Lake Rodney Kill Wanheda, and you command death.

For @Praimfaya, sorry it's short.

Despite Autumn's approach, the day was abnormally warm. The midday sun beat down hard on the charcoal of his shoulders and he pressed on, head bowed as he padded in the direction of an unfamiliar lake's edge that tempted him closer.

It was a relief to feel coolness to his sore paw pads, to the travel-worn joints of his lower limbs. Dacio dipped his head and lapped at the surface, content to linger in the shallows for a while to drink his fill.

no worries! <3

praimfaya squints against the unrelenting shine of the midday as she makes her way into lake rodney. while the fen offers ample prey opportunities for the wolves that now, tentatively, call it home she still surveys the territories that border ( what will become ) roangeda. for hunting sources, for potential recruits. she knows ingram or henwen have a better chance of pulling in recruits than her but she sees it as her duty. as the future wanheda, as her mother's daughter. this was her idea: to continue the pursuit of what her mother had sought to built though something easier had been offered to her. she could've joined another pack but that felt like giving up on her destiny, on what she felt was all she had left of blodreina.

she veers towards the treeline, aiming to seek shelter in the shadow of the canopy before the sight — and scent — of another catches her attention. praimfaya switches directions then suddenly and begins to lope towards the stranger — stopping a more than ample distance away — letting out a hei! in greeting as she is wont to do with any stranger.

Dacio lifted his proud head when he was done quenching what previously felt like an incurable thirst. His tongue snaked between his lips to catch a stray droplet from his chin, followed by a thorough shake of his sterling pelt before he made to turn back toward the shore.

The approach of another drew his attention: a young wolf, with pallid furs that headed directly toward him. Dacio paused to observe her as she drew near and, curious, he took a moment to sweep the area for an accompanying adult with his gaze before focus returned to the ashen juvenile who halted close by.

It was what she said that made his dark ears prick, and the yearling Drakru blinked. Was it hope that made him believe she'd greeted him in his mother tongue, or perhaps she'd simply heard it from one of Drageda's natrona? "Hei," Dacio returned, and chose to test her ability: "is this your turf?"

praimfaya has come to expect others to respond tentatively to her trig greeting, knowing that it is close enough to common for the puzzle pieces to fit together without too much issue. what she does not expect is to be responded to with a question in flawless trigedasleng. she is taken aback but smoothly hides her surprise. as far as she was aware verx was the only bloodkru but she wonders if this is one of drakru's stragglers. blodreina had begun to open up prior to her death and praimfaya was aware that drakru likely thought of her mother ( and verx ) as natrona's. unfortunately, while blodreina had told her much there was still parts she hadn't — and would never — hear.

no, praimfaya replies. my turf is south of here in the fen. 'broken antler fen' sounds so clumsy upon her tongue ( she much prefers roangeda ) and automatically assumes he will know which territory she means by calling it 'the fen'; accompanied by a slight directional gesture of her muzzle.

you are kru. praimfaya does not word it as a question — there is no doubt in her mind that he is. who else can speak trig so flawlessly? i am praimfaya eyjolfur kom roankru, worlida and future wanheda of roangeda. she introduces herself using all of her titles. daughter of blodreina. wanlida. she knows that mentioning her mother's name might be a risk but her mother has died ...died protecting her ( future ) commander-of-death. the title feels more like morbid prophecy now than just something to scare her enemies.

Much to his delight, the girl continued in his mother tongue. To hear it again brought a flutter to the pit of his belly, a contained excitement to speak it with another so fluidly. At once he wanted to push the conversation in the direction of the kru she'd come from, eager to suggest that he and his sister were willing to serve their commander until Drageda could reestablish on the coast.

The offering of a name, Praimfaya, alongside the title of Roankru, was enough to deflate him a little. Dacio's pale gaze sharpened a little in quiet scrutiny. This pack held no connection to the coalition that Drageda had been part of, likely did not answer to Heda as he did. So who was responsible for its creation?

An assumption came swiftly when the sterling youth shared another name with him, and he firmly believed that Blodreina had assembled this false kru. A muscle in his jaw tightened out of frustrated disappointment. He had known her by another name, Eske, the Wanlida who'd played a part in the training of Drageda's last litters. She'd gone away to war with Heda for a time, having been close to her. Dacio had been fond of her too, back then, until she turned her tail on them as natrona following the commander's suicide.

"I am Dacio Drakru," he answered, and for the first time considered how desperately he clung to his own title. Was it even appropriate to call himself such, if Drageda had fallen? Dacio cocked an ear, torn between his reluctance to associate with a traitor's offspring and a yearning for his own kind. He chose to continue, hungry to know more: "are the others with you? Vercingetorix, Aure?"

she watches him carefully, frostbound silver gaze sharp as he introduces himself as 'dacio drakru'. so her suspicions had been correct: he was drakru ...as her mother had once been. remembering blodreina and verx's words of being natrona she is wary despite how she yearns not to be. verx is so far away from her and she assumes has his own paws full with his flighty ...well whatever aure was to him ...and children. though she had asked and she planned on having at least a lesson from him she does not wish to take up his time. dacio's question, coupled with her own thoughts, makes her feel alone in a way she hadn't before. yes, she still has her father ...and he is her bloodkru but he cannot train her as she needs and she strives to protect him in lieu of blodreina's death.

to be commander is to be alone. linkoln's choice words of wisdom come back to haunt her now, feeding that ache in her chest.

no. praimfaya responds. aure is flighty but i'm assuming she has settled elsewhere with verx. the complications of their relationship are largely unknown to praimfaya and this was the best she can offer. i am alone. speaking it out loud only serves to make the hollow ache more fierce. as a fos goufa ...a commander is meant to be. she knows, from blodreina, that she will never be accepted as 'heda' which was the reason behind titling her 'wanheda'. they'd make their own kru so that she, a commander by birthright, could have a chance at the destiny she'd been born to, unhindered by blodreina's choices.

wanlida died protecting me. praimfaya is capable of saying it out loud now without the tremble of grief in her voice, but she suspects she cannot mask it from her eyes. perhaps dacio wouldn't care, if he still viewed her mother as natrona but she feels a duty to tell him nonetheless for once upon a time blodreina was one of them. the first ( along with her siblings ) to be born in drageda, in fact; and to praimfaya that means something even if she is alone in that thought.

Before the discovery of the Fisa's corpse, before being touched by war at a tender age, Dacio had been a delicate creature. Every bit his mother's son, life had found a way to forge him into something cold, something far darker than he'd ever anticipated. He knew from infancy that his purpose was to be Gona, that he was to die for Heda if she willed it of him, and it'd all sounded so glorious back then.

Dacio had given everything he had to Drageda. He trained to the best of his ability, strived to grow and learn every day, yet nothing could've prepared him for the nightmare that had been Rusalka's raid on the cliffs. But what had Drageda done for him in return for that loyalty? It fell apart, splintered, robbed him of his mother. Yet still he longed for its return, for the normality of it all.

It did bother him a little to observe that Eske had seemingly groomed this cub to believe she was a true Fos Goufa despite the shedding of her surname, yet in some small way he understood. Praimfaya had no claim to any title but the daughter of a deserter... but was it fair to dub her as natrona too? Dacio frowned deeply, looking down at this apparent Wanheda and knew right at the heart of him that the commander would likely expect him to kill her - purely for her association to those who abandoned their kin.

But Dacio was tired of it all. His expression changed at the news of the girl's loss, brow softening as he suddenly felt... something. Pity? Probably. Regret? Whatever it was, he felt the familiar pang of sorrow to hear that the warrior wolfess had fallen, and he mused how he and Praimfaya both shared such a misfortune.

"I am sorry to hear that her fight is over," he voiced, and chose a gentler approach to a child who was without her mother, "though I'm sure you'll agree that there is no greater way to go, sha? Wanheda is quite a title." 

praimfaya watches him, unsure what will come of this meeting. he is drakru, her mother named a natrona and she ...the natrona proclaimed commander of death is left to believe that her mother is right. she is a commander. does linkoln's guidance not prove that? to her, it does even if none else see it that way. she doesn't need them to, not really ...at least, this is what she tells herself. by the laws of their people, she supposes he has rights to strike her down, to denounce her and roangeda if he wishes to.

part of her waits for it, ready to stand tall against it all.

part of her wishes that he wouldn't denounce her and roangeda. he is kru, after all. and though they are little more than strangers who know each other's names she yearns to connect with him, with her people.

sha, praimfaya replies without uncertainty. it is how she would've wanted to die, i know. that doesn't necessarily make it easier but it is something of a balm that helps to ease the pain. its the burden of a commander, but especially so the commander of death. perhaps ...perhaps blodreina knew she'd go this way. she could've called praimfaya the commander of ...well anything but she'd chosen death. now it feels as if it has turned to prophecy ...but as it is said: to be commander is to be alone. was that not the way of their people, after all? a small twist of her lips is given to betray her grief.

She appeared emotionless as was expected of a more senior kru, which was more than could be said for Dacio at her age. When he'd lost his mother he'd been angry, furious at the world, at the spirits of past commanders, at Sequoia and Dalia who'd stripped her of her joy, at the sea that snuffed her life. They were all responsible in some way, he believed, and he held onto the grudges against them. He'd tried to make amends with his elder sister as Portia had requested of him in his dreams, but all that did was leave him vulnerable to yet another betrayal. It was a hard lesson, but a mistake he would not make again.

Dacio watched her closely, the tip of his charcoal tail twitching with the uncertainty he felt. To communicate with this kid was all wrong, he knew that. Yet he wanted to bleed as much knowledge from her as possible so that he might present his discovery to Opalia, unearth her opinion on the matter and figure out how they should handle it.

He shifted his weight, moved closer to where water met land, and stepped from the shallows onto the shore. "You have a kru," he reminded her when she talked of being alone, both keen to remind her that she was not really and interested to know how big her support system might be. Curious to discover who followed her cause and if her father remained on the scene, considering he'd never have expected Eske to be the "family" type. "Tell me about them," the silver yearling encouraged.

you have a kru, he reminds her at her mention of being 'alone'. he isn't wrong, she knows. she has bloodkru too: verx, isi, drago ...but they are far away. he wants to know about roankru and praimfaya feels her shoulders tense slightly. despite her want to know him she knows the delicate situation between drakru and her mother and by proxy: herself. she wants to trust him but she knows she must think with her head and not her heart. you did not leave to seek out the new commander with drakru. praimfaya figuring that if he wants information that could potentially damn those few who stood with her that she, too, deserves valuable information and thus she asks, why? she must look out for her kru. for ingram and henwen.

drageda declared my mother a natrona. roankru is precious to me. roangeda is all i have left of my mother. i want to trust you but i cannot when i do not know if you, also, see me as natrona.

Ah, there it was: an inkling of distrust. It was something Dacio liked to see, considering how openly she shared with him - a stranger - the location of her kru and her relation to a traitor. He lifted his chin a little, grey-green eyes sharp on her as he found her own of pale silver; Praimfaya was sure to resemble her sire, he pondered as he studied her pale features, for she looked nothing like the Eske he remembered. "If I considered you natrona," he started coolly, "you would not be alive."

It was the way of their kind, he was sure she'd appreciate. Surely her mother would not have failed to teach her that snippet of information, considering she'd taught her so much of where she had come from. "Your mother, Verx and Aure abandoned Drageda when we needed them most," he told the bold Wanheda, "and the pack fell soon after their departure. My sister and I remained with the hope to train an army so that we might take back our home, but the enemy was too strong and not enough supported the cause."

He rolled a shoulder, shameful to have had to acknowledge when the time came to shelf the budding Stegeda yet proud to admit that he and Opalia were the only ones who truly tried to make an effort.

he speaks that if he considered her a natrona she would no longer be drawing breath and though her gaze sharpens — as the idea ...that he would kill her, at the idea of her being natrona she knows he is right on that too. that was the way of their people, how they survived no matter how harsh it might sound. she acknowledges his words with a slight lift of her muzzle but does not offer him a verbal response.

it seems to be quite the habit of aure. she remarks in a low contemplative murmur, thinking of diaspora. blodreina told me she left drageda to protect me, praimfaya tells him though she isn't sure if it'll make a difference. and she is dead. is it not time to put that old grievance in the past? though it hurts to speak so plainly of her mother's passing ( especially as she believes it to be her fault ) it seems pointless to her to hold onto it.

you and your sister stayed while the others fled. for different reasons than my mother and verx but still they fled. how does that not make them natrona's too? she doesn't like the apply the word 'natrona' to verx whom, as she understands it — just like her mother — left drageda for the safety of his children.

Things grew suddenly tense as Praimfaya sees fit to share thought on the matter then (word of her mother, no doubt) bombard him with further question, and Dacio felt a prick of guard hairs in frustration. He did not bite to what he felt may have been said to test him, maybe even provoke him, and he gritted his teeth to keep from reacting too sharply. 

He thought about what she had to say regarding the position her late dam found herself in, and understood that the love she felt for her was likely enough to prevent seeing the full picture. Praimfaya would want to preserve her own memory of the warrior wolfess, who could likely do no wrong in her opinion. He would've done the same at her delicate age, no doubt, should Portia have chosen to leave. "Drageda was doomed when Heda gave herself to the sea," Dacio shared, "and Wormana decided it best to regroup with Trigeda. We gained the Wocha's blessing to remain for a time to see to a personal matter, as we did not jump before we were pushed."

That task had changed, but he was not prepared to share such information with the little wannabe Heda. Dacio held his intent to slay Sequoia should she find the misfortune of crossing his path, not only for her initial betrayal of their family but the part he believed her to have played in their mother's death. "The plan was to join them there when the task was complete," but fuck knows when that'll happen. All he knew was that the time had not yet come for he and Opalia to depart, "but there have been delays and if the time comes that our kru see us as traitors for our attempt at seeking vengeance on those who wronged us, then so be it." He would be torn, of course, for his life held no other purpose than to serve a commander. But he would carry on and bear the title of natrona, which would be a real shame considering all he'd done for them.

He cupped a dark ear forward then, unsure if his defense was enough to convince her that he and Eske's situations were entirely different. "Drageda would have protected you,"he offered, softer this time, aware that the threat of Rusalka had driven the pack's natrona to lessen faith in Blixen, who'd lost her nomi and been forced into a situation she'd never asked for all at once. "Verx, Aure and your mother's choice robbed us of what little chance we may have had at maintaining claim over our home, and you of a real birthright. You could have been Heda someday, and all in the coalition would have fought for you."

He did not wish to poison how she felt for her parent, but Dacio believed the reason behind Eske's title of natrona to be valid. "I was fond of your mother, Praimfaya, and I am sorry for what happened to her. She was a teacher to me for a time and my kru, until she wasn't. Her decision harmed my pack and I'm not ready to forgive her." He paused, eyes searching for the hurt or the anger at the honesty of his words.

praimfaya realizing she's a bit of a hypocrite

though it is hard to hear — and she does not precisely agree with dacio's view ...for could she truly? — she listens, attentively, her eyes all the while scanning his face, watching his micro-expressions as he tells her the story in full. to hear it from someone other than blodreina or verx paints a different story and one she cannot help but feel that harbors upset. her ears flutter back to rest tentatively against the crown of her skull. nobody is without faults, dacio, she tells him softly moments before she draws in a heavy breath, holds it and expels it in an equally as heavy sigh.

how would she feel if her kru did that to her? fled because they feared, because things looked bleak? hadn't she thought that it is kru that gives strength ...that there was no room in roangeda for the weak? she knew she'd feel hurt and betrayed she imagined. and yet ...yet, separating feelings from duty was all apart of it, wasn't it? easier said than done, she knows. separating her grief while trying to raise a geda from nothing was challenging. a near impossible task, too.

but i understand. she finishes, fixing him in her cool gaze, her brow furrowing slightly. she told me that she felt guilty about what she has cost me, it wasn't necessarily an apology to the wolves of drageda ( but blodreina'd always been too stubborn and far too proud to apologize anyway ), praimfaya knows...but it wasn't like dacio could see her mother in a worse light then he already did ( or so she assumes anyway ). i believe roangeda and the title of wanheda was her way of trying to make up for it.

she wants to defend blodreina more but she knows it will do no good. the wound is obviously too deep and still festering for dacio and praimfaya has no desire to pick at it any more than she already has. still, she struggles to see the point in holding onto things in the past so tightly: it wasn't going to change. a cold fact that praimfaya knows all too well; if she could she would alter the events of the day of her mother's death, spare her life ...but alas she could not. no one could. instead, she tries to use it to drive her forward though she suspects that her ambitions for roangeda is all that keeps her head held high, that keeps her from crumbling in on herself.

thank you for sharing your side of the story with me, even if it left a bad taste in her mouth at least now she knows both sides. though her mother was no martyr praimfaya cannot find it in herself to hate her for what she did ...anymore than she can hate dacio for his feelings. her love for her mother is too fierce and her firm belief in 'duty over feelings' leaves her in a state that feels more than a little torn. she understands both sides even though dacio was kind of right. she'd admonished aure for doing the same thing her mother had ...hadn't she? how had she said that, so ruthlessly?: you made your choice.


what will you and your sister do now? praimfaya asks, worrying her cheek with her teeth as she considers offering them a place with roangeda. she is in need of a new klikalida and seda but she worries if dacio's feelings about blodreina, about her and roangeda would keep the siblings from becoming apart of her kru — and she couldn't blame them if it did, not now that she knew it from his side. the thought that she might never be accepted by her people stings now more than it ever had faced with one of her and blodreina's people but she tells herself she would bear it as she has bore everything else.

Much to his surprise, Praimfaya did not react the way he anticipated. While he'd expected a tantrum of epic proportion, she instead maintained a collected manner despite his announcement of her mother's betrayal at length. His pale gaze did not stray from her face, alert for any sign that she might sulk and turn away, but he found nothing of the sort. She breathed a sigh (of defeat?) and carried on, willing to accept that her dam was not perfect, and Dacio felt his pride inflate.

Not because he was right, but because he acknowledged then and there that Praimfaya displayed a maturity far beyond her age. She would've grown into an impeccable commander had she been given the opportunity, of this he was sure, and knew that she could've been a Heda he would find great honour in giving his life for.

He mustered a smile, small and knowing, though underlying with sorrow. Dacio was genuinely disappointed to hear of Eske's passing; he would forever remember her devotion to Heda, her strong spirit and her unwavering bravery on the battlefield - all in his own private way. Perhaps, in time, the sore reminder of her abandonment of the kru would not taint that memory with such darkness, but he could not make any promises.

"We seek a place to lay low for the cold season," Dacio answered his young companion when she asked after he and Opalia's plans. "The shaking earth has driven prey from the coast, and an attack by us on one of our enemy's own left us open to retaliation. It made sense to head this way. When the snows thaw, hopefully we can revisit the idea of winning back our birthplace."

praimfaya's ears cup forth once more as he responds to her question, and she is reminded then of a saying that blodreina had taught her. jus drein, jus daun. blood must have blood, she speaks it aloud, softly, understanding that it is vengeance he seeks for the wrong doing upon drageda, because it is the way of their people. you could stay out the winter with roangeda, if you wish, she makes the offer figuring that sometimes you had to jump. with my mother's death i am in need of a new klikalida and a teacher. but as it leaves her lips it sounds well... a bit much to offer someone she just met, especially someone who had just told her that he didn't forgive her mother for abandoning drageda; but his blunt honesty makes her realize that she can trust him. it was strange logic, sure; nevertheless, if nothing else, its a bug in his ear to mull over.

Wow. Jus drain, jus daun. Blood must have blood. What a huge statement to come from such a little thing. But it is one he knows well and the words send a chill trailing along the length of his spine. Finally, he thinks as he breathes a sigh, someone who understands.

For a long time, despite their efforts to build something from nothing, Dacio and Opalia's support system had included only each other. This encounter had opened a whole new opportunity to rid the sound of their enemies and  at last take back their home. Praimfaya went on to extend invitation to the Drakru siblings, an offer of a place among her budding kru, which brought his ears forward in surprise. She would have him among the ranks of the pack her mother dreamed of building, despite his admission of how bitterly he felt for her abandonment of Drageda?

He stared at her, quiet as he thought it all over, knowing what this would mean for he and Opalia: they would be forced to shed their surname and be shunned from their family, destined to live among the traitors. Could he, after everything he'd said? Despite all he believed in?

Desperate times and desperate measures, he supposed, but the stubbornness in him held fast. Without Drageda, what was he? Who was he?

The silver yearling blinked, and twitched a whisker in thought. "You have my thanks, Wanheda," he offered, "allow me to bring this to my Opalia's attention. We have much to discuss. How about we plan to arrive at your fen in the morning, if you'd like to meet her?"

wanheda, he calls her ...and not with an ounce of mockery that she can detect. it is the first time that she can recall that anyone besides her mother has called her it and she feels it shift her posture. a subtle shift but not entirely unnoticeable to a keen eye. of course, praimfaya replies. it was no small decision, she wagers, even if they did just stay for the winter. she does not expect them to make it lightly, either. i would very much enjoy meeting your sister. she tells him sincerely, a slight wag of her tail given. she tries to fight the buoyancy of hope budding in her chest — he is only promising her another meeting either to bring her good news or bad. either way, she cannot help but respect him for it: for his honesty, for considering her offer.

i should return, she speaks then, knowing that if she was gone too long ingram would probably worry, and the last thing she wished to do was cause her father stress ... well, more stress that she probably already does anyway. see you in the morning. and with those words spoken in parting she offers a dip of his head and turns to head back towards broken antler fen.