Blackfoot Forest The simorgh sleeps on velvet tongues

Cold rain fell from daybreak to nightfall, relentless. Pied retreated into her log at day's end, watching the rainfall for a while before the rhythmic susurrations sent her adrift. She dreamed of a mythical creature, a colossal winged beast with the body of a peacock and the head of a wolf. She introduced herself as Saēna. As Pied walked closer to the legendary simorgh—somehow, she simply knew the name for the creature—she unfurled one of her great wings, which shone with a copper luster. She revealed a small pup suckling at a teat obscured by her feathers. "This is your daughter," she said to Pied, smiling warmly. "Call her Saēna, in my honor." Then, abruptly, the simorgh shifted, manifesting herself as a great white bear.

Pied started awake, her head lifting and bumping softly against the log. She blinked sleepily at the dark night. The rain had stopped for the moment and the forest dripped noisily. Stretching her legs forward, Pied pressed her paws into the wet earth just beyond the lip of the log, then tugged herself out of her narrow shelter. Upon emerging, she moved to brace her body against the damp log, then lifted her left hind leg to scratch at a bothersome itch behind one of her gray ears. When she resumed all fours, she then padded into the woods.

She pondered the dream, which was fresh in her mind but already starting to fade. She smiled warmly at the remembered vision of her newborn daughter, Saēna. Pied felt a small twinge as she wondered whether she'd ever have the chance to bear young. Her mind then drifted to the recollection of who she could only assume was Atka. The youthful Agwe'en had never dreamt of her before, yet she recognized her from Jinx's long speech at the meeting several weeks back. She took it as a sign that she was on the right path.

Mag suddenly appeared on the forest floor ahead of her, bouncing along on a carpet of slick, wet leaves. Pied approached the magpie, who did not take flight. Eventually, she stood over her and gazed down at the bird. Up close, Pied could definitely make out a faint, glowing aura around the spectral bird. Mag returned her gaze, then continued to hop seemingly randomly along the path, as if amusing herself puddle-jumping. The Agwe'en smiled down at her, almost entranced by the ghost's lifelike movements.

Then something grabbed her attention and she looked up, even as a fox cried out in the distance. Standing about five feet further up the path was Brooklyn Starbuck, her father. Pied's breath caught in her throat, then she exhaled slowly. "Hello, papa," she murmured quietly, almost mournfully. Even though she'd seen him a few times since he'd left herself and her mother with Flightless Falcons, it never failed to make Pied feel wretched, knowing irrefutably that he'd taken his own life, partly because of her.

Hawkeye felt a chill wind its way up her spine; the downpour from the night before had ceased, but large droplets of water still dripped from the towering trees of Blackfoot forest. Her eyes worked almost as a sharpening filter as she peered upward to the canopy, watching individual balls of water fall and soak into the ground.

Looking around, she noticed that there was almost no movement. The air was just barely stagnant, and obviously the foxes were still hidden in their dens. She lifted her nose and smelled the air as a light breeze blew by, making her shiver once more. Hawkeye smiled as a hint of Pied showed up in the mixture of rain and greenery. The black wolf turned and trotted in the direction of her friend.


The inky black wolf realized that last night was the first one in weeks where she had not had a nightmare or woken up with her mind racing. Maybe she was back to "normal". Pied might listen with an open ear about her mad-mind, but Hawkeye wiped the thought away. What if she thought badly of Hawkeye after finding out her wicked visions? She shook her head and continued onward.
__

As she approached from a far distance, Hawkeye stopped and the smile on her face shrunk slightly. A look of mourn was on Pied's face, and she was sure that she was somehow distracted into not noticing her. Looking in the direction of Pied's gaze, the curious wolf's vision became hazy. She shut her eyes tightly, and when she opened them again, the red filter had come back. Annoyingly, she narrowed her brow at the wolf who seemed to have appeared from nowhere.

A rattle in the bush next to Hawkeye distracted her for a moment, making her whip her head around. He relaxed her body a bit when a rabbit bounced from its depths, and quickly returned her attention to the far off wolf she was just scrutinizing; but the red was gone, and so was he.

Hawkeye peered around for half a moment, and then trotted toward Pied. When she was near, she smiled once more before asking: "Hey, Pied, who was the wolf you were just talking to?"

set by sophie

omg I wrote a lot.

I brought this up to the present, jfyi. :)

"Pied," he replied in a wispy voice that sounded as if it came from miles away. He took a step toward her, then seemed to freeze in place. Confused, Pied furrowed her brow questioningly. Finally, she caught his line of sight and glanced over her shoulder. When she saw who was standing back there, she experienced a sensation not unlike cold water being poured over her head, followed just as quickly by a wave of unpleasant heat.

Pivoting, she faced Hawkeye, her lips parting in speechless surprise at the black female's question. Immediately, she glanced over her shoulder again. Starbuck was no longer standing there. Even Mags had gone. Pied now felt her stomach grow hollow. A lump jammed in her throat. When she looked back at Hawkeye, her golden and indigo eyes were tight with restrained emotion.

"What are you talking about?" she asked quietly, almost woodenly. She felt suddenly possessive of her secret. Although she considered Hawkeye a friend, she still wasn't ready to let onto it. Furthermore, she wasn't sure how to feel about Hawkeye right now. She hadn't seen the larger she-wolf since their altercation at the Dragonwatchers' borders. Pied had tried her hardest not to think about the incident but it was hard to avoid with Hawkeye standing right in front of her. Not to mention the fact that Hawkeye had unwittingly interrupted her...

"I wasn't talking to anybody," Pied said finally, turning away lest Hawkeye see the lie in her eyes. "I was just... talking to myself." She bit back a sigh as she craned her head around, yearning to spot Starbuck again. Yet her father had vanished into the night and she had no idea if or when he might reappear.

I figured it would be the present! But thanks for letting me know, Kat

A chill went up Hawkeye's spine as Pied looked around. She had seen visions appear in front of herself before when the red appeared--the wolf could have been another apparition of her mind's making, although it had seemed different. Swallowing nervously, she spoke. "Oh. Nevermind, I must have just been seeing things, then." It was the truth.

Hawkeye moved her eyes around the forest. "How have you been, Pied? I haven't seen you since... uhm." She felt awkward, like she had interrupted a moment, though there hadn't been one. Everything had felt "off" since the night with the Dragonwatchers. Nothing had gone as planned, and learning that Pied and Koontz were relatives had thrown her off. Koontz was even cruel to her own family, something that literally made her see red. Family should come before everything, no matter what her feelings had been towards Hawkeye. She simply disowned the spotted female without a second thought; it made the black wolf's heart ache and her furiously angry all at once.

Before she lost control, she took a deep breath and spoke once more. "I wish that night had gone differently. I apologize for not telling you my... past with that pack. And for what happened with your cousin."

set by sophie

Pied wondered if Hawkeye would eventually give up and leave if she didn't say anything else. Instead, the dark she-wolf queried after her, even mentioning the incident several weeks ago. The piebald yearling winced slightly as she recollected the events of that stormy evening. She was angry with Hawkeye for the part she had played in all of it, yet most of Pied's bitterness was directed at her own cousin, Koontz. It still made her seethe quietly when she remembered the Redleaf-DiSarinno's sharp, icy words of disownment.

"I've been fine," she answered in that same wooden tone, which she tried to smooth away so that she sounded offhand. "Things have been quiet here. I haven't seen much of anyone in weeks." Only now did Pied look up from her own white forepaws, her eyes briefly meeting Hawkeye's. "Thank-you for apologizing. I wish it had gone differently as well. Such is life." She rolled a mottled shoulder as if to shrug it off. If only it were truly that easy.

She pursed her lips and lapsed into a contemplative silence for several beats before she siad again, "Things have been quiet... too quiet. Do you think everyone's still here?" The Agwe'en remembered the turnout of the pack's first meeting some time back; there had been plenty of members then. Where were they all lately? The members of Bon Dye weren't particularly socially apt, perhaps, but they were still a wolf pack. The feelings of belonging and being part of something Pied had experienced upon joining were slowly leeching away, day by day.

Her brow knit together, not in anger, but concern at the shrug Pied had given. The ebony wolf felt guilty, knowing that if she hadn't been the group with her friend, none of this would have happened. Hawkeye felt as if she should explain herself, why the "Alpha" of Dragonwatchers hated her so. But the moment seemed at if it were already gone, and Pied didn't look as if she desired to discuss anything more.

Then, the spotted wolf declared that the forest had been very quiet. Hawkeye thought a moment, and realized that she had not come across any of her packmates--or other wolves, for that matter--since the "raid".

"I hadn't really noticed until now," the midnight wolf started. "I have been more concerned about finding and renovating myself, rather than pack relations. But I do get a sense of loneliness now that I think about it."

The random voice she had heard in the past suddenly grazed Hawkeye's mind with a word, and she voiced the concept aloud. "Have you ever thought about having any pups, Pied?" The massive wolf waved her tail in curiosity. She had thought about starting a family when she entered the pack, but Kerberos seemed too.. what? Quiet? for her tastes, and Cuan too submissive. Lecter was the only thing close to a prospective mate, but she wiped away the thought. A crush on him was a wildcard, and she didn't want to sit on how he would react to such news.

set by sophie

Pied nibbled on her lower lip when Hawkeye agreed with her assessment, after initially confessing obliviousness. The yearling wondered what Hawekeye meant by finding and renovating herself, yet she couldn't quite bring herself to ask. She felt a little bit ashamed of that; she wasn't usually the type to stew. It was hard not to feel entirely bitter about what had transpired, though.

Hawkeye's question caught her off guard. She blinked, then smiled wanly. "What a random question..." she observed aloud. She didn't mind it, though, especially if it meant getting her mind off her own resentment. "It's funny that you ask that. I just had a dream about having pups. Well, I only dreamt of one, a daughter." Her lips twitched at the pleasant recollection.

Pied paused for a moment, trying to hold onto the details of the dream, then asked, "I've always wanted puppies. I love looking after them." She paused, then looked at Hawkeye directly, her eyes having roamed until now. "But why do you ask...?"

Hawkeye was genuinely surprised at Pied's dream and the smile that followed. The male chuckled seemingly behind her right ear, and she twitched the vessel in annoyance. Way to trickle what's going on to me, she thought, displeased at both herself for getting too comfortable with whoever he was and him pestering things into her mind.

Considering for a moment, Hawkeye responded to the small piebald wolf. "I just had a nag at the back of my mind. A family would be nice. We don't really have an prospective males, unless you consider.. uhm.. Lecter." The black wolf felt her face grow warm, thanking Sos that wolves couldn't physically blush. She quickly recovered, and turned the conversation's focus back on Pied. The voice must have hinted to her for a reason. "What was the dream about? Do you think it had any significance?" She focused her eyes onto the other female, cocking her head slightly in curiosity.

set by sophie

Pied made a soft choking noise in the back of her throat when Hawkeye mentioned Lecter as a potential mate, the sound one of disbelief and laughter blended together. "Lecter?" she questioned, shaking her head lightly. "I cannot imagine him as a father." Little did she know that he was one already, to another member of Bon Dye, no less. "I hadn't actually considered prospective mates here. My mind hasn't been on that sort of thing." But now that you mention it... she thought, lips pursing as she fell silent.

When asked about the dream, Pied paused and tried to conjure up the details, which were slowly fading. "It was about a simorgh, a mythical beast. Her name was Saēna and she asked that I name my daughter after her. I actually think it was Atka coming to me, just in an altered form. I want to think of it as a blessing, because..."

She trailed off, deliberating whether to share this next bit of information with Hawkeye. She eyed the larger, darker she-wolf speculatively. Despite what had happened at Dragonwatchers, Hawkeye was her friend. Moreover, she was her family, a bond sealed by their mutual membership in Bon Dye. While Pied still didn't feel comfortable enough sharing her utmost secret with the fiery she-wolf, she decided to go ahead and reveal this slightly less dramatic personal information.

"My litter mates all died. I was lucky that the only abnormality I was born with was my coat and these eyes. My father decided his genes must be flawed somehow, so he decided never to risk trying for another litter. I... worry that I, too, will pass on abnormalities to my young. But I want so badly to have pups one day. I've always struggled with this decision. I feel like Akta was trying to tell me that it will be okay, that I'm meant to be a mother someday," Pied finished, looking almost hopefully at Hawkeye.

The black wolf's face grew hot once more at the laughter from Pied regarding her seeing Lecter as a potential mate; it quickly left her, though, as the small female continued.

Hawkeye smiled softly at her friend as she finished. "I think you'd be a wonderful mother, and that this was definitely a sign from Atka. No matter how your daughter--or son--turns out, I am sure Atka will watch over them. It seems she already knows what's going to happen." The midnight wolf hoped her words had helped; what she had spoken was truly how she felt, even if she followed the opposing bear god. "Maybe you'll find your perfect mate soon," Hawkeye teased as she walked over to Pied and nudged her playfully.

set by sophie

Hawkeye seemed absolutely confident that the dream had indeed come from Atka and that Pied would one day make a brilliant mother. Although she wasn't entirely sure what prompted this belief, Pied nonetheless smiled at Hawkeye's reassurances. The idea of becoming a mother meant so much to her. Any compliment directed toward her mothering skills would be received with warmth and delight from the typically cool, even stoic, yearling.

"Maybe," Pied replied, smiling at the nudge and returning it. Hawkeye's words had warmed Pied to her again and she felt the last remaining dregs of resentment ebb away. "What about you, Hawkeye? What are your feelings on motherhood?" Her two-toned eyes went a little wide as she pictured the large, dark she-wolf attempting to rear a litter of pups. She then pursed her lips against the incredulous laugh that attempted to bubble there.

Hawkeye raised a single eyebrow at the laugh that Pied tried to contain on her thoughts about the ebony wolf becoming a mother.

"Is the thought of me being a mother so incredulous that it's funny?" She smiled, with humor touching her voice. I guess a large wolf prone to fighting visions does seem kindof odd as a motherly figure, the she-wolf thought to herself.

Hawkeye looked down and kicked at the ground. "I do suppose it seems odd, me having a family, but little balls of fluff looking to me to care for them. Protecting my young. It just seems right.it's really all I desire at the moment." She connected her eyes with Pied's mismatched ones.

Dragonwatchers the slithery voice whispered into the black wolf's right ear. Hawkeye's brow twitched, forgetting the taste of blood that the Alpha left on her tongue. She wasn't quite sure how Pied would react to her hidden desires and the voice that taunted her now and again.

set by sophie

Hawkeye seemed playfully offended by Pied's reaction and the piebald yearling merely grinned. "No, actually," she replied. Her lips twitched when Hawkeye admitted to sharing the same yearning for children and the Iota elaborated, "I think you'd be a lot like my grandmother... loud, rude and feisty." The way she spoke, it was clear she meant these things as a compliment. "She was—still is, I hope—the matriarch of her pack," she hinted with a wave of her tail.

Pied thought she saw something twitch on Hawkeye's face and she blinked, her tongue darting out to slowly wet her lips. "You all right?" she asked, not sure what prompted the question but nonetheless feeling a sudden concern for her companion.

A panting smile appeared on Hawkeye's face due to the compliment from her friend. "Thanks, Pied. I just wonder who would be a good fit for each of us, especially since everyone has disappeared lately."
Matriarch... the raven wolf thought quietly in her mind. That would be interesting...

Tell her... The voice trickled into her ear. The splotched one sees the ghosts of the dead, she will not judge. The male spoke more than he ever had before, and Hawkeye didn't know why he ushered her to tell Pied, but it made her feel more at ease.

Her lime-green orbs darted downward for a moment before reconnected with Pied's yellow and indigo eyes. "I haven't spoken to anyone about this before," the large wolf started, letting the piebald wolf know that she was putting her confidence in her. A breeze pushed through the trees overhead and Hawkeye took a deep breath. "I sometimes hear a male voice in my deafened ear, my right one. He tells me things that I would not otherwise know--like how you and Koontz are cousins." The green-eyed wolf shifted uncomfortably, awaiting Pied's reaction and response.

set by sophie

Hawkeye's eyes dropped and Pied felt her concern grow. When her dark cohort looked up again, meeting her gaze, her heartbeat quickened. Pied intuited that Hawkeye was about to tell her something both personal and important. She nodded her head slightly as if to encourage Hawkeye to continue; she was listening.

She didn't expect the revelation that came from her friend's lips. She froze for a moment, deliberating what this meant. Honestly, Hawkeye could've used deductive logic to conclude that she and Koontz were cousins. Even the Omega, Cuan, had probably figured it out. However, due to her own predilections, Pied didn't doubt Hawkeye even for a moment.

"You hear it in your bad ear... so maybe it's not an actual audible voice at all?" Pied questioned. "Does it sound familiar? Like, do you know who the voice belongs to?" she wondered, her lack of skepticism indicating to Hawkeye that Pied certainly believed her. Whether it was an actual supernatural phenomenon or a simple auditory hallucination remained to be seen, though.

Her tail quivered a bit as Pied accepted her strange... quirk. "I don't know who he is. He whispers other things to me as well. He reminds me of my past with the Draongwatchers... which I guess you still don't know..." Hawkeye trailed off, suddenly feeling bad for bringing up something that could hurt Pied.

"He also told me that--" No! the voice interjected. Now is not the time to disclose what you know of her. Let her come to you. Hawkeye stumbled slightly from the outburst, but continued on, but this time moreso in a mumble."--that Vires was a Bade'un before she told me. I guess that's not very exciting.." She trailed off, feeling a little bitter that the male had made her push out something trivial that didn't seem to back up her sanity at all.

set by sophie

Even as she wondered about the source of the voice, be it supernatural or merely hallucinatory, a realization struck Pied. She recollected her very first encounter with Hawkeye, when the strange ghost had been lurking in the background. She blinked her heterchromatic eyes wonderingly. Could the ghost be behind the bodiless voice whispering in Hawkeye's ear...?

She frowned lightly at the mention of Dragonwatchers, her lips pressing together. She said nothing at first, initially pressing her ears forward as Hawkeye seemed to be on the verge of revealing something else. It turned out to be some rather anticlimactic information about a pack mate Pied scarcely knew.

Truthfully, Pied didn't really want to know about Hawkeye's history with Koontz. The entire subject tied her stomach into uncomfortable knots. However, she supposed it might shed some light on what had transpired that night. No matter what, she knew she would still have to have Hawkeye's back, especially at this point. Even if Hawkeye had trespassed and Koontz had had every right to be angry with her, none of it excused her savagely disproportionate treatment of Pied herself.

"So, what about Dragonwatchers?" she asked quietly, a tinge of dread coloring her voice.

lemme know if I missed anything important to add in there

Hawkeye swallowed at the question Pied posed. She pushed her eyebrows together in concern while keeping eye contact with her friend, but broke it away as she recalled what had happened.

"I ran into Yildun at the Dragonwatchers' borders. When I found out that someone else who was impaired was accepted into a pack and treated as an equal, I became excited. I hadn't told anyone of being deaf, and thought that it would be seen as a weak point... I ask to speak to the Alpha, and when she came--" Hawkeye bit back her anger "--they acted as if I was calling Yildun a hindrance to the pack and misconstrued what I was trying to say. I guess it doesn't seem all that bad, now that I say it aloud." But my desire to see Koontz's blood spilled still exists... she poised in her mind.

set by sophie

She braced herself for some tale of horrible wrongdoing, remaining tense throughout Hawkeye's explanation. When her friend finished, Pied released the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding in a loud whoosh and asked, "That's it?" She sounded taken aback at first, but then her expression clouded and she repeated incredulously, "That's it?"

Pied couldn't believe that Koontz would react so severely to what amounted to a verbal sparring match. The spotted yearling suddenly wanted to sink to the ground and cry at the petty unfairness of it. Her cousin had disowned her over a simple case of Hawkeye putting her foot in her mouth. Of course, Pied didn't think about the fact that Hawkeye must've reacted poorly to the whole thing to inspire such agitation in the level-headed Redleaf-DiSarinno.

"God," Pied muttered under her breath, then shook her head rather roughly. "So stupid. I can't believe I've been denounced over something like that." Her lips pursed and then she let out a low, slow breath and decided, "Anyway, it doesn't matter. What's done is done. We should all just... move on with our lives."

Despite the determination in her voice, Pied's heterochromatic eyes became glazed as she stared off into the distance, unable to stop thinking about the issue. Her unblinking eyes faced away into the forest, unseeing, even when a ghostly silhouette passed between two trees before disappearing again.

The raven-colored wolf walked over to Pied after noticing her far-off stare. She stopped before the slight female and sat next to her, staring into the same direction as her white friend before nudging her gently under her chin.

"I know you said we should just move on with our lives, but I am sorry that I caused a rift in your family. I hope you aren't too hurt, Pied." Hawkeye involuntarily let out a slight whimper and looked at the ground. She felt as if she would never really fit in anywhere, and even when she made a new friend, she could ruin things easily. Maybe it was just her horrible talent.

set by sophie

When Hawkeye joined her, Pied slanted her muzzle sideways and offered her large companion a wan smile, then faced forward again. She replied, "It doesn't matter," rather tersely, then sighed apologetically. "Sorry, I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at Koontz... and the situation. Please don't waste time feeling bad about it, though; it won't do any good. Okay?"

Pied fell silent then, not sure what to do or say. She felt rather broody now and she realized her eyelids felt heavy. It was the middle of the night and her sleep had been disrupted by that strange but beautiful dream. Suddenly, she smiled, thinking of the simorgh and the suckling pup. My little girl... she thought, a glimmer in her two-toned eyes.

Turning to face Hawkeye again, Pied said, "I'm gonna head back to my log to sleep. I'll see you later, all right? Good night, friendmine." Her lips twitched, though her eyes remained tight as she applied the pet name. It was a word she'd often used on Koontz and her other companions back in Flightless Falcons. It meant simply, my friend.

With a parting woof, Pied swung away and walked back toward her log, unaware that Starbuck materialized and fell into step beside her, walking her safely home before vanishing into the misty darkness once more.

Hawkeye watched silently as Pied departed. It seemed as if her mind had been far-off, but the black wolf let it be. Her mouth parted slightly in awe as a wolf appeared next to Pied's side, but they vanished from site as the two moved further into the woods.

The giant female turned back toward the borders, taking her guard once more, but did so more of habit than pack defense now. She sighed and let a howl into the air, cracking through the shrieks that had started up from the resident foxes.

She thought of Pied's dream, and her own desires of family, as she walked the edges of Blackfoot Forest.

set by sophie