#18366 & #10098 (don't reply otherwise, please!)

Decidus's ears flatten, and his lips curl.

He turned to Rune, his eyes narrowing.

"Where did you hear that name?" He growled softly, his pelt bristling, his eyes glowing with a cold light.

Rutile.

He hadn't heard that name in seasons.

A name that still soured his tongue with anger and pain.

The snarl caught her off-guard, but Rune stayed calm and stoic, her own eyes narrowing as she watched anger take over the amiable Decidus. She did this. "She was my mother," She replied. She curled her own lip, letting her anger and disgust show, looking down and away from Decidus, her brother. "Was. She chased you away, didn't she? Abandoned you to rejoin Summit." Her disgust was palpable, she nearly spat as she snarled about that she-wolf. The she-wolf who so readily had given up her own child to go back to a lover she knew she couldn't publicly love anymore. And then she had Rune, who she knew would be despised, all so she could be happy. But not her son or her daughter, oh no, it was only her happiness that she cared about. And why? Why had she done any of it? "It's tradition, it's just the way things are."

Rune tensed her muscles, ready to stand up should she see fit. She didn't know Decidus very well, but she realized now that Rutile, for good reason, was a sore spot for him. He may have been friendly and kind before, but his anger towards his mother may spill out for her as well. And why shouldn't it? She sighed, dipping her head, turning to her brother. "I wish I knew about all of it sooner. I only found out after . . . " She faltered, wondering if she should say it. Did Decidus even know about Rain and Summit? Or did he only discover their names when his mother left him? ". . . after Rain murdered Summit. If I had known, I would have left it all behind sooner." But I didn't.

Decidus's eyes widened with shock, his snarl turning into a slack-jawed expression of surprise.

Her daughter?

He had recognized the similarities between their pelts, but Decidus had been certain that the cursed wolf wouldn't ever breed to his father again. Not with what she had chosen.

And yet she... She did.

He was chased away, and yet she had another pup.

Had he not been good enough for her?

He felt that familiar anger surge up, but he shook it away, sighing.

"She abandoned me to rejoin Rain," he corrected, a snarl still edging his voice. "She wasn't allowed to be with Summit anymore; or so I thought." He glanced over her pelt, his ears low. "So what? Were you chased off by Rutile since you were Summit's pup? Didn't want to be kicked out of a pack she loved so dearly that she'd choose it over her own children? Or did Rain have a change of heart and let her and Summit have another litter?"

He fell silent at the words Rune spoke, and his gaze fell.

So Summit was dead.

He didn't know much about his father; only what Rutile said, and even then he didn't trust that wolf. Not after the betrayal he still felt coursing through him due to her actions.

He sighed, shaking his head.

There was no way Rune had known about this; after all, she lived no where near that pack now, and she seemed just as hateful towards their mother as he felt.

"I imagine it was all kept hush hush from you," he sniffed quietly. "I only knew what I did because Rutile decided to spill her guts when she chased me off. I wasn't supposed to be remembered; I was what was left of an older age, after all. Of a time when Summit was the Alpha, instead of Rain."

He grit his teeth, glaring out into the snow.

He had gladly left behind those memories long ago when he had met Ashen, still remembering her poise. He had hated packs and alphas, and yet when he had met her, she had seemed different. This entire pack seemed different.

They didn't follow tradition if it wasn't right, and Decidus...

This isn't the pack I was born to, he mused softly. But this is my pack. He turned his gaze to Rune. And Silverrune is hers. I can only imagine that it's nothing like what Rutile's pack was like.

Rune sighed. "I don't know what's the truth," She tiredly admitted. "Most of my puphood, I grew up thinking Rain and Rutile were my parents. Then one day, Rain and Summit got into an argument about hunting, and well . . ." She sighed. "It was only after Summit's death that they told me that before Rain, Summit had been Alpha. That Rutile had been foolish, attacked, been chased out, had a pup, and then returned." She paused, her voice growing increasingly bitter. "I asked what happened to that pup." She simply shook her head. "And after all that, Rutile still wanted to love Summit. So she had me with Rain's permission; her last litter with Summit. But, tradition was most important, so they all pretended Rain was my father instead. Rain wanted me to leave, but Rutile wanted me around. I suppose I reminded her of Summit. She said she'd done it for tradition. . . . I left anyway." She looked at Decidus. ". . . Did she tell you any different?" Her gaze was searching, eyes bright, but not with curiousity, but with desperation. She so desperately wanted to ask if that was the truth. But how could Decidus know?

Decidus's lips curled again as he listened to Rune's story.

"So Rutile wanted you?" He growled quietly, his gaze flickering away. "Whatever tradition she was following with you, she abandoned for me. I was unwanted, and I was told that I was worthless to her."

His ears flatten against his head, and his eyes lower to the ground.

"Tradition..." His eyes narrow. "A cursed word. She told me it was against tradition to have a pup that might threaten the Alpha's position. That it was against tradition for me to be there." He sniffed. "That's what she told me, before chasing me off."

Rune felt her stomach and heart twist. "If she wanted me, she never showed it," She sighed. "She may have said she followed tradition, but she only said it as an excuse. I don't think she cared about tradition unless it gave her Summit, or Rain, or whoever she decided she loved at the moment. . . or reminders of them." Rune's voice grew guttural with pure bitterness. "I don't know why she chased you off. She didn't stop me when I left. She said I was no daughter of hers."

Rune straightened, her eyes narrowing, still staring down at her paws. "She's right. She's no mother of mine at all."

Decidus is silent for a moment, his gaze bearing out into the snow, watching as the storm continued with it's screaming wails.

"You're right," he said after a moment. "She's no mother of ours. She never could be, with her treatment." He got to his paws, his ears low. "We have our own families now. I have the Pack of Everfrost, and you... You have Silverrune, don't you?" He nodded to her stomach. "You have pups on the way, maybe even a mate to help you raise them." His gaze turned to the back of the den, where he imagined Koleres smirking teasingly at him, and his gaze softened. "She may have given us life, but that means nothing anymore. Not when we have the reason to continue on."

". . . We do." They should have been happy. And yet a bittersweet taste filled Rune's mouth. She'd only just met her brother, and now she knew there would be little chance of them meeting anymore. The deciduous forests of the south were simply too far away; no matter how often she intended to explore the taiga and the tundra, she'd simply never see Decidus as often. She too stood up on her paws. "And you have me as well, Decidus. Brother." She had only met him, and yet her heart seemed to already ache with love and care for him. She wouldn't leave him like Rutile had. She'd stand by her brother's side no matter what.

An idea suddenly came to her mind, as her amber gaze, soft with gentle care, seemed to shine with the epiphany.

Decidus is silent for a moment, before his ears twitch at Rune's words.

His gaze shifts over to the she-wolf, a small surge of surprise lifting in his chest.

Apart of him, despite how she had seemed, was sure that she would treat him just as Rutile had. And yet here she was, seeming to accept him as her brother easier than his own mother had accepted him as her pup.

His gaze glitters for a moment, a small smile drifting through his expression.

"That's good to know," he mused softly. "And you'll have me... So long as you don't mind me living all the way in the taiga."

His eyes glow in the dim light, as a brief thought crossed his mind.

"You know, if it might interest you, Ashen is allying with wolf packs for the benefit of others; to try and protect those who need it and save wolves who would otherwise perish. I have no doubt that she'd gladly ally with your pack, if that interests you." His ears twitch. "It would strengthen both our packs, even if you're in the deciduous forest; it would also ensure I'd see you more, since Ashen does take a small group of wolves to neutral territory for discussion. I could always request to tag along; it wouldn't go against my duties to do so."

Rune smiled. "That sounds quite good, yes." She paused, and then added, "Actually, I've been thinking that perhaps the tundra would suit us rather well. Not as many wolf packs around, and our hunters are rather skilled. That's partly why I was here, I was scouting near there when the storm hit. And yes, I'd get to see you more as well."