Blacktail Deer Plateau Social Casualty

@Malachi Lets say Blue Willow was dealing with RHC for a moment or something or at least not home. XD  Edit; BTW, I hope that is okay with you @BlueWillow 

Normally Scarlett wouldn't have too much trouble to go out exploring or to head out somewhere. She even ran to Black Feather Woods a few weeks back, yet now, being four weeks pregnant she was starting to feel the effect of being pregnant. Scarlett was a small build female after all, and the way she was showing looked like she was two weeks ahead of her pregnancy. But there was still a nagging feeling that she wanted to so this right. She remembered meeting her friend Blue Willow when she was close to giving birth and Scarlett being a first time mother was in need of tips and advise. She was certain Blue Willow would give them to her.

The red eyed female told her mate that she would go to Blacktail Deer Plateau. There was some worry Scarlett had herself, because she didn't want to bring her youngsters in danger but she also didn't want to be too inexperienced and endanger her babies in that way. It was one thing or the other. And as innocent as Scarlett's mind was, she believed that even strangers would have respect for a pregnant female.. right? It took her a good half a day, a nights rest, and a morning to get to the plateau. Now it would be a bummer if Blue Willow wouldn't even be at home. Hopefully she would be! Scarlett reached the border, knowing her lesson not to cross it, she then howled for her friend.

Here goes nothing! Forgive me, I am terrible with reunions. EDIT: Or Malachi just got to the border faster!

He was asleep, that was the only explanation. He was asleep, and she was a dream, and her voice was a ghost. But Malachi knew he was only fooling himself. He was awake, and she real, and her voice was very much alive. And it beckoned from the scent line now.

If she knew he was here, she did not seek him. For now he was safe, and he could run from her and hover by the mountain’s base until day faded to night and she left for whatever land she’d found to hold her, since she had certainly found something after leaving the Glacier. The idea tempted him terribly, but the sheer cowardice made bile rise in his throat, and his heart burned against it. No, he would face her, and Malachi let his paws carry him from the Plateau’s trees to the open stretch of territory that led to the highland’s edge.

He approached her with boldness and fear, a strange combination that brewed into an uncanny neutrality and kept his legs on a forward track. His heart pounded in his chest, and a million thoughts turned through his mind. Their voices droned to a buzz. “Hello Scarlett.” His voice, though quiet, held the same chill that most of his words now possessed, hardened by the world he’d inherited as his own. His eyes fell briefly to her rounded sides, but he made no mention of the lives within her now. Pregnant. So she had settled, and a pang of envy pierced the relief of his ever quickening heart.

So excited omg!

Scarlett's tail had the gentle sway she always had. She was surprisingly relaxed for being outside of Bearclaw. The high walls were so comforting and knowing that there was only one entrance made her feel so safe. Nevertheless she still felt calm waiting for her friend. But it was not her friend that she got to see. For a moment all her muscles stiffened, her heart skipped a beat in shock. Her ears fell back and her eyes had a panicked look. It was more because she expected Tuwawi to jump out of the bushes now. She instantly felt like crying because the shewolf was her worst fear. She sometimes had nightmares of the red lady doing something awful like ripping her unborn out of her belly.

She stepped back in her own protection, all her senses on alert for other wolves that might be around her. She was so tense that she felt a cramp going to her belly. Well there went her calm mood. She inhaled sharply, she was an alpha now. She couldn't show fear or any other panic. Calm and Assertive. Her nose didn't smell Tuwawi around this place or in his fur. Still the soon-to-be-mother was suspicious. Malachi had betrayed her once before. Her red eyes still had some kindness in them even though they were mixed with shock and a bit of revolution. "Malachi," she returned, surprised how strong she sounded, a hint of a question in there. "I did not know you lived here."

Scarlett had once checked upon Duskfire Glacier, which in turn she had a reunion with the unpleasant Manauia. After that Scarlett never returned to the taiga. She didn't want to have any contact with the wolves that threw her out on the streets for having morals. Or that had cowards like Malachi that didn't dare to speak up. It seemed that even he didn't manage to survive the cold and bitterness that was the Glacier. Scarlett didn't know that the pack had disbanded. She was perfectly content in her own valley. "I actually didn't howl for you," she then pointed out. Her rounded sides calmly moving with her evened out breathing. She was doing better at calming herself. It helped that she knew that Osprey and Blue Willow would help her if anything happened. Maybe even Koda if he still lived here.

Oh Scarlett, the poor girl ):

But Malachi was alone, and he held himself steady even in the presence of Scarlett's visible fear. He couldn't tell what ran through his old packmate's head, but her response was enough to make Malachi question his decision to meet her. His heart twisted when she recoiled, but he refused to let guilt steer him again. That had led him into this mess, and he would no longer listen to every direction it gave. But what rose instead to take guilt's vacant place was the icy burn of anger, not at Scarlett, but at the shadow of suspicion in her voice. No matter how justified she was in her mistrust, he loathed he had become a thing of dread for her. He bit his tongue and said nothing when she questioned him, not trusting his words to carry without the irritation he felt at himself rising inside.

Only when she pointed out his unwarranted presence did he speak, and the control of his voice surprised him. "I know," he said, and found himself dancing on eggshells again. He couldn't forget the fire in the snowy queen, and wondered briefly if it would be rude to simply turn and leave before he wrecked something else. "Your voice surprised me, that's all." He paused, considered, then said, "But what are you doing here?" It crossed his mind for a fleeting second that perhaps this was her home, too, but the land held none of her scent, and he wrote this quickly away.

I think it is more like: 'Poor Malachi' XD

Scarlett's exterior slowly hardened each minute she was longer in Malachi's presence. Her ears fell back when he said something she disliked. Surprised... Surprised... Why was he surprised? Surprised because she survived? A frown settled on her brow. Of course she survived, that was what she did her whole life. "Are you that surprised I am still alive?," she returned sharply, her tail raising higher than a neutral stance. "Well I did survive, and Adlartok too," Scarlett informed. If the young grey would be with her right now Malachi would probably be ripped into little pieces by the brooding young male. Malachi should consider himself lucky that Ad hadn't joined her on her travels.

She also didn't like the fact how Malachi formulated his question. She was the white queen she could go wherever she wanted to go. "I am visiting my friends. I have a lot of friends in other packs actually, not that you would know because why even be interested in me right? I came here for Blue Willow and Osprey, mostly for Blue Willow since she has been pregnant before and might give me some tips for me," she returned. There was no denying that she was pregnant after all. Her sides were too round for her to have eaten too much. Scarlett was proud of her belly. The funny thing was, she almost joined Blacktail Deer Plateau herself because she had so many friends there. But then Kove came with the suggestion of starting their own pack. "Maybe I should have gone to Meldresi for advise instead of Blue Willow. Black Feather might have been more pleasant to visit after all," she pointed out. For once Scarlett didn't keep her tongue on what she really thought. She rarely did lately.

Scarlett definitely had some bitterness towards her former alpha, and friend. She had seen him more as a friend than her alpha in the end. Which made the betrayal that more sour. She didn't know what she expected, maybe an apology or a reasoning why. Her tail flickered behind her. Luckily for Malachi Scarlett was still awfully forgiving. Her coat scented strongly of a pack, that was for certain. She made sure to meet most of her pack members daily. 

Perhaps xD angst angst angst

He remained in utter neutrality, but his gaze hardened with an icy flare. When did he say he had thought her dead? Not for him to see again, but never dead. Thinking she had found somewhere better than Duskfire had been a way to relieve himself of the guilt of what he'd done. The thought certaintly softened the truth, but at least he could let the firmness in his voice sound in honest now. "I never doubted you both survived."

And what did she think, that he spent every minute thinking about her? Worrying over Miss Scarlett? His heart twisted, but he resisted the memory that he had worried for her, wondered for her future, waited until he saw her clear Duskfire before he left himself. Did she think she was the only one who lost something that day? She had Adlartok, and now a mate, and with that a pack. And what did she ever have at Duskfire? Nothing compared to what she had now. She had spurned his help, and he didn't doubt she'd forgotten him the moment they'd parted ways, though he'd taken a share in her fate that day. Ostracized from her and the pack that he had helped found from the start, losing everything, while she hadn't truly lost anything at all. The only difference was that he deserved it, but still her outburst stung, and as deeply as it hurt, he resisted giving her the knowledge that he had let his heart remain anxious for her long after they had parted ways, for Malachi knew it would do him no good. Scarlett was clearly vexed, and even if he had been graced with a tongue as smooth as a river eel, he didn't think any words could lessen the bitterness she held against him.

It might have been more pleasant for them both if she'd chosen somewhere else to go, but his heart stung at the thought, and he did not let it pass from his mind. Though seeing her now relieved him in a strange way, Malachi didn't know what more she wanted of him except to hash over the mistakes he'd tried to lay to rest, and he began to regret ever heeding her voice. "I'm sure Blue Willow will be along," he said. He considered asking her where she lived now, when she was due, how Adlartok was faring, but he held his tongue (he "wasn't interested" in her, after all). But that wasn't true, and words fell from his lips anyway, unprepared, for once, and as graceless as this reunion was. "Congratulations. On your pregnancy," he shifted on his paws in that awkward way that always seemed to plague them, then continued, "You were always good with them... children, I mean..."

Scarlett had to admit that Malachi sounded rather honest when he spoke about the fact that he never doubted that they would survive. She thought back about her time at Duskfire. She always thought she was accepted there but she realized she had not been accepted. All her hard work for that pack was gone within a day, just because she spoke out against the former alpha female. Scarlett found that she was the hardest working pack member at the time and to be treated like that was like a slap in her face. But she was slowly getting over that time now. She was doing far better, and because she left Duskfire she actually had gotten this better life. She couldn't complain much at all.

"Thank you. I wanted to have pups since .. always. So this is really a gift for me," she admitted, which was also why she was traveling so far to Blue Willow to make sure she would do it right. Mostly would happen on instinct but some knowledge could never be wrong really. Plus the male that fathered her pups was the love of her life, she would never leave him and carrying his pups was only more of that love she wanted to show him. They were both excited for their first litter. "My mate is also excited. It will do our pack good to have little ones running around," she added. Scarlett usually wanted to keep Bearclaw a bit of her secret. It was nice and quiet, no one that bothered them. Or any packs that they have a rivalry against. She loved how inaccessible it was, the only downside was that they would need to search for members instead of them coming to Bearclaw.

Malachi grew still at Scarlett's words. Her pleasure did not pass to him, and he could not work himself to reciprocate her joy. Instead his brow tightened and his mouth flicked with a shadow of unease. Scarlett's motherhood was a blessing, but at what cost? How many of her children would survive past childhood, and how many past birth? Would she have the pleasure of watching them grow, or would she be the one to bury and mourn?

The man felt his throat tighten. He could not shake his thoughts, but he refused to share them. Malachi prayed the best for Scarlett - he really did - but his hope did not rest with her, and his troubled gaze flicked to the horizon before he returned his eyes to her. "You'll be a good mother," he finally said, because that much he knew to be true - though even the greatest mother could not save her children from death. His attempt at encouragement felt alien on his tongue, but he couldn't drag the queen down. Maybe her family would be spared, but he doubted that. Death didn't play favourites. "And you'll raise them well."

Scarlett was thankful for Malachi's kind words. It did her well that he wasn't hateful towards her. Maybe in the months that had gone by her anger towards the wolves of Duskfire might have worsened. Maybe she even pictured them to be worse than they actually were. Scarlett disliked to think of it too much. She had other wolves in her live, wolves that she loved and cared for. And they returned that love and care.

"Thank you," she spoke more softly. Scarlett was curious about Malachi though, and what happened to the glacier pack. She didn't know it was disbanded. She didn't even know where Tuwawi was. Did she leave? Did she die? "How about you? Why did you leave Duskfire? And.. What.. What happened to Tuwawi?," she asked, sounding a bit more insecure. Somehow she had the feeling that the red queen would still haunt her or would kill her babies. The white queen was most definitely scared of the red one.

Just read through the Ankyra/Duskfire battle thread and realized someone PP'd Malachi into the fight. Gonna roll with that, so my apologies if there are any inconsistencies between this and anything I wrote earlier!

The softness of Scarlett's voice set the man at ease, and offered an assurance that his words had been heard without the darker undertones that filled him. The beginning of a smile curved upon his lips - pathetic as it was - and stood in stark contrast to his downcast eyes.

But his face darkened when she spoke again, and his mouth tightened. All the questions he had done well to avoid spilled from Scarlett now, and he found himself retreating again. He averted his eyes. "There was a raid from the sea wolves. I don't know what happened to Duskfire." Heat rose in his cheeks when the sensation came again, of his teeth sinking into the flesh of another, spilling the blood of a wolf. Fire and salt and blood - that was the last he had seen of the Glacier, and the memory made him recoil. "I'm sorry. But... is the Glacier far from here?" His voice wavered and broke. Tuwawi's wrath surely burnt against him now, more likely than ever before. To see her again would be too soon, and the thought he had settled in a land near Duskfire distilled his comfort. Of all their differences, the fire-kissed queen still haunted him. This much he shared with Scarlett. 

All good! <3

Scarlett wasn't surprised to hear that. She could remember protesting against a war or violence. But the Duskfire wolves didn't mind that. She was close to have the only morals there. It seemed even Malachi had fought in that war. "That was to expected." Scarlett licked her muzzle before she raised it. She still didn't approve. But then Malachi came with such a strange answer. "What do you mean? Didn't you walk from Duskfire to Blacktail Deer Plateau?," she frowned and looked at her former alpha.

Scarlett was a bit confused she asked about Tuwawi but it sounded like Malachi was rather confused himself what was going on. "It is north-ish from here, in the Taiga. A day travel?," she pointed out and then tipped her head a bit. "Malachi? Are you doing alright?"

There was confusion in her question, and her words tightened his throat. "Walked?" he choked, and he snapped his gaze to the horizon. The Glacier couldn't be so close - he would have seen it! His icy eyes flitted around the flatlands, heart twisting in his chest. But the mountains he met were foreign to him, and Scarlett's words confirmed that: the Glacier did not lie to the South. But how far beyond the sheer wall of the Plateau did the frozen grave loom?

He snapped his eyes back to Scarlett, his gaze sharp and tight, and his heart hurt. Her concern did not evade him - concern he did not deserve from her - and yet his throat yearned to speak of everything he had hidden from every wolf he'd met since leaving the Vale. But his wrongs piled against him and formed a burden too heavy for himself. There had been a time he could carry the weight - but now his transgression broke him and smothered him like he had once smothered them. Did Scarlett know she broke him? She and Tuwawi - his sin against each was unforgivable. But how could he apologize to Scarlett when his very apology would scorn Tuwawi, whom he'd betrayed just as deep? He couldn't give his trouble to Scarlett - she wouldn't understand, and he didn't want to argue with her. Not now.

"Of course." he said, and coughed. "I'm glad you've found a place for yourself. You and Adlartok deserve to live in peace."

Poor Malachi, last post from me <3. I really liked this thread :3

Scarlett looked at Malachi with a frown. That one word brought so much terror to the male or so it seemed. The light hearted female almost felt bad for him. Her red eyes glanced over the male with a curious expression wondering what went through his mind. Other than that it seemed that the male was more than troubled to say the least. Scarlett for once didn't want to help. She would have too many memories herself and Malachi probably too. "Thank you. We are living in peace and most of all somewhere safe," she pointed out. Malachi would probably mean what she meant with safe. It meant Tuwawi free.

The red eyed female then nodded to him in a court manner. "Well, I guess that I will go look for my friend now," she spoke slightly hesitant. "You take care alright?," she spoke more softly towards him. Even though she was still a bit upset by what the male had done she didn't want anything bad to happen to him. It seemed the former alpha was rather shaken already. Her pale bulging body turned away from him and without another goodbye or looking back she trotted away out of view, respectfully staying outside the border, howling once more for Blue Willow.

I really enjoyed it, too <3 And Eeee I'm so going to be stalking Bearclaw Valley, the babies are almost here!! :D

Malachi felt his shoulders unravel when Scarlett took his lie without a word against him. He didn't think she had missed his falsehood, but she had chosen to overlook it. Perhaps it was easier for them both to let Duskfire lie in the past as well as they could. Scarlett and Adlartok were safe now, and the future looked bright for the winter queen, which was more than he could ask for her.

Their parting was softer than their initial reunion, and though they had not reconciled with warm nudges and wagging tails, what transpired between them was enough. Hesitant and uncertain, but enough, and Malachi took the small peace she offered and hid it away. He didn't think she had forgiven him, but he didn't think she counted him her enemy, either. Perhaps they just were, and Malachi was alright with that. The faintest smile tugged at his mouth. "I will, and you the same."

She turned from him, and he from her. When she called again, he did not heed her call. Blue Willow would find her, and he trusted she wouldn't risk putting a paw over their border - he'd taught her against that himself. After the turmoil of the Glacier, there was a strange stillness knowing that Scarlett had found a better place - one with love and one she deserved. And no matter the fear he felt toward the fire-kissed queen, he found his heart yearning that wherever she was, Tuwawi had found the same.