Horizon Ridge Minor planet

Kevlyn, who had managed to slip away from Ankyra Sound unnoticed, picked his way down what remained of Horizon Ridge. His limbs were becoming lanky and his steps were awkward, but he made good time, and soon was overlooking the majestic sequoias that made up the outer edge of the former pack's territory. There were subtle signs here and there that it one was inhabited, signs that Kevlyn picked up easily even at his young age. It had been abandoned for a long time, though, much longer than he'd been alive.

The coast stretched out before him, a neverending line of dark sand and rushes, yet he didn't intend to go much further from the Sound than this. Caiaphas would be wondering where he was shortly, and the young Spawn had no desire to leave her lonesome. It was his duty to lend his service to the Nereides in any way they wished, and Caiaphas, it seemed, often wished for company but never said it.

Still, the three-month old seated himself stonily atop a mess of crumbled stone and let the wind sweep past him and tousle his messy fur. His bright eyes turned to the ocean—it was the same here as it was in the Sound, he noted—and he let out a slow breath, as though this trip was as much about relaxation as it was about exploration.

um she doesn't know him... But if you don't want me on here just tell me and I'll delete it, this is just for if it's okay with you.

Onyx had left the Bay again. See, she was getting braver! She could leave the Bay now and come back, not shivering or in pieces or crying. She recognized this place- Horizon Ridge. Rain had talked to her here, and had influenced her choice. She had decided which pack to be in, but she hadn't told anyone yet. She'd decided Ankyra Sound seemed too picky about boys. She could tell Greyjoy she had decided not to come to them and tell Jarl Ragnar about them. In Onyx's mind, if her loving home, the pack that had given her a real life once more had to be destroyed because they were too close, than Ankyra Sound should be destroyed too. It was only fair. Wheeling Gull Isle didn't deserve to be destroyed- they had loads of nice people! Alpha Ypres, Majesty, Silvermane, Onyx, Majesty's wife...

Soon Onyx found herself staring up at the Ridge. And sitting upon it was a little grey thing. "Thing? Hellooo?" She called quietly. It was probably too quiet to hear. She headed towards the little form, climbing the Ridge's slope. Soon was only a few yards away. She didn't approach what appeared to be a tiny canine. "Hi little thing. Why are you here alone?" She asked. Quickly she picked up Ankyra Sound scent on him. He must of been miserable there- he was a little boy after all.

Text Speech

The sea undulated, from here resembling a rumpled sheet. The context of the ocean was removed so that its power and ferocity seemed laughable to him. Ironically, its vastness was amplified by the distance, and that made the sea daunting enough that Kevlyn thought it was even more terrible and awesome from afar.

He didn't get to think much longer on it, for a voice vied for his attention and won it. The three-month old turned his head to gaze down at Onyx. His status as a consort of the Sound meant that lowering his head and showing her utmost respect was tempting, but Kevlyn refrained; she wasn't a member of his pack, after all. He very much wanted to be subservient as he was with the sirens, but it simply wasn't fitting.

If that wasn't enough to keep him from submitting to her, then referring to him as a "thing" certainly was. Kevlyn lifted his chin ever so slightly at her remark and wrinkled his muzzle in disgust. "I am not a thing," he said slowly and coldly, just barely concealing a delighted wiggle at how very serious he sounded and how none of his words came out childishly slurred. In fact, it was the first time he'd ever managed to sound even the slightest bit displeased with another wolf, and that no doubt had everything to do with being reduced to a "thing".

Onyx's ears flattened against her head as he looked disgusted. Then he told her he wasn't a thing. "Sorry! Who are you, then? I'm Onyx." She told him with a little smile and a friendly wink. "You're from Ankyra Sound, right?" She asked the little boy. Maybe he would leak some info about the pack that she could tell Jarl Ragnar. She wanted to get a lot of information about them, maybe then Jarl Ragnar would be proud of her. Thistle Cloud Loðbrók too. She didn't want to always be at the edges of the pack, she wanted to help out. However, she would probably start by earning her trade.

Text Speech

Onyx was quick to correct herself, but Kevlyn wasn't as quick to forgive her. He maintained his stony displeasure, feeling that his stance gave him power over her, though it was far from the truth. He was just a child and she was an adult. The only power was in adults. That didn't lessen Kevlyn's ambition to be better any, but made him want to grow up all the sooner.

"Kevlyn," he said flatly, and when she asked about his pack, he merely said, "yes." Ankyra Sound was to him just like any other pack, but the females were held in high regard, and so he didn't feel a need to say anything about it. Having been born of a family that valued and treasured females anyway, this didn't seem terribly unusual to Kevlyn. Oh, perhaps when he was older and understood the extent of a man's service, he would think differently... or perhaps, because they were wolves and because he didn't know any better, he would accept it as normal.

The name echoed in her mind. Kevlyn.... It was familiar. For just a moment her mind recalled the last pack meeting- Kevlyn was a missing child, and if any evidence of him was found they were to tell Jarl Ragnar. But it didn't sit long enough to register that she should grab him by his scruff and carry him to the Bay. "Nice to meet you, Kevlyn. Aren't you miserable in the Sound, since you're a boy?" She asked with a tilt of her head. She didn't stop to think that it might sound disrespectful to his pack. Well, his kidnapper's pack. If only she had remembered the name, she could've been the Bay's hero, just like she wanted to be.
Speech

This Onyx lady was nosy. The first thing she did was ask about how he felt being in Ankyra Sound. Given his loyalty firmly lay with Spyridon and Caiaphas, this question sat wrong with Kevlyn, whose eyes narrowed and fur bristled. It assumed things about his pack and the wolves that lived there that were not only wrong, but rude.

"I am treated very well," he snapped, following it up with an irritated growl. Who was this wolf to make assumptions about the sirens and their treatment of males? Kevlyn was a good consort who did what he was told, and so he was treated well by the females, even liked. Caiaphas was not Aktaie, and she did not have the same blatant disregard for the male psyche that her predecessor had.

Apparently the little boy was being treated fine. Hmn, maybe Greyjoy had been wrong. But she still thought it was more likely for an adult to be right than some little boy. But Kevlyn's snapping and frustration with her didn't go unnoticed, and it made her curious. Why are you mad? You seem.... frustrated? I don't mean to invade your info, but you don't seem like the little boys and girls at the Bay. She said with a tilt of her head. Charon hadn't gotten frusturated when she had first met him. At the pack meetings they sometimes seemed depressed but never mad. For a moment pack meeting almost triggered her memory that this child was important, but it faded before she could grasp it, taken over by curiosity.

"Because," Kevlyn said hotly, turning his head to face her fully and glare his very best glare, "it's none of your bus'ness, okay?" Besides, what did she care about him and his pack? In his opinion, Ankyra Sound was the best pack there was. Whatever Bay she was talking about certainly didn't interest him, nor would he ever ask such questions. He had more discipline and manners than that, he snidely thought to himself. It was the result of what had essentially been brainwashing, but nevertheless, Kevlyn Ostrega was vainly proud of himself and his home. To it, he owed everything.

"And I'm just better than the kids there," he said haughtily, wholly unaware that he was referring to his own brothers. He likely would've thought himself better anyway. He was being taught that he was of a higher breed than those who turned away from Mother Sea and Mother Moon, after all, and Kevlyn was very clever for his age. Knowing it was Charon and Levi (would he even remember their names?) wouldn't really have changed that. Slight remorse, maybe, but nothing more.

sorry for the delay!

Onyx narrowed her eyes. She didn't like this kid. He seemed too proud of himself. Perhaps if she had greeted him in a different way, and had not been nosy, maybe he would have been nicer and she would have seen him as nicer. But based on the way he was acting right now, she didn't like him. Getting angrier easier doesn't make you better than them! She said, frusturated. She couldn't beleive he thought he was better than the children at the Bay. As far as Onyx knew, Ankyra Sound was a picky pack who liked girls more than boys. Perhaps she had the wrong idea about it, but that's sure what it seemed like. And to her, no child from there could be better than the Bay's children.

It was all a matter of perception, for while Onyx believed it was his anger that made him better, Kevlyn knew it was so much more than that. He hadn't been exposed to other children besides his siblings in their earliest days, but would find their open curiosity and playfulness laughable if only he'd known. Caiaphas had stripped him of those desires, and Spyridon's perfection was enough to motivate Kevlyn to attain the same. He was like a soldier, and other kids were just fools.

Of course, he no longer cared what Onyx thought of him, or what her opinion on children was. Her statement went unanswered, if only because he was outraged that she would ask questions about his pack with that presumptuous tone of hers. To suggest he was miserable in his home when there was nothing to indicate it had bothered him and, like the child he was, he had let that small flame grow into an inferno, being unable to control such emotions.

"You wouldn't un'erstand," he said haughtily, turning on his perch and readying himself to return to the Sound, where wolves weren't so damn nosy. "To know what it's like to be better, you have to be better. You obviously ain't." With that, the stuffy pup practically turned his nose up at her and strut off the way he'd came, back to the Sound where apparently, boys were treated poorly.

thanks for the thread! I'll have it archived.

She narrowed her eyes. He was so annoying! She felt like getting mad, but Onyx knew that would be rude. Instead she just shouted after him as he trotted off, I am too! I'm way better than you! Her blue eyes were icy with anger. With a low growl into the air at no one, she trotted off in her own direction, her snout pointed high in the air.