy. She said that he had no say in Meadow’s wants, in what she deserved.

She said that Antigone had shamed Meadow.

Then she called for the monster.

The red-hooded boy did not wait. He did not stop to listen to her anger. The lesson had been lost on him. Neither one of his parents would hear his pleas. They ignored his cries for help. They favored the word of a hideous fiend to that of their son.

Slick with pond water, Antigone raced to the edges of Epoch. When his paws broke their borders, he hurried on. Until darkness swallowed his figure and tucked him away from sight.

just replying once more before u get here, danni <3

antigone ran.

her breath hitched, and the lash of fear in her belly became a low, sundering cramp. 

she sank down with a grunt, ears tilting. "follow him. get maxim, if you must."

fear, anger, self-loathing.

tamar held her breath in anticipation of another pain, but it did not come.

He lifted his head and sighed. But he stood and went towards the Arche's den. He had spoken harshly to the boy so he deserved to be reprimanded, but he was tired. The day had been full of stress and he was worried for another episode, but thus far he hadn't felt any loosening of his control.

Ears to skull. Body in neutral position he arrived. The smell of Antigone was here and Reyson immediatly grew ill. Had he shared more lies. Reyson hated lying once you lied to him or about him. He no longer had any regard for you. If Antigone had been a much younger child, if would have been fine, but this youth was almost a man and he was coddled allowed to do as he pleased.

He stood quielty and said nothing. Noticing the crouched form of Arsenio and the tension heavy on the air. In his eyes he held wariness and his body tightened of its own accord. Was he about to be set upon?

she's barging in... sorry not sorry.

She could hear a distant shout—angry and sharp with its demand—and even she blinked in surprise at the tone of Tamar as she summoned her son. She could take no more—her heart ached far more than her side, and so she began to hobble her way toward the den of the lead couple, somehow involved in all of this and yet not at all. Maybe she could talk to him—ease whatever it was that ailed her apprentice.

But when Tamar called for Reyson, a certain fire licked up her chest. And she moved faster—a hurricane ready to set itself upon a village—not understanding the sudden focus on her paramour and not appreciating the words shared to him.

Of course, a hurricane in her state she was not, and she came from the brush more like a winded kitten with a scowl planted on her features. She was about to erupt—her form sidling up against Reyson, his own form muted and accepting of some strange punishment she did not fully understand—but then one look to Tamar’s stricken face and she melted, now moving to her sister, pressing to her, worried for her and the pups she now carried.

Last for me!

Their shared words were rife with emotion. Arsenio gritted his teeth against the anger and worry that roiled in his belly like a south swell.

Tamar had asked their son when he realized he’d had feelings for Meadow. Antigone did not respond with honesty. His tone was clipped and icy, even from the dark of the den. The Arche felt the hairs along his neck bristle. He would not allow their son to speak to his mother in that tone. He could not let the boy grow into a spoiled and entitled man. It would not serve them in the way they needed.

Before he might intrude, Antigone was gone. Arsenio watched the sandy coat of their son race away from this emotional scene. Tamar had called for Reyson, and the soldier had not taken long to answer the summons. The expression on the man’s face was stoic – the face of a man at war. Meadow came next, causing the Arche to stare at her intently. She needed to continue her rest. She needed to get better.

I will go search for our son, Arsenio said to Tamar. He touched his nose to her cheek and plodded after the trail of the fleeing boy.

they came.

the pains did not return. meadow crouched beside her. she leaned into arsenio's kiss and willed herself to stand to her full small height beside her heart-sister.

the pale eyes fastened to reyson. "i believe that you quarreled with antigone," tamar said. "i do not believe it came to blows." tamar took a breath. "this vale must be a place of peace. i will not have it another way."

"for three days you will leave. and you will think upon your place here in epoch. and when you come back, reyson, i want you to begin teaching. you need more to occupy you. meadow will heal. she does not need you so close at all times."

tamar stepped forward. "i do not want you to take this as an insult. antigone has gone also. both of you will use this time to consider."

her heart, breaking, cracking at the idea of antigone not returning home.

the light hue of her eyes were upon reyson's own, not commanding, not demanding, only inviting the man to speak.

her son had gone in anger. would this man do the same?

Reyson said nothing, quiet, thinking. And then he heard the words to leave. He had to think hard to focus on what she was saying. So she wanted him to leave for three days.

He met her gaze and dipped his head in agreement. There was nothing to say. What could he say. She was the leader here. He had upset her son. He had been cruel in his words, so had Antigone, but there was no point in bearing it to light. They didn't seem to care. It could have gone worse.

He wasn't sure what he would teach, but he'd try his hardest. He took an even breath. Stepped forward to lightly press his head to Meadow's shoulder.

I'll be back in three days. was spoken to Meadow, but Tamar could here. Then he dipped again. See ya soon, Lady Tamar. Rest well.

Then he'd turn and leave, unless stopped.

Tamar rose—steeling herself—and Meadow gaped at her as she banished Reyson from his home for three days. To gather himself—to think. It was the notion that Antigone had agreed to do the same that did not sit well with the healer—for already, Arsenio was on his way to look for the young healer—the implication being he had not been asked to leave, as was the scenario with Reyson.

Her eyes flared—Reyson agreed, and pressing his head to her shoulder, he then turned and left—the large man leaving before her very eyes—and stirring a pained emotion within her breast, at the countless times she had considered all the others who had left her as well.

This one, she had to remind herself, was not of his own will or fault.

So she turned her own heated gaze to Tamar—eyes narrowed—upset clear upon her facade. “You feel that was fair, Tamar?” She would not question the woman in front of others—she loved her far too much to bring her any form of embarrassment. “Speak plainly, Tamar. Neither you or Arsenio seem to like Reyson.”

meadow was angry.

tamar turned surprised eyes on the healer, tensing as an ache rippled through her stomach once more. "antigone struck his father over reyson. your man has seen enough blows. my son must be disciplined. but reyson cannot be here for that."

meadow did not trust her.

her ears flicked. "towhee has just lost a child and now lies with new children. antigone has become explosive. reyson will face another break if he is strained. these things do not create peace for children."

there was a hurt to her words but soon it dipped beneath a cool distance. "so now they will both be kept away. antigone can come home. he cannot be home until he is ready."

"i think of us all, meadow. and no soul is welcome here if i do not care for them. it was you he came for, no one else."

tamar finally sat, spine stiff as the children roiled in her belly. "no, meadow. it was not fair. nor did antigone believe i was fair when i did not believe that reyson had struck him. i have a child born here who must be heard. and i have a man i respect that has changed since he has been in epoch. he is still healing." the pale eyes blinked. "there is no fairness. but perhaps antigone does not mean to come home."

silence.

Meadow was struck with the coolness that Tamar gave now—a straightened back, despite a wince that indicated discomfort—oh, how pregnant she had become, and would be due soon. Surely, it did not assist her in this assessment now—but Meadow found herself straightening under the cold exterior of the Morphe.

“He did come here for me.” It was spoken as if this was a terrible thing—and Meadow wanted to reiterate this now, feeling a flick of fire surge in her chest. How was this happening in their peaceful vale, now, of all times… and with those she loved the most?

“He came here for me and it would be nice if he was given the courtesy of being given a chance to integrate himself here. How do you feel he’s changed?” She spoke of something Meadow did not know—and before the female could answer—her eyes swept to the swollen abdomen of the Morphe, and she found her own spine stiffening. “We should get you inside for rest,” she ushered then, as well, knowing they could move this discussion to an area of better comfort for the expectant she-wolf.