The Sentinels the veil

For @Durnehviir! Small PP/assumptions for Samothes and Screech.. I can adjust if you guys are uncomfortable with the references!

He had roused her come the early light as it began to filter within the bleeding forest. Snow glistened beneath their paws – a reminder that the season had come and they would need to tread carefully, given their small status of but four wolves. He had spoken to @Samothes of his intentions to step out of the territory for only a small time with Durnehviir – he did not wish the pale man to believe they had abandoned him. He had also checked on @Screech, bringing the wounded youth part of his own meal.. what had once been a plumper hare. Durnehviir had not left the boy’s side much, and the swarthy shadowrunner felt emptier without her by his side as much as she had before.
 
He took it was a sign it was time to move forward, and so, with his fiery eyes set upon her, the black Mayfair had lead her to the Sentinels – to the charred lands of Donnelaith. A frown pressed to his brow as he studied the ruins before him, and he remained lost in the quiet for a moment, considering what he should say to her. “This was my home, once. It was.. mystical. As if magic lived in the trees and the mother goddess looked down on the pack with favour. It was called Donnelaith.”

He had told her, some time before, that it was his wish to show her where he'd come from. And so when he roused her that early morning ascdawn broke to spirit her away on an escape from their responsibilities, Durnehviir dutifully followed.

They had resided within the bleeding forest for months now and proper establishment of their pack had been painfully slow, but she was happy there. She acknowledged this as she trailed along at her dark companions flank, half-lidded eyes soft on his powerful frame as she quietly observed him for a time. "I could love you," her heart yearned to say, but she could not find the courage to announce such a bold claim. Their relationship had blossomed over the weeks since Constantine made his intentions known, but it was still much too soon to for the russet Frostfur to lay her vulnerabilities out before him. 

When he presented his birthplace to her, Durnehviir looked out over the territory with a solemn stare. Her pale gaze drifted through the dead, blackened trees and across the lifeless earth, kissed by frost. It was a grim sight, and the crimson beauty eyed her leader with sympathy. She did not speak, instead opting to comfort Constantine without words, by sweeping her physique against his. Tawny fur meshed with with obsidian, Durnehviir turned her head to bury her pale muzzle among the dense fur of her beau's neck.

She pressed in to him – comforting him, and he stilled, his muzzle brushing downward with a thoughtful graze. Their relationship seemed so fragile and delicate, built upon a mutual attraction and pull that neither could seem to fully comprehend. But what would she say when she learned more of his past? What was her own past?
 
Swallowing, a light frown darkened his features as he considered what to say – how to word it. "I was born in a pack called Blacktail Deer Plateau, near us in the forest now. My parents were the beta pair of the pack, though they rose to alpha. I departed when I was much younger – I wanted to see the world, and my parents accepted this. I don’t know the reasons why or even when, but they moved the pack here. When I returned home, this is where I found them – but my mother was missing and had been for some time. My father lead these wolves, but there was something.. different about it here, compared to the plateau. My brother had also left, joining another pack in the area. My sister remained, and worked towards becoming a healer.. and I came home to two younger sisters. Emaleth, and Deirdre.” He paused, feeling his chest tighten at just mentioning @Deirdre in the hollows of the land she had once made beautiful with her presence alone.
 
“Aria was my father’s beta. We didn’t get off to a great start – she was withdrawn about something. But we soon became friends. But then my father died – a famine hit the Wilds and he succumbed to it. Aria became the alpha, and she took me as her beta. Emaleth disappeared in her grief, and Eilidh, my littermate, grew distant. Aria felt as if she was only a placeholder in her position – holding the spot for a Mayfair to truly step up, though I don’t think anyone else in the pack felt that way. When Deirdre made it known she wished to step in to leadership when she was older, Aria seemed to pull away even more.. and Deirdre overstepped her boundaries far too often.” He paused, his frown deepening as he began to pull away from his fiery companion, leading them to a slow walk as he took in the ruins before him.
 
“A she-wolf in the ranks, very shortly after my father died.. She claimed she was pregnant with his pups. It was the first I had heard of him taking a lover or mate aside from my missing mother, and it felt.. opportunistic.” He considered this for a moment, his tail giving an idle flick in the cool, musted air. “I felt torn – a part of me felt the honourable thing to do would be to step in and help her raise her litter. But in the end, Aria and I felt it best we take her to my brother’s pack instead to see if they would accept her. She hadn’t gained permission to breed from Aria – and we didn’t know if what she said was true. She was understandably upset with the decision.. as was my brother and Deirdre, who believed her. I don’t think Deirdre fully forgave me for that – and it ruined my relationship with my brother.” Would he have done things differently? Perhaps. But at the time, it had felt to be the right decision for the pack to move forward.
 
“Deirdre was a gentle soul – a full healer. She believed in magic, and thought herself a witch, as my father also encouraged her to believe.” He made no comment as to whether or not he believed such things himself – he hadn’t truly decided. “She was very naïve, though. We had some trouble prior with some neighbours, and Aria and I felt it best that the pack train for defense if it were ever needed. Deirdre overrode us – she said we dishonoured Lasher’s memory, and in turn.. I think Aria gave up then. But shortly after, Deirdre went behind our back to forge an alliance with another pack that set up right next to our borders.. They were to provide us with protection, and we were to provide them with plants, medicines and healing, should it ever be required. She also insisted they be allowed in and out of our territory at will.” He had despised it – had even despised the man, Skellige, who had struck a deal with a pup, rather than the pack’s alphas.
 
“Deirdre and I.. I loved her. More than anything. I would have given my life for her – she was such an important part of my life. I would have given my life for any of my sisters. I wanted her to succeed at what she desired in life – she had a vision or Donnelaith, and it was her home in far more ways than it had ever been mine. I was not born in these woods. So Aria and I thought we would leave – relinquish the pack to Dee and we would settle a pack close by. Emaleth had returned in time, and the two took over the pack. It was the last I’ve seen of either of them.” He grew quiet then, his eyes drifting to study Durnehviir, considering what she thought of this – if she considered him leaving his sisters an act of abandonment when they had needed him the most. They hadn’t been ready.

Constantine accepted her gesture, dipping his muzzle to brush the tip of his snout across her brow. She smiled up at him then, a soft upturn of her lips that silently encouraged him to continue if he wished. Never would she press him on the matter; his past, delicate as it may be, could never affect their future.

He told her of his birthplace, his parents and his siblings. Briefly he shared with her the wanderlust of his youth, and his return to find that his family had relocated without him. Durnehviir's ears canted back a little at this, as she recalled the day she'd gone home to Swiftcurrent Creek after all that time, to find that no one remained.

Her focus was on Constantine once again, however, as he mentioned a name that was enough to make her guard hairs prickle. Aria, despite the swarthy Alpha's assurance that his dove did not care for him in a way he once did for her, still felt like something of a threat even though she was long gone. Durnehviir listened quietly, tried to pretend that the wayward she-wolf had not meant anything to her intended, but she could not deny that she was jealous of whatever closeness they'd once shared.

His family life had been a complicated one, the lithe beauty thought to herself as she followed him through the marred woodland. Her own had been absent a biological father from birth, this much she remembered, but the pack had more than made up for that. While her mother likely spoke of the wolf who'd sired her, Durnehviir never cared and had been too young to ask questions. Even now, three years on, it was not her mystery father that she'd returned to seek, and she knew that the chances of finding anyone from her birthpack were slim to none. As she looked at Constantine, however, she knew that this was something she could make peace with - as long as he was by her side.

His story of Donnelaith ended on a solemn note, and the russet Frostfur exhaled a sympathetic, breathy whine. She felt safe to assume that his younger sisters had perished in their home by the fire that claimed it, and so moved to bump her nose against Constantine's strong shoulder for support. "I'm sorry," she murmured softly, seeking to meet his bright gaze in a silent invitation to continue should he have more to say.

He's so mopey.. >.>

His mind echoed on the remnants of his past and the pain it inflicted – that he had inflicted – upon himself. He did not notice the tension that stirred at his companion at the mention of Aria’s name, believing that the issue having been settled prior.
 
She nudged at him, reassuring him. He pulled his gaze down to her then, his eyebrows knotted in a way that revealed his emotion of failure, despite the words that slipped past her delicate muzzle. “My fault,” he decided then, feeling his teeth grind in that moment with his own tension.  “They weren’t ready. I should have looked after them. Instead, I was the paternal figure that kicked them out of the nest, insisting they fly rather than showing them how to.” He paused then, a snort escaping his nostrils as he stilled in that moment.
 
“I failed Aria, too. We settled with a pack called Moonspear come winter, knowing we couldn’t raise a pack before the harsher months hit. She had a friend she trusted there, and so I withdrew from her. I went back one day to check on Donnelaith.. To see how Deirdre and Emaleth were doing. And I found this.” He paused, his features darkening as he swept his muzzle in an arc, taking his last word and revealing all that had been left was smoke and ash. “I couldn’t find their scent. There was no trail to follow. So I walked – and I walked.. and I didn’t stop. I didn’t tell her where I was going. Or try to return to her. And now, she doesn’t even know who she is.”
 
His ears fanned back to his skull, and he considered Casmir, and what his dark brother would say regarding everything. “That was the day I knew my family would want nothing more to do with me.” He shrugged then, his gaze drifting down to Durnehviir, and he offered her a bitter smile. “And now you know.” He had left his family in ruins, and then walked away rather than repairing the damage. Who could pledge a loyalty to a leader that did that?