Dragoncrest Cliffs good lord, what would that sound like without love.

takes place after this thread

@Blixen was mad. @Furi was awkward. What was new.

The trio trekked home in what Artaax considered to be companionble silence. He was over their little argument within five minutes of it occurring and was content in the fact that they were doing what he had said that they should (entirely his idea, by the way).

When they crossed the borders into Drageda territory, Artaax took in the refreshing breath of home. His tail began to wag gently as they walked and his nostrils began to twitch as he began the search for @Thuringwethil. It seemed logical that she would be near hougeda, so that's where he directed the group. He tilted his head back and sent up a low call for her though, just for good measure.

Artaax may have forgotten feeling anything about the argument but Furi couldn’t stop thinking about it. And she wasn’t even in it to begin with. The exchange primarily had been between the siblings but her anxiety clung to the words and twists them to somehow mean they were disappointed in her and she didn’t have any good ideas (wasn’t it her that suggested [and started] they all go home?).

As they approach the border, she considers just leaving—she doesn’t want to face with Heda with a problem clearly started by her—but she keeps her legs moving in line with Artaax, watching as he leads them toward the heart of the territory.

artaax is oblivious. furi is anxious. blixen is rightfully steaming. 

yeah, what else is new? she's quiet and stormy as she walks behind artaax, sort of next to furi. she'd been the one who told furi and artaax to find nomi in the first first place (technically the ghost man but who's counting him) before shitty boy number one had run his ugly fat gob. and then she'd told artaax again but no, god forbid he do what she say even if she's right and has the right idea most of the time. and now he's gonna try to take credit for it? ha!

she quickens her pace just slightly so that when they find nomi/nomi arrives she'll be next to artaax, taking equal credit for going to talk to her. like she'd told them to do. a bajillion times probably.

After a patrol with @Eske, she’s retreated by the lake outside Hougeda. They have not spread the information about Arrille yet to anyone other than necessary until they have a grip on what they’re dealing with. Borders are patrolled off through day and night and she keeps a closer eye on the southern border (as she assumes those aware do too). When a call is made, she stops mid-sentence of whatever she’s saying to Wanlida and immediately turns her head in that direction. Ears cup forward and she shifts her weight a little, taking a few steps away from Eske only to see three of Drageda’s youngest break the barrier of the redwoods into the clearing. Thuringwethil licks her lips, glancing back to Eske, and then redirects and waits as the three of them come into focus—a little worse for wear—and she moves forward to quickly close the distance for explanation.

eske's attention is also alerted by the call for heda as it causes the commander to cut off mid-sentence. she peers over her commander's shoulder as the three children come into view in the distance. she has to remind herself that they aren't technically children anymore and it is hard to force herself to acknowledge that they are young adults now. eske's eyes flicker to her commander as the woman moves to intercept the trio and eske, for a moment, lingers on the cusp of uncertainty. they'd called for thuringwethil, after all, but as the wanlida had not been dismissed by the commander and one of those young adults is her second after a few moments of internal deliberation she follows after heda stopping so that she is on her commander's left side, sea blue-green gaze taking in the worse-for-wear trio as heda ( and eske herself ) wait for their explanation.

It wasn't long before nomi came up them with wanlida in tow. Artaax slowed to a stop as the pair approached, his tail waving gently to show he was pleased to see her. His lip was cut, his bottom jaw stained from the blood. Other than that, his hurts were bruises beneath his mussed, dirty fur. All of it was insignificant and inconsequential to him. He cared only to give heda their report and to learn what she made of it all. And also to see Blixen and Furi scolded for being so hot-headed and stupid.

Speaking of giving their report...

Artaax stepped a bit to the side, looking back at Blixen and Furi expectantly. He would leave it to them to explain, for he still didn't fully understand why the altercation had happened. He could've explained it from his perspective - that he came across Furi and Blixen shouting at their neighbors, calling them names, attacking one of them, etc., etc. But as little as he approved of their behavior and as much as he wanted to see them reprimanded for it, Artaax would not tell on them, nor would he paint for nomi the picture he had seen. She could come to her own conclusions based on the story they told.

Though.. he was available and willing to make corrections wherever necessary...

They reach the clearing outside Hougeda and Artaax’s call is met. Not only is it Heda, too, but Wanlida, and her ears remain back against her head. Eske is the closest thing to a mother she’s had in a long time and if they are as wrong as Artaax likes to think, what is she going to think of her too? She hasn’t been in her good graces with Heda but she’d hoped her mentor still could vouch for her. Nervously, she licks her lips, and glances to the boy for him to begin his self-righteous explanation.
 
But he doesn’t.
 
Furi stifles a growl, looks away from him, and stares at the ground. Blixen had swept up to her defense the last time she’d been face to face with a problem. She can’t let it happen again. Instead, she clears her throat and looks up, but avoids any contact as the attention will undoubtedly fall on her.
 
“I found Arrille kind of south of here and I was trying… to find out why he left,” she says thickly, licking her lips and trying to swallow the lump in her throat. The situation had  been under control, Blixen had attempted to get it under control, but she’d made the situation worse. Regardless of the brief connection with Artaax, if she hadn’t gone for the other boy, they wouldn’t be here like this. “But these wolves showed up from the pack he joined that live in the sound,” she adds, going silent and dropping her gaze to the ground.

nomi and eske filter in, looking at them expectantly. blix lifts her head and straightens up, prepared to cut artaax off if he starts trying to throw them under the rug -- but he doesn't. instead furi starts explaining. the redhead takes a small step forward, nodding at her girlfriend's words. "they're real protective of the traitor for some reason," she adds on, a touch bitterly. the fight has taken precendence in her mind, but there'd been something else to report, hadn't there? "one of them - an older guy - he spoke our language," blix says, her attention shifting to nomi fully, "he - knew your name, nomi. we were going to go get you but -" each word grows more heated until she lapses back into trig - "those cowards insulted us -- they started it!" she huffs, looking at artaax and daring him to contest her on that point. sure, technically furi and artaax started it by not following blix's orders, but she doesn't actually consider that to be the case -- that shitty boy'd needed to get his skull smashed in for saying stupid shit, diplomacy be damned.

Once they’ve settled into place, she notes the wounds each of them carry and blood smeared across them. She doubts the blood only belongs to them. They are standing, in one piece, and were able to make it to this point. No one’s at risk of dying. @Portia can wait (but will be called later, assuming this takes place before the other thread).

Artaax, despite being the one to call, doesn’t say anything. Slate eyes stare at him for a moment longer and only turn when Furi begins to speak, somewhat surprised to hear her first. Not too far behind her is Blixen, however, jumping to her defense. At least she got her words in first though and so Thuringwethil focuses on that, mulling over the information she has been given. What really catches her attention, though, is someone else knowing their language. There are wolves that know her by name. They’ve been in the teekon long enough and though they’d remained small on one side of the map, they’ve covered great distances and won wars.

It is a lot to process at once and she glances at Eske for a glimpse of an expression to see what she thinks, but it is brief and indeterminate of whether or not she uses the support. “So what happened?” she asks abruptly. Heda’s jaw sets, unsatisfied with what has been explained so far, and she stares hard for the rest. “Did Arrille go back with them? And what about the other wolf?”

wanlida and heda do not have to wait long before the trio launches into an explanation and while eske was not sure whom would start explaining why they bore injuries though she is surprised that instead of artaax — whom had been the one to make the initial call — furi is the one to break the silence. eske's second explains that she found arrille and that she'd taken it into her own paws to figure out why he left ...but of course their story didn't end there. initially, it did not sound all that bad on it's own but she continues to mention that the wolves of the sound showed up to protect the boy. blixen jumps in then, letting on that she couldn't understand why they were protective of him but wanlida did. he'd given them valuable information in regards to drageda but while in doing so has proven himself a traitor. it only makes sense to eske to want to coddle and protect him at all costs, to nurture him and make him feel like he belongs so that he does not, in turn when someone better comes along, turn on them. of course, that might not be the case at all but that is eske's perception of it, at least.

wanlida kept her thoughts to herself, however. it didn't really matter why the wolves of the sound protected him other than that they did and that this might very well bode ill for drageda. they'd settled on their doorstep which didn't settle all that well with the drakru wolves to begin with and the children went and stirred up unnecessary drama. eske knows that furi's intentions had been good, had been with drageda in the forefront of her mind and she is so glad that her second finally feels at home enough to confront a traitor about why he had done what he'd done to the place that had taken him under their wing and sheltered him but she knows that the road to hell is always paved with the best of intentions.

she is concerned about this development and wanlida does nothing to conceal it as heda spares her a glance. as her commander prodded for more information from the trio eske takes her time processing it and attempting to strategize what it may mean for drageda and their options on what might be done about this unwelcome growth on their doorstep.

Hm. Okay, so that was not at all illuminating. He peered steadily at Furi as she spoke first, then switched his gaze to Blixen as she attempted to fill in the blanks. He blinked at her, his expression empty, as usual. It seemed there truly was nothing more to the story than the little wuss had left Drageda and Furi was pissed about it. And Blixen, being pissed about everything, hopped right on board with it. His sister at least had the sense to bring up the more interesting part of the story - the creepy old guy that spoke with their tongue and asked for Thur by name. She then proceeded to fuck it up by her petulant exclamations, which caused Artaax to roll his eyes (as though he hadn't been just as moved to action by rage at their insults) and look at heda to gauge her reaction to all of this. 

She and Eske exchanged a glance, and then encouragement was given for them to continue. Artaax, this time, decided to chime in - again, to save his sister and his.. Furi.. from coming off badly by opening their own damn fool mouths. "They told the coward to run, and he did. One of ours went after him..." he didn't know Prince's name, so he glanced quickly at his companions as though to ask them to fill in the blank before he continued, "...And then the old wolf that spoke our tongue followed after while the three of us fought off the two of theirs that remained. They ran, and we came straight to you."

Blixen adds on to her story and her cheeks burn red, realizing she’d fallen short in explanation. Between her mind swirling with new anxiety, and worry she may not have a home anymore, she turns her gaze to focus on something else. The less she talks, the less trouble she can get into, at least.
 
When Heda has questions for them, their explanation not sufficient, Artaax speaks up and fills in the blanks. She glances toward him, then toward the dark woman for answers. She’d forgotten about Prince in the whirlwind but he hadn’t reconvened with them and she worries they’ve left him in danger. Furi awkwardly shuffles her feet and waits, glancing to Eske for comfort.

nomi doesn't seem satisfied with their answer. blixen shifts her weight from paw to paw, favoring her injured shoulder, and frowns as artaax picks up the story. there'd been another from drageda there? she tries to recall the scene but can only summon furi and artaax's faces -- then again, she hadn't noticed artaax's arrival until he was right behind her. 

whatever, she hopes he got the bastard. they really didn't do a good job, though blix is proud of them for holding their own against those shitty boys. arrille got away without having to answer for his crimes, and the ghost that spoke their tongue vanished before she could learn anything about him and his connection to nomi. frowning, she takes a step closer to furi so their shoulders touch, half a reassurance for the other gona and half for herself. for once, she doesn't have anything else to add.

This time it is Artaax that speaks up, the other two remaining silent. Arrille ran off and he mentions one of them went after him, causing her to knit her brows together in confusion. She opens her mouth to speak but hesitates as he continues, speaking of the wolf that knows their tongue. Her teeth click together as she considers this. While the teekon has become more privy to their whereabouts and herself, it does not surprise her, but to know their language? There are so few that fit the bill and she finds she has twice as many questions as she had before, most of them the children will be unable to answer.

“Who went after him?” she asks when she remembers Artaax—or the girls—never offered a name. Blixen only looks a little confused. “What did the man look like?” she asks a beat later, hoping to get a little more information before anything else.

Thuringwethil licks her lips and glances to Eske, knowing the information can no longer be kept quiet. She takes a deep breath and resettles upon the trio. “Arrille committed a crime against Drageda. We didn’t know much until now. Someone from the sound and Arrille showed up at Blackfeather to bring them back here and attack home while we were gone. We are lucky they were not successful in convincing them but they are a danger.”

as artaax speaks up, adding his own input to the information that blixen and furi provided wanlida and heda with, eske's gaze flickers to her second. there is a strange feeling in her chest as she takes in the girl's injuries; sorrow, pain, sympathy that the young girl was hurt and beyond that a steel edged protectiveness. eske's never been one for coddling, not for herself and certainly not towards others but she has an unexplained desire to want to reassure furi that it'll be ok, especially when she catches the young girl's gaze. she offers a small inclination of her head in an attempt to silently convey it. they should not have went after arrille, eske thinks, but it's not truly the fault of the children. they hadn't known just how dangerous the situation and very possibly arrille was ...and that was on the adults.

it was almost hard for eske to believe that a mere boy — a to-be dead boy if eske had anything to say about it — could be so much trouble. she holds onto the hope that providing things don't escalate between now and then that he will do to their neighbors as he did to drageda: betray them. once a traitor always a traitor in her mind. heda explains to the children the situation as it currently was and eske looks to her commander as her commander looks to her. something needed to be done about this before the tensions rose too high and shattered beneath the heat from both sides. from eske's perception of things, it already seemed fragile to begin with. she hopes that caiaphas or whomever leads the neighboring pack can be reasoned with, if that's what heda chooses to do, but peace talks is a contingency that eske is not willing to place all her cards on despite that she'd the one that had initially suggested it during her meeting with dio and heda. she shifts her weight beside her commander and reviews the information that they have so far and attempt to determine how that might bode for drageda.

The girls were quiet this round, and it was unfortunate for Thuringwethil asked the question he had hoped they would've answered for him already. Apparently no one knew their fourth's name. Indeed, Blixen and Furi both looked surprised to hear another had even been present. He looked at Thur and attempted to answer, but being Artaax, was not very helpful. "White," he said simply, and then added, "Not very memorable..." Apparently.

He frowned thoughtfully as Thur went on to explain something to them that he at least hadn't known. His eyes narrowed as anger flooded his veins. Apparently Arrille was both coward and traitor. Had he only known this before they'd confronted the Grimnismal wolves... Things may have gone a lot differently if he'd known of.. Arrille's betrayal...

Slowly, Artaax turned and peered shrewdly at Furi and Blixen, wondering. Was that why they'd been so pissed off? Had they known?

Heda wants more information. They’re not very good at relaying everything that happened but she knows she’s on the chopping block, especially since Arrille’s presence in Drageda is because of her. She regrets ever running into him on the beach. Maybe if she and Blixen hadn’t helped him, he wouldn’t have ever come this way, maybe he would have died, but all of this would have been avoided.
 
Artaax explains the one that had come with them (or does he think the older wolf had been white?) but doesn’t offer much. She turns to Blixen to see if she knows anymore but she swings back, licking her lips. “The other wolf was grey but… I don’t remember anything specific about him,” she says, having been in too much shock to give him a second thought when the pale boy started blowing off his mouth.

artaax's description doesn't match anyone she knows (seri? but she would have recognized seri...) and without anything else to add she just moves on, adding on to furi's answer to her other question. "old," blix starts, trying to recall more details, "sort of -- rough and ragged looking, pale colored, grey like furi said. cranky." he hadn't seemed like he was on the same page as ingram and the other boy even if he'd not stopped their fighting.

the information is not new to blixen (or it is but i've been playing her like she knows, woops) but it makes her lips curl slightly anyway, to hear it reconfirmed. the traitor, the branwoda, blixen's furious they let him get away from them back into the protection of another pack's borders. diplomacy is not particularly blix's strong suit nor is it of any consideration to her now, more worried about how they're going to get their paws on arrille so they can punish him correctly (and the two boys while they're at it), but that's why she's a mercenary and not an ambassador. she huffs and glances at artaax and furi before speaking again (always the brash one): "i think we should go demand they turn him over to us -- i don't think they even knew what arrille'd done." ingram seemed confused anyway and the old man had been open to talking before the fight broke out, so maybe if they're especially menancing they'll just decide the coward isn't worth the trouble and turn him over, problem solved.

Prince is the only pale male that comes to mind. He must not be integrating himself into Drageda and they’ve been back long enough. She shoves it away, listening as the girls explain the other. The names of a few wolves come to mind but she doesn’t speak any of them.

“No,” she tells Blixen, turning hard to stare at her. “We do not make brash decisions. They are dangerous and we have barely come back from a war. The council will handle those decisions,” she adds, reminding them that it is not their place to decide these kind of things. “I would prefer if you stayed in the territory until we sort this but if you leave, take someone with you.” They’ve always been keen on traveling in pairs, at least. More if they could afford it. Years of war built into their genes is what will keep them safe, sticking to the way they’ve always done things. “If someone else tells you they want to leave the territory, offer to go with them.”

blixen is gungho for brash decisions — it reminds eske very much of a younger version of herself and heda is quick to firmly squash the girl's suggestion of making demands. "there is also the possibility that they do know what he's done and that they simply don't care." eske breaks her silence to chime in, her eyes flicking from furi to blixen. if that is the case it only makes them even more dangerous than previously thought. eske doesn't know but she agrees with heda and is concerned that the children might try to take matters into their own hands once more. that would be a foolish decision that would only lead to a lot of wolves being hurt, possibly killed. this whole situation doesn't sit well with eske and it's evidenced in the tension that builds within her stiffening shoulder muscles. for the rest of heda's warning and orders to the trio, however, she falls to her contemplative silence once more knowing that thuringwethil and dio would have a lot to talk about.

Artaax could read nothing from Furi's or Blixen's responses that would tell him if his suspicions were correct, not that that stopped him from believing himself to be. Furi contradicted him, calling the other gray and not white. Annoying. The description Blixen added was just plain incorrect. Also annoying. Why did he hang out with these two so much?

In typical Blixen fashion, she spoke out of turn before their leaders, suggesting they go make pointless demands of their neighbors. Artaax glowered at her, but said nothing. He waited for orders like the good son little soldier he was, knowing that the decision would be Thur's, and that there was nothing they could suggest that she hadn't already considered. He felt a trill of pleasure shoot through him when [i[heda[/i] rejected the idea immediately with a touch of reprimand. He glanced at his sister, looking somehow both stoic and smug as fuck. But a moment later, orders came, and Artaax snapped to attention to soak them in fully.

Eske spoke next and though that seemed the most likely scenario to him, he said nothing. Neither of their leaders were sharing with them what the ultimate plan was, but he reasoned that was likely because they had yet to come up with it. Artaax would never dare request it, but he hoped that when it was determined, they would include him at that point. Until then, he would stay in the territory, and offer to go out with those that left it, like a good little soldier.

No one has any objections to the information they’d been told, it seems. Furi only regrets letting Arrille get away. If she hadn’t been slowed down by Ingram and his stupid pack mate, they might have him (that’s not likely, but she can pretend for the sake of kicking herself while she’s down). Neither of their superiors put blame on her and Blixen’s closeness is appreciated, but ultimately they are dismissed and all she wants to do is get away and be by herself and the first chance she gets, she does just that.