Moonspear vokul fen mah

seeking @Dirge and/or @Arcturus ; post dacio thread !

 

She was ready to speak now. The day Osiris had returned home, long into the night, Hydra had not been capable of it. Those closest to her would have seen, for the first time, Hydra's effort to control her rage. It had eminated from her in waves. She all but quaked with the feeling of it. All that she wanted was for her son to be alright, and once it seemed as though he would recover... now, now she wanted retribution.

It was clear that doing nothing was not the answer. Merrick had killed the mercenary, and the wolf that accompanied him had returned. Perhaps to investigate and see where it was his own children were? Mine, now, came a possessive, unbidden thought. No—that was not so. Not if they did not want that themselves. But in thinking of any alternatives, she fell back to the thought: what other reason was there for so violent a creature to return to where no doubt she knew she was unwelcome? Hunted, by the Nightwalkers? 

The Nightwalkers. 

She owed them a visit; with the famine, they had both been occupied in keeping the food to their packs and all others out. Now that food had returned, she could afford to check in. She would. And she would need to visit Neverwinter, too. 

Hydra followed the trail of her brother, @Arcturus, her mates (@Dirge) not too far off from it in the moment if her nose did not deceive her... her strides lengthened, curious if they were together. It was a time for solidarity.

"you'd think the flower would have waited a month or something," arcturus commented to dirge, cupping the little mountain violet with a dark paw. it stood alone between a bare expanse of earth, encircled by ragged snow -- flowering, despite the fact that there was very much still snow on the mountain.

he supposed this was just one of many signs that spring had truly sprung. he was about to make some quip about other things that were springing as of late, but heard behind him an expedient tread that he could only assume belonged to hydra. his ears turned back as he listened, turning around in time to see a dark stormcloud headed their way. glancing to dirge in quiet concern, arcturus stood at attention -- wondering just what darkly-winged news was about to cast its shadow on them all.

The venture off with Arcturus had been a welcome one for all that had been wrought. Perhaps for all that would be wrought, as he knew Hydra would seek to rend flesh from bone with little haste. What had happened to Osiris troubled him, reopening concerning wounds he had thought long healed and left to scar. Dirge had hoped the famine would have steered them clear of turmoil, but it had been a foolish, almost naive course to wander.

The early appearance of violets would have normally coaxed him towards an ease, but even he had little in the way of commentary towards it—not that either of them were afforded opportunity to compose something poignant or reassuring. Hydra was very much a dark thunderhead cascading in from the horizon, and a cord of tension tightened in Dirge instinctively. He knew that look that darkened her countenance, met it without resistance, and searched for further details in the chill of her frosted gaze.

It halted any pondering of the flowers.

"How is he?" Had something changed since he had lingered uselessly, unable to do nothing more than be a protecting presence, if not a comforting shade? It had pained him, undeniably, but at least within the stone and timber he knew Osiris would be safe. But the glen had suddenly become unsafe, and it was nothing more than another weighted stone tied around them.

Arcturus did not yet know, it seemed. As to that, she could hardly blame any for not saying anything yet. What news might she have brought, after all? The damage had looked so bad that Hydra had feared death might come for him... but it had not. He lived still, breathed still too. His eyes were open, though now within them seeemed a dark shade that revealed to Hydra he had aged since last she had looked upon them. He was strong, so strong, their Osiris. 

She answered him swiftly, not wanting to cause him nor Arcturus any suffering by waiting: he has made it through the night. He is resting, now. Still quiet, but Lyra suspects he will recover. Perhaps with some scars, Hydra revealed. Her gaze now looked to her brother. Osiris... he was attacked in the Glen. Dacio was there and able to intervene before he was felled then and there, for all of her anger, her voice near broke with the sharing of the news. It was still far too early to know whether or not Osiris would survive the healing itself. Hydra had never been a woman to pray before, but she considered it in the name of her child not being afflicted by more. 

But if there was some God, would this have happened at all? 

Nothing could save them but for one another, she knew. Hydra had always known. 

She gathered her bearings; to feel so weak, to sound it... she was greatly effected by this event, but that would be the last time such an emotion might ever be heard from her. Arcturus and Dirge, the sole witness of a historic moment within her own history. The death of her parents had been similar, yet entirely different. Hydra was mother, now. Protector. And her child had come to harm by someone who she ought to have gotten rid of long ago—

Look at what hope did. Kindness. Wolves did not change. Now, now she knew for absolute certain. Life had showed her so not once, but twice. The scent of the one that did it, it was the same she-wolf that ran with Merrick and Caiaphas all that time ago, which meant she need no motivation to act as she had. With what they each knew of Merrick and Caiaphas thus far, this was simply their way. And now, the woman with a blank record scrawled her name on Hydra's ledger. No, no—it had always been there. Highlighted it. 

Hydra looked to them both. I do not doubt, sooner or later, they will strike again. Perhaps one of our own, perhaps the child of another. Who does not matter anymore; what matters is that we prevent our young from being hurt such as this, from wolves such as that, her tail lashed behind her. I think that it is time to speak with our allies on the matter of bringing it all to an end, and the way in which we could best accomplish this, she expressed. First she would hear them and their thoughts, but Hydra knew by now peace and time would not settle this. The lot had been given that well enough through the famine. All that had served to do, as far as she could tell, was see her son maimed—and that was all from what she knew. What else might they have done?

awful. the news was awful.

arcturus looked to dirge in disbelief, registering the pained tones of hydra's words. his back was up in an instant, his eyes lit with fury -- it was bad enough someone had hurt a wolf of his home.. but a wolf of his kin?

his jaw tightened, his gaze hard. look what they had done not to osiris, but to his sister -- to evoke such brokenness in the queen was tantamount to a total act of warfare, and arcturus' mind was reeling with wrath.

he managed to remain composed -- alarmingly so. moonspear's mountaineer was nothing if he was not steadfast. he nodded in firm agreement to hydra's suggest to speak to their allies, and stood at full attention ready for her next orders.

Arcturus had been painfully left out of the loop; Dirge couldn't decide whose shortcoming it was more, but then thought perhaps it did not matter. Reassuring as it were to know that he would recover, at least potentially, hopefully, there were far greater things at hand that churned between their thoughts. Who, what, when, where, and why—hardly any of it mattered against what they did know versus what they didn't, and even he knew there was little question what the proper recourse would be.

The event had done more than cast yet another darkened cloud over him; it hardened him much in the way that it tempered Hydra's resolve, and her absolute certainty had become his reality in all but a consuming nightmare. He little taste for politics even then, perhaps less now—he wanted blood without appending a name to it, without consideration for what light it would cast them in. His gaze found the ground in thought, and his voice filled in the void left in Hydra's trailing words.

"The only discussion to be brought to the table would be who they want to let us borrow for a retinue," he murmured darkly. "The sooner we make a dragnet, the sooner the heathen's caught in our snare. I'm doubtful she'll have covered too much ground that we can't make up easily." The sooner they invoked an eye for an eye and so on would be best, but it did not need said. His gaze leveled between them, not searching for affirmation.

Hydra nodded to Dirge in silent agreement. 

She had wished it would not come to this. Hydra had desired that she and hers could simply live a life of normalcy. Knowing how to defend onesself and one another, but also, the simple life of a wolf. Her desire to protect the Wilderness and lay more claim to it was so that her family could continue to grow and feed here; their numbers were great, and she knew they would only increase when the children came. 

As for the rest of what her mate said, Hydra huffed. I am not certain as to that. They have proven quite elusive, even when bled out by Vengeance. But they can only hide for so long; we will sniff them out. Hopefully sooner rather than later, she rumbled. Regardless, I will look while seeking aid, which went without saying, but she said it anyway. Let there be no doubt of that. 

Hydra's gaze then panned to Arcturus. Revui is in the Wilderness. I am going to employ him, too, to look out for her. We need every set of teeth we can get behind us. These wolves are cowards, and need to die. I do not care who kills them; I only care that it is done, she expressed. They also needed all eyes open for that lot. It did not mean she would welcome him back upon Moonspear within their ranks yet, as he had work to do yet to prove that he would not simply jump ship at his leisure as he had all that time ago when their family was so at risk. Her not saying as much said plenty to let Arcturus know that her doing this did not mean he was within their ranks again. 

That would be decided between the three of them.

But when it came to the protection of her children—those here, and those to be had—Hydra would certainly gather every physical, tangible force that she could.

more silence as arcturus listened first to dirge, and then to hydra. he liked the idea of retinue, but their net would be woefully short-cast. all of their bodies needed to be here, rallying.

revui. arcturus' gaze briefly hardened as he looked from dirge to hydra, and then to the ground. he hoped this time his brother would serve them well, but he had nothing positive to say -- and felt bitter words turn to ash on his stifled tongue.

another nod, then. he understood. whatever was their bidding, he would do.

Revui—Dirge hadn't thought about him in a long while. Not since his conversation with Arcturus, and he remembered the hurt in the face of the younger man. Yet it was no surprise to him that Hydra would want to employ him, she was nothing if not utilitarian.

Yet he found himself rumbling low at her parting statement; he would have liked to sink his teeth into whoever had brought harm to Osiris. That sort of hurt was the sort of thing that ruined innocence, and innocence was very much one of the things he wanted his children to hold onto for as long as they could. Even so, he did not betray the notion that they had already begun to let theirs go.

"I'll go with you then," he decided with a firm note.

It didn't seem wise to even let her out of his sight, though he knew her beyond capable of dispatching those with evident enmity. Their numbers were bolstered with the oncoming spring, and he had little reason to doubt Moonspear capable of defending itself in the absence of their leaders.

Hydra looked to her mate with an appreciative look. Alright, she agreed then, more than appreciative of the thought of them taking this trip together. She looked to Arcturus and drawled, begin teaching our own the ways of self-defense, it is time this becomes a part of our regimen; we will search on the outside, in the meantime, and upon my return I will aid you when I am able. If anything is strange, or feels off, call and we will return, she requested of him with the lash of her tail. On that note, should they have nothing more to say, Hydra would turn on her heel to begin to hunt with her mate for the wolf that had harmed their own. 

fader?!