Moonspear papercut

It had taken him and @Aria a while to trek back to the mountain, but once the snows died down it luckily got easier. After returning Charon had cuddled @Alya, @Lyra, @Hydra and @Korei Julia first, after informing them and @Amekaze of Flóki's disappearance. They'd covered quite some ground, but hadn't managed to find traces of him anywhere. And with the bad weather, neither had they found wolves who'd seen him.

Just now he was starting to wake up from a well-needed rest at the rendezvous site. He'd always hated how the pups would wake him up around every corner, but after being stuck in the snow he welcomed such a distraction, he realised as he awoke almost suspiciously quietly... so far.

Janus approached the rendezvous site with a sizeable deer shoulder clutched in his jaws. There was still a bit of stringy meat and sinew left for the tiny pups to chew on and the bone would provide ample entertainment, or so he hoped. He danced across the deep snow like a ghost—fleet feet finding purchase on the unstable ground. He held his head level with his spine and his tail hung limp between his ankles. The scents permiating the air here were thick with the Alpha female's scent, but there was one other distinguishable wolf among the lingering smell of pup. And it was far more fresh than that of the others.

The soon-to-be Guardian paused at the fringes of the site, and twisted his ears forward towards the pale gray and white male sprawled upon the threshold. It could be none other than the Alpha male, the one he'd scented at the borders before his acceptance by the mysterious Amekaze. He expelled a breath through his nose and it coalesced into vapor. Janus was one to pick his battles, but he hoped this would not turn out to be one. Still, he'd spent enough time around headstrong Commanders to know that some simply liked to throw their weight around simply because they could. 

He flattened his ears to the side and moved forward. He emerged from the wood with his body lowered a few inches, and crept along the snow while issuing a soft whimper to the scarred beast. Janus deposited the deer shoulder at his feet and nosed it before speaking, "Hello," he said, "I brought this for the children. Amekaze asked me to help watch your family by keeping the borders safe. I had hoped to meet with you earlier, but the weather was... less than favorable."

When Charon opened his eyes to the respectful look of what he could only presume to be one of his new packmates, a realisation came to him. How others looked at him had changed. He'd had to try hard to garner respect the first year of his leadership, when he was viewed as a weak yearling by some of the pack. He'd proved them wrong — killed one — but it was strange to wake up and see himself viewed as the thing he craved to be viewed as all these years. None of his actions had been able to sway the minds of new wolves in the pack — only age had.

A grumpy sleepy frown fell from his face, replaced by a tired smile, as he saw the food. "Thank you," he said, grateful, not only for himself but for his daughters. "I assume Ame took you in in my absence?" he then asked; he and Aria had only just returned to Moonspear, but he guessed the newcomer hadn't realised and had heard of Charon only briefly with a description. Though he thought the other already knew, he introduced, "I'm Charon," assuming that Ame had yet told of his name.

Janus was unaware of the revelation occuring within the confindes of Charon's mind. He'd never known the young leader before his rise to power, nor was he privy to the rough start he endured within the first year. Who he saw lying in the snow was a young male who'd taken his licks, and still lived to tell about it. A young man who commanded a pack, and ruled a mountain alongside his inexplicably savage mate. They were both bastions—formidable, powerful, and unusually interesting to Janus. It was why he stayed, even now that the worst of the snows were over.

He returned the smile and relaxed. Charon did not seem keen on enforcing his rank, or running him out of the clearing. Janus waved his tail in an amiable gesture, "Correct." he replied only to offer the male a nod of respect, "Pleasure is mine, Charon. I'm Janus." And, because he was curious, he couldn't help but comment on the oddity of Charon allowing him so close to the rendezvous site on his word alone. For all he knew, Janus could be lying through his teeth. "I hope I wasn't too bold to walk up here uninvited..." 

Charon remained neutral, still a bit sleepy and figuring that Amekaze wouldn't have accepted anyone who was a total nutcase who didn't respect their superiors (briefly he thought of Nishu Inte, though). He offered a watery smile at the dude's tailwag, and then stifled a yawn as he got to his feet. Janus apologised, though Charon didn't see why, as if he wouldn't trust anyone with his daughters, they'd be thrown from his pack ages ago.

"Nah, I assume Ame performed a screening before she accepted you," he said half-jokingly, and he stretched his legs to leave behind the sleepiness. "You wanna go for a patrol?" he asked. "Ame and the pups'll take care of this." He looked at the food and figured he'd call them here if the answer was yes.

In truth, Amekaze hadn't really asked a whole lot of questions. It was Janus who'd been forthcoming from the start, but who was to say he was even telling the truth? He was, of course, but he'd omitted the parts that did not look so favorably on himself. He was a soldier; he needed a home; he could follow orders—that's all they really needed to know. Charon seemed a friendly, if a no bullshit, kind of guy. Relaxed enough around his pack, but the scars were telling of a hidden depth to the man. 

Janus cupped his ears and smiled, "Aye, very thorough. Made sure I didn't have any bandits waiting in the wings, or poison tucked behind my ear." It was clearly a joke, but he hoped the gray-flecked Alpha could appreciate it all the same. The offer was tempting. Learning about the territory alongside the one who'd claimed it in the first place was an oppertunity far too good to pass up. Plus, if it got him further into the leadership's good graces, he could cement himself into the ranks and worry less about committing a fatal faux pas. "Certainly!" He chirped.

Charon wasn't feeling overly humorous because he was still sleepy, but offered a meek and decidedly sleepy grin. He could appreciate the attempt, and hoped the jokes'd get better with a little encouragement; or maybe just a little more awakeness.

Janus agreed to come for a patrol and Charon lead the way down the path into the forests and towards the tree-lined borders of the pack. Where the forest ended, the outside world began. "Anything I should know about you?" he asked, because surely Ame'd asked things. Or maybe she'd just said yes off the bat, knowing they needed whoever they could get. He hoped for children again come spring, but at this rate he wasn't sure it was smart. They really needed more able bodies. Though in the end, likely it'd be nature to dictate when the next batch of pups would be born, not he or Ame.

Janus wasn't too bothered that Charon didn't feel his jokes. Or, rather, wasn't awake enough for them. He couldn't really tell. A bit of column A and column B maybe? Either way, it was just his attempt at being friendly rather than straight-edge all the time. He was honestly sick of the prim and proper, and was secretly kind of glad Charon didn't demand the whole submissive rigamarole right off the bat.

He fell in line beside Charon, covering the ground with the same ease as the Alpha male. His paws found purchase on the icy ground as they descended to the lower reaches of the peak. The borders came within range of his senses, and he inhaled to memorize the markers that made up the banner of Moonspear. They were part of his life now and he owed it to them, Amekaze in particular, for the chance at survival. One day, he hoped to thrive. 

Janus shook his head at the question, "Nothing too out of the ordinary. I was a solider with my father's pack, but I disagreed with him and he took great offense to it. He stripped me of my rank, and I left to start a new life elsewhere. I hope that Moonspear ends up being my elsewhere." He explained, leaping over a small branch with ease. He nosed one of the markers, but kept his eyes and ears fixed on Charon.

Charon listened with interest to the story as they made their way to the borders, and he could not help but wonder what their disagreement was about that it was so dire he would get kicked out. "A soldier, huh?" he said with interest, figuring they could maybe spar some day or exchange tactics to further his own training.

Then he asked, "What was the disagreement?" He sounded casual, though the question was born from curiosity mostly, and his taste for juicy gossip secondly. As they neared the borders he took a left and followed a narrow path through the forest that demanded he go first because they didn't both fit on the trail; but he looked back to see what Janus would answer, ears tilted back to listen.

They turned, and the path narrowed suddenly. Janus paused and let Charon go first and followed as soon as he passed. He kept his ears trained on Charon, but lowered his head to sniff at the base of a pine as he passed. A faint chill seized his heart for a half-beat, but the question was phrased in such a casual way that he didn't feel as if there was much weighing on the answer. He shook his head, "He wanted to send some of our less able members as fodder to weaken rivals that were attempting to take the Pass. I argued that they were useful in other ways. It was taboo to speak out against a superior and, even though he is my father, he followed tradition and I was punished." Janus explained with a serious twist to his lips. "I can't condone the murder of innocents. So, I ran off and ended up here by some stroke of fate." 

Charon was always curious about the stories of wolves, mostly because it meant he could gauge their patterns. The fact that Janus had stopped his father's doings said that his own morals were more important than food, shelter and therefore survival. A dangerous trait to own, in Charon's mind. Nishu had been like that, and he had died for it. Yet the world luckily had more shades than just black or white, and Charon did realise that the situation Janus described was different than that of Nishu. It wasn't that he had disrespected leadership because he didn't think them capable; it was because his own morals had been trespassed on. Charon didn't intend to murder innocents anytime soon, so he figured they were cool.

"Your dad sounds like a prick," Charon said, crude as always, as he continued to make his way through the path. Finally they reached the end of it and as they came out of the narrow path and were looking out over the altar of twilight Charon turned to rub his shoulder against some of the trees that lined the borders, leaving a few stray white hairs across them.

Janus laughs, "Shit, pretty much." There was no other way to describe him. Sure, events didn't go down exactly as Janus explained to Charon, but it was close enough. He wasn't damaged by it, or some sort of intensely moral knight in shining armor, but the simple fact was that it happened and here he was. 

The pale brute squatted over a fern and urinated to leave his scent and relieve himself after slaking his thirst on snowmelt earlier that morning, not willing to risk lifting his leg in the presence of the Alpha male. When he finished he braced all four legs and shook his pelt to settle the fur correctly. He flicked an ear and away and out past the borders as Charon rubbed against a trunk to dislodge a bit of fur. 

"How long have you two been leaders here?" He asked as he stepped along after Charon, following obediantly in the leader's footsteps.

While Charon rubbed his fur against a tree, leaving some hairs behind on there, Janus wet the ground. Though he had not done so in a dominant manner, still, Charon's dominance demand he revisit the spot. After Janus'd moved on he moved over to pee very near to the spot, not entirely on but close to it. He scratched the ground in a giddy manner and then sprang forward to join by Janus' side once more as they continued the patrol to mark elsewhere along the borders.

As the question was asked he had to think on it a moment before answering, "One and half a year, now. We founded this pack together from merging our two smaller packs together." Though from the size one wouldn't say it now, for its first year Moonspear had been rather large what with the two packs banding together.

He continued the patrol while occasionally stopping to rub against a tree, roll on the ground or pee. It was after he'd just rolled and got up from the ground that Charon asked, seemingly out of the blue, "How far off is your dad's pack? Did you travel far?" He was mostly just curious, but also to know if they were ever to risk trouble with Janus' father's pack, so he could be prepared.

Janus was not at all surprised when Charon moved past him to revisit the spot he'd just marked, and simply stood by patiently as the Alpha male scraped the ground with his feet to further spread the scent. They proceeded a few moments later, and his question was answered concisely. He didn't feel the need to ask for detail, as it wasn't immediately relevant. But it was good to know that the leader pair started off as seperate entities—it revealed to Janus that they could work together, regardless of their relationship. It endeared him to their cause even further, and dissolved his unease about pledging himself to them so quickly. 

They were quiet for a bit as they worked on the borders, wandering the reaches, and occasionally stopping to reapply (or apply, in Janus' case) scents. He was in the middle of squatting on a bush when Charon directed another abrupt question at him. It was a fairly innocent question, but the pale solider knew enough about politics to know when there was calculations hinging on the content of the answer. When he finished, he perked his ears and looked towards the east, "About a weeks travel from here at a good clip." He replied. This was the whole truth, and he couldn't be happier for it. Janus hoped he would never, ever encounter a Scheggia Pass wolf again in his lifetime.

"They won't come looking for me," he admitted as he rejoined Charon's side. "I'm of no use to them any longer."

A week wasn't very far, but it was far enough for Charon. He didn't think that he'd likely get sought out if he was chased out, unless his father was the vengeful type that wanted to finish what he'd started. But unless Janus had lied about the worng he'd committed — and why would he? — Charon doubted that he would go to such lengths. He knew from experience, sadly, that it wasn't that easy to track a specific individual down once they'd gone, especially as more time passed.

"hmm-mm," he murmured as he thought on that and considered all the details. They continued their patrol in silence from thereon, occasionally stopping to roll, pee or rub fur on trees and bushes.