Ravensblood Forest Betrayal between the trees

For Isley the thought that they could fall - that any of them could - left her on high alert, left the entire pack on edge. They patrolled tirelessly, and she knew that Palisader had gone to the beach to inform the other wolves. For the healer, it meant that she felt safer among their trees, and her thoughts clouded. The threat of injury to those she cared so deeply for made her jaded, made her thoughts dark, and she found she didn't trust many as she thought. 

It was gone, the sense of implicit safety of the thick sequoia trunks that dotted the earth; their aegis had been shattered by the death of Furiosa. It was a sobering and mortal time for the woman of cream and ash, who had quite literally never experienced something of this emotional magnitude and had a difficult time processing it. Since learning the news, Olive often found herself crying and sobbing in such manner that it would leave her with pounding headaches. But this could not helped, as her family had been torn and she felt torn, too. It was times like these that Olive wished Dakarai were not a comhlach but a fledged member of the family…if only, so that he could truly share the burden of their secluded sorrows. 

A wolf close to her had been ripped from them at the behest of another’s mouth and the pain and blood had seeped into the earth, sickening it. The trees and the life in them protested too. The forest had eyes, and this event had tied another tight knot in the string of their collective consciousness. The energies of the forest were angry and it buffeted Olive persistently so that she were constantly uneasy and unable to eat. Those interminable days following the murder, her connection to the earth was nauseating.

Her own relationship with Furiosa had been an odd one. After all, Olive had first been introduced to Teaghlaigh as somewhat of a prisoner. But it had been Olive’s choice alone to join the family and soon after the woman was as fond of the white warrior’s tact and tenacity. Furiosa had been one of the shadows and in her absence, Olive had been patrolling and ranging the forest almost nonstop. Even her own dextrous, trail-hardened paws were aching from the misuse. But Arturo had asked them to protect themselves from the culprit and Olive would do nothing less for her family.

Walking along one day, Olive came across Isley. There were only a handful of wolves that comprised Teaghlaigh and sometimes she would go days without seeing another. Normally this pleased the solitary woman, but now she craved intimacy and closeness. Drifting upon the healer, Olive dipped her head in a delicate bow. “Isley,” olive whispered simply, unable to hide the emotion in her voice. Her swimming, viridian pools fell upon the firewoman, her gaze pleading for the solace of family.

Isley had been there from the start. She and Palisander had been the first to join their ranks, the first to declare their intent for one another. Isley did not even know if Furiosa had been a part of Teaghlaigh then or not, but from the moment that she had joined their ranks and they had grown they had been family. In Awenasa, when one passed, a memorial was set up and a stone that represented the wolf was added to a small grove. It was a small token, a tiny little thing to honor the wolves, but it had meant a great deal to Isley and she wanted to continue to honor her family in similar ways. 

Isley was just trying to consider what she might find for Furiosa when a voice called out to her, making the woman turn her head sharply - more sharply than she had intended. The hackles that had lifted smoothed out considerably when she saw it was Olive and the red wolf approached and gently nudged Olive's shoulder, offering a soft sigh at first. The thought came to her of the stone that Olive had found - the one Palisander had shown her, and then presented at the meeting. She might be the perfect wolf. 

"Will you help me find a stone for her?" Isley asked softly, surely she did not need to say who - it was the wolf at the forethought of all of their actions and emotions in the past day. "My tribe used to honor the fallen, adding a stone to represent them into a grove...I would like to start that here."

Isley came close and nosed her shoulder. Isley touched and warmth followed, so Olive openly seeked her touch, pushing her ashen forehead into the red woman’s décolletage. The embrace was immensely comforting to the doe — who felt no more than a puppy at that moment — and she deeply breathed in the scent of Teaghlaigh.

Olive broke their embrace as Isley spoke of stones and traditions. Would she help her find one? “Yes, yes of course,” Olive uttered in a soft intonation, quickly offering Isley her services. Not only would gemstones be an immense relief during this time, but there was no better way to celebrate a life than the cosmic perfection of the crystal. Olive sought solace from her Rose Quartz geode [the beloved gift from Dakarai] more than once in the past few days and wanted to offer even a fraction of that repose to Furiosa’s eternal spirit; a soul removed from physicality in such a macabre, deeply-disturbing fashion. 

Yes, her and Isley would find a gemstone and the beauty would assuage all their suffering…of this, she was sure.

Why did there have to be so much sadness and suffering in the world? Was it such a cruel place as to pass this sentence unto so many wolves? Olive was truly saddened to think that so many beings on this earth experienced true pain and affliction at the hands of others. Before she knew it [and it couldn’t be helped], small crystalline tears coalesced in the corner of her eyes and wet her cheeks. Her delicate throat constricted, causing her breath to hitch raggedly in her throat. The fae could only close her eyes tightly and turn her head, embarrassed at how her emotions controlled her so keenly.

Though Isley was younger than Olive she didn't shirk away from comforting the other female. It was a role that she fell into naturally, she appreciated the fact that Olive felt she was safe and approachable enough to trust her with her emotions. Isley rested her head over the woman and brought one arm up to touch her, claiming the woman in a wolf-ish hug of sorts. 

Olive agreed to help her and Isley appreciated the gesture, hoping that it might help give them all some closure to do something together in Furiosa's honor but then Olive was overcome by her emotions just as quickly as they'd risen. For a moment Isley let the woman work out the tears alone but still scooted her petite body closer, offering her a little nuzzle. "Life is unfair, sometimes. What we do with it - that is what determines our strengths though." Because she, the child of a monster, had been determined to only do good in her life - and she knew that they as a family would continue on and do good too. 

They would be strong together, even growing stronger from the darkness they endured. 

The two women of Teaghlaigh connected again in an embrace. Olive rested her small, feathered frame against Isley’s, appreciating the interlude. The grey girl was always sought to strike balance between the two extremes of her personality: the need for companionship and the need for solitude and privacy. The fae found herself swaying like a pendulum between the two - but, right then was a moment she opened herself completely to the idea of unity in the face of grief. Why should she seclude herself, when togetherness assuaged so many of the feelings within her?

This, really, was Olive’s first foray into real sadness [until then, she had lived a pretty fortunate life]. Leaving her natal pack had been tough, yes, but that experience was tinged with excitement and the red herring’s death had been tinged with dread and a weird sense of regret. Though she hated the very experience of it, Olive felt as if she more deeply understood the wretched golden boy she found to the south, the boy who loved to wallow in his sorrows — the intense emotions were almost addicting and left emptiness when they subsided.

Isley could speak no more truth than she did in that moment, and she took at face value. Olive had always preached concepts of cosmic unfairness [the idea that life played along to its own accord…and no one else’s], but she had never really known unfairness. Isley seemed to be wise on these matters and Olive wanted to know more.  “What do you do with it?” Olive inquired, with a curious sadness dancing along her timbre. 

It was now more than ever that Isley realized the details of her life had shaped her in ways others did not imagine. Her mothers misconceptions of the world - justified as they were to her - had made for a strong daughter who pushed past her upbringing. "We do as we must, as she would want us to do." Isley said in a gentle voice. She was not stern, not in such a time, though her own nerves were frazzled all the same. "We learn, we grow strong, we carry on." Isley said quietly. They would know not to take for granted the Haven they had built for themselves. 

It might not have been Awenasa but Isley was protective of it all the same - and she would fight tooth and nail to defend the wolves she had claimed as her own. "Let us find the best stone we can, then, we can call Arturo and present it to him. I feel he might appreciate choosing the Grove we lay it to rest in."  Perhaps Olive might find more comfort in action than inaction. 

What was there to learn from this situation? A cant of her milky visage signaled a pensive curiosity; curiosity about Isley’s experience of this depravity. Olive had been raised to believe that death was nothing more than soul leaving body and returning to the ethereal heavens — but she had also been raised to believe in a type of cosmic karma, and Furiosa’s death had been murder, cold-blooded. The jaundiced energies of the earth sat stagnant in the wake of such negativity and the nonmovement sickened her. No, there was nothing good….there was nothing to learn from this. It did, however, open Olive’s eyes to the evils of the world… and she was horrified.

Olive continued to ruminate of Isley’s prognosis and realized that, well, she did learn one thing from this: the strength of family. To hurt, to feel this deeply — it was something quite beautiful. It was a sense of true, familial love that bound her to the firekissed woman, the masked coywolf, that spiced, young heir. Love that couldn't be faked and couldn’t be bought. Her capacity to love such a mortal, tangible experience left her in a sort of wonder. Perhaps there was good tied in with the bad after all.

Throughly confused by the clash inside her mind, Olive backpedaled a step and directed her attention to needed gemstone cairn. Truthfully, she had found no crystals since her fated moonstone communion and was unsure she could find one at the very moment, nonetheless the best one. Though, Dakarai had come across the jagged rose quartz in Ravensblood Forest - so there had to be something here. This was good, for Olive knew how to listen to the whispers of the earth and speak its tongue… and, the universe had a way to bringing you the things you wanted when you accepted it powers and opened yourself to its mercy. So, Olive stayed hopeful. 

And if they did not find anything, at least she had spent time with dear Isley rather than wallowing, alone in her despair.  A thick exhale huffed from Olive’s black nose in agreeance and she turned away from Isley, faced to skirt the edges of Teaghlaigh’s borders. She wanted to find the place where the sap-stained titans melted away into the crusted, rocky outcrop that was Gyrfalcon’s Keep. The ground there was solid and crumbling, both great conditions for the formation of crystals. 

“I agree. Perhaps we survey the borders that flank Gyrfalcon’s Keep? I would take us elsewhere, but I… I don’t want to leave the Forest.”