Hushed Willows Nowhere to turn

He had almost given up, excused himself from the borders of a place he wished to call home but felt too restless to settle in and too paranoid to feel welcomed. It was when her gentle voice spoke up claiming to understand that he looked up. There was no pause between her words and poor Drakonis failed to notice to her usage of past tense when speaking of his father, but instead his eyes brightened with happiness as he took in the information that his father told the tale, he never forgot Oxsana and his sons.  He did notice how uncomfortable and hesitant with her words she became how she stopped and seemed to consider her words and the happy light dimmed, expression turning to one of concern just as she began to speak again.

Dakarai is dead. 


He stared at her, frozen not a single sign to be given that he heard and understood what she said. It took a moment for it to sink in and he exhaled shakily, ears going back against his head. He looked panicked his eyes wide and distraught and pushing himself to his paws pacing back and forth. His mind was reeling, struggling to process and accept this information as truth. His whole life had been centered around his father, from an early age when his uncle preached hero stories of the gallant man that was his father. How the Svartell name cursed it's men but his father wore it like a badge, proud of the name. He had been raised to yearn for his dad, to seek him out and bring him home. Now what? What would he do? He was left with nothing and made an aimless man.

It was at your half-sister Cassiopeia's jaws.

He lifted his gaze and stared into hers, appalled and horrified by the knowledge that family had killed his father. Her words were like repeated strikes straight to the center of his being and with each string of new information he looked more and more broken. Not only was he dead but he had left the world with nothing but bad memories from those who loved him and he had made falsehood of Drakonis's whole life. "Loyalty and Bravery mean nothing when you lose the people you want to protect. So my father was a fool" he spoke quietly, eyes icing over as he looked away from the woman. Every beat of his heart hurt and he sighed softly "Apparently so was I. The Svartell name is a curse and it was a child's naive hope that made me believe it could be anything but." he stared off toward a higher section of mountains, somewhere where he had last heard the name Cassiopeia. "I am sorry that nothing good came of this visit. That I couldnt bring your son home to you like you probably expected when I called for you. I'm sorry I dredged up bad memories. I'm going to stay away now, it'll be better that way" he said gently. He was beginning to understand why Sirius always kept silent, barely spoke more than a single sentence at a time and why the boy never kept anyone close. He said farewell to Olive and turned, walking away with no intention of stopping.