⌘ Tyrs härd pack Lore and Extended wolf bios ⌘
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Posted 2022-07-31 13:34:25 (edited)
Natt"If you want this, I will help you in any way I can" Arlas words rung through Natts ears as she walked through the bushes toward the dark cave. Natt was still a pup, or, well, an adolescent. This was a tough choice. But there was someone Arla wanted her to meet before deciding on anything. Natt ducked her head under the vines hanging from the opening, and she dove into the darkness. She reached the main cave after passing through some tunnels. Something glowing struck her eyes and she had to blink to adjust. She never cursed her bad night vision anymore, it was something she simply had to live with. The glow separated into three objects. One candlelight, and two burning orbs. The firey eyes struck her, with her heartbeat in her throat she gulped and bowed her head slightly. The wolf in the cave rumbled like a dragon as she stood up. "Welcome to my cave," her voice was smooth as silk and reminded her of the alphas, "come puppy, sit down." Natt walked up to her stone table, the place where the candle was placed. "Thank you for having me, Beta," Natt said and avoided eye contact. "Call me Bärnt, and don't be scared," she said calmly, "we have much to discuss." - Natt fell to the ground as she was pushed away. When the attack she expected didn't come, she took a breath that felt like the first in forever. Suddenly she could hear the commotion that had been invisible to her before and she was immediately struck with concern for the bystanders. She opened her eyes and through blurry vision she saw them, two wolves fighting for life or death. It all had happened so fast. The dark wolfs eyes left gleaming streaks after them, and he was in fierce battle with a light wolf. She heard their snarls. She saw their sharp, red teeth. And then she felt the paws on her shoulder. "Natt, natt?" Dags voice broke through to her like the sun through clouds. "Dag," Natt responded. "Are you okay?" Dags raspy voice was dripping with worry. Natt nodded and squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. Something was hurting, but before she could think of what, she remembered. She remembered Magnes voice, she had never heard him angry before, but she wasn't scared. She remembered the dark limp body dropping to the ground before him. He had been enraged. Natt looked back at him. There were red streaks in Arlas light fur now. Natt bolted to her feet and before she knew it, she was holding him down to the ground by the neck. He was snarling and flopping around, trying to reach her, any part of her. She couldn't imagine him, her friend, ever hurting her, but she could see into his eyes that, at this moment, it was all he wanted. Her small stature, still not fully grown, was what saved her. She was nuzzled up behind him, his back against her chest and she held her paw steadily onto the ground under his elbow, despite a burning sensation on that same arm. He had scratched her front leg, the only part he could reach, but he couldn't with his teeth and that's all she needed to overpower him. He was old and senile, and she was young and strong. Suddenly Natt gasped and let go of him, she stepped back as if in a hurry, but Magne wasn't pursuing her. He laid on the ground, his chest was heaving badly. He tried to get up, but flopped down again. "Magne.. Magne!" Natt ran up to him again, as if she had forgotten what just happened she sat by him and looked into his glassy white eyes, "oh no, oh no." Magnes breathing was so audible that it concealed her own. Tears started forming in her eyes. He looked up at her and his eyes turned to their normal softness. "What's wrong?" He heaved out. "You did something bad," Natt whispered as she reminded him of what had occured, just like she always did when he forgot what had happened. "Oh," he whispered, too, "I'm sorry, pup." She sat there with him in silence, until someone walked up with heavy steps. Natt looked up. It was Bärnt, the Beta. Magnes little sister. She had an angry expression, and she turned to look at something behind Natt. A crowd. "I think this young wolf has proven herself enough, don't you?" She spoke loud and clear and the crowd murmured, and she spoke even louder, demanding an agreement "I think we've seen enough of this lunatic alpha, don't you?" When magne lifted his head with a vicious snarl, startling Natt, Bärnt put her foot on his head and made him lay back down. Natt gasped and her focus shifted between the two siblings. Magnes white moonlight eyes, half innocent and half murderous, and then Bärnts burning yellow eyes, filled with determination. She was talking to the crowd, but Natt didn't hear. Then Bärnt reached down and pulled off a necklace from Magnes neck. As she let go of his head, he just laid there panting. She came up to Natt and looked her in the eyes before placing the necklace over Natts head. As it fell in place, Natt felt the little crystal nestled against her chest. "This necklace," Bärnt was speaking quietly and softly while maintaining eye contact with her, "has only ever been worn by alphas." - "Arla! Are you okay?!" Natt ran up to her, she was being tended to by the herbalist and her fur looked much less red now. Arla looked up at Natt and nodded. "Thank you, I don't know if I could've handled him alone," she said calmly but clenched her jaws when the herbalist rinsed her wounds. How could she be so calm? Arla noticed her watery eyes and asked the herbalist if she could sit up. "You're much too young to experience all of this, and I'm sorry for that," Arla said, "the alpha hates me, and that's why he did what he did. He saw me in you, and that scared him." Natt nodded. "Natt.." Arla sighed, "I have always been honest with you. But not with him. I have decieved him, I have.. played a game." "What do you mean?" Natt felt confused. "It doesn't matter what I did, just know that I did it because I wanted to protect our pack," Arla looked away, "I can't make you trust me, but I'm telling the truth. I manipulated him before, and that's why he hates me now." Natt trusted Arla. She couldn't distrust her. Arla had been there her whole life, protecting her and teaching her. "Oh thank god you went to the herbalist!" Dag hurried into the clearing. "Why?" Natt had just went there to see Arla. Dag made a strange face. "Natt.. your face," she almost whispered. Natt touched her face with her paw. It was wet and Natt brought the paw down to look at it. When she saw the red, she suddenly started recognizing that she was in pain, too. - As Natt came into the cave, she could hear Magnes tail wagging hard against the ground. "Auntie," he sounded very happy today, and appearently Natt reminded him of some old aunt he once had. "Hello," Natt smiled as she walked up to him and helped him flip to his other side, "how are you doing today?" "Good," he answered shortly, but with happy eyes looking at her. Natt nodded and went over to her own place and flopped down on the ground. "I have a meeting tonight," she sighed, "what should I do? What would you have done?" "Blue," Magne whispered, and at first Natt thought he was responding to her question, so her head shot up, but he was just looking up at the sky through the hole in the ceiling of the cave. She moved in here after she lost eyesight in her damaged eye, which made it even harder for her to see in the dark. They needed a strong center after the pack had split into separate sections, so Natt moved to the foot of the mountains where she found this lovely cave with a broken ceiling. It was a place with a lot of boulders and rock walls, perfect for making murals. Suddenly, Magne started whining. "Mamma, mamma," he whispered, and tried to lift his paws toward his face. "Hey," Trample stepped into the cave. "Oh, great, I need your help," Natt sat up, "I want to hold a party tonight." "Have you invited the bard?" Trample asked. "Of course, do you know where Dag is? I'm gonna -" her thoughts were interrupted by a cry from Magne. "What's up with your friend?" Trample asked. Natt looked at him intently, he was whining like a scared puppy and looking at Trample. "I think he's scared of you, come on," she said and led Trample out of the cave, not forgetting to say goodbye to Magne. Next to the cave, Natt went up the hill and let Trample follow. "What do you think?" She said as they looked out over the rocky area, the ground below was uneven, but fun, and both firs, pines, and birhces were sprouted from the mossy-grassy surface. Behind them was a rock wall high enough that no intruders would use it to ambush, but even so Natt knew that a few miles up those mountains, Gerds family had settled down, so it was unlikely any strange wolf would get in between. Trample smiled. "It's good," he sat down, and Natt realized she was looking at the different colours in his eyes a bit too intently, because his pupils suddenly shifted and met hers. She laughed nervously and looked away. "I think he would've chosen you," Trample changed the subject, and Natt wondered if he had been reading her journal or something. "Magne hated wolves like me." "If he hadn't been senile, he would have loved you. If not for how amazing you are, then just for being the only one taking care of his crazy ass," Trample may have been a bit disrespectful, but it did draw a chuckle out of her. They looked at eachother again, and Natt was mesmerized by the glisten in his eyes. "Natt!" No one could yell as loud as Dag, "I'm starving!" Natt rolled her eyes and smiled. She picked up a rabbit from the food cellar and ran to meet up Dag in the middle of the territory. "How did it go?" As soon as she recieved the carcass, Dag began devouring it. "Well I got there and," she paused to swallow and then continued talking while chewing, "luckily Harald was away and Veig and the others seemed to want to come tonight." "Great!" Natt exclaimed, and Dag had already eaten the whole rabbit, she was scraping off some fat from a bone with her front teeth. "I guess, but," she started licking the bone, "I have a feeling Harald will be pissed if he finds out." "I'm not keeping it a secret, I'm telling the council before they leave," Natt said proudly, "they will see how beautiful it is here, and they won't be able to say no." "Okay, then he will be pissed when he finds out," Dag sighed, "can't you hold a meeting later when.. you know?" She meant when Magne has died. "I.. well, it's been more than a moon, Arla said we have to keep the pack together," Natt sighed and looked up at her sister, "I'm nervous." Dag pulled her close and patted her shoulder. "Wasn't Trample with you?" She asked after some moments. "Shit, I needed him to help me decide where to have the fire pit," Natt looked around, because the hill she had left him on sure was empty, "where did he go?" A loud thud was heard as a big rock fell from one od the hills to the western edge of the territory. Before Dag and Natt could reach the area, water started running from the gap that the rock had left. Natt stopped to look at ithe water as it slowly filled up a rock-filled groove that slithered through her new home. How had she not noticed this before? She looked up to the hill, and Trample peeked out his head with a big smile on his face. "What's this?" Natt couldn't help but smile when he looked so childishly happy. "Look!" Dag said, directing Natts attention back to the water. It had now filled up a perfectly round pond. Natt ran up to the pond and then followed the water flow, it continued into the forest, meeting up with the nearby stream. Natt ran back into the territory where she found Trample and Dag in the pond splashing water at eachother. "What is this?" Natt asked again, and she was splashed with water by both of the wolves. "I made it for you, the herbalists pup helped me!" Trample said. Natt jumped in the water as well. The pond was only big enough to have maybe four wolves in it at the same time. After playing in the water, like the adolescents that they were, they got up and relaxed in the sun, letting it dry their fur. "Thank you," Natt didn't dare to look at Trample, so she licked her leg, trying to dry it, instead. Then she felt him nudge her shoulder with his nose, and her tummy started tickling. She had to stop and try to breathe calmly. "I just thought it would suit the new territory," he said, but he was speaking calmly and quietly, different. "It does, definitely," Natt responded, and she felt him look at her, so she instinctively looked back, and when her heart started racing from seeing him look into her eyes, her brain immedietly came up with something to say to break the tension, "oh right, I needed your help deciding where the fire pit should be." Trample looked away and smiled as if he knew what she was doing, but he didn't protest. He got up and started walking around the territory. He walked pretty far away, so Natt got up and followed him until he stopped by a pretty ordinary looking spot. "How about here?" Natt looked up to the alpha hill. It was important that the alpha could be visible from the fire, and that the alpha could see what was going on by the fire, too. "It matches the position of the pond, and leaves a clear area in the middle entrance for crowds," Trample said in his normal voice. "You're right!" Natts face shone up, " I have to tell Dag to go get some help for us to dig and move rocks, it should be done by tonight. Thanks for helping." Trample smiled at her and she felt her face get warm and she held her breath. Trample noticed and chuckled. "Natt," he said in that weird voice again and smirked, "are you scared of me?" Natt shook her head, suddenly she didn't know how to speak. "What's wrong, then?" He asked, but he seemed to know the answer already. "Nothing!" She burst out and he chuckled. "Come on, let's talk to Dag," he said, and before they left, he made a mark on the ground with his claws, so they wouldn't forget where the pit was going to be. - "Last meeting was a disaster," Natt covered her eyes with her paws. "But the party afterward was amazing!" Dag laughed, "don't you worry, I'll hold another one. Big bro will sing, it'll be good." Natt sighed and hoped Dag didn't hear. Their older brother singing was a reminder that their father wouldn't be, because he was gone. Harald and Tore arrived to the councils table, but they had Bärnt with them. "You know only council members are allowed," Natt rolled her eyes at Bärnt, but then she realized Bärnt looked pained. "I don't think you should hold any meetings tonight, pup," why did all elders have to call her that? She was an adult now, and had been for almost a year, more than a year if you count her coronation day as her birthday. Harald looked strangely empathetic, not that he wasn't usually, but now he seemed like he would cower to any suggestion out of pity. "What do you mean? We're almost all here, just waiting for Arla," one less wolf to wait for at the council when her father was dead and couldn't join. "Natt, Arla won't join us for tonights meeting," Tores voice sounded from the other side of the table. He shook his head. Natt got a bewildered look on her face as she first furrowed her brow, and then her eyes went big like a puppys. She looked up at Bärnt with tears in her eyes and shook her head. She couldn't handle this. Being wrapped in Bärnts embrace was much nicer than she ever imagined an embrace to be. Bärnt had never hugged her before, and Natt had never seen Bärnt hug anyone. Natt sobbed into her fur while she whispered a song. Appearently, Arla had died right after her sister, Asta. This often happened with royal siblings, the myth was that they couldn't live without eachother. The party was postponed. Natt found herself wandering the old burial grounds, reading the dates on the stones, and sure enough sometimes a pair would hold the same birth date, and the same death date. When she passed the alphas stone she sat down and rested. She read the name. This was the late alpha Gerds stone, a wolf that lived and ruled long before Natts time. Her sister and beta had been Vår, but the alphas rarely die at the same time as their siblings. Well, the last two alphas had actually not had their littermates as betas, so it was natural that they would live longer. Natts mind wandered to Bärnt, who was once alpha Magnes Beta. Magne had been dead for what felt like many suns, but really it was just one sun and some moons. But Bärnt lived on, she was getting very old now actually, but she still seemed young. Arla and Asta had died before her despite being younger than her. Natt wondered, why was Bärnt holding on? Who was she still here for? - Natts territory looked amazing. Lanters were hung on branches around the border, and placed by the feet of some of the trees inside the border, and together with the small bonfire they lit up the territory in a soft orange light, almost as if dusk continued the whole night. Every evening there was singing and dancing and her pack was having fun. Wolves from the four royal families joined in occasionally, but Natt couldn't quite keep track of it. She was having fun, too, getting to know new wolves. All of that applied to this evening, too. This particular wolf she had met before, they had hung out for the last few parties. He was interesting, confident, charming, and very very beautiful. This time, she had invited him to her own cave, and now she was lying next to him, looking up at the moon through the hole in the roof of the cave. It was almost a full moon, and the sky was dark blue, so you could see the black part of the moon clearly. Something, a shadow, swooped past the view she had of the sky with a rustling sound. She immedietly got up on her feet and ran out the cave, climbing to where the hole was located on the outside. No one usually dared to get up here other than her guards. She looked around, but she saw no guards anywhere. She sniffed the ground and found a faint scent of wolf that she started following, until she tripped on a craggly root and cursed. "Alpha!" A voice called for her, "what are you doing out here?" Natt looked up. It was Bo, one of Natts most loyal guards. "I was following some wolf, it seemed suspicious," Natt got up and tested her paw against the ground. "You shouldn't be out in the dark like this, alert one of us next time you see something weird, okay?" Bo came to her side to support her while walking. "I can see fine," Natt murmured, she knew Bo was referring to her bad eyesight. Still, Natt accepted her help and lened against her strong body. "Alright, alpha. But did you have to go so far? I've been searching for you for an hour," as she said it, Natt looked around. They were really far from home, up the south west mountains, "do you want me to take you to Gerds?" Natt shook her head immedietly. She didn't want to talk to any family members, not even Tore or Ninni. Bo led her towards the territory, until it started raining heavily and they took cover under a tree. Bo checked on Natts leg, she was very careful. Her yellow eyes had a certain type of focus. "Thank you," Natt said. Bo cleared her throat. "We all want our alpha to not be hurt," Bo responded. "Really?" Natt whispered and looked away as she realized she was letting Bo know about her bad self esteem. "Of course! I'm glad I found you, I wouldn't want you to walk all alone through this weather," Bo smiled at her, and Natt gave her a shy smile back. Bo continued inspecting Natts paw, and when she licked it to clean the dried blood off of a small scratch, it tickled and Natt giggled. She pulled her leg away. "It's okay, you don't have to do that," Natt said and quickly started cleaning her own wound. Now it tickled inside of her, when she could feel the scent of Bos saliva on her. |
 ⌘Tallbarr⌘ #29379 |
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Posted 2022-08-16 06:46:00
MagneMagne grew more irritated each day. Something nagged at him. It was like there were all these things he was supposed to know, but he didn't. He had forgotten them, and then he forgot that he had forgotten, and it was his old age that had taken his brain and smoothed it out for him. He found comfort in remembering the past, though, but every day he remembered further and further back. While he didn't remember so many instances, he still had feelings, almost as if they came from nowhere. He would meet certain wolves, and a feeling in him told him that he should hate them, so he did. Every time he saw the white wolf with the black eyes, he felt a horrible sour feeling in him. And when he met the grey wolf with white eyes, he was angry. At some point, he met a very small wolf. She reminded him of someone he had seen before, someone good, so he thought she was good, too. But as the small wolf became bigger and bigger, she started looking like someone else, someone that made him uncomfortable. He did not trust that one, the one that she looked like. Sometimes he could separate the two and recognize that this wolf is the small wolf but she's big now, but most of the time he could only see whoever it was that he hated. As time went, his condition became worse. He didn't like anyone anymore. Everyone annoyed and angered him, they wanted things from him, he could feel they were trying to take something away from him and they talked about him in a bad way. And one day, he snapped. He couldn't remember what happened that day, but ever since then, he couldn't move on his own. He was too old and weak. But someone helped him. Every day she would come and turn him over to the other side. At first, he was confused, maybe he even growled at her, but quickly he associated it with a positive feeling, because if he laid on one side for too long, his body started hurting. Magne didn't speak a lot, sometimes he answered her questions instinctively. Somehow his body knew, that if she asked "How are you", he should respond with "good", and sometimes, he even thought he knew her name, so he called it out to her! He didn't do a lot, just ate and listened to this wolf when she talked. But if he could've remembered, and if he could've comprehended what she was talking about, he would have learned a lot about his pack. Because the day when Magne had, in his rage and confusion, killed two of his cousins and injured several other pack members, his family split apart. The wolf that was his caretaker, was the small wolf that he had grown to hate, but he didn't recognize her anymore, because her eyes weren't the same after he had injured her right eye. She looked different with the scars, and no longer reminded her of Måne or Arla or even herself, Natt. And Natt was the one who had been given his position that day. She was now the alpha, and despite what he had done to her she had decided to protect Magne, and keep him in her cave, and care for him. The families could not get along in this. Almost none of them supported the decision of keeping him with the alpha, but some didn't even find him deserving of being alive. Magne had killed one of the council members, Ivar, and his cousin, Mörka. Mörka had died on the spot, while Ivar died from his injuries the next week, so their family was grieving. The new head of the Skade family, Harald, was Mörkas son. Harald got in a disagreement with Måne, the head of Ulls family, because of his harsh words against the new alpha, who happened to be Månes daughter. Both families moved in opposite directions. Skades family moved north, to moonpond lake, an old sacred place of the pack, where they had once held naming ceremonies for their pups. Ulls family moved to the south, the northern border of the river they had once lived on the other side of. The part of the river was called Sinewy river due to its dividing into many small rivers. This was the place where Natts mother, Månes mate, had once crossed over together with Magne when he saved her after she got lost when their old home burned down. Arla was still alive, and still the head of Vårs family. The pack being divided in two directions made them vulnerable, and Arla had a long discussion with everyone, until it was decided that the two remaining families needed to protect the west and east of the pack, too. Gerds family moved up the mountains to Craggy valley, and Vårs family moved east into a meadow. There were members of the pack who had no connection to the four royal families, and they would settle down here and there between the four families. Magnes outburst had divided the pack, and all the responsibility had been handed over to the new alpha, and she wasn't even an adult yet. "It isn't your fault, you didn't know what you were doing," she had said and stroked his cheek gently with her paw. Magne lived in her cave for almost two moons, before taking his last breath. |
⌘Tallbarr⌘ #29379 |
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Posted 2022-08-19 12:27:10 (edited)
Natt"Looks like the rain won't stop for a while," Bo said as she came back under the tree from going out to check on the clouds. "Go home to your cave, I'll stay here for the night," Natt ordered, and Bo stopped to ponder. "You think I'd leave you here all alone?" Natt sighed. Of course, she has to protect the alpha. Bo laid down to rest. After some time, Natt snuck closer, looking for warmth, and dicovered that Bo was still wet from the rain. Instinctively, Natt started licking her back, trying to dry her off. "Alpha," Bo looked down at her as if confused. "What? Can't an alpha care about her pack?" Natt felt her heart beat and looked away in embarrassment. "No, no of course you can," Bo said, "proceed." Natt looked up at Bo. Did she want her to? Natt carefully started drying her off again, this time by the neck area. "So I'm not allowed to clean you, but you can clean me?" Bo smirked, and Natt stopped and looked her over. "Maybe so," Natt played along, and started cleaning what she could reach of Bos cheek and ear. Bo placed her head on the ground, granting Natt easier access to the bigger wolfs ear to clean. Natts heart beat harder as she got close to Bos lips, and she placed a shy kiss on them. Bo lifted her head slightly and seemed to think over the situation, before licking her lips. Natt kissed her again, and she kissed her back. "Do you still want me to go home to my cave?" Bo teased Natt. "You can if you want to." "The only way I'll go home, is if you come with me." Natt woke up the next morning in Bos cave. She got up and left before Bo could wake up, this wasn't rude, Natt decided that it was normal in this pack. She went home to her own cave. Even though Magne had been dead for a long time, she almost expected to hear his delirious voice greeting her from his usual spot, but of course there was no one there. "Good morning, alpha," Bärnts voice came from the entrance of the cave, Natt was about to greet her the same but when she saw her face she clenched her jaw. "Is something wrong?" Bärnt grumbled and sighed after holding her breath, sat down by the wall as if defeated. "I know you're not doing well," Bärnts gaze suddenly made Natt feel uncomfortable. "I'm fine." "So where were you last night?" Bärnts words made Natt huff and go to leave the cave, but Bärnt nonchalantly covered the entrance. "None of your business," Natt kept her composure, "I'm the alpha, I can go wherever I want." "Of course you can, but you're avoiding your family," Bärnt rolled her eyes, something that might've looked childish on a wolf so old, if it hadn't been Bärnt, "can you at least speak to your mother?" Natt pushed past Bärnt and went out to meet the early morning sunlight, blue sky and singing birds. "Mamma can visit if she wants," Natt said. "She has tried, but you're mysteriusly gone every time, is what she told me," Bärnt was following her around the territory. "Well, I'm a busy wolf, alright?" Natt snarled. "I get it," Bärnt went silent and sat down, and Natt didn't turn around to look at her. Natts thoughts were turning. She knew Bärnt was right. After a minute or two, Natt turned around. "I'm scared," she whispered and avoided eye contact. "Come on, I'll go with you," it might have been forceful, but it was the push that Natt needed. Natts mother, Hjördis, had settled down in a cave not far from Ulls family territory, and when she scented Natt, she ran outside and embraced her immedietly. Natt bit her tongue to not start crying. One of her guards escorted her back, it was already way into the night when they arrived. Natt sat down and looked over the territory, it was nearly empty, other than two wolves sitting by the pond, chatting in whispers and laughing. "Well, my shift is over," the guard bid her farewell, "sleep well, alpha." "Wait," Natt stood up, "can I come with you?" - "What's going on with you?" Dag appeared at the top of alpha hill suddenly, "First you avoid me and everyone for weeks, and now you suddenly became a prude?" Natt walked toward the entrance of the cave, because she had a secret she wanted to keep. "I mean, I get that you want to be away from the others but me? I demand answers, now," Dag came closer. "Well.." Natt was about to exit the cave to divert Dags attention, but then she saw Dag freeze and prick her ears, and her eyes went big, as she heard the whines from inside the cave. Natt knew she could see into the cave too and cursed her decision to live in a sunlit cave. "Puppies?" Dag whispered and Natt sighed. "Yes.." It was as if Dag now understood everything without needing anything explained to her. She practically jumped down alphas hill and barked at wolves at the party to quiet down, and announced that the parties from this point were going to start changing. When a wolf boo'd her, she jumped him and they tumbled into a small fight that wolves gathered around to watch. Natt sat atop her hill and let out a sigh of relief. - Natt looked at herself in the waters reflection, listened to the sounds of the river, and took a deep breath of the fresh air. She looked back at her puppies playing in the sand with their aunt. Suddenly, a song bubbled up in her chest. It was as if she could feel her fathers prescence, and she remembered what he sang when she was a puppy. She started singing. "With the sun on my back, and the wind through my fur, my steps lead me to the shore," Dag pricked her ears to hear Natts song, and started singing louder. "The waves rock me, below a clear sky I'm floating! Paws that rock me, soon I'll have the whole world below me," the pups started jumping up and down at Dags performance, they were loving it. Natt went to them and joined her sister. "The waves rock me toward the calm that I want!" I think back to all the moments I've had, by the side of my teachers, in closeness of friends, and everything that made me who I am. I'm never alone, never without power. With the sun on my back, and the wind whispering, I'm a part of all the colours of life. The sun was setting, casting the beach and the water in a pinkish orange light while the pups jumped at eachother. "Its not Trample, right?" Dag asked while the sisters sat next to eachother by the treeline, watching the pups closely. "What?" "The father," Dag rolled her eyes. Natt held her breath and shook her head. "Why would you ask that?" "Oh come on, you were totally in love with him," Dag smiled, "I could see it from a mile away!" "Oh," Natt laughed nervously, "he didn't feel the same way." "What? I don't believe that for one second," Dag got a stern look on her face. She must've disliked the following silence, because she suddenly said, "you should talk to him again." "Oh no no no," Natt almost panicked and Dag nodded yes, "no, even if he liked me once, that must've faded by now." "Do you want it to have faded?" Dag squinted at her. "I guess," Natt imagined being in love with someone who ignores you, seeks out other wolves, and has pups with someone else. It would be painful, "yeah, I think so." "Too bad," Dag said and laid down. Natt didn't register her hint. - The pups were following their aunt around the somnolents seat - Natt had finally given her new home a name - like three little shadows. Dag knew not to let them follow out into the rest of the Mossy slopes, and when that happened they would sit right at the edge and cry for a few minutes, before playing without her. There was much to do for a little pup in this place, the ground was soft, there was water to splash around in, a fire to dare your sisters to go too close to, rocks and logs to climb, and many nooks and crannies to hide in. Natt saw all of it from atop her hill. She let her pups figure things out for themselves, with some ground rules of course; No leaving the border of somnolents seat. Natt and Dag written on the trees along the border - No puppies allowed. The three sisters knew it was meant for them. No playing with the fire. None of them had done it yet, but it's good to warn them. Always ask Mamma or aunt Dag for help, with anything, no matter what. The rest was up to the sisters to find out on their own. Natt was confident in her ability to save them in case they did mess with the fire, or had trouble swimming in the pool, so she didn't bother keeping them from any of those. If they wanted her help, they would come get her, and if they needed her help, she would see it. If Natt left the alphas hill, the pups were likely to be swarming around her, and any accidents actually always only happened when Natt was on watch, which she did find a bit strange until she mentioned it to Dag and Dag scoffed at her. "You're oblivious sometimes!" she laughed, "Visa told me, they feel safe when they know you're watching them, so they're more careful when you're not." "They know I'm watching them?" "Yeah, their father must be a real smart wolf," Dag smirked and Natt pulled her ear playfully as punishment for the insult. Before they could start wrestling, the pups joined in and had to be plucked away from their fur like burrs. By the main entrance to somnolents seat - two pines with lanterns hanging in adjacent branches and two big rocks with the name and some info written on them - a very handsome wolf walked in. Natt got up and gave Dag a look, to which Dag immedietly distracted the pups with play while Natt went to meet him. "I promise I'll look after them well," he said with a smirk. "Is it okay if I come with you? I want to see your den," Natt pleaded. "You mean you want to see if there are any dangers around and lecture me about what to look out for?" He rolled his eyes, which Natt found annoying, but then he smiled reassuringly as he always did, "of course it's okay." Natt nodded nervously, and then Tures eyes lit up as he saw something behind her. "Sorry!" Natt heard Dags voice from the hill at the same time as puppy voices screamed out "Pappa!" Ture took their bites and kisses as if they were the most precious gift as he held them and kissed their little heads. Tures den wasn't far from Somnolent's, just some minutes of walking. Two of the pups balanced on their fathers back, while the third one was walking in front, pretending to lead the way. She stopped very often to check that she as headed the right way. This was their longest trip ever, they had just weaned from Natt. "Here we are!" Ture exclaimed and the two pups jumped off of his back and ran into the cave to explore it. Natt could tell it was a deep cave with dark tunnels, enough to keep them busy for a bit. Natt sniffed around, checked for dead trees or old tree stumps, but the area was clear, and quite cozy. She could smell another den not far from here, and she could see a path to the west. The tree tops were quite sparse, light shone in brightly now during the day, and moonlight would surely light things up well during the night. Yes, the pups would be fine here. Natt sighed and sat down. "I've never seen such energetic pups," Ture chuckled as he sat by her, but then he cleared his throat, "hey, it's fine. They're sensible pups as well, and they have eachothers backs." "Pappa?" A little lost voice sounded from the cave. "Yes darling?" "Help, it's too dark, I can't see!" the puppy cried, and despite their voices being similar, Natt knew it was Vira. Her dark eyes were proving to be just as bad as, if not worse than, Natts own. Natt wasn't worried though, because her sisters were going to help her. Right now, though, she wanted pappa. "I'll go before they come out again, tell them I'll be back soon" Natt whispered, remembering the time they didn't mind her being gone for the night leaving them with Dag, until she came to give them goodnight kisses. Dag couldn't get them to sleep for hours. It hurt her heart, but it will make the night easier for Ture. He nodded, then gave her a look. It was hard not to melt like butter when this wolf gave you attention. "Good night, alpha," his words were sincere, yet Natt felt like there was something weird about it. Being called alpha by your pups father. By your former lover. "You're a good father, Ture," Natt told him before leaving. On the short walk back, the sun set and Natt could picture how the pups night was going to be. Their first night at dads. Vira cuddled up by his chest, and Visa and Vara sprawled out across the floor.In the morning, Vira would be the first one out of the dark cave, ready to face the day. Vara would be the second, yawning and following her sister in case she would miss out on anything fun. Visa would slowly poke her head out while squinting, annoyed. That's was Natt thought, anyway. At home, Visa always woke up first due to the sunlight seeping into the cave, and Vira last. She always slept best in the morning, the light comforted her. "Damn!" Dags voice came from the alpha hill, she was posed up there as if she was the alpha herself, but quickly fell down dramatically on the ground, "I can't believe you let that guy go! He is absolutely -" "Handsome?" Natt tried. "Hot!" Dag exclaimed, "ooh gods!" Natt rolled her eyes at the theatrics, then smirked. "You know.. He's single," she said nonchalantly. "Don't say that, weirdo!" The sisters laughed, but deep down Natt did wish that Ture would find someone better to have pups with. He deserved it. - "Mamma, that's my cousin," Vira said as confidently as anything. Natt looked at the speckled brown pup, smiled and asked, "Oh really? Which family is she from?" thinking it was a game they were playing, but Vira shook her head. "She's not from any family." For some reason, the hair on Natts neck stood up. So she visited her pups father alone. "Vira is... intuitive. Too intuitive," Natt tried, carefully. "Well, it runs in the family," he nodded and didn't seem to understand. "I'm beginning to think we made a huge mistake, Ture. Vira tells me things that she shouldn't be able to know." "Are you calling my daughter a mistake?" Ture had never looked angry at Natt before, his eyes went all cold. "No, I love our daughter! But mixing your genes with the royal family.." Natt shook her head. "You mean my mother? There's no guarantee her gifts would be passed down. I don't have them, neither did my siblings," Ture explains, "they say the pup born is a new version of a direct ancestor, it's very visible. Vira looks nothing like any of our ancestors, right?" Natt pondered a bit. "You're right, she just looks like you." "I think you're put off by her looks, and I need you to understand that my mother didn't just have strange looking eyes, she had an actual disease. And her gift wasn't realized until later in life either." Natt didn't like that he implied that Natt is judging her own daughter for her black eyes, but she sat quietly and nodded her head. After a moment of silence, she decided to go forward with her request. "I want you to mate with someone else. Someone who isn't a royal," he looked baffled so Natt continued, "our pack needs a real truth seer right now." "No pack needs a truth seer," Ture rolled his eyes. "Okay. Look at it this way," Natt stood up, "it's an order." - Jens seemed to be very excited about the market, he looked at everything on every single table. There were trinkets, jewellery, food, toys, even fliers for pups for sale. Natt was scouring the price lists of every meat seller. "It's ridicolous you'd have to buy meat," Jens scoffed. "Well, I have a very big pack," Natt sighed at his attitude but Jens didn't care. "You should let the royal families fend for themselves, I've heard they're basically building their own packs anyway," Jens said while sniffing a fresh piece of meat. Natt rolled her eyes. She didn't think they'd do something like that. Suddenly Jens pushed her behind a tree. "Hey!" What does he think he's doing?! "Shh!" Jens hushed and Natt realized they're hiding from something, and when Natt saw who, her heart started pounding in her chest. She hadn't seen him for moons. Trample was buying food, how noble of him to not take from her storage even though he's supposedly a part of her pack.. "You should just talk to him," Jens was chewing on something that he had probably stolen. Natt smacked him softly over the head. "You better work on that attitude, telling the Alpha what to do," Natt groaned, "and I'm not leaving my family to fend for themselves, we're in everything together." Just as she said that, she saw Harald. "What's he doing here? I thought you said I could only go to the market with you cause you're the alpha," Jens whispered. "That's right," Natt whispered back as the both of them stalked through the bushes to see what Harald was up to. His crystal necklace gleamed in the sunlight, and she felt a connection to him through her own necklace. He talked to a wolf by a table, was led into a cave for a few minutes, then they reemerged together and talked some more. Harald put down a bulging pouch of currency on the table. That's more currency than he should have all on his own. The seller took the money and Harald left, carrying a white pup by the neck. The pup looked to be the same age as one of his own. - With the second alpha, came also the rule of the advisors. She had three, her siblings: the ancestors of the current royal families. The advisors were her most trusted friends, there to aid her and help her make decisions. Times had changed since then. The royal families chose who would lead their family, and sent them to be advisors at the council. These wolves were not guaranteed to be good advisors to the alpha. Natt didn't want to go to just one council member, because that might upset the other families. Ever since the families moved away from eachother, they had very little insight in what was going on everywhere, too. The only ones who regularly visited the different families were Natt, and the herbalist. "This isn't working anymore," Natt spoke before she had the time to think. The council went silent. Harald had been arguing with Tore, and Embla had gotten into it, too, because Harald was upset about their pup count when the Vår family were actually suffering more in that area. Each of the families had huge problems at this point, and instead of being advisors for the good of the pack, these wolves just came to her with their familys problems expecting her to fix them. "You're bickering like spoiled puppies!" Natt burst out, "My moon-old son has more dignity than you!" Even Harald looked ashamed now. "Do you want us to split apart? Are we stronger together or is this all for nothing? What about our ancestors?" Natt sighed as she paced in front of the candlelit stone slab they held their meetings around. She turned and looked at the mural of Tyr, "What would she want?" "She loved her pups and her pack more than anything." Natt was sitting by another mural of Tyr, the one at alpha hill, trying to get answers from her, when Viras voice came from nowhere. "She had a huge heart, but a strong sense of duty," she said. Natt looked at her daughter and she wanted to ask, but she didn't, how Vira could possibly know these things. "Maybe I'm not alpha material after all," Natt sighed and thought back to the ones who chose her. "I think you proved yourself," Vira said, and Natt remembered a passage from the alpha diary. It was from Gerds era. We came home after the long and difficult journey, and they bowed to us. No, not to us, to me. The alpha bowed to me. - The wolf in her reflection had battle scars and she was bejewelled with both teeth and metals. Anywhere she went, it would be clear she was an important wolf the way she was dressed. She had worn this for years. But now, she couldn't recognize herself. Continue reading |
⌘Tallbarr⌘ #29379 |
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Posted 2022-12-20 04:36:33 (edited)
NattThe journey to Moonpond lake was tough in the winter, and she had to take many stops. As she sat under a tree chewing on the bones of a squirrel, the easiest food to find in winter, she saw snow falling from a tree in the distance. No matter, snow usually did this. But then it fell from the same tree again. And again. Natt stretched her worn legs and started walking over to investigate. She sniffed the snow on the ground. It did smell weird. When she looked up to the tree, she saw a dark shape, her first thought was of a squirrel, but no. Squirrels climb on the stem, they wouldn't waste energy jumping from branch to branch on the exact same tree. She squinted her eyes and wondered if she should climb up there to see what's going on, but before she knew it her body was flung to the ground as it was hit by the projectile that was - a little wolf pup. "Oh gods! I'm sorry!" The pup squeeked and tried to help Natt up. The help was appreciated, but didn't really make a difference. "What were you doing in that tree, pup?" Natt asked and shook the snow off of her fur. "Hunting," the little pup replied. "You're a little too small to hunt yet, especially in trees. Go home and play instead," Natt said and was ready to be on with her journey, but then she saw the pups disappointed face and had to ask, "what's the matter?" "Mamma is sick and can't hunt," the pup sighed, "I want to help her." "Little pup, when you're in a pack you get food even when you're sick, you shouldn't worry. I'm meeting up with our herbalist just now," Natt was on her way to Moonpond and the herbalist was stationed there for the night, "do you live close to here? I'll send her over to check up on your mother." The pup looked around. "All I know is we live that way," the pup pointed off in the distance, "we live by a lake almost." "A round lake?" If it's one of Skades kin Natt could escort her home. "Hmm it's more shaped like a umm, a nose, or maybe a paw pad, or hmm," describing the shape of a lake was hard, that's true, but the moonpond lake was perfectly round, no one could miss it, not even a pup who hadn't yet seen a full moon reflected in the lake. Up here, wolves stuck close to the pack, because the winters were cold and harsh. There was no lake close by moonpond. This pup was from a different pack, or her mother was a lone wolf, but not far off enough to not know that there's a large pack willing to take her in. Natt couldn't any longer assure the pup that everything would be okay, as she had no authority to take care of another packs members. Natt slid some shiny threads of metal off her head and gave it to the pup. "Take this home to your mamma. Tell her you found it by a tree along with the bones of a squirrel," Natt sent the pup back home. Hopefully, the mother would sell the jewellery and they would survive the winter. Moonpond had evolved since last time she visited. Already back then, Harald had brought in outsiders, but now it looked like a proper small pack, almost like Somnolents. Natt felt weird walking through the crowds. They saw her, they saw her adornments. They knew who she was and so she walked with a dignified posture, but it didn't feel like at home. She felt like an invader. Her feet led her straight to Haralds cave for their meeting. He had a table and lights outside, set up for them. He even offered food and bones to chew on and he met her well. But it felt very strange to meet with him alone, without the other advisors. "I'm very glad you decided to hear me out," Harald started, "and I hope we'll have a civil discussion." "Me too," they'd had some disagreements in the past. "I'll get right to it. Skades familys reputation is weighing very heavy on us, do I need to explain?" Harald asked, and Natt declined, they were more or less cursed. Harald nodded and continued, "especially since I decided to forgive and take in Himles kin as our own. As you've argued, they are from Skade too and they do belong with us none the less, despite their ancestors actions." "It was very graceful of you," Natt spoke as if they were in a dance, she had to respond in the right way to avoid chaos, "I know one would rather have avoided them and tried to forget the whole ordeal. Skades family should be known for her kindness, gracefulness, and stubborn intellectual thinking. Skade was an amazing wolf, one we should all look up to." Harald looked pleased and nodded. "So you understand why we would like for the other families to change their view on us? Be more open minded?" Harald inquired and Natt nodded, of course. "You know how I felt about the previous alpha." "He was old and delusional, nothing more," Natt gritted her teeth, trying not to say the wrong thing, but she couldn't help it, "Magne was a good alpha before that." Harald went silent. "What he did was not right, he wasn't right in the head. Harald, you must understand." "You still defend him. You are the one who killed him and you still defend him," Harald hissed. But wait. "I thought you were mad at me for not executing him?" Had Harald forgotten that Natt had kept and cared for Magne in her cave until he died? Was Harald also getting old and delusional? "I'm thankful that you.. dealt with him," Harald groaned, and didn't elaborate despite there obviously being unspoken words, "let's move on." Natt nodded and decided to not upset him any further this time. "So as you know, there have been a prevalence of the alphas always choosing someone in their immediate family, often nieces and nephews. Despite there having been a chance to cycle through all families, there were two alphas from Vårs family.." When Harald talked about Vårs family, he always got something dark and gloomy over him, "I mean no disrespect now, Alpha, but I was curious about how you were planning to pick your successor." "I have been assessing reports from all families of pups in the right age range," Natt responded quickly. Harald got up from his seat, wandering over to look out at the lake. "Well, I have a suggestion for you, and I hope you'll consider it," he said as he gazed out over the wolves in the area. Natt could see the view as well, "as our family would very much like to improve our reputation again, I think you might be able to guess what I'm about to ask you." "You want the next alpha to be Skades kin." "It's only fair, we are the only family who hasn't had an alpha yet," Harald looked back at her. "You're right," as she said this, Haralds face shone up, and it made Natt relieved. But he was actually right, and Natt had already looked more carefully into the heirs from Moonpond. Natts dear friend Gunnveig had already had two beautiful pups. One was a bit older than ideal, but then again Natt felt like she herself was too young when she became alpha, so it could still work. The other one was very young, and Gunnveig had passed only a few months after having her. Not only would choosing one of these as alpha redeem Skades lineage, but Himles too! "To be perfectly honest, I think Skades strong willed mentality is exactly what our pack needs in the next alpha, someone to tie everyone together," Natt said, and this was exactly the reason why she was worried about the pups she had seen, because they weren't very much of Skade at all, they had inherited their kindhearted mothers mentality instead. "It seems we agree for once, Alpha;" Harald said and sat back down by the table. His eyes were happy and it made Natt relieved. With this big of a pack at his command, Harald could easily cause trouble for the rest of the families, and if Harald was appeased, he wouldn't. "I do have another suggestion," Harald cleared his throat, "I will present to you who I think should be alpha next, and you will assess them and make your decision." The dance wasn't over, the cogs were turning in Natts mind. "Are you certain they will be suitable for such a position?" She asked. "I will make sure of it." "Present them to me when you're ready," Natt said, thanked him for this meeting, and when she left he looked very at ease. But Natt wasn't. Because this had not been a suggestion. As she walked away through the big crowd of wolves, it was clear they were just as trained as her own wolves back at Somnolents. Who Harald chose to be the alpha, would be the alpha. It wasn't a suggestion, it was a threat. - "Did you see that?" Natt exclaimed when she was out of hearing range from the others. Jens nodded at her politely, "she has all the Skade spirit anyone could've wished for!" "But doesn't she remind you of anyone else?" Trample said carefully. And it was true. This female was fierce, but hard life circumstances had put her in survival mode, she was protecting herself and no one else. "She's not even related to him," Natt waved it away, but Trample pressed on. "But they share their ancestor," he said, "he had Skades blood as well." After nightfall Natt was at Viras cave, if you could call it a cave with how shallow it was, and laid a tuft of the females hair in front of her. "What do you want to know?" Vira asked and placed the tuft in the hollow part of a rock, and dropped a smaller rock in the hole. They fit perfectly together. "Does she remind you of anyone?" Natt asked and watched carefully as Vira placed something else in the hole before grinding them with the rock. When Vira pulled in the scent of the mixture, so did Natt, but Natt couldn't notice anything strange about it. "Hmm, yes. Same eyes, similar attitude," she was talking about Himle, Natt knew it, "but so has several from this family." "I know," Natt said, "I need more than that." "Then so do I," Vira said, "her name." "Siv." Vira started chuckling, then she stopped and took a breath. "Harald, descendant of Mörka, Härje, Agi, Lusse and Skade," Vira began, "he feels as though he didn't get what he deserved. His mother, taken from him in front of his eyes. Someone else took revenge for him, did he ever show any gratefulness about this?" Natt had never gotten a thank you from Harald, but she didn't want one either. "One can only guess what emotions goes through his mind. Resentment? Shame? Fear?" "Why would he be scared?" Natt shut up when her daughter gave her an angry look. She wasn't supposed to say things, only listen and take in the wisdom. "Lusse had suspicions about his son, he did everything he could to influence him to become a good wolf, including naming him Himlaklar. Whether names work to influence a wolfs future is unclear, but this family surely believes in it. Both Agi and Mörka named their sons names suited for a leader, and so did Harald, naming his son Hilding," Vira took another sniff at the mixture she had in her hollow rock, "and Harald named his daughter Siv.. The name of a loyal and obedient she-wolf." He was trying to tame her Natt thought to herself. Himle was bad, and his father wanted him to be good. But naming your daughter obedient and your son ruler, it's clear that Harald wasn't trying to tame an evil wolf. "Thank you," Natt bowed her head briefly and left. She was sure of her decision. |
⌘Tallbarr⌘ #29379 |
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Posted 2023-01-04 17:02:33 (edited)
SivWell, she had agreed to it, but it didn't feel good. Her father was so angry, she had betrayed his trust once again. A different suitor came along. The more Siv apologized for her misdeeds, the more she felt genuinly sorry. And the more suitors she pretended to fall in love with, the more genuine interest she got in them. Weeks passed. "Stay out of the way this time," she told her guard, who always interrupted her romances to protect her, "I mean it." She was meeting with Murdoc, a handsome wolf from a different pack. "Siv, don't tell me you're actually falling for that idiot," Jens, her guard, scoffed at her. She gave him an angry look and started walking away, but it wasn't long until she felt his nudge. "I thought you were more independent than that, letting your pappa choose for you," he teased her and somehow they both ended up in the shallow parts of the moonpond, wrestling it out. Siv could tell he was holding back, because he was a trained guard and she was just a sheltered princess, yet she had him under her paws. "You've been defeated, now.. Apologize," Siv said in her most royal voice. "I'm so sorry, show me mercy," he begged, and they both laughed. The moon shone round and bright, creating a perfect reflection in the round pool of water. "Do you really want to be with him?" Jens asked. "Of course," Siv answered automatically, "why wouldn't I? He's handsome, big, and father likes him." "There are other wolves like that. You deserve someone you actually like," Jens sighed. Sitting by the lake on a starry night like this, with Jens, was the only time since she was a pup that she actually saw beauty in this place. Now it just felt like a prison. "I think he's the best option yet," she said, despite him being less romantic and meaner than the last suitor. She got up to leave and Jens stood up too. "You should be with someone else," he said. "Who?" Siv groaned at his pestering. She wanted to settle down, she couldn't bear her fathers pressure anymore and it was time to give in. She didn't really have a choice or a say in the matter. Then she saw Jens white eyes shine in the moonlight. He looked different. He looked flustered, at his wits end. She felt her insides tickling her. You? "Run away with me," Siv said. She felt it in her bones, this is what she wanted, "we can leave together!" "I can't," Jens looked pained, "I would love to, but I can't.." "What do you mean?" Siv felt her heart break and clenched her teeth together. "I can't tell you, just please hold on a little longer," Jens begged for real now, "and please stay away from males." Siv snarled at him. "Then I'll stay away from you, too! Tell Murdoc I'm sick," she ran off to her cave and burst into tears. Ever since that night in the woods below the mountain, she had been bidding time on Jens request. She didn't know how long she would have to continue, neither what awaited her at the end of it all. - Her father didn't visit her during her "illness", and Jens respected her wishes to be left alone. One evening, she heard some commotion, and she snuck out behind the caves to peek out toward the lake. Looked like her father had guests over. One of the wolves wore jewellery, garments on her body and her head and she had wolves around her. Siv pricked her ears. "Time's up, Harald. We're both getting old, and I don't have all the time in the world," she heard the stranger say as they walked by. Her father responded something, but Siv couldn't hear them anymore. Siv went back to her cave and tried to sleep, until suddenly she heard voices. "Well, these are my conditions. I'm bringing both of them, or neither, and you'll have to try to find a new candidate for me, well, if you'll even have time for it before you're in the grave," the voice said in the distance and Harald grumbled something about getting her. "Pack your satchel," Jens white eyes popped into her cave. "Get out of my cave," Siv snapped. She was still mad at him. "Just do it and come out here," he said and disappeared. Siv grabbed her satchel, but she didn't have a lot to put in it. A pretty rock - it was white with little black speckles - that she found in the woods when she was little, and the silver jewellery her father had given her almost a year ago. She packed her dried fish snacks and the rest of her berries and went out of the cave. "Come on," her father was there and he sounded mad, "you're going on a trip, and you better not cause any trouble. I'm sending Jens with you, if you do anything out of line he will escort you back, do you understand?" "Yes pappa," Siv complied. This time, she didn't feel so excited to go on a trip. Hilding talked Jens' ears off the whole trip, and they took many pauses to rest on Hildings request. Siv didn't speak at all. As they came closer and closer to their destination, Siv could scent more and more wolves, and she saw little lights hanging from the trees. Lanterns, she understood as they came closer. It was beautiful, but Siv had a hard time feeling breathtaken by anything. Jens showed them to their assigned sleeping spots, and then he just.. left. Siv stayed right where he left her, and Hilding took a nap. After a while, Siv nudged her brother awake. His eyes glistened in the firelight as he blinked them open. "What?" "Hilding, why are we here?" "You don't know?" Hilding sat up and scratched his ear. Siv shook her head, so he explained, "Father had a visit from the alpha, and he sent you and me here to train. He wants me to be the next alpha." "Oh. Are you excited?" Siv asked and Hilding almost seemed bothered by the question. "Well, if I'm the alpha, you know that you'll be the Beta, right? That'll be fun, we'll be together and you'll be like my right hand!" Hilding smiled. Siv looked away as she pondered. "Yeah, fun," she said. - The sun was already up in the sky when Siv woke up. She looked around her almost in panic. Hilding wasn't there. Usually her father would wake her up by dawn and have her go do stuff like fetch food from the storage, cook or wake up the puppies. But she wasn't home and her father wasn't there. But why had no one woken her up? She looked out over somnolents seat, and there wasn't a wolf in sight. As Siv stayed in her spot, soon enough someone came to talk to her. "Oh, you're awake!" She said and smiled, "I'm the beta of the pack, nice to meet you, Siv!" The wolf was older with grey fur and white eyes, not unlike Siv. "Hello," Siv said shortly. "Are you tired from your trip?" "Not really, I'm waiting for my brother or my guard.. or anyone to come tell me what I'm supposed to be doing," Sivs reply seemed to concern the beta. "Well, come with me then!" She spent the morning fishing in a small stream nearby with the Beta, whos name she learned was Dag. Siv had never fished before, and it was surprisingly hard. When Siv caught her first fish, Dag screamed out in joy and Siv was so surprised that she dropped the fish right back into the river. Siv managed to catch two more, and they carried a whole basket of fish back to the hub, where Dag sat down by the fire and started cooking two of them. She offered Siv one. "Where are the others?" Siv asked, but Dag just shrugged, and Siv sat down to eat with the Beta. They want to teach me about Beta duties, since I'm to be the Beta. Hilding must be off with the alpha., Siv thought. They chatted a little bit before Dag got up. "I have errands to run now, goodbye Siv," Dag said. Goodbye? "Wait! What about me?" Siv stood up too. "What do you mean?" Dag looked back at her, confused. "Aren't you bringing me?" "Oh, no, I'm going to Ember meadows, it's far and I think someone wanted to talk to you later this evening," Dag replied. "Well what am I supposed to do while I wait?" Siv was confused. "Do whatever you want. If you want company, there are plenty of wolves in these woods. If you want food, it's served at mid day and dusk right here. I don't know if there's a party tonight or not," Dag said and then hurried off. Do whatever I want? Hesitant, Siv got up and looked around the area. This empty meadow next to a mountain wall was empty, no wolves around. Is this really the lively hub she had heard so much about? Unlit lanterns hung in the trees, and on the opposite side of the fire pit was a round pool of water, deep enough to submerge but not big enough to swim around in. A little stream led water from and to it. Siv followed the water to its source, it came straight out of the mountain wall only a few steps from somnolents seat. She then started following the stream away from somnolents, she wanted to see where it ended. She got a strange feeling and looked back. If she went further than this, somnolents would be out of sight. She knew she wouldn't get lost, she could just follow this tiny stream back, that wasn't the problem. She felt a knot in her stomach, but then she thought of the Betas words. Do whatever you want. The beta wouldn't lie to her, would she? And even if she did, how could Siv be held responsible for any faults, if all she was doing was listening to the Beta? Siv turned back and followed her path. The stream started disappearing under the rocky ground, reappearing, and disappearing again. Soon, it wasn't visible anymore, but something else was. Something glimmered far away between the silhouetted trees. She was drawn to it as if by magic, or instinct. What unfolded to her was a bautiful roaring river, the water splashes falling like shooting stars as they were illuminated by the midday sunlight. "Hey! Watch out -" Startled by someones yell, Siv slipped on the algae covered rocks and - was caught by the skin on her back being gripped by someone. Siv saw the sharp rocks below and the violent river that would've carried her away, as she was pulled back to safety. Siv faced her savior, a brownish grey wolf with different coloured eyes, one white and one black. "Sorry, I guess I caused what I sent out to prevent. The rocks are very slippery, you shouldn't be walking there," the wolf said and hung her head down to show her forgiveness. "Don't apoogize, I would've fallen in and drowned if it weren't for you," Siv admitted and the wolf smiled at her, such a warm smile. It felt like she had seen it before somewhere, and some kind of warm feeling formed inside of her. Siv wanted to know her name, so she politely introduced herself first, "I'm Siv." "Hello, Siv! I'm Ask!" The wolf responded, and almost looked like she was about to start bouncing, "what brings you here?" "Oh I.. to be honest, I've never seen a stream this big before.." Siv tried to not sound weird, the stream was actually so huge it would've covered the whole moonpond and more. "You mean the river? Huh, you must be from up north, then," Ask didn't seem to care that Siv - appearently - didn't know what a river was, and Siv was very thankful for that, "are you hungry? Wanna stay for lunch? Or maybe you have somewhere to be." Siv accepted the invitation, and she was served a big fish with pink, soft flesh. Although moonpond was a lake, the pack never ate the fish from the lake. Siv had never joined the hunting team or anyone else to go find food back at home, so she didn't know where they got their fish from. Maybe it was a river as big and majestic as this one, she thought as she observed it. Hyponotized by the sparkling waters, Siv failed to notice that there were actually quite a few wolves here by the river. "Siv," a familiar voice made her jump up to her feet. It was Jens, he cleared his throat, avoided eye contact and almost whispered, "am I allowed to talk to you again yet?" Siv nodded in silence even before she even knew what he meant. She realized the only things he had said to her since she lashed out at him was when he told her to pack the other day. Suddenly Sivs heart sank. "What are you doing here?" Siv backed away from him, "the Beta told me I could go anywhere I want. I didn't do anything wrong." "Relax, I just wanted to say I'm glad to see you're ejoying yourself," Jens gestured carefully to Sivs new friend, "I have duties, so I'll leave you to it." "And your duties just so happen to be in the exact place where I am?" Siv scoffed at him. "I'm not spying on you, Siv," Jens rolled his eyes and walked away, but Siv followed him, "did you fail to notice that you're in Sinewy river? Where Ulls family lives? I'm here to check up on them, that's what a guard does." "Father told me he sent you with us to keep an eye on me, that's what a guard does," Siv said, but she was starting to doubt herself. "I can't really talk to you about this right now, and I have other things I need to do, alright?" Jens said and left Sivs side. Siv huffed and went back to her fish. "Who was that?" Ask wondered. "Just.. a guard," Siv snacked on her fish and watched as Jens walked up to a big brownish grey wolf.. with different coloured eyes. Siv looked at Ask. And then back at the other wolf. "Is that your father?" Siv asked, because they looked identical. Ask laughed nervously. "Yeah! See his necklace?" Sivs gaze found a shiny crystal, it looked like pure ice, dangling from a thread around his neck, the same kind of crystal that Sivs own father always wears. Ask sat up proudly, "that means he's the head of the family!" "That would make you a princess," Siv smiled. Ask looked down, clearly flustered, and laughed. "No no, nothing like that! I'm just a normal wolf like anyone else," Ask replied. Siv had never felt like just anyone else, but not exactly in a good way. Being the princess of moonpond was special and all, but really it was more like a burden. She dreaded the day would come that she would need to go back home. Ask gestured to a different wolf, a beautiful male with glistening eyes and a masterfully crafted skin coat on his back, "but that wolf over there? He's the son of the alpha." Sivs heart beat a bit too hard. The alphas son. "The alpha is from Ulls descent?" Siv asked. "Yeah," Ask laughed, "you must've had a really lousy teacher!" Siv laughed it off. She didn't want to admit it; she never had a teacher. But maybe she could find one.. After spending the afternoon with Ask, who turned out to be delightfully friendly and kind, Siv excused herself when she noticed that Jens was gone. She needed to find out what he was hiding. But all she found in the forest were trees. "Damn it!" she muttered. She sniffed the air. Though she had never had to - or been allowed to - use her sense of smell to find her way around the forest, it should come natural to her. Though it took her some time, she eventually found her way back to the tiny stream and followed it. As she approached somnolents, something was different. She could scent wolves. She could hear them. She felt a tingling sensation within her as she entered the area. Lanterns were lit, the fires were lit, steam was coming out of the pool of water. There was bustling chatter, laughter, the place was full of wolves. Siv stood still, not really knowing what to do. The wolves around the fire were handing out food to others, but Siv didn't know if it was for her as well, but then she remembered, didn't the beta say something about a meal being served around dusk? Siv looked at the sky which was turning orangeish: the sun was setting. Strengthened by her faith in the betas words, she went up to a cute female wolf by the fire and was immedietly served a large piece of meat, which she ate slowly while watching the wolves of Somnolents seat interacting. She couldn't help but laugh when she saw two of them pushing eachother in a playful disagreement. After some time of observing, she sneaked up to the pool. No one was in it yet. She sniffed the air and felt the scent of the steam. She let her paw pad touch it. It was warm, wonderfully so. At the bottom of the pool she could see dark rocks peeking out of a bag, which was attached by a rope to a pole on the side of the pool. A wolf walked by her and stepped down into the pool. Siv immediately averted her gaze and went the other way. The sky was now purple and getting dark, she could see the stars coming out, and that's when she felt the familiar scent. By the entrance to the area, Ask and the alphas son walked in with some pups following them! Siv was just about to go greet her friend, when someone adressed her. "Excuse me, are you Siv?" The voice said and Siv turned around and nodded, "will you come with me? There's someone who wants to greet you." The wolf was greyish and had yellow eyes, he was quite handsome, but Siv only wondered who wanted to meet her. Could it be Jens? She followed the wolf up some rocks and behind a hill adorned with a large mural of a wolf on the cliff wall. There were lanterns and lights lit here as well. The wolf gestured for Siv to sit down, so she did, then he went over to the opening of a cave, presumably alerting the someone that their guest had arrived. Out of the cave emerged a beige-grey wolf with gistening black eyes, wearing beautiful yet humble clothing. The clothing reminded Siv of what the Beta had been wearing, a cloth wrapped around her neck as well as jewellery on her head. This wolfs forehead was adorned with shiny brown rocks and a set of teeth. Around her neck, a glistening crystal, like ice. Siv gulped. The alpha? "God kväll, Siv," the Alpha greeted her. Sivs ears twitched.That voice.. Siv bowed her head in silence, to show her respect. "How are you doing this evening, pup? What do you think of Somnolents?" The alpha asked as if Siv was there on vacation. "It's.. it's wonderful," Siv said. "I'm glad you like it!" The alpha smiled and even wagged her tail, and Siv couldn't help but find it somehow inappropriate of a wolf of such immense and powerful status, "I chose this spot myself, and me and my mate built all of it. Well, he built the pool himself, but in my defense he didn't tell me about it so how would I know to help with it?" The alpha gestured for her to follow up the hill and sat down. From here, right in front of the mural, she could look out over the whole area, all the wolves and exactly what they were doing. The area was lit up very nicely by the glimmering lanterns casting a warm orange glow, as well as the fire of course, causing the area to be well lit but at the same time very cozy. The pool now had three wolves in it, they looked kind of cramped, but a fourth wolf was still insistent on joining them. The crowd around the fire had scattered, they must have stopped serving food, but a new crowd was forming. "I think you'll like this," the alpha said right before Sivs ear twitched to the right as she heard a beautiful tone. It was soon accompanied by a tone from the left. Two wolves walked out into the crowd and their song increased as they approached eachother, exchanging lines as if in conversation. Siv recognized one of the voices. It was Ask, and she sang beautifully, accompanying what looked to be the alphas son. Wolves in the crowd started joining in on the singing. "Ulls family always had the best entertainers, no?" The alpha asked. "They did?" Siv asked, instinctively not wanting to lie about her knowledge to the alpha, but immediately recognizing her rudeness, "I mean, they're absolutely wonderful. Is that your son?" Continue reading |
⌘Tallbarr⌘ #29379 |
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Posted 2023-01-19 18:14:02 (edited)
Siv"Yes, me and my mates son, his name is Frost," the alpha smiled and watched her son perform, "the other wolf is Ask, she is also from Ulls family." "I know her," Siv responded without thinking. "Oh you do?" Sivs face turned warm and she pulled her ears back, stammering; "Y-yes.. I visited them earlier today," she hung her head, awaiting the reprimand, but the alpha just smiled brighter. "How lovely to see you're making friends!" Everything felt a bit confusing that night. She was with the alpha for a bit, then she talked to Ask for a bit, but the moment she could scent a hint of Jens, she excused herself and ran off to find him. "You're very persistent," Jens said before he even saw her. It was darker out here in the woods, and Siv followed him as they approached what she assumed was his home. "Yes, I want to know the truth," she said. As Jens lit the embers outside his cave and threw in a few pieces of wood, the light from the fire revealed a gash on his hip, "oh gods, Jens, you're bleeding." "It's fine," he sighed in relief as he sat down, "what did you want to know?" "Are you hungry?" Siv asked with the sudden realization that he must've been on duty until now. "It's fine, Siv, I ate at Craggy valley with the Gerds," Jens laughed. "Oh. Are they still having bear issues?" Siv couldn't help but look at his wounds. "Yeah, but this isn't from a bear," this time he sighed in annoyance, but he proceeded to tell her anyway, "this is what negotiation with other packs looks like. I'm pretty tired, so if you want answers today you better start asking questions or I'll fall asleep." "What did you mean earlier today, when you said you couldn't talk about my father sending you with me to keep an eye on me?" Siv asked immediately. "Oh, right. It's a bit hard to explain.. It's pretty convoluted, and a long story.." Jens groaned. "Please tell me," Siv begged. She would listen all night, she didn't care how long the explaination was. "I became a guard for the alpha when I was young. Some years ago, she sent me off to work as a guard for your father. But I wasn't just an ordinary guard," Jens explained, "You see, the alpha has guards stationed with all the four families, to protect them and to keep the alpha in the loop on what's going on. She does visit all families regularly as well. The problem was your father.. he put himself against the alpha in a way. She needed to know what was going on in your family none the less, so I was sent there sort of to gather the info in secret." "You've been lying to me? And you told me you weren't spying on me!" Siv got up and turned away. Her heart hurt, but she wasn't sure why. She wanted to run off and think. Her feet carried her in the dark, but of course he was faster than her. "Wait, Siv," he heaved out as he stopped in front of her, almost making her crash into him. He limped as he stepped back ot give her space, "I didn't mean to lie to you. I needed to lie to Harald." Siv started walking away with him at her tail. "You don't know your way around here. Where are you even going?" Jens scoffed at her. "Away from you," she huffed, "if you had to lie to father, you should've just told me so right away." "You could've told him, by accident or not. It would've ruined the whole mission, Harald would never trust another guard again and it might even have been the start of our pack splitting in two, there could've been war. I'm sorry I lied, but I did it for a reason," Jens was slowing down behind her, and when she turned around he was sitting down. Siv felt bad for making him walk in this condition. "What if I tell him now?" Siv wouldn't, but she wondered still. "He would see this as us taking you and your brother as hostage," Jens said in a serious tone, and then he chuckled, "he would kill me for betraying him." Jens eyes were closing, so she went over to him and nudged him, "come on, let's get you home before you fall asleep." As they walked slowly and Siv tried her best to support his weight, she couldn't help but ask. "Why would you tell me all this then? If it could kill you if I said something. I'm not more trustworthy now than I was back at Moonpond, am I?" "No," Jens said in a sleepy voice as she laid him down in his cave, "but you're safe now." "Safe? From what?" Siv asked, but Jens was already asleep. She put out the fire outside his cave. - Her brother snored in his sleep as Siv stretched and got up with the sunrise. Someone came and woke up Hilding and he joined Siv at breakfast. "Excited for today?" Siv asked, hoping he would reveal what he was up to yesterday and what he was going to do today. "No, I'm exhausted," Hilding muttered, "they're even harder on me than pappas guards were in their training." Siv nodded, so they were training. She was about to pry more info out of him. Who was training him? Was it the alpha? Had he met the alpha? Jens words from many moons ago came up in her mind, Your father knows Hilding doesn't have what it takes, even if he tried his best to teach him. That's what Jens had said, last time she forced him to reveal his lies. "He has been trying to tell the truth.." Siv whispered to herself, and then she felt someone peeking out at her from the hill with the big mural, but she couldn't see anyone. Maybe she stared for too long, because Hilding noticed. "It's a beautiful tribute painting?" Hilding said. "Who is it anyway?" "That's Tyr," Hilding said while surpressing a yawn. "Tyr.. like in Tyrs härd?" Siv never felt ashamed of asking these questions to her brother. "Exactly. She's the ancestor of all four families. With a mural like this, it feels like she's still here watching over us," Hilding seemed quite breathtaken by facing the ultimate alpha. Siv looked up at the brown wolf with the yellow eyes and scarred face, and she wondered what kind of wolf she had been. Hilding left with the other wolves, and the area became empty. Something was looking at her again, and this time Siv could see her. The alpha. Siv went to the hill and looked up at her. "Alpha?" "Yes?" "Do you know where Jens is?" Siv asked, because now she knew he was employed by the alpha, so she should know who he is. "I do, I'm afraid he's already well off on his way to Ember meadows. Maybe you can meet him when he comes back?" The alpha spoke gracious as ever. "Alpha, if I'm allowed to ask - did you send Jens to look after me at Craggy valley some moons back?" Siv asked as the alpha was walking down the hill to her. "Hmm, I did send him to deal with some bears in the mountains. He told you about his actual job, didn't he?" The alpha asked, and Siv froze up. She didn't know asking about craggy valley would reveal the whole thing! "I, um, yes but I have been pestering him to tell me the truth, please don't be mad at him! I promise I won't tell anyone," Siv lowered her head and begged. "The one you have to keep this from is your brother. I'm unsure of his loyalties," the alpha nudged her and siv lifted her head up again, "don't you worry, little one." That voice, Siv thought again and looked up at the alphas black eyes. "I've met you before." "Ah, you recognize me," the alpha smiled, "thank you for letting me stay with you that night, and please forgive me if I was rude. You see, I have pretty lousy night vision. Without you I might've climbed the mountain and fallen right back down again." The alpha sighed but smiled. "It's no big deal," Siv responded quietly, but inside she was exalted by the feeling of having possibly saved the alphas life. Not long after, another black eyed wolf came to visit. It was the alphas daughter, Vira, and as she was told, Sivs new history teacher. Vira spoke slowly and almost in riddles at times, Siv had to constantly figure out what she meant. Sometimes Vira nodded when Siv guessed right. Siv got to learn everything. They began with the stories of Tyr, the first alpha who made the bitter and long journey from Northland, a different cotninent, to settle down here where she would be safe. Tyr got her facial scars from fighting a bear. Siv could tell that Vira knew more than she was telling, but Siv was smart enough not to question it. The very same day, Vira taught Siv about her own familys history, about Skade and Lusse, about Himle and Lög. She ate at midday with the others. After lunch, a reddish coloured wolf with blue eyes presented herself as the sister of the herbalist, she was here to teach Siv about herbs! They foraged in the forest the entire afternoon. By dusk, they ate again, and the singers from Sinewy river came to perform. Siv hung out with Ask until midnight. This became her routine for some time. History, foraging, and friends. Siv only caught a glimpse of Jens one day, and nothing more. - It was Sivs second time experiencing the big bonfire party that was held every week. Dancing, singing and eating exotic fruits was the norm. Some of the fruits had funny effects on Siv, and others too, she noticed. They had a good time, until a male wanted Siv to join him in the pool. It was something about his commanding voice. "No thanks," Siv said, trying to be polite, but he started nudging her side. "Come on, your friends are already in there," he said, and Siv had to decline twice more, before the male was forcibly removed from her prescence. He landed on the ground with a grunt. "She said no, so back off," it was Jens voice. When Siv realized what had happened, she turned around and ran after Jens, who had already left the area. "Jens!" She called for him and he stopped. The light from somnolents danced in his eyes and on his fur. "Yes?" He sounded tired and grumpy. "Thank you," Siv said, "for the help." Jens just nodded. "Why did you go to craggy valley that night when I found you with that bear?" Siv asked. "Siv.." he sighed but she just looked at him, expecting an answer, "I think you know why." "To fight bears?" Siv walked closer to him and saw that he was smiling at her silly remark. "To protect you," he muttered. "No one had asked you to," Siv thought out loud, "I'm starting to think Father didn't ever ask you to protect me." "He wanted me to keep an eye on you," Jens said. "To keep me in line. Not run away," she responded, "but you said it yourself, he wanted me to find a mate and have pups as soon as possible." "Yes," Jens admitted. "And yet you seem to always be there saving me from strange males." Jens stood up. "I'm afraid that some day I'll end up protecting you from normal males as well," he started walking away in the direction of his home, "males who you've chosen to be with." Siv looked at him as he looked back. "Good night, Siv," he said, and Siv nodded. "Good night." - "Siv, time to wake up." Siv blinked her eyes open and stretched. She realized the wolf waking her up was Jens. "Jens!" She sat up and looked at him, remembering what she had thought about all night before she finally fell asleep, "I wanted to apologize. Some days before we went here, I was angry at you and I told you not to speak to me. I'm sorry about that, I understand now. You knew we were going to leave soon but you couldn't tell me." Jens gestured for her to follow him to the middle of the area. "Your history lessons are over, and it's time for you to learn some combat. It's good that you made peace with that, but you weren't wrong to be mad at me," Jens said and stood tall, "so channel your anger and come at me." "What do you mean?" Siv tilted her head. "I should be mad at you?" "Siv.." Jens looked concerned, "so many wolves have been lying to you, or keeping the truth from you. They've tricked you, decieved you and tried to decide your path in life. I didn't want to be a part of that, but I was. You have every right to be angry." "But you had no choice, did you?" Siv circled him, it was a lesson after all and she should listen to her teacher. She ran at him and tried to attach his neck, but he quickly stepped out of the way and easily made her fall to the ground by tripping her leg. "If I hadn't done what I did, I might not have gotten you out of there, I won't deny that," Jens said and helped her up, "but you need to start standing up for yourself." "You don't have to protect me if you don't want to," Siv muttered and attempted to swat at him with her paw, but failed this time as well. "It's not that. I would willingly protect you all day if necessary," Jens sighed, but it kind of made Siv feel good, "I just know that you go along with everything that someone else tells you to. It's not good for you." Jens took a deep breath, "I'm sorry for asking you to go along with your fathers plan all those moons ago. I've regretted it ever since. And don't say it's okay, it's not. I never wanted to make you do anything against your will." Siv nodded and recognized he was pouring his heart out, so she jumped at him with her whole weight. He fell to the ground and laughed. "Don't show weakness to your opponent," Siv said as she walked away from him, swaying her tail and acting cocky, "but really, I understand now that you had to do it to make everything work." "That doesn't matter," Jens grabbed her foot, forcing her to attempt to get back at him while on three legs. It didn't go well and she fell down to the ground, "what matters is how you felt about it. You should show your true feelings." "I did! I yelled at you!" Siv yelled, again. "Not about that! Your true feelings about everything!" Siv woke up from the dream. She sat up and shook her head a bit, then looking over at the snoring Hilding. The day went on as usual, she was out with the herb teacher on their way toward sinewy river, where Siv was planning to have lunch with Ask. On her history lessons, Siv had learned that the reason why Sinewy is much closer to Somnolents than the other territories is because of the alphas father. Her father was the head of Ulls family, and though he and the head of Skades family disagreed and decided to move in opposite directions, he still wanted to be close to his daughter. Siv was thankful for that, she had her best friend close now, and her father far, far away. "Excuse me, highness," Siv stammered not sure how to approach the head of Ulls family. "Huh?" The big brown male turned around and looked at her with his different coloured eyes. It was almost like looking at Ask herself. He laughed a bury laugh, "oh little Siv, don't call me that, please. My name is Järv." "Järv," Siv said, "do you know where Ask is?" "Sorry, little one, we've been looking for her all morning," Järv sighed. "What? Is she gone?" Siv felt like she had swallowed a stone and she became all cold. "Don't worry, I'm pretty sure she's safe," Järv noticed how stressed Siv was and tried to console her. "How do you know that?" "I can't tell you, I don't know if she would want anyone to know," Järv sat down and looked almost ashamed, "she got some.. news earlier." "Alright," Siv said, deciding not to pry, "I'm going to look for her." And so she did. She searched everywhere she had been before. All places that Ask showed her, the calm waters, the rock formations by the mountain side, the peninsula, well, the whole forest, at least Siv felt like it. She decided to search where she had never been before. Ask mentioned her favourite thing about sinewy was being able to see the river, and if Ask is upset she probably stayed close to the river. Siv sniffed the ground and kept watch as she followed the river. Over grass, moss, soil, rocks. The cliffside became steep, so Siv crossed the river and continued her journey. Siv looked up, and realized she had stepped out on some rocks that went nowhere. She turned around to go back, but stopped. The rocks she had previously stepped on and somehow got her to this position were filled with algae and water. You got out here, you can go back, it must be safe, She told herself and put a paw on the little rock in front of her, see, easy, she thought, but as she took the next step, she slipped and managed to get back on the safe rock. The roaring river felt like a threat. Siv howled out hoping someone would help her. Maybe if she waited for the sun to dry out the algae.. how long would that take? A few days? Oh gods. Siv howled a few more times, but it was futile. She laid down and waited. "Are you allergic to algae or something?" A dripping wet Ask stood on the other side of the rock path. "Ask!" Siv jumped up. "Come on, I'll help you," Ask walked out almost effortlessly halfway. Siv stepped out as far as she could. Siv felt like a puppy when Ask grabbed the skin on Sivs neck and helped her cross. "Ask, where have you been?" "I was.. visiting my ancestors," Ask said. "What?" Was she talking to ghosts? Was she a ghost? "Come on, I'll show you," Ask led her across the river. "Ask, why are we going away from the territory?" Siv shouted hoping Ask would hear her over the rivers sounds. "This used to be the territory, come on," Ask was much faster than Siv, so Siv tried her best to catch up. They left the river and moved on into the forest in this mountain area. They walked through an area that smelled kind of.. familiar. There was paint on some of the rocks. Flakey and faded paint. But one of the paintings had a familiar look. Brown and yellow, and you could almost hint two pointy ears.. Siv didn't see much as she followed Siv away from the area, into almost a garden of rocks. THere were boulders placed everywhere between the trees, and on each one was a simple painting of a different wolf. These were graves. "This is our old territorys burial site," Ask said, and then she stopped in front of a rock with a blonde wolf on it. The name read Sigliv, "this is.. the common ancestor of my father and my.. my uncle." "You have an uncle? Is that what you were sad about?" Sivs question made Ask sigh. "I feel so childish, running away from home at my age.." Ask sat down and looked at the gravestone. "Why did you run away?" Siv sat beside her. "My pappa," Ask paused, she looked like she was about to cry, so Siv moved closer and leaned her head on her shoulder to console her, "I found out he's not actually my father. He's my uncle, my real father is a wolf who died years ago." "But you look so similar?" Siv asked. "I know. That's not the problem though.. Pappa- I mean Järv.. some moons ago he had a huge litter and all these pups were so beautiful and amazing. I guess he doesn't need me anymore, he has a real family now," Ask sighed, "I guess he adopted me when my dad died, maybe he didn't even want me." "You don't know that," Siv didn't want to push too much. "Don't you think that's why he told me now? He could've done it any time before, but now he has real pups who carry his genes and he doesn't need a.. a fake daughter anymore," Ask looked away and Siv knew she was crying. "Is your-" Siv cleared her throat, "Is Järv really that kind of wolf?" Järv always seemed to kind, and Ask adored him. These last weeks, Siv had been envious of Ask and her fathers relationship. But maybe all fathers were like this. Siv had learned about the previous alphas, two of them had been males, both from Vårs family. The one named Borg had chosen a wolf from his own family to be the next alpha, a male named Magne. Magne in turn became senile and crazy, and he didn't choose a heir; The beta at the time, his sister, had to step in and choose for him, and she chose the current alpha. Maybe males just were like this, maybe their blood being passed on was the most important to them, just like to Sivs father. Siv looked a lot like her father, and she wondered what would've happened if Siv had been born a male. She would've been named something powerful, like her brother was, and made her father proud. - Continue reading |
⌘Tallbarr⌘ #29379 |
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Posted 2023-02-25 06:55:19 (edited)
Siv"What do you want me to say?" Jens growled, "that I would do anything for you, that I would die for you, that I've loved you from the moment I met you?" "I would never ask you to lie!" Siv held back her tears and took a step back. Jens took a deep breath. "It's not a lie," he said. Siv almost felt dizzy from the confusion. "Then why have you been avoiding me? Not talking to me for weeks?" She yelled, and Jens groaned loudly. "Because I know what you're like with males!" Jens yelled back, but then he shook his head and softened his voice, "I don't want to be like one of them, they only hurt you." "What do you mean?" Siv wondered, because on the inside she hated males. She hated her father, every one of her suitors, she secretly resented her brother for being their fathers favourite, every male she saw she immedietly was suspicious of. But not Jens, he had always been kind to her, until he stopped talking to her without an explaination. Jens just shook his head again. "I don't want to push you to anything, I wanted you to make these realizations on your own," Jens said and turned around. Siv wanted to scream, don't leave me again but she stopped herself. "Do you mean I'm too mean to males? You don't want to be with me because I'm a bad person?" Siv started crying, she couldn't help it. After trying so hard to please everyone despite her harsh feelings, had she failed? You'll never be good enough, her fathers voice told her inside her mind. But then she felt Jens' warm embrace. "That's not what i meant," he said and he was quiet for a while, "I just want the best for you. Every time I've seen you involved with a male, you became different, not yourself." "I was trying to be good," Siv sniffled. "You're good just the way you are!" He pulled away and looked her in the eyes, "I've just been scared that if you were with me, you would change yourself and do things you don't want to just like you've done with them. I don't want to be the one doing that to you." Siv looked away from his gaze and pushed her face into the soft fur on his chest. "I love you, I always have," he said, and he consoled her the entire night. After he fell asleep, Siv couldn't. She was thinking. Everything made sense, she has known all this already but refused to believe it. It was time to stop doing what everyone else told her to. But Jens still refused to ask her to be his mate. - As it turned out, Järv didn't shun Ask. He loved her as his own, and had taken her in because her biological father was a bad wolf. Siv wished someone had done that for her, saved her from her own father, who she simultaneously hated and still deep down wanted to please. "She wants you, Siv!" Ask exclaimed, "that's what I came to tell you! I overheard her talking to her advisors." "She.. wants me for what?" Siv tilted her head. "Natt wants you to be her heir, not your brother, but I don't think I'm supposed to tell anyone so you shouldn't either;" Ask said. - "We have been cursed for Magnes sins," Eldar had said at the last council meeting, "Vårs family will never produce an heir again, we lost our blaze long ago." Siv had attended the meeting just to listen, because Alpha Natt wanted to teach her how to be alpha. Now, she was following the alpha to Ember meadow, where Eldar was waiting. He looked a lot like Sivs brother, dark with a fiery golden hue. He was adorned with his crystal necklace, like all the other council members, and a black and gold scarf. "Come, come," he ushered them to the fire-lit center of the meadow where Vårs family was celebrating, and he almost choked on his words when he continued, "look at her, look!" A little pup was sprawled out on a blanket, sleeping. It was Eldars little sister, his elderly mother had one last pup it seemed. Like Eldar, a descendant of Magne himself. And the pup, unlike anyone else alive in their family, had a blaze on her forehead. "It's a sign, Natt," he said and looked up at the two of them, "I'm sure of it." - This was it. This was her time, her era. The last one who could ever tell Siv what to do had been the alpha, who asked her to take on the role before she died. Now Siv was at the top, no one to obey, no one to consider. Her father was dead, and her brother had submitted to her, not like he had a choice. Siv was never going to let anyone tell her what to do, ever again. With her newfound confidence she led the pack with a strict but just paw. On one starry night, she met Jens by the river. He looked shy almost. After Siv became the alpha, he had stood by her as her personal guard, but his feelings for her didn't seem to be the same as they once were. He always acted serious, professional and almost cold, yet obedient to a fault. Nothing could budge his loyalty. Still, Sivs heart beat for him, and when she had seen him interacting flirtatiously with other wolves, it hurt. Siv couldn't bear it anymore. "I can't forbid you from having relationships," Siv avoided his shining eyes and focused on the moons reflection in the water instead, "but I think it would be best if you weren't my guard anymore." "What do you mean?" Jens sounded confused. "It just doesn't work for me, okay?" Siv grumbled, frustrated. "I can't be your guard if I mate with someone else?" Jens sounded serious but Siv caught a glimpse of his smirk, "should I live a loveless life then, alpha?" "Of course not, that's why I'm suggesting you don't work so closely to me anymore!" Siv sighed. "What if I like my job?" "Well you'll have to choose," Siv got up, ready to walk away as Jens followed her. Not wanting to walk too close to him, she was herded to walk alongside the riverbed. On a starry night as this one, it looked quite romantic. "This is silly," his eyes drew her attention as they rivalled the moon with their brightness, "what problem do you have with my lovelife?" "It's none of tour business frankly," Siv huffed. "You don't want me around you anymore," Jens drew his ears back and his sad voice stung Sivs heart. "I just don't want to see you with anyone else!" Siv burst out. "Why?" "I don't want you to be with anyone else. I want you." They had stopped walking. Siv was clenching her teeth and the look on Jens face was hard to read. Confusion? A smile peeked out before he shook his head. Siv wanted to excuse herself, say that she knew he didn't feel like that about her anymore, say that she thought he would finally want her now that she was alpha and he didn't and that it hurt but she would accept that and move on! But then his lips crashed into hers. The sunrise kissed the tips of Jens fur and he looked like he was glowing where he lay on the sand. "I love you," he whispered, and Siv nuzzled closer. "I missed you," Siv admitted. "Missed me? I've been with you every day, darling," he said as he started grooming her fur. His tongue smoothed out the ruffled fur between her ears and on her neck. "You've been distant," Sivs confession caused a pause. "I'm sorry about that. I wanted to keep things professional," he sighed, "and I figured with your status you would want to find someone better. I didn't want to be in your way." "I want you. I always wanted you," Siv whispered, "do you finally believe me now?" Jens smirked. "I'm yours," he said. "And?" Siv dug herself out of his furry chest and looked into his eyes. He seemed to ponder the question for a moment, not knowing exactly what she was asking of him. He looked her over, inspected her as she lay there with her belly exposed, vulnerable, trusting. A soft smile reached his lips. "You're mine." - Life was a bliss. Siv was the alpha and finally had her mate, Jens. But as she became pregnant and gave birth to a litter of five male pups, Siv grew anxious. They're Jens pups, they will be amazing just like Jens, she told herself. But her father spoke to her from beyond the grave. They're my blood, he said my heirs. Siv loved Jens. She had always loved how brash he was, how protective he was and his confidence. He almost seemed arrogant as he spoke about those he loved. He was a passionate, and agressive wolf in all the best ways. What if Sivs pups inherited it the wrong way? Siv tried to shake these feelings. From an early age, she started educating them and exposing them to the world in ways that could form their minds to be kind. One of her pups were excessively competitive, he always needed to win, be the best, and be right; even when he wasn't. She named him Banke, praying it would inspire him to be kind despite his disposition. Another of her pups, the smallest one, would snap at anyone, growl at them for nothing. His manners nonexistant, and always seemingly in a bad mood. She named him Botvid, helper of the forest. If he didn't like other wolves, maybe he could find purpose with nature instead. "He had a bee on his head! I was only helping!" One pup said after smacking his brother in the face. Siv knew it wasn't true, she had seen them get in an argument over an old branch that they both wanted to play with. She named him Lilljens, hoping he would take after his father and use his agression for good. Names have power, she knew this, but sometimes they backfired. The pups kept getting into mischief, and Siv had to correct them many times. - Siv knew what she wanted. She had plans for the pack, traditions she wanted to uphold. She wanted to choose a heir from Gerds family, so she visited Craggy valley often. They were very nice, but she didn't see that spark she was looking for. She started to understand the late alpha Borgs decision to choose a heir from Vårs family. Every time she visited Ember meadow, she was surrounded by burning wills. Eldar was passionate and cultivated a family of dedicated individuals. Strong willed and brave, willing to do anything for their pack. They truly had the heart of leaders, Siv thought, and if Borg could break tradition, why can't Siv? A wolf had started following her around. He was beautiful and annoying, waltzing after her like a puppy. Siv wanted nothing to do with romance, she was now a single mother of many troublesome boys still grieving their dad and mate. But the beautiful male could prove useful, Siv realized, and struck a deal with him. As long as she escorted him around the territory, he would provide the royal families with his offspring. And my, were they beautiful. Every litter he gave were the most adorable, healthy and strong pups. Siv could make his offspring the heir to her throne. But something was stopping her from appointing him to every lonely female in Craggy valley. "They need to choose it themselves," she told him and herself when the question arose, because Elis knew about Sivs problems with the heirs and would gladly suggest solutions. The more time she spent with him, the more their friendship grew. He wasn't just beautiful, but kind and smart. All he wanted was to spend time with her and follow her commands, it was easy. She let him follow her as she travelled to the different families, and when they were there Elis could survey for lonely females before reporting back to Siv, who decided which female needed his services and which would be better off with someone else. Siv couldn't help but notice how satisfied her cousins were with their new stud, and he seemed pretty happy with himself, too. Curiosity, that's what she called it when she sought him out the first time. The only one fooled by her lie was herself. Elis gave her her first daughter, and as she claimed him as her own many were afraid to use the packs stud as intended. - It was her birthday. She always travelled to Moonpond during the full moon, because it reminded her of Jens. But it was her birthday and everyone at moonpond knew, and everyone in the whole pack knew. Despite her sorrow at breaking tradition, Siv travelled east to find somewhere where the pack wouldn't be bothering her, except it seemed like someone else had the same idea. The abandoned graveyard was no doubt overgrown. It only had a few graves, since it had been the very first territory that the first alpha of the pack - Tyr - had settled down in. They moved somewhere else not long after, Siv couldn't remember and realized her youths copious and comprehensive history lessons had been for nothing. The murals on the stones were simple, painted by the previous alphas mate, and Siv realized she had let them and all other art dwindle with little support during her reign. She sighed at yet another one of her failures in life. "Aska," she whispered as she read the name and looked at the stone and tried to make out the text etched into the rock, "the pack mourns our little sister." There was a sign on the stone, that looked much younger than the other text, and it jogged her memory. This was the very first grave that the pack ever dug, for a puppy named Aska. "Do you mind if I celebrate my birthday with you, Aska?" Siv said as she sat down next to the stone and looked up towards the sky. The full moon was peaking out from behind the tree tops, illuminating the world. Siv imagined how it would look reflected in the lake at Moonpond and sighed before turning her gaze to her companion. The mural was of a dark pup with white stripes, a very striking and unique look. "I wonder in what ways the world would've been different if you had grown up. There would be no stone for me to talk to, for one. Tyr must've liked you a lot," Siv found comfort in a sorrow so void of solution, so far removed from any kind of pain as everyone who ever mourned her had died long ago and moved on, "by now you're not even down there anymore, your body has become the grass and trees, hasn't it?" A chill went down Sivs spine when she heard a faint whine. Aska? She thought at first, but knew it would be impossible as Aska died more than thirty years ago. But there it was again, a whine from a puppy. Siv sniffed the air and the ground and started her search. On the other end of the small graveyard she found a bundle of pups still covered in goo from the birth. Siv started washing them, they were cold and their whines were faint. She gathered them up to warm them while cleaning them, and the pups reached for her teats. Siv let out a yip and jumped away. "Ah, you must be hungry. I have no milk for you.." she said to the pups before carefully putting the pups in her satchel and making her way to the closest society, Ember meadows. The abscence of Eldar was jarring as Bolla, the new leader of Ember, greeted her at the entrance.There were no nursing puppies in Ember meados, and Siv had to travel with the pups to Sinewy river. Thankfully they found a surrogate that could nurse the pups and sent out someone to find the herbalist. "Hmm," the herbalist, Klöving, always pondered for a while before speaking, as if plotting her next move, "I recognize that scent." She had examined the pups and was now busy sniffing them. Siv tried to join in. "What, what do you sense? Are they sick?" "No," Klöving paused as usual, "but they are from Gerds family. How strange, to travel so far to give birth." "I agree, It's more likely they're from Vår, or Ulls even if they don't look it. The wolves here swear they don't know the mother, though," Siv explained her hypothethis. "Alpha, they are from Gerds," Klöving sighed. "How do you know?" "Did you know," she smirked, "that the pack once had a teller who could see a wolfs whole familys past just with the scent of their fur?" "That's bullshit," Siv scoffed. "Believe it or not," Klöving sat up straight, "but I'm not lying. These pups smell just like the others at Craggy valley. Not to mention, look at this ones golden blaze." "What of it?" "You don't know family history?" Klöving sighed and shook her head, "Gerd had a golden blaze, Vår had a yellow blaze, Skade a silver one and Ull had a white one. The families followed suit." "Genetics depend on both parents, there could be a parent with a blaze involved," Siv inquired, "look at her, she's dark with brownish hints, just like Vår." "That's true, but I would bet my life that when these pups open up their eyes, they will be white as snow." Siv believed her, though the herbalist often spun lies, there was a certain hint in her eye when she did. She always wanted something out of it, and this time she wanted nothing, not even for Siv to believe her. But she did. Klöving had determined that the pups were newborn on the very day Siv had found them, and even though it was summer it had been a rather cold one, and the pups had been left too soon and for too long. One of the pups died. When the one remaining pup had grown enough to be weaned from the surrogate, Edla, she was to be transferred a two day long journey to her true home, Craggy valley, to be with her real family. The alpha left this responsibility to her subjects. - "How come this pup has no name?" Many months had passed, and the life of an alpha includes many responsibilities, many events t plan, many hunts to send out, and well, the happenings of her birthday had faded in her memory. "Well, alpha, we just dont know who the parents are," Tyra seemed ashamed. "Shouldn't someone else name her then?" "Well, yes," Tyra gulped as the alphas gaze met hers, "to name orhpan pups is the duty of the alpha.." Siv pricked her ears and looked away, clearing her throat. "I have been very busy," she said. "Of course," Tyra excused her. Siv spent the day at Craggy valley, surveying the inhabitants until she found someone who looked like the mother of the now adolescent pup. The female was a bit older, but presented her own pups, who were young adults. There was no way she could've had two litters that close together, so she was ruled out. But the female did look a lot like the pup. "She never sought me out, I would've accepted her as my own if she would've, but that pup seems to think she can do everything on her own," the female, Stina, told her, "and I have to admit, she's not wrong." Siv agreed. Every time she visited Craggy valley, this pup was by her heels ready to assist in anything, and Tyra herself had claimed that the pup basically ran half the territory. "Pup?" Siv approached her in the morning. "U-huh?" "I'm supposed to name you, so what would you like?" The pup was confused, and didn't seem to know what to choose, but neither did she accept Sivs suggestions. "I'm taking this pup with me," Siv announced to Tyra, who tried to protest but was shut down, "don't make me explain why." Tyra lowered her head, you don't oppose the alpha. "They have been taking good care of me, you know," the pup promised on their walk to Somnolents. "I'm sure they did." - |
⌘Tallbarr⌘ #29379 |
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Posted 2023-10-29 08:22:58 (edited)
Unnamed wolfSmoke and fire crept closer and closer. Cinder knew this was the end for him. But an angels voice reached him. Strong and clear. "Where are you? I can't scent you through the smoke." "Run," he coughed out. She emerged from the smoke and embers like a cool breeze. Her eyes were white but illuminated by the fire, like the snow around Ember meadows in the winter, he was almost scared she would melt away. "Your family is on their way to safety," she said as she started trying to push the log, which put pressure on Cinder and he groaned. "You should be on your way too," he breathed out, "you still have time." "I can't leave you here, you'll die," she didn't seem to care too much about his groans as she tried to figure out the situation with the log. "You too." "Then we'll do it together," suddenly Cinder felt the weight lift off of him. His ribs were sore - or maybe it was his lungs - but he stood up, looked at her and nodded. They both ran toward ember meadows, but the small fire had escalated into a bigger one and they were surrounded. The mysterious wolf led him through the fire, it burned but it got them out of there. - Cinder woke up without the memory of having swam across a river. "This is not good, this is where the fire came from, I can smell it," the other wolf was mumbling. Cinder looked around at the rolling green hills. It didn't look burnt. "This is.. grasslands," he said and the wolf looked back at him, "you did it, you saved me." In his extacy of surviving the fire, Cinder defied his aching ribs and made a few bounces of joy before jumping the other wolf. In the heat of the moment, after seeing her happy expression, they shared a kiss. - "Yeah, I'm feeling a lot better," Cinder admitted after they had rested in the grasslands for a few days. They had hunted birds together, gathered berries, found a safe cave by the river and made a fire to rest by. The unnamed wolf had continuously been picking berries and herbs to put in her slightly charred bag, but she also picked up small rocks and shiny things. Cinder didn't know how to tell her, but with his heart beating so fast he knew he was in love with his savior. If he was to judge the situation by the way she acted and the moments they had already shared, he would say she liked him too. "Tell me your name," he had asked her politely the other day and she hadn't really responded, this time he was a bit more demanding. The wolf looked ashamed. "I don't have a name," she sighed and looked like she was in pain. Cinder pondered for a few moments. "I know a story about a wolf without a name," he said and smiled mysteriously. It sparked the wolfs interest. And so he told her a story about the great Alpha Borg, who was the first alpha from Vårs family which was why he knew the story in the first place, but really it was the story of his unnamed mate. You see, there was once a pup who was born unwanted. A pair of wolves adopted her as her parents didn't want her, but her new parents sold her off to a different pack. Feeling defeated, the pup had run away and lived on her own, and that's why she didn't have a name. One day an unconscious wolf turned up on the beach. Not knowing it was Alpha Borg, she took care of him and he fell head over heels in love. They started sending love notes to eachother, and so she needed a name for him to adress her by, or so the story goes. And her name became Fåk, because she with her bright fur reminded Borg of a snowstorm. Cinder wondered to himself if he could name this wolf who he loved just like Borg and Fåk. Would he name her for her white icey eyes, the ones he saw when he thought he was going to die? When the bonfires at Ember meadows melt the surrounding snow, it gains a hard crust. Should he name her Skare? Cinder shook the thought away, he couldn't name a grown wolf. "Alpha Borg," the unnamed wolf remembered something from her time at Sinewy river, "I know his favourite song." "Sing it," Cinder requested. So she taught him the song, a song about being against odds and wanting to live alone and free in the forest. She liked the song, it made her feel right for choosing to leave the pack. It made Cinder think, maybe they could stay here forever. Live alone with eachother. - Cinder was heartbroken. Moons ago, he had decided to distance himself from the wolf who saved him from the fire when he found out she had a brother in Ulls family. "Why would that matter?" Lilljens scoffed. They were in Somnolents seat once again. Wolves were singing and trying to keep the mood up, but the days discussions had been disastrous. No one got along and everyone could feel the rifts tearing up the pack. "It's forbidden, wolves from the royal families can't be together," Cinder said, wondering if Jens didn't know. "Those are arbitrary rules now that we're barely a pack anymore," Jens' words sparked some hope in Cinder, who didn't know that Jens had his own personal issues with the matter. Lilljens didn't want the pack to fall apart, but there was no stopping it without an alpha to take charge. But things in Skades family weren't going so well either. They all loved their chief, Alva, but it was clear that she wanted Skades family to rule the pack. Skades family was the biggest family, the most organized and even almost worked as it's own separate pack. They had traditions and rules of their own. But most of Skades kin wanted to continue the cycling of the alphas, wanted to keep things as they had always been where all the families helped eachother. Once upon a time, a long time ago, a wolf named Himle was born to Skades family. He was an awful wolf, he was greedy and lusted for power. He killed many of his kin. When a wolf likened Alva to Himle, she was quick to bring up that Himles kin was still in their family, and everyone looked over to the only yellow eyed wolf in the family. She looked distraught. Himle was a long time ago, and they had since reconciled with Himles family and accepted them as their own. But it wasn't enough, apparently. Lilljens had talked to that wolf and gotten her story, and found out this reputation had plagued her ancestors as well. They had no real way of reintegrating into the family, they would always be Himles kin, so this female had decided that the line would end with her. Lilljens, being an older wolf at this point and having no mate yet, knew how to reunite the families. The two weren't in love, but they saw their chance to change their family for the better and they took it. "We need to move the pack," was the topic of todays meeting. Tyra, the chief of Gerds family, suggested they move to the mountains, away from the bears territory. All the wolves living in Craggy valley had been evacuated closer to Somnolents seat because of the bears. Bolla, the chief of Vårs family, suggested they all move closer to the river, away from the forest fires. All the wolves living in Ember meadows had been evacuated into Somnolents seat. Nilla, the chief of Ulls family, said that everyone was welcome to join them in Sinewy river. Ulls family didn't want to move at all, which very obviously bothered all the other families. Alva, the chief of Skades family, suggested that everyone move north. Their pack was big, they need the space that the north can provide, and it's far away from the fire. "The pack already lived in mountains before, we could move into the old territory and it's not that different from where we live now," Tyra said. "Bolla already agrees to move closer to the river, so we're already the majority over here," Nilla said and got a mean look from Bolla and Igulfrid. "You're just too lazy to move anywhere!" Igulfrid growled. Nilla pulled her ears back and looked away. "Aren't you all just too lazy to move north?" Alva sighed, "or are you that scared of a little snow?" - Klöving, the packs herbalist, used to travel to the four different territories. It took up most of her time, travelling back and forth to make sure everyone was fine, then rushing to various emergencies, and spending the rest of her time foraging and making medicine. She used to have a sister who could stand in for her when she needed a break, but she had moved away long ago. Now that the families had moved closer together, Klöving found herself with much more free time than before, so she started experimenting with potions and medicines, testing them on herself. Well, she stopped doing that when her pup was born with pink and blue fur, at least during pregnancy and while nursing. She also tried to investigate events that she found to be curious. The recent fires were one of them. She needed to document the old territory, if it was burned down or not. Walking through the butned trees she heard someone crying. When she saw her, she thought she needed help because she looked like she was covered in ashes. As she approached her she noticed that that's just what her fur looked like. The wolf was startled when Klöving asked if she was okay. "I don't know, it feels like it burns," the wolf breathed out. "Were you in the fire?" Klöving asked but then she saw that the wolf was crying, and started sobbing and struggling to breathe. "I can't do it anymore," she sobbed, "I'm.. I.. I'm going to die." "You're not dying," Klöving said and pulled out a bowl that she poured water in. She added some herbs to the water, "please drink this." The wolf drank the water while sobbing and it seemed to help to slow down her breathing. "What's going on?" The wolf curled into a ball and sounded weak. "You're having a panic attack," Klöving explained, "can you tell me what happened before this?" The wolf chuckled unconvincingly. "It's stupid," she said, "a wolf I like rejected me. Why do I feel like I'm dying because of that?" "It's not surprising given what you've been through," Klöving said, "come on, you might as well help me investigate these fires." The wolf stumbled after Klöving, her headache slowly receding and a bit woozy. Klöving was sniffing the ground and following some kind of trail. They searched all night, and the wolf realized pretty soon that Klöving just wanted to help reduce her anxiety by thinking about something else. "Can you scent that?" "Hmm," the wolf sniffed the air and the ground. It smelled like wolves, but not wolves she had met before, "yeah." "I think they're the reason the fires started. Might be an accident, might not," Klöving turned around and started walking back home. She still had duties, and could investigate more later. The wolf stopped among the rubble not far from the old territory. "Do you want to see it?" Klöving asked. "See what?" "The place where you were born." The burial grounds that once were covered by a lush forest were now surrounded by tall blackish grey, bare trees, and grey ashes, and the ground was black with soot and burned moss. The wolf stopped in front of a burial stone. She had never been to a graveyeard before. There was a rugged little painting on the stone, and text. "Aska," she whispered. "Aska was the first wolf ever buried in our pack," Klöving explained and the wolf looked at the stone in awe, "she was a puppy. Her parents didn't want her, and sold her for a piece of coal." "Ironic," the wolfs eyes started tearing up, "ashes to ashes.." Klöving hummed. "Stunning had a pup," the wolfs voice was shaking and she almost started crying, "but she left it with her family to continue travelling. She can't ever stay still, even for her own offspring. I.. I hate her for it. She's my friend and I hate her. I can't figure it out." "Your mother left you," Klövings words made the wolf look up in surprise and with questions, but Klöving continued, "and then you were left by the person who found you. Then you were taken away from your new mother, left to fend for yourself, weren't you?" "I was more than capable of taking care of myself.." she started but was interrupted. "Then when you finally found someone who cared for you, she died. Then you fell in love, and he rejected you," Klöving was straight forward with her therapy, "your mind can't handle any more abandoment." "How do you know so much about me?" "I saw you when you were a pup. The alpha told me where she found you and asked me where you came from. As a herbalist, my sense of smell is well trained and I keep track of everything that's going on," Klöving sat down, "your mother didn't want to have pups, so she tried to have them where no one would find them." The two wolves sat by Askas grave, covered by ashes and coal, for quite some time. "Do you know.. more things about me?" The wolf asked carefully. "It was a full moon night. I know this because alpha Siv always visited her family on a full moon, and all her family was looking for her, but this full moon was her birthday and she always hid away on her birthday," Klöving said, and then chuckled, "Alpha Siv was talking to Aska here, when suddenly she replied from beyond the grave." "She did?" "That's what the alpha thought," Klöving laughed softly, "but then she realized it was just you." "Huh. Is Aska well known by the pack?" She asked. "Not really. We have record of her, but she was a puppy and no one knew her parents. She has no legacy left behind. Now it's just the oldest burial stone from our pack." From that day, the unnamed wolf couldn't let go of Aska. The place of her own birth, the final resting place of the little pup, now reduced to ashes. Aska. - The chiefs couldn't come to an agreement, and the pack was dissolved. What used to be Tyrs Härd, a great big territory consisting of five settlements, turned into four separate packs. Klöving, the former pack herbalist, settled down somewhere in reach of the four packs. "You're still going to help everyone out?" Aska smiled at her, but Klöving scoffed. "This is a great business opportunity for me, they will have to pay me for medicine and treatment," she seemed satisfied with herself. "They're just going to recruit their own herbalists though," Aska rolled her eyes. "Uh-huh, and who do you think those herbalists will be?" Klöving smirked. Aska looked down at the puppy she was playing with. Her and her older brother were already being taught by Klöving, "I just need two more." - "Why is she staring at me?" Aska whispered to Klöving and tried not to stare back at the unsettling puppy. "She's not staring at you, she can't see you," Klöving said and kept flipping the pages of her book, "she's blind." Klöving seemed annoyed. "Oh, that's too bad.." Aska studied the golden markings on the puppies fur, who was still creepily staring right at them from a distance, "you can help her?" "No," Klöving whispered, "there's no cure for blindness. There's no medicine for this." "Your first customer isn't going too well then," Aska snickered at her. When the pups family came back, things sounded much different though. "There is no medicine for this," Klöving started, truthfully, but continued in another manner, "but the markings are working. You need to bring her to me every ten days for treatment." "How long until she's cured?" The mother sounded worried. "No, she will never be able to see. But she will be able to traverse the world as if she could see, with the spiritual help of the markings, as well as spiritual guidance from me," Klövings confidence was beaming, "it may take several moons." The mother was overjoyed, and paid Klöving a hefty sum before leaving with the pup. Klöving looked pleased with herself. "Spiritual guidance?" Aska repeated Klövings own words. "They need something to believe in, and I need to be able to feed my pups," the herbalist sat down with her book again, but glanced up at aska, "you'll need to find a way to feed yours, too." - She was so quiet. Introspective. She seemed to judge everything around her but never reveal anything out loud. Was it a part of Klövings training? "Your pups are very.. interesting," Sindra had said. The blind wolf was still visiting the herbalist after her training was finished when she became an adult. "What do you mean?" Aska found herself trying to avoid eye contact, which she realized was unnecessary. "I can't scent which family they're from," Sindra hummed. Aska didn't respond, but she didn't seem to mind, "I can tell they're yours, and you're definitely from Gerds, so.." "They haven't accepted me and I haven't been there for years. I wasn't born there. There's no way you could scent them on me," Aska burst out. "That's not how it works. Your scent comes from your body, not from physical closeness to others," Sindra scoffed, "I can scent who are related biologically to eachother." Aska became quiet as she pondered this, but Sindra didn't seem finished. "It's very taboo for two wolves descended from Tyr to mate with eachother," Sindra said and couldn't see the mean look she got from Aska, she sneered and shook her head, "it's like siblings mating." Aska got up on her feet and growled, but Sindra was ready to defend herself. The two circled eachother. Aska was going to defend her actions, say that the father of her pups was so far removed from her on the family tree they may as well not be related at all, but she realized that Sindra already knew that. If she could scent who is related to one another, surely she knew that. It was strange, facing up against a wolf whos gaze you couldn't catch. As Aska realized Sindra was only trying to get a rise out of her, Askas nerves relaxed unnoticably to normal wolves, but very noticable to Sindra who sighed audibly and turned around to leave. - Like something out of a love story, she found him playing with her pups in the clearing one day. It was obvious he had been hunting and her pups were interrupting. "Pups! Don't bother him!" Aska ran up to them. "Oh they're not bothering me, they just want to do what all the other wolves do," and Aska noticed by how he talked to them they were gaining confidence, he treated them like equals, not little pups who couldn't do anything. Crow was handsome, funny, charming, and amazing with the pups. Aska started imagining their life together, raising her pups together, maybe having more.. Until "I was sent to look for you by my mate," Crow said, effectively breaking her heart, "well, I think it's you. She said that the wolf I was looking for had no name." "How strange, a wolf without a name," Aska pretended and gathered her pups to go back to the den. Crow followed her. "A bit strange. Maybe she got it wrong?" Crow inquired. "Well there are wolves without names," Aska tried to direct him elsewhere, to continue his search. Crow left her alone, but stayed in the area, even chatting with Klöving and the herbalist pups. The next day Sindra visited again and was bothering her, more subtly this time. Aska was ignoring her, acting like a spoiled pup with attention issues wasn't going to get a rise out of her. Spoiled pup.. Aska thought to herself and remembered what Crow had said. She stood up and faced Sindra with a real growl. "Aska, stop that-" Klöving tried. "She's picking a fight. If she wants a fight, I'll give her one." "You're being ridiculous, she's blind for gods sake!" Klöving huffed. If Sindra hadn't been blind, Aska would have shot her a look, a look asking "so, are you in?" but she couldn't. Aska watched Sindras nose as it took in various scents. "She doesn't want to be treated like a little pup anymore, she wants to do what every other wolf does," and that day Sindra had her first fight, though it wasn't serious Aska didn't hold back. They tumbled down a hill together, and Aska won the fight. That day, Aska heard Sindra laugh sweetly for the first time. Finally someone treated her like a normal wolf. Continue reading |
⌘Tallbarr⌘ #29379 |
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Posted 2024-02-15 13:25:24 (edited)
Aska"You have to face them sooner or later," Aska repeated the herbalists words to herself. It was one of the last things Klöving had told her before she died. Klövings plan to have four herbalists working with the four families with their base roughly in the center of them wasn't going too well. She did have four pups, all with talent for healing, it was her clients that were the problem. Clients from Skades family came very seldom in the beginning, but at this point they hadn't seen a wolf of Skades descent in years. Clients came from Ulls family, but the herbalist tasked with checking in on them couldn't find their territory anymore, they must've moved further south, beyond the river. "This is doomed," Klöving had said, "we won't be able to deal with this situation much longer." Without telling them quite what was going on, Klöving sent her four pups to find the four families, which were now considered four separate packs, and become their pack herbalists. Aska was shocked, as Klöving had set up this operation specifically to make more profit. A pack herbalist makes no profit at all, they simply serve their pack as any other wolf would. Aska didn't have to wonder, though, because Sindra whispered to her. "She's getting old," and Aska understood, even though Klöving seemed selfish she must've had a heart after all, she wanted to secure her pups futures. It wasn't safe to live as a lone wolf, especially a lone wolf that specialized in healing rather than hunting. Any wolf can hunt, only few can heal, she would tell her pups. Yet, they would've starved without Aska providing food for them with her hunting skills. "I can't find Sindra, have you seen her?" Aska came to the herbalist one day. "She doesn't live here anymore, she moved back to her family," Klövings voice wasn't quite what it used to be anymore as she heaved out the words, "and so will you." And that was what Aska was doing now. Though she had the thought to just go live with her brother in Ulls family, Klöving had been very adamant and used Askas pups as guilt to get her to go to her real home, as her pups had moved in with Askas biological family, the descendants of Gerd. After all these years, she was still scared to meet them again, the ones she used to call family. Her son, Manta, had met her half way and was helping her find the way through the rocks, cliffs, and trees. |
⌘Tallbarr⌘ #29379 |