Blackfeather Woods in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock

*cringes @ wintersbane forever*

wintersbane sticks to patrolling the borders because there is familiarity in the action; and while he is not bitter about his decision to dismantle the few wolves he'd managed to recruit for the vartija there is a certain level of discontent at himself for not sticking through with his plans. why was he here? relmyna was dead and visiting her grave would not bring her back — a lesson he learned by visiting lotte's grave numerous times; and despite mou's grandiose words of the dark woods being important to maegi and that they'd never leave wintersbane still holds doubts. as he'd previous nailed home: the pair had already proven when the heat came down upon them that they were runners. running away from danger when you were a pack leader didn't quite have the same connotations as it did when you were just a pack member. it'd tear apart loyalty at it's core.

and yeah, the past was the past. it couldn't be changed and it should stay in the past but life, unfortunately, didn't work like that. consequences followed. wintersbane's trust and full loyalty was going to be hard earned, admittedly. perhaps at a price that neither of the pale pair was willing to pay. the question was, was he worth the effort to them? a thing, he'd been wondering since his first conversation with mou since the whole redhawk thing had went down and the pale pair disappeared from the woods with their one chance at avoiding the wrath of redhawks and their allies. it'd never came down on them but likely because there'd been no point. blackfeather woods ( the original ) had been a sinking ship and would have been so easy to beat it'd have been humiliating.

and as far as loyalty, it wasn't like maegi or mou had to worry about him turning traitor. he might have a few things that he needed to work out with the leadership but he wasn't going to betray them. maybe he'd leave or maybe they'd decide he was more trouble then he was worth and oust him themselves and that'd be it. wintersbane would call it a day and move on with his life. it was a symbiosis but the truth was blackfeather woods would survive fine without him and vice versa.

with his patrol finished he turns and veers inland, giving pause as he continues to mull over his concerns and his thoughts in his head, peering at maegi, startled out of his thoughts as she soon comes into view. his steps slow to a cease and he lets out a low chuff to announce his presence to her, unable to help but wonder how bad he was about to screw the pooch.