Moonspear bad blood

hoping for @Charon ! as we do not have a current thread and that is bizarre to me; set before Alya departs and after Hydra returns from NSV. Vague on NSV return because no one has entered the thread.

 

Hydra prowled the borders, head low and nostrils flaring. Her tail twitched behind her as she dwelled on her conversation with Korei. She would teach her to fight, teach her to be useful to the pack. Hydra never really liked Korei; she treated her like an Omega most of the time, and her frustrations were received by her palest, golden-eyed sibling. At present though all was going well, other than Alya's contemplation of departing them for a brief time. She was conflicted on that... but saw the worth in it, too, given that she would be coming back. And while Alya was still here she did not want to think of her not being here. 

What she really wanted to do was improve her fighting skills. She was likely a far better fighter at her age than she ought to be, given her diligence... but she wanted to be better. No, she wanted to be one of the best. She wanted a skill that echoed her mother and father. With her sisters she could beat any opponent, and independently she was a great fighter too... but her aspirations were more than that. She thought of the way she and her sisters had found Rannoch—she wanted to be sure that alone, she could beat an opponent larger than her. 

She caught wind of her fathers trail and thinking he may be up ahead, Hydra quickened her pace.

Charon had a lot of time on his hands now that the children were growing and Galaxy's accident was slowly moving to be a thing of the past. Every passing day the pups had more chance at survival, and Charon wasn't always sure what to do with that given time. He thought of Potema's pups and was thinking he may have to visit the Woods someday. Charon knew that it meant playing with fire, but he felt a desire to be close to his children there, too, to be some part of their life, no matter how small, since that day he had seen one at Redhawk Caldera.

His thoughts lay heavy on his mind as he travelled the paths of Moonspear until he realised he was being tailed. When he looked round he didn't see the usual trio of disaster skillsfully spying on him, but he saw Hydra alone; one of the signs that his babies were growing up. He could barely believe they were already a year old now, and his daughter was the pack's Beta. Charon chuffed in greeting, a warm smile finding its way to his face as she approached.

Though the girls were more often together than they were not, they were each becoming better at their own individual skills as well. Hydra was a fighter, Lyra a healer, and Alya a scout... something she wanted to work on more, outside of here. But again that thought fled her mind as she caught sight of her father, and she bounded toward him and attempted to nip his shoulder, rough but fond. 

Hydra had not gotten to talk too much to her father about what happened to Rannoch, given the fact that she felt it essential she report to the Vale firstly. After all, Rannoch had been their leader, and what disorder might a pack experience without one...? I wanted to talk to you about the day we found Rannoch some more, she opened, finding her place beside him now. The wolf that we fought against smelled like dead bodies and birds, a scent that might be too familiar to him given his recent run-in with his (unknown to her) other daughter, and he was big. He was easy to take down between the three of us, and I'd like to think I could have beaten him alone, too... but... She wasn't a large female, by any means. Neither was she small and petite. She was, in stature, average—the perfect mix of speed and strength, though against larger opponents she knew to wear them out first. He wasn't normal. He should have ran but he kept fighting. It was almost like he didn't care if he lived or died, so long as he took someone else with him, which he hadn't, but only because, perhaps, he was outnumbered. But that kind of reckless fighting... this time she was sure she did the right thing, but what about next time? If she were alone?

A familial growl rumbled in his throat at the nip to his shoulder. It didn't take Hydra long to get to the point and he nodded with a serious expression on his face as she cut into the subject of Rannoch. It seemed a strange detail to him that the wolf they fought against smelled like death. That he kept on fighting when he should've realised he was outnumbered from the moment the triplets were upon him.

Those were strange details and Charon frowned. "Strange. Do you know where he was from? Recognise him from anywhere?" he asked, though he feared the answer was 'no'. "We should keep on guard. The Glen's never been dangerous, wolves've known to stay away from us." Unfortunately with the coming of this wolf it was no longer so. "I've never seen a wolf by that description in the Glen before. Maybe we should send out a few patrols of two or three wolves each to see if we can find this wolf." Charon pondered if he should, or if they should just let it be. For all they knew it was a passing by loner who was desperate or crazy and who'd die soon or travel elsewhere.

His first inquiry was met with a shake of her head. While this male bore the scent of another wolf that she had romped with, she had never gotten details on him and had all but forgotten him entirely. Though the question if she recognised him... he did look eerily similar to a male she had not seen in many days, but would never forget. His appearance looked a lot like Uncle Floki, she admitted to her father then, I know it wasn't him... but they looked very alike, it was something she was able to connect now, after the incident—during it, she hadn't much time to think of much but the moment. Still, if her father saw anyone that looked like that who wasn't Floki, well, he'd know it was him. I marked his face up pretty badly, she said with a wave of her tail. She'd gotten some scratches herself, but none that amounted to the damage she was able to deal. 

As far as her fathers suggestion, she nodded. Maybe for a bit, if only to ensure the safety of Vela, Jarilo, and Galaxy, she said, thoughtful. I don't know what this guys heads like—if he'd want revenge or anything like that. I think it'd be best to be on guard in general for a while, her blue eyes looked to her father, wondering what he'd think.

To find out that Rannoch's assailant looked like Floki was bewildering to Charon. He looked taken aback, the bewilderment clearly written on his face. What if it was Floki, running around like a madman? What if he'd gone crazy somehow? Charon felt his heart pounding in his chest, wishing he knew more about this weird wolf. "That's weird," he said, the words coming out mechanically and awkward.

He thought of Jorunn for a moment; but why would Jorunn assault Rannoch? It made more sense than Floki, but it still wasn't a very pretty thought. Jorunn might've been jealous of Eshe, since Scimitar and his previous mate had adopted him; but how would he even have known Rannoch to be Eshe's child? It didn't make sense.

Charon scoffed when she said that the other guy might want revenge. The guy who'd assaulted Rannoch with no reason. But she was right, and he felt proud that she did not think as brashly as he had at her age. She truly was the perfect combination of both her parents' genes, combining Amekaze's cool to Charon's ruthlessness. He nodded. "I'll join the patrols. We should always be with at least two of us. You'll organise the patrols." Even he didn't want to face some wolf who didn't value their own life. While he was pretty sure he could best such a dirtbag, he wasn't looking to get himself hurt with no one nearby to tend to him. Especially not while they were still on bad terms with Redhawk Caldera.

Hydra sensed the change in tone, but also felt she understood it to some degree. It being weird? I know, she said, empathetically. Because it had been weird... totally bizarre, thinking of it now. She hadn't known Uncle Floki, had a brother, else she might have assumed it could have been him too, like her father. Hydra was grateful her father agreed with her, and her tail waved again. She agreed with him wholeheartedly after he presented the fact they ought to go with two wolves rather than one. 

Will do, she said with a nod of her head. She did not ask what they ought to do if they saw him; Hydra wanted to try and kill him, and with two wolves that'd be all the easier. This time he would not flee. Had Rannoch not been there, all three would have attempted to off him... but the wolf he had tried to kill had been his savng grace. 

She looked thoughtful for a moment. Is the only way for me to beat a larger wolf to tire them out, first? Tripping them wasn't always effective with her lither than their own weight, but she wondered if he would have any pro-tips.

Hydra agreed to organise the patrols and that was that. Charon was ready to move on to another subject now so that he could push the thought of Floki or Jorunn running around attacking people near Moonspear from his mind. Hydra asked how to beat larger wolves and it was the perfect hook for him to latch onto. Not that he had all that much experience. Yes, he'd fought larger wolves, but he always just did whatever popped to his mind. He just followed instincts. Didn't have much tactics to share. He appreciated how calculated Hydra was — her mother's side, that — but it just wasn't him.

"Your mother's probably a better fit for those kind of questions," said Charon. "My experience is I've never used tactics, but I've always gotten out of fights alive. Why?" He could have chalked it up to luck, of course, but that wasn't very like Charon. "Because I was angrier than them. Because they pissed me the fuck off and when they attacked me, I was about ready to claw their eyes out. You gotta have a will to survive and a will to maul the fuck out of your enemy."

Hydra listened to her father, and related to his words. When she fought, she fought with an unrelenting ferocity built on her fury—all the fury she carried, and the new rage that came with being offended—but she did not see red. She sought weakness instead, in this anger. She wanted to deliver not only painful blows, but blows that would incapacitate her opponent. Check and check, Hydra responded. She certainly had a will to survive and to maul. Against her nameless opponent, she had successfully done both.

Hydra took his advice and Charon tried desperately to find something else to talk about. But Hydra had the calculation and stoicism of her mother at times, and he found that it was difficult to think of something of interest that wouldn't just make things more awkward. So he fell into a silence like he often did with Ame, trying to push the thoughts of Floki and Jorunn from his mind and trying to find happier places again.

Eventually he said, "Come, let's go for a patrol," and he turned towards the borders, waiting for Hydra to follow before he'd continue towards the borders in a trot, whether it was in silence or while they spoke about something else Hydra might have questions about.

Hydra nodded to his invitation and fell into step alongside him. Before long the two fell into their routine when together, Hydra quiet as ever. At this age she had few questions for him when it came to patrolling, and learned from observing and doing both. With little to observe today, they made much headway in marking the borders and chasing out any pests they came across.