Deepwood Weald the lonely island

immediately following he and Aria's latest fight, Cas went down to the thick forest beyond Donnelaith. there, he wasted no time in calling for his sister, tilting back his head to summon @Deirdre. he had meant what he said about not coming to the borders again. "don't be a stranger," Constantine had asked, when he was the one who had changed. kicking a pregnant woman out of her home. what the fuck. 

he stood among the trees, fuming.

she had smelled him near, and had gone to seek him eagerly. she had not been terribly deep within donnelaith, but certainly deep enough to miss the entirety of his interaction with aria; her nose swept briefly over the area their paths intersected on her way to him, and then paused for a moment, wondering at this. why had he moved at all? ...but presumed she would find the reason when she came upon him. 

this took her little time; she moved in graceful leaps, moving as the deer had taught her. sinew stretched and rippled beneath her pelt, and the girl--who appeared to be a voluptuous and bewitching woman--emerged from the cover of the trees to see her brother. 

casmir! she lilted warmly, so glad to see him again. casmir, i have news! it is not my news to share, and so i will use discretion--but i will tell you, if you ask of me, but please do not--we are to have more siblings! she was overjoyed by this, and had yet to come across constantine to tell him, though perhaps her elder siblings, each of them, already knew. of that she was not sure, for specifics were a blurr, but her happiness was quite evident upon her features. twas one of her fathers last tangible gifts to them, surely, and for this she felt that she had become richer. she moved to embrace him, to hug him tightly and kiss his cheek in fond greeting.

Deirdre arrived not long after he called, looking every inch a woman. this shocked Casmir to no end, angered him even. how dare nature give her a body like that, when her mind was very much that of a child? knowing his rage was irrational, and stemmed from his fight with Aria, the boy gratefully embraced his sister back, leaning into her love and piping voice.

Dee could always elicit a smile from him, but not today. "yeah, i know. Rowan's their mom. but Aria kicked Ro out. Connie too." anger rose again in his gaze. "i told Ro before all this that she could come stay with me, so i gotta get back to see if she's coming. but ... what are u gonna do? you're about to be grown."

come with me, his heart begged.

deirdre listened to her brother--there was no shock upon his features, but she did not have to wonder or think on this for very long at all. no, he explained himself promptly, and the very words he said caused deirdre to frown. aria kicked out constantine and rowan? she asked, frowning deeply. why would she do this? i... she had told rowan that she would be safe; she had not known, could not have known, that aria would do this. something was amiss, she knew. and there was a terrible feeling brewing within her belly, but one that for the moment she thrust away.

what would she do? first, she needed to understand. to know. tell me all that you know, she urged him, feeling that once she knew it all, she might come to know what was the right thing to do; deirdre, wholly good, could not stray from these ideals.

"no, sorry. i meant that Connie and Aria kicked Rowan out." Deirdre then asked for details, and the boy gave a frustrated sigh, settling down on his haunches. "okay ... so like ... it's really fucked up that dad even did this." he paused, then decided his swearing didn't matter. "you know i cuss, Dee, and i'm gonna do it a lot," he warned, before clearing his throat and settling in to explain.

"okay well not long ago i met Ro outside the packlands and we talked and she told me what happened. she was pretty afraid Aria was gonna kick her out, so i was like nah man nah. she wouldn't do that. but then i came back anyway, just to double check. and what do i find? fucking Aria did kick her out! and i'm like, why did you kick out a chick carrying my baby bros and sisters? and she couldn't even give me an answer. said Connie was in on it too. stupid fuckface should know better."

"anyway we yelled at each other and she said Connie went off with Rowan to find a new home. big fuckin' whoop, right? like does she want a gold star for not sending a pregnant chick off by herself? oh, i sent someone with her to drop her off with strangers instead of letting her stay in the fucking pack. gee, thanks, Aria."

he spoke to her, and she nodded at him as he spoke of cussing. it was, evidently, not her preference; she had never uttered profanity and her life, and nothing had given the urge to, either. she listened to her brother speak and frowned, deeply. she told me she had met others not pleased with her for her pregnancy. she did not tell me that it was aria, she told him openly, and looked away. i told her... i told her that she would be safe, that all would be well...

the mayfair child sucked in a breath. you spoke with aria... she said nothing on why? nothing at all, casmir? she could not understand it! why would aria do this thing? donnelaith... it is a safe haven, a sanctuary... there could be no reason for this, unless rowan threatened the life of another within the sanctuary... aria, in this act alone, would have endangered rowan's and the innocents within her... her eyes sought casmirs, as though he could further help her understand.

he nodded. "i promised too, because ... right. this is a safe haven. that's what dad would have wanted, and i don't think if he would have made Aria leader if this was how she treated his family." he scoffed, rising to pace with hackles bristled. "what really chaps my ass is Constantine. what skin does he have in this game? why would he back her on this?"

"Aria was like, Lasher left me no one. and said you wanted to rule. and so i was like, duh, yeah do that. Dee knows what this pack is about. Aria obviously doesn't." he sighed and shook his head angrily. "she's just jealous she wasn't gonna have pups first and took it out on Rowan."

he continued on, and deirdre nodded. not once had she forgotten what donnelaith was meant for, nor had she ever strayed from its peaceful path. it spoke to her very heart, and it was who she, too, was as a wolf. and as he mentioned constantine, deirdre defended him, gently. perhaps she was not so open with him as she was with you. constantine is good--he gives me guidance, though perhaps it is not so with aria, after all, she was his sister. aria he did not know as well as she herself did, or even as well as he had come to know her. but as she thought on it, she could think of no reason that a pregnant woman would be ousted... i was looking for him before you called, she realized, looking over her shoulder. was he comfortable enough with the woman to question her, when he thought she was wrong? could it be that he thought she was right?

deirdre flinched as he spoke of aria, of how she felt she had no one. truly, the young girl was wounded; she loved aria, fiercely, and her offense at this was a palpable thing as she struggled to understand it. alone? she breathed, feeling her heart writhe in her chest. it was her father that had died, and she had mourned in her own way, but aria still had donnelaith--did that not fill her heart, as it had come to fill deirdre's? did aria feel so alone as to forget the existence of she herself? ah--and she spoke of her ambition to casmir!

jealousy. it sounded an ugly thing--deirdre had not felt it before, and felt she did not wish to after hearing the result of it. i will lead donnelaith, when i am of age. i never wished to encroach on her authority, i only wished to learn from her, but this wisdom was one she aspired to never glean. she has strayed from donnelaith's path, casmir. but perhaps she can be brought to reconsider, her youthful optimism remained. she did not wish to believe that what aria had done was sealed, permanently. deirdre knew that she could afford to teach aria things, herself--patience, and the fortitude to withstand such terrible blows being two of them. our fathers legacy lives. donnelaith is where his body rests, and his spirit is with us, still. i cannot abandon what he has worked so hard for, i cannot let it be undone, she spoke passionately, her emerald eyes light with purpose.

Cas paused to listen as Deirdre began to speak, sensing his sister was trying to make sense of it all. he had to grudgingly agree with her assessment of Constantine. maybe Aria had seen a side of him he hadn't. shit, for all he knew they were screwing each other's brains out, which would bother the hell out of Casmir, had he known her propensity for his male family members.

the idea alone, however, didn't really bother him. let her get pile driven by that dicknuts. he didn't give a single shit. right now, he was focused on Rowan, and also where he was going to sleep for the night. it was too late to go home, since he and Aria had wasted twenty minutes screaming their throats raw at each other.

"yeah. maybe she can. and you're right," he sighed. "she needs you. Donnelaith needs you." he couldn't persuade Dee away from where she clearly belonged. "well, anyway, you're welcome at Silver Creek anytime. especially if that's where Rowan chooses to go. you're the only one, though." he was pretty pissed at Connie and Aria. they were like the Team Rocket of the wilds, always blasting off and doing stupid shit. or so he assumed. he really knew nothing and was just wildly pissed.

deirdre closed her eyes. even though perhaps aria might be brought to reconsider, would rowan? would rowan feel safe again within donnelaith? safety was such an important aspect of home. she grit her teeth, and breathed herself to calmness. for truly deirdre was irate over this predicament that ought to not exist at all. but she herself was a rational woman. aria had made a mistake. perhaps she, too, would suffer through a time when she would make an error in judgment. the difference here was what aria had done was displace a member--many members--of her family from where she was meant to be.

when lasher closed his eyes, did others believe he would not be watching? that there would not be a time to pay the price for attempted to erase what was written in stone?

deirdre looked to her brother, and sought lasher in him. sought more guidance. she was wise, wise beyond her years, but now more than ever she wished he was here. in her heart she knew what was to be done was more than right, it was fated that she ascend... but the approval of lasher, the words, 'i would see you sit upon the throne i have built', were ones that she yearned for.

but there was no insecurity in not hearing them so directly. for a great gail wrapped around her, and she had not once doubted the destiny she had dreamed of. she sighed. please, do not begrudge constantine for following her orders. we are all mayfairs; we must be united in this, and in what will come. i need you, she admitted, all of you. your support, that, at least--even if he said the words, she wanted to know that he believed in her as she did herself.

she was so emotional, but also logical, and implored him not to blame Connie. "sorry, Dee," Cas muttered, slumping down to stretch out on his belly alongside her, "but i'm pretty pissed at them both." but it was true that they needed to be united. for all his dad's sudden flaws, Cas missed him, and a shaking sigh racked the boy's prone body.

"i wish he was here," Cas murmured against the ground, and trusted that Dee would know of whom he spoke. after all, they both felt the same pain. "did Eilidh run off, too?" he asked after a moment, having not scented his littermate at the borders. Connie and he alone were left, but poor Dee was all alone in her generation.

he did not regard her request, his own passionate anger giving way to what she thought might be reason. but then, she understood also what she asked to perhaps be a selfish thing, and so she held her tongue.

as her brother asked of eilidh, deirdre shook her head. she mourns in the depths of donnelaith. even those a part of the wood do not see much of her, for eilidh kept to herself. you should visit her, when you can, though she knew it might be a long time yet before she saw his face within donnelaith, she wondered if eilidh might take precedence to the drama within his life. she did not have to wonder what she herself would do, but above all things deirdre loved her family! he was not wrong in his thoughts--deirdre was quite alone in all this, she felt. worried though she was, she felt no reason to fear.

i can edit a fader onto this, i am so sorry for the delay!!! or u can fade it with yours!!! WE NEED A NEW ONE SOON