The Tangle she told him to take care of me

@Tux

There were many things about her new life that Raleska liked: the ocean, even though it tasted funny. The gulls were cool too, acting like they were the real owners of the place - and how they yelled at you, or swooped by you if you gave chase.. even the way the beach seemed to move its massive waters back and forth (how DID it do that?!)  at different periods of the day.. all of this, despite being the place she was born in, was being rediscovered day by day. 

Except there was one thing Raleska didn’t like, and it wasn’t even the neighbors. It was the absolutely immense sequoias that loomed judgmentally over the sound, some of them with trunks hundreds of wolf-lengths apart. They looked to Raleska like the bony spine of an ancient, long dead god.. and she did everything she could to avoid them. 

Standing somewhat nervously outside of the borders, Raleska picked along what appeared to be a footpath that separated the Tangle from Ankyra. She avoided swerving too far in either direction, mostly because the Tangle was too angry a place to pass through (seriously, just who pissed the plants off so much they free thorns every which way?) and she really didn’t want to go back through the creepy, impossibly large forest.

Tux had finally done it.  If only one good thing were to happen during the time in which their loud, angry neighbors had infiltrated the sound, it was that Tux had finally become the rauna that he had been striving to be.  Drakru looked good on him, and with his new title in one hand and his new surname in the other, he stalked from Drageda's borders with newfound pride.

Although they had failed to secure Ankyra Sound for Blixen's new branch, the young Drakru followed the scent of his sister and Mallaidh into the forest of gnarled and weather-worn trees.  He found out rather quickly that he did not like it, with its restricting vines and ground-thorns that liked to ambush all of his toes.

There was only one spot in which he came that he found tolerable, towards the outskirts of the Tangle where the trees were unnaturally sparse.  In the center of the clearing was a large, hollowed-out tree.  Presently his nose was buried within, with his rear-end sticking out; all he could hear inside the tree was his own muffled breath, and he didn't hear the girl approaching behind him.

He stirred up something within the tree that made him sneeze, and the sneeze caused him to bash the back of his head against the "doorway".  Ouch!

Things weren’t getting less prickly on this side of The Tangle. Raleska believed the wolves of Rusalka’s ranks pricks enough, but it appeared that the real pricks lingered here, outstretched on snaking boughs to jab any poor soul that innocently made their way by. 

She jumped like a cat thrown in a bathtub when an exclamation of pain sounded in front of her. Feeling her fur rise and her skin just about part with her, Raleska cautiously prowled forward - despite every instinct that encouraged her otherwise. 

Ahead something black was half-occupying a gnarled tree. Her immediate, irrational thought was that this poor soul was being sucked up by one of those malevolent trees - except, as she drew closer it was obvious she was just stupid and it was a wolf, half concealed by the rotted trunk. She sniffed derisively at her own foolish jumpiness, and even though she was still spooked, managed a careful greeting. What are you doing? She tried to sound stern like how she imagined her mom or Erzulie would be if they found a wolf close to their home, but despite her natural wariness, Raleska was not outwardly hostile and they were far enough from the heart of Ankyra that she didn’t feel overwhelmingly territorial.

The sound of someone's voice caused him to immediately pull his head back, whacking it once more against the back of the tree.  He sucked in a breath and held his exclamation this time — he didn't want to make himself look more dumb than he already did, and besides, maybe he could play it off as "exploring".  He put himself in reverse and ducked his head, walking backwards until he was out of the tree.  

When he turned, however, he wasn't met with one of Drageda's members.  Oh no.  It was one of them.  She was his age, maybe a little younger or older.  He couldn't really tell.  Still, this was neutral territory (even if his sister was putting her feelers out here).  He looks her up and down, before he puffs out his chest ever-so-slightly and replies, I'm exploring.  And though he doesn't intend to sound like it, he comes off like he's just bought his eight dollar latte and he has a very important meeting to get to.  What are you doing?

As cool as she tried to play it, Raleska still winced as Tux backpedaled, whacking his head in the process. What followed was a light snicker that could only be blamed on her faulty genes - all of them were a bit sadistic, and Raleska wasn’t an exception.  

Her eyes weren’t exactly hardened as they glanced him over though - he was around her age, which put her more at ease than an adult would.. somehow, it also had the opposite effect, where she felt she might have something to lose if she said something stupid. At least with adults they acted like everything you said was stupid or beneath them, but being around someone your own age..

Well, it was different.  

’Sploring too, I guess. Raleska answered, trying to keep her tone as indifferent as possible despite the sly slide of her gaze in his direction. So, you’re with them. It wasn’t quite an accusation, but there wasn’t any warmth in her tone either.

Guess I am.  He looked down at her as if he was peering over the lid of that metaphorical eight-dollar-coffee, then raised his brows and averted his gaze to what little of the sky he could see as if he was checking the time on an incredibly expensive Rolex before turning back to her.  None of this was intentional, of course — let's be real, Tux isn't that nuanced — but he feels superior to everyone that isn't of Drageda, and he's less fond of the wolves of the Sound than he is regular outsiders.  

And I guess that means, you're with them.  They could go back and forth like this forever.  Why'd you have to move there, anyway?

He wasn’t meeting her gaze - not that it was challenging, anyway - but Raleska has always been a wolf who felt validated by an eye’s fixture on her - be it out of annoyance or fondness. Yet this was different - she suddenly felt as if he was thinking everything around him was fascinating save her. 

She didn’t like that. It didn’t make her hate him, but it made her unhappy with herself, as if she wasn’t good enough to earn his attention. Insecurity was a strange daemon, the way it could shore up in your mind, the quiet dog sitting in the corner, eyes sleepy, almost disarming.. and then when you forgot about it, it raised its head and struck —

But why did she care what some wolf from the cliff thought of her? She reminded herself of Svalinn, who would have handled this in that roughly charismatic way that men admired and women swooned over. And here she was, just fumbling. 

His question made her brow furrow, because it seemed to imply he was mad at her or her family for living. She couldn’t rein in her tongue before retorting Why did you have to take Rosalyn? 

Her tone might have been heated, but there was hurt there too. Raleska didn’t understand what her mother had done to earn Drageda’s wrathful eye, and on impulse she added: I was born there. Why do you guys care?

Someone more aware of how the mind of anyone other than themselves would have caught onto her insecurities.  Tux, on the other hand, was focused on little other than himself (which was becoming pretty typical, at this point).  However he finally managed to become interested in her once she dropped the name of that red-furred natrona, and his steely bronze gaze turned upon her hungrily.

She was one of us, once.  He was unaware of the subtle nuances of her tone, and he didn't pick up on her hurt, but he felt enough of it for himself.  Then she turned her back on us.  He let his words hang in the air for a moment before he tacked on, She'll turn her back on you, too.

That is the way of natrona.  He had learned it the hard way, and if Raleska had not already, she would learn it, too.

He was too young to remember Raleska's birth, or Grimnismal's presence upon the Sound.  He truthfully remembered very little from before his mother left, for that singular incident had shaped his life in a way that made it necessary to forget.  My sister wanted that beach.  For now it was easier to forget that she was born there —

And then he remembers Ephraim, and how he was also born in the Sound.  He remembers how he was worried that if his friend remembered the Grotto, he'd become natrona too.  To have the sneaking suspicion that this girl might be related to him drew up fear from a well in his heart that he didn't know he contained.  All the more reason to inspire hatred for our neighbors, he thinks.  If Ephraim never finds out his family is who is shacked up next door, he'll never have a reason to leave.  But for now it is just a suspicion, and a wild and unlikely one at that.  What's your name?

Raleska was completely oblivious to the internal dialogue Tux housed, but she wasn’t unaware of his attention, which had returned to her. Satisfied in that irrational way teenaged girls could often be, Raleska puffed her little chest - a bold contrast from moments before. 

She didn’t quite follow his logic. Not because what he said was inherently untrue (it wasn’t - Tux had hit a nail on the head, which was when people showed you who they were, believe them) but because what he said contradicted much of what her mother had told her about Rosalyn. She had told Raleska they had lived in the sound together before and in the spring, it had been her mother to turn on Rosalyn, not the other way around.. and that this reunion was, as her mother had cackled when she had said it, ‘a marriage of convenience’.  That little joke hadn’t made sense to Raleska, but she had accepted it all the same. 

She was visibly vexed. And the news about his sister (who?) confused her further. They hadn’t stolen the sound from anyone and she was about to very hotly say that, except he had asked her what her name was. 

This meant he was at least slightly interested in her, and that made most (but not all) of her misgiving go away. Raleska. It seemed like that was going to be all he got out of her, but then came the five million questions: What’s yours? Who is your sister? Why did she want the sound? And what are you going to do to Rosalyn? Are you going to hurt her? Why? Her ears fell and she scowled. Why would you hurt someone that left you? Doesn’t that make you worse than them? Doesn’t it?

Tux, for as young as he was, housed the wisdom of someone much older than he was.  But the downfall to having so much weigh upon his shoulders was that he had all the patience of a crochety old man.  He only addresses one of her questions from her barrage — the last one.  No, he says pointedly, assertively, it doesn't.  He rounds his shoulders and takes a step closer, a flash of hungry impatience in his golden-bronze eyes.  We use them as examples, Raleska.  Because once you hurt them . . . nobody will ever want to cross you again.

He didn't know what heda wanted with Rosalyn, truthfully, but he knew what they did to natrona.

Raleska’s immediate reaction to having most of her freight-train questions turned to drivebys was to pin her ears in sour silence. Tux took a step closer, his gaze burgeoned with something that almost seemed predatory. Raleska didn’t like it, and could feel a coldness climb it’s way up her neck. 

Instinctively her hackles rose, and her posture seemed to respond to the looming threat his single step forward had presented. Yet she couldn’t help but find the flaw in his words about traitors and how to treat them. Just like her mother, Raleska’s mouth often got the better of her. 

And how is that working for you? She challenged, probing the weakness she found in his — Drageda’s — logic. It sounds like it isn’t. Cause if it was, you wouldn’t have ‘examples’. You’d just have the one. ‘Example’. 

If anything, you hurting them just shows the better wolves to leave faster. I bet it just pushes them right out the door. She finished, and her gaze lifted to his in fiery defiance, however small he made her feel.

She had a spirit to her that he couldn't deny.  If she were not so staunchly loyal to her birthplace, he would have liked to poach her for Drageda.  She would make a fine warrior, for all the bravery she could muster up.  But he allowed her none of this internal praise, at least for now.  Time breeds complacency, and it is easy to forget, he rejoins.  How long had it been since they'd had to kill a natrona?  Before his time, surely.  Had it been before Wildfire's time, too?  Is that why she had forgotten what they did to those who turned their back on their family?  But the last I checked, my pack was twice the size of yours.  

Not that it mattered.  They weren't at war, and he didn't want to get into that fight.  Just because Drageda was larger did not mean that Rusalka could be discounted.  Still, Drageda's numbers could not have swollen so large without breeding a certain kind of loyalty, and Tux was living proof.  You'd do well with us, you know.

Raleska had finished her tirade, only to be balked by the string of words the boy uttered next. She huffed -she didn’t know anything about time. His adage went above her head and well beyond it. 

She was puzzled by the show of force in his next statement. Drageda’s count was unknown to her, and she could not fire back with certainty given she hardly knew the full total of Rusalka’s band, either. 

Flummoxed, Raleska was coming to the realization she had liked it better when he had been paying attention to things other than her. The way he looked at her was not as validating as she thought it would be. If anything, it seemed to deconstruct her. 

Even more confusing was his off handed comment, which caused her hackles to absolutely stand on end. Flaring outward like an offended porcupine, Raleska quickly shot down his assessment. You don’t abandon family. Her gaze took on a hardened edge. You didn’t give me your name. Why?

You don't abandon family.

And that's precisely why she would do so well in Drageda.  It was too bad the pack she was devoted to was on such uncertain terms with his own, because perhaps they could've tested their skills against one other.  He wondered, now that he knew she was part of the pack in the Sound, if he was supposed to hate her for it.  But he couldn't bring himself to.  Not the way he hated natrona.  

You're right, he says after a beat, a small, thin smile drawing across his features.  That kind loyalty is something that can never be broken.  It's exactly why you'd be a good fit for us.  But it doesn't seem as if it's meant to be.  Whatever that meant.

It's Tux, he offers finally.  No reason.  She'd just asked so many questions, and in the middle of it all, he'd kind of forgotten.  Why do you ask so many questions?

Raleska had been mentally preparing for some sort of retort, and when his response conceded that she was right, it was hard for her to eliminate the surprise before it fully registered on her features. He had said she was right (of course she was!) - a tendril of self-righteousness returned to her heavily scrunched features. 

Many things would change over the course of Raleska’s life. Her home. Her friends. Her enemies.. but her family would remain the constant, the compass that ever pointed true north. Young as she was, her blood was thick with loyalty that would never be bled. 

Her small victory of being right was short lived and hollow, even if she had gotten a name from him. Somehow it seemed to fit. It was short, but not unassuming — a name that carried as much weight to it as his height. As for the answer to Tux’s query...

The girl smiled knowingly to herself. Why don’t you? She allowed a moment’s pause if he wanted to answer, before she continued. It’s cause I want to know things. And people never just come out and tell you what you wanna know. You gotta shake it from them. And sometimes even then, they don’t tell you. Like when adults are talking about something and realize you’re there listening in, so they change the subject. If you don’t stay on top of knowing things, something or someone else will. And they always will find ways to use that against you.

It was a long answer for a girl that was usually silent, but when she finished her voice was low, and possibly a little sad. She had seen much in so short a life, and had drawn her own conclusions about the virtues of the world and its inhabitants. She thought of Easthollow then and the scowl reappeared, this time appearing as a permanent fixture.

Before him, her face passed through a million expressions, and he recognized the nuance of precisely zero of them.  Just as foriegn as her emotions are to him, the words are as well.  Little information had been withheld from him within Drageda — heda was a straightforward woman.  The ladies of the sound had been less so, however — if they spoke with such shrouded intent as the black-faced woman had to him on that day, he supposed he could kind of understand where she was coming from.  How sad.

That doesn't happen in Drageda, he says, furrowing his brow.  Why is your family like that?  For the first time, his inquiry is soft(er — lbr, Tux will never be "soft").

Raleska’s ears pulled ahead in surprise as Tux drew his own conclusions about her family - an interpretation she was all too eager to refute. 

My family isn’t like that, She contested, giving a lash of her long tail. It’s everyone else. She wanted to be tight lipped, especially after the way she had felt after he stepped towards her.. and yet the words just kept tumbling out. 

I was born here and we were chased out -by a bear. Then we ran for a while, and the bear - it kept trying to hunt us down. 

 My parents finally got it off of our trail and we went to this pack and, An ugly expression descended her features as she recalled the beaten, hopeless faces of her parents that day.. a shade unknowable yet distinctly full of bile had corrupted the brightness of her eyes. And we were turned away, for who knows why! To starve! She looked us in the eyes while we were starving, and made us leave anyway! Even now Raleska bore the evidence of that crucible: she would never grow to the height she could have, and would always carry with her the gaunt and hungry eyes of a pauper. And we did starve. 
My dad kept hunting and gave the food only to us. And my mom kept walking and looking for a new home.. 

Then there was this storm — Her eyes swept to the darkening clouds overhead - a storm not unlike this, she thought. And it separated all of us. My mom looked for days for my father and Ephraim, Illidan and Rhakios. Her eyes fell to the ground in a silent moment of despair for her presumed dead brothers and father. We found another pack, and then they too turned on us.. and that pack had turned on Rosalyn and Erzulie too I think. But they came with us, and ate with us and slept with us, and we’ve been running ever since.. But we’re not gonna anymore. We belong here. Her yellow eyes were so much like her mother’s then, lambent and hard as she gazed at the boy before her - yet it was the tungsten will of her father that shined through the most. Same as you.

Suddenly, Raleska did not feel very composed. Under Tux's rakish gaze, the girl turned and hurried home. She was not afraid of him, but she was afraid she might lose her composure in front of the the enemy. She hoped she never saw his stupid face again (a lie).