Wheeling Gull Isle lost and found

Aimi and her brother (likely she had gone to search for him with how protective she had on him and al), Natshana (whom had come to be with blood too, though Priam had since left along with one of her warriors), Hide (likely left with Orochi on his mission, though neither had returned) and then Jaime, who Aiolos had quite so favored the company of out on most any other male he had met. They were all now gone to the wolves of Yuelong, their presence on the island having not been missed by Aiolos.

With the coming of the storms had been the loss of those he had taken to...Natshana, Aimi, Hide, Jaime…each missed by him and just as quickly replaced by others whom had been displaced by the cold season and in need of shelter: Elixir, Ramesses, Mhairi, all but strangers to the Shàngjiàng. He didn’t care. Should he have? Too many came and went, a pack being a temporary settlement for those who were on a mission, searching for their lost, traveling the world or who wish to found a pack of their own. Only those who spent some time here were worthy of being to know- Tzila, who spent many moons here tending to her son and with the hope of her returned lover. Maegi and her mate Mou, who had found happiness and friendship on this island once before. And of course Hua, the founder and Empress of their pack.

And so he would seek their company and their company only. Still, to meet the newcomers would at least be proper and becoming of him. So the fiery wolf strides the open coastline of their home territory, awaiting to see whom might make approach to him first...

Of all the wolves who remained with Yuelong, Tzila was the least social. She had good reason to be, or so she believed. She had never been fond of coastlines to begin with. The man who had lured her here was gone. The reason she had come in the first place, to try and turn a new leaf. She dealt with what she believed to be his temporary absence, grounded by the presence of their son in her life. At least with Sotiris as her world, she could focus and have hope. But then, he too was gone.

New faces came and went, drifting in and out like the tides. She ignored them, too caught up in her downwards spiral. The darkness began to pull her back, while her grip on the coast began to loosen. These days she slept little, and only ate out of instinct and satisfied her other, most basic needs. She dreaded the upcoming season, bitterly reminded once again of why she hated it so.

The appearance of Aiolos went largely unnoticed by her as he strode near on the beach. It was clear she would not be the one approaching him. Sitting just at the edge of the waves, her back was turned while she stared out to sea. Cold, tired eyes drifted from the horizon back to the deep blue depths. She sighed, knowing it was hopeless. Yet, one last time, she threw her head back and howled. But even that was a sound with minimal effort, without hope.

Her howl was just as sorrowful, longing, defeated, at the very heavy and cold air which surrounded her. An endless, tiring and perhaps even seemed pointless effort to find someone having been gone some time now. Her son. Aiolos did not know the boy personally, not at all, but the pups of Yuelong would not go unnoticed nor unwatched by him despite his lack of place within their lives. Leader or not, none had been of his own making.

Aiolos is left to pause in his path along the shoreline, just out of the water's desperate reaches just as she. A frown settled to his features, russet ears back.

She was a quite beautiful woman, he knew this to be true, though had not often found himself falling for the dark and smoldering type. Though why would mystical and distant be better for him? He thought, a flicker of Ruo who he then did best to dismiss. Tzila had been paired with Astaroth though that man had long since been gone and nare return from some 'mission' or another. Still, a mother, with eyes for another, Aiolos would have never thought twice of Tzila other then as a packmate and a good one at that regardless of her distance. She was in some distress and Aiolos, despite the little connection they had, was compelled to try and ease her suffering.

But how? Aiolos couldn't find the words. Didnt know the right ones to offer for a mother whom had lost her pup during a very harsh winter. Nothing could make it right, he knew. Nothing could make her forget. So he would just settle down then, leaving her much needed space and lifted his own muzzle, calling out with the winter winds in hope that his voice might find Sotiris, wherever he be.

A second voice broke the silence, calling out for her lost son, not long after her cry had ended. Sides heaving with another silent sigh, Tzila recognized that tone. Aiolos and her never really interacted much. They didn't know each other as well as she and Hua did. But even the empress was withheld from the full extent of Tzila's darkest secrets weaved in the past.

Many times she was torn on what to do these days. To return to a solitary, rugged lifestyle of looking out for herself? Or to stick it out here on the island, living a life that was hardly truthful. She could only bide her time for so long while waiting for what fate had in store for her. Sooner or later, she may be forced to take action on her own. 

She had known well enough of the absence of Aiolos' own child and lover. A near mirror image of her own circumstances now. Except that she no longer considered the dark man, Astaroth as such. They never had really been close enough to be called that. Even when pregnant, they confessed their feelings, leading to the understanding and acceptance that he had stronger feelings for Hua's sister, Ying. With him out of the picture, Tzila had no reason to remain attached. Without turning to look at him after his voice died, she flattened her ears. "It is useless you know. He is gone. He is not coming back."

Her words were one of much obvious defeat, her ears now flattened as his own had been. She didnt think her son to return to them and perhaps she was right by that. Still, the truth hurt, of course.

He's over a year. Aiolos said then, trying to find a way yet still to ease her. If her son was not with her and had been rude enough to leave without a thought to tell her, maybe she would be happy to know at least he had much chance of survival. Still plenty to learn, but quite capable to hold his own. And yes, it was winter. A horrible one at that, but he had about a 50/50 toss just like any rogue especially given that the Wilds were filled with wolves and pack, thus able to take him in if he needed. Aiolos remembered his own son being taken from him to travel at a much younger age then to be left to travel on his own to return home, less then six months of age.

Do you think he looks for Astaroth? He mentions the man, long since gone from them. Aiolos didnt know if her son often mentioned the father and perhaps that could be why he didnt inform her- fear of her objection.

Her silver eyes narrowed, falling to the ground. In them was a blend of anguish and bitterness. Not at Aiolos, but at the circumstances and herself. "That may be so..." She began lowly. "But that doesn't change the fact that he is gone. He was all I had left." She snapped her head up to look at the fiery male, eyes glassy with tears that would never come.

"I worry for him. I always have, ever since he was born." She knew her son far too well, but still, a mother could never feel that they had spent enough time with their child. You were never ready to let go, no matter their age. The waves of the ocean rolled in and out, nearly lapping at her toes. She was rooted, wanting to step back, away from the water, but her body just felt too heavy. "Sotiris is different from the others. More sensitive. He might have inherited my aversion to the ocean environment." A slight offering of a fact Aiolos may not know about her. But that she was still here on the island, had to have some significance. "If he is looking for Astaroth, I hope he finds him." Her face hardened slightly at the memory of his father. Had she gone soft? Become a fool all this time?

A pale stone's gaze, tossed to the wet sands as she took in his words. And when she speaks and lifts her head up again, it is with an equally cold snap. Alive or not, it did little to sooth the mother's pain from the separation. Quickly, the fire in Aiolos gaze cast away from that of ice and out unto the open ocean before them.

It isnt easy... He admits, having suffered through the same. He feels though, as a man who never thought himself ever going to be able to play the role of father, he would have still loved and lost then never loved at all.

Gingered ears perked to her words of her son and the honesty which she had spoken, of her settled disliking for the coast. With this knowledge, Aiolos frowns. The only reason why he could have imagined her coming here  and then staying was for the possibility of something between she and Astaroth and then had stayed in order to raise her son in the safety of an established pack. She didnt like her home here and as a wolf who had been in this pack for quite some time that was upsetting for him to know. Aiolos could only hope, should @Kukutux find him a bride or should Aiolos come of one by his own accord, that she would love the sea just as much as he had and not find resentment in her home.

Will you be staying here then, he began to ask, Now that nothing is holding you? He couldn't imagine so and wanted to be aware, prepared.

Her shoulders sagged some, as if forced down by the overbearing weight of the world. While her expression was still cold...stony, her voice was not. "I...don't know. Astaroth was the reason I even came here to begin with. But now that our time is over..." She affirmed, making it clear that she no longer had any romantic ties to him, and so she was free. Shifting, she turned to face Aiolos a little more directly. He knew not of her reasons for her aversion to the coast, or the full story behind it. As a wolf she had shared this island with for so long, he should at least be allowed some of the picture.

"I have a checkered past, Aiolos." She began firmly but honestly. "I grew up on a coastline very similar to this one. But some...familial issues led me to associate such places with negativity." She said, being careful not to directly mention her brother, who was at the root of it all. "I wasn't much happier where I was before coming to Yuelong. Astaroth made me want to be a better wolf, and I thought by following him here I could reconnect with my roots on a positive level." She looked down, brows pinching together. One could see the division on her face, boiling beneath the surface. "But now...it's harder. I'm lost. It is like I'm being torn in two..." 
Light and dark.

Her voice, softened, whether it was by a defeat of her not knowing what she planned to do with herself or whether it was to smooth over her now questionable commitment to these lands for him, he did not know himself either.

She shifted then, turning more so directly to him in doing so and when she began Aiolos came forth and took from standing to instead settling to a sit before her to listen. Of course there was reason for her dislike of the coast. It wasnt just so that she preferred the forestry. It wasnt just so that she didnt care for the openness and harsh salty winds and gritty sands under her toes. It held a deeper bitterness to it. A memory of a bad familial past which she was forced to remember again and again whilst here.

And now you have new bad memories on the coast to haunt you. The sea has failed you yet again. Unlike for Aiolos, who found so much comfort in it even when he had found none elsewhere in his life. Aiolos did not pry into the details of what happened to her family pack. He wouldnt as it was not in Aiolos nature to do so.

When I first laid eyes on the Sea I was but a pup in chains. A victory prize of the Nereides who now had new blood to groom for their own desires. And yet despite that, I found comfort in the religion my captors practiced. I found a love of their Goddesses, Sea and Moon and have forever since... He didnt know if she knew of any of his own history. Didnt know if she obtained any information from being told of the whispers of those he had. He guessed it didnt much matter.

Whatever you decide, His attention then swept over the features of her dark face and fell, to her long sturdy legs, her curved build of a large wolf. Then, back to the endless open saltwater. I hope that you can find yourself again.

First she had confessed nearly the same story to Astaroth. And then to Hua. Now Aiolos. She truly didn't know who she could trust these days. Who she could fully open up to without being judged and worse, condemned. "It has." She echoed. "Part of me wants to stay...but the other..." Her dark toes flexed back and forth, digging grooves in the sand. "I know I shouldn't blame the sea, but it isn't easy. I have ties here. Memories...both good and bad."

Glancing at him out of the corner of her eye, her ears raised slightly. Showing her interest in that he too, was a pup when he saw the sea for the first time. Something they had in common. And by the sound of it, not necessarily the most favorable of circumstances. "Funny that one would take comfort in religion that just so happens to be that of their captors." She remarked, but not in a sarcastic way. Tzila was not a religious wolf, and even if she was, she would have been inclined to believe that the gods and goddesses were punishing her somehow. So she offered little more to say of it. 
But she wasn't done. "That's just it. I don't know what to do. I know I do not want to tarnish what I have established here on the isle, for I am grateful for what I have been given thus far." She stood, and took two deliberate steps into the waves. As if tempting the ocean to take her. "I feel like I am two different entities. How can I find myself if I don't even know who I am?"

In the same sense, Aiolos had spoken of the Nereides and his way of living a time or two before, specifically to the women of Yuelong and those who had first founded him in these lands, those of Courtfall. It was few and far between who knew though his time before he became a man of Sea's command, for the harsh memories which it brought him. Tzila's reason not to open up fully was of her own reasons, yet both were stories of being betrayed by those which they should have been able to trust- family. The two wolves instead had created a new family to love, only for that to be taken, too.

Although the bad memories may haunt you forever, He could not sugar coat that nor lie and say time would heal all wounds. Dont forget the good ones either. Those will keep you grounded. Keep you from getting lost in your own pain, keep you from loosing yourself to it...

It is, isnt it. A small smile then at her comment of how particular it was for him to take to his captor's religious views. And then, she steps towards the ocean which she had come to have a love-hate relationship towards. The waters flow over the sands, wrapping around her ankles. Aiolos takes a heavy breath, his eyes casting over her form. It is true...You've been a long standing and loyal member here. I honestly cant say there are many of those to spare. He spoke, a bit of a frown and then, But if you did go, now that you've made us aware, I dont see your image being tarnished. Another slight smile.

Tzila, of course. He then said, shifting his toes through the sands as he looked to her still and the ocean beyond her image. A seafaring woman, a fighter, a mother. Those which cannot be taken from you. He didnt know how to help her, honestly, when he felt he had his own trials to fight as any other, but he was here to at least help, if anything.

Slowly, with each second that passed, the darkness that clawed at her tightened it's grip. Bitterness began to well and spread in her heart. Not at Yuelong, or even the man beside her. But for herself and the whole of her existence. Facial features contorted, she dipped her head. She drew in a tired, heavy sigh. "Everything has been taken from me. Proof that I am not meant to be these things."

Abruptly, she stood up straight and faced him head on. The glint in her eyes was harder now, more serious. It was time to set things straight and lay out the truth. "You don't know anything about me. What I've done, who I've been." She fought the urge to step closer, to posture and flaunt her confidence. Tzila no longer appeared so weak on the outside. "I am not a good person, Aiolos. And now that which has grounded me is gone, I feel my control slipping."

She was slipping, this much was obvious by the next set of words that passed her muzzle  and the tired sigh of defeat which came with it. The leader at her side did the same, unable to pull the woman slipping into the darkness if she was unable to help herself. She could let her sorrows overcome her or she could overcome them. It would be left to the Gods, he figured and if not, surely the Gods would leave her to decide her own fate.

Then she lifted, so suddenly that Aiolos to came scrambling to his feet and backpedaling over the sands as she faced him head on. Her icy eyes now held a matching hard and cold stare. His body tensed to her claim, hackles prickling as he fought the need for a defensive position, despite how much he wanted to sooth her pain. He could not.

He would be left to wonder now just how bad of a wolf she had been, how cruel she could be... Was she like the blood thirsty Saints? A child murderer, a rapist?

His ears fell down and he turned his fiery eyes away from her. I guess your right... He then murmured, I dont know you. I'm sorry. He hadn't anything left to offer her.