Post by helsnow on Aug 12, 2011 21:20:02 GMT -5
Helaku - Male Wolf
Niyt - Female Wolf
Anoki - Male Wolf (Juv).
Location: Curling Creek
----
Helaku
The grass swayed in the wind along the Curling Creek, the place Helaku designated for the private talk he wished to have with both Niyt and Anoki regarding the current situation. Too many wolves appeared at the last talk for him to mention anything; while not intentionally deceiving any of the Ute, this was not an Ute concern he wished to address...not entirely. The loner wolf sat in the grass, ears down and eyes shut as he awated the arrival of his new companions. The sun set, twilight arose. Night was his preferred time.
Niyt
The resting here, coming unexpectedly after so much exertion, actually has Niyt feeling a little stiff and eager to stretch her legs. So, she's rather glad to be coming toward the bank where Helaku said he'd be waiting at a slow pace, along with her brother. She's not about to let him out of her - well, not sight, exactly, but regardless, she's keeping him close as she heads to the creek for this meeting.
Anoki
Anoki's legs have been restless. His pace, however, is slow, and pained, because his feet still hurt. He's following Niyt, slowly, and reluctant. he liked laying under the apple tree, and he liked seeing other puppies. if he wasn't in so much pain about his feet, and his sister wasn't so worried about losing him again, something that's palpable around her, he'd be wanting to run off and play with the other pups! But.. Niyt wanted to go meet with a strange wolf, and Niyt wanted him to come, so come Anoki does.
Helaku
Helaku's ears erected when the two siblings drew near and soon his white eyes gazed upon them. Hopefully one of the Ute didn't try to follow them; he half-expected one would due to certain blood having mixed in with the pack but that wouldn't have been a fault of theirs. The grass is soft here," he said. "You'll enjoy rolling in it, sitting in it, lying in it." Ironically, this was the same seren place where he and Wyanet almost became...violently physical and yet also the same place Bodhi once spoke to him. The later made is more welcoming as a spot to have a discussion.
Niyt
Niyt keeps her pace slow enough for hurt-pawed puppy, pausing from time to time to nuzzle at him gently. As Helaku calls to them, her ears perk, and she nods. She lowers her head to Anoki, and says with a smile, "Krisha would approve. Maybe you can tell her all about it." Then she lifts her head toward Helaku again. "You said you had something you wanted to talk about?"
Anoki
Ears lay back, and Anoki whines, "Aw, do I /gotta/? Krisha is .. weeeeird." Anoki voices, though really, deep down, he wants to see his sister again so he can chew her ears and wrassle with her, and tell her to be good, and stuff like that. He sighs, though, one step at a time he comes to the soft grass, and waits for Niyt to stop walking before he collapses to lick at his paws and try to work she soreness from them.
Helaku
Direct and the point--Helaku liked that. He faced Niyt and Anoki with his fullest attention, like that an Alpha would give to any subject within a pack. "I may have fulfilled my birth-destiny of becoming Alpha, but I was still raised accordingly," he said. "And accordingly, I will act as one should to those who are my responsibility...yourself and little Anoki, Niyt." He raised onto his paws and came forward, stopping a short distance from the two. It was a chance for them to learn a little more about him, away from any prying eyes and ears. "That being you are my responsbility...you both have been through much and much would seem to prepare happenings in this territory. My concern is how well the both of you are after being lost and on a hard journey."
Niyt
Complaining about sisters is an important part of being a puppy. Niyt just smiles at Anoki's objections. Even just hearing him whine again is kind of pleasant... for now. She'll probably get tired of it again before long. She sits down just as soon as she's a reasonable talking distance from Helaku, and lets her brother rest as well. The mild exercise is probably actually good for the proper healing of Anoki's paws... even if it does hurt. When Helaku begins to speak, she gives him her attention. "You may act as an Alpha, Helaku," she replies. "But you are not /my/ Alpha." Her tone is a rebuke, but a gentle one; and after a moment, she smiles. "Your concern is kind, however. As for myself... the rest has done much. The return of my brother... more." She tilts her head to where the sound of his paw-licking comes from, smiling at the sound as she also considers his condition.
Anoki
Ears fold back at the older woof, and Anoki answers much like Niyt: "You ain't muh daddy or my uncle Tariro, so you don't got no charga me." ... Well, pups answer things differently. He also seems kinda grumpy over his paws, but he's allowed to be so there. He grooms fastidiously, until he feels like he can stand again, limp closer to Niyt, and flop over at her side, closer to her, resting his head on her shoulder, nose pointed up to the sky for the angle and his side. "An' I just wanner make sure Kachina is okay and I don't gotta go back in the Bad Hole again."
Helaku
Helaku chuckled softly. "Of course, I never meant that I was /your/ Alpha...only in the regard that I see to your well being," he answered. His voice didn't raise or twist into some malformed tone. Rather, he sounded content. "As far as I am concerned, you are the authority on the three of us, Niyt." His white eyes darted to Anoki to whom he offered a warm smile on his snout. "No one will force you to return to the Bad Hole, Anoki." And then he angled his attention back to the blind one. "If you do not feel fatigued, then my concern is put to rest. But then there's Anoki. Admirable it is you, Anoki, wish to aid Kachina, but your paws are weathered. Would you wish remain here with the Ute until the missing pup matter is resolved, or to eventually attempt a return to the Cerulean? Either one might be rough. Again, what you both wish to do, I will follow. I thought it best to ask your honest thoughts in private."
Niyt
( Anoki is totally allowed to be as grumpy as he wants. Niyt smiles as his answer echoes hers, more or less, and then her ears stay perked to the sound of his limping. The pattern of his paws against the ground... no, all is not as it should be, there. And while he's still a pup, he's not so little as to be carried around. Even if his dignity would allow it, he's too heavy. When he reaches her and leans against her, she leans her head over and noses at him lightly. She nods to her brother's assessment. "Yes. We have to save the others, and stop the bad people." Same thing. At Helaku's suggestion, though, her face grows troubled. "We can take the way home slowly," she says, but that's not what troubles her. Leave Anoki here? Lose him again? Kind as these Ute wolves have been... she only just found him! What if something else happens? The thought alone almost panics her. But he is injured. And there are other pups here. He could have friends. But... butbutbut... )
Anoki
Ears lay back, and Anoki stares at Helaku, his yellow eyes wide and appraising. he honestly isn't too sure what to make of this elder wolf, but he's also not sure he /wants/ to. He sniffs. "I ain't scared of the way home. I ain't scared of stayin' here. But I dunno if you can find the Bad Hole without me.. Niyt can't c'os there's no spirits there to help lead her, I know that! I dunno about the other woofs here. Maybe they could follow the way I came. But I'd haffa show them them the bad hole, and I don't think Kachina would go with anyone if I wasn't there lessen it was her momma."
Helaku
There was exactly what Helaku needed, and why he wanted this talk to be private. With the Ute involved, they'd likely make some suggestion to influence Niyt and Anoki's decisions before they could even process them. If only Skelaghe still lived, then that might not be the case. Hinto...he spoke like her, but he wasn't her. Helaku took a moment to consider both of their words. "Brave young one you are, Anoki," he said with a smile. "You'll grow up to be big and strong." Niyt, however, Helaku regarded with a tad more seriousness, kind seriousness. "As slowly as you need, but remember Winter still approaches. I see you're at a crossroad of what to decide. It is for that reason I am acting the role I am at this moment. There is no right or wrong decision, only what you feel is best for yourself and Anoki and by extension, the Ute."
Niyt
As her brother speaks, Niyt's panic ebbs. He wants to come. Well, maybe not wants to, exactly, but he thinks it's important, and he should. That's enough. She'll help him as much as she can, while his paws heal, but... he'll come. She can keep him close to her, and as safe as she can possibly manage. She lets out a ragged breath, and then takes a calmer one. "And we still don't know where her mama is," she agrees, then listens to Helaku's words. She shakes her head, having regained her calm, now. "We are not Ute. We are Cerulean. Perhaps that will change, but it has not. Our packs are allies, yes. We will travel together to stop the bad thing. When that is over..." She trails off, considering. "If winter comes too quickly, perhaps we may ask to remain as guests with Ute. Or for aid in travel. Why decide that now?" She smiles slightly. "Perhaps we will find the bad hole is closer to Cerulean's lands than Ute's, and Ute will winter with us."
Anoki
Thinking without thinking, Anoki shuffles a little, and in his movement, tries to climb onto Niyt's back like he once did his daddy's back. "Don't gotter walk if Niyt is here," he mutters softly, as he recounts Helaku's concern of his paws, "I kin' ride onner back like I does daddy's back. And we need daddy anywya, he's the hugest woof in the world, he kin' make the Bad Ones stop being bad better n' anyone." He pauses, catching at the nape of Niyt's neck to keep from sliding down, tiny teeth tugging at her fur, but not really long enough to do injury. "Besides.." he pauses, then peers over her head. "You don't seem to like bein' Ute, mister. You were talkin' to that other woof about things being bad. Why don'cha make your own pack..?"
Helaku
"No, You are not Ute. I am Ute, yet am not Ute," said Helaku. "But I forewarn you Niyt...Ute suffers from many problems they tend to not make outsiders aware. It is no fault of their own--trouble continuously finds its way among Ute, especially with the original members having passed." He inched closer to Niyt with the same reserve he'd shown since they first met. "Allies, yes. I'd rather not see their internal troubles consuming either of you. I just ask that you know when to draw a line on how involved you become. They are good wolves, but you are Cerulean in the end." Hard diplomacy, something which Alphas had to deal with constantly. "I'm not trying to steer you in any certain direction, Niyt. Merely, I try to prevent repeats of history that ended bad for all." At Anoki's question, the male smiled again. "Ute has a philosophy that has...begun coming apart with successive generations. Askuwheteau informed me that not many follow the traditions any longer....a lot of nasty complicated big wolf things, Anoki, that happened before you were born. I don't make my own pack because no wolf sees me as a leader."
Niyt
Niyt shifts herself a little to help her brother scramble up on top of her. She's a rather more challenging mount than their father - much more slender. But she knows that trick well, not because Anoki's done it to her, but because /she/ did it, on her great-uncle Lexus. Being the mount is a bit different than being the rider, but... she can figure it out. She smiles, even when his teeth nip for a moment. She probably can't run, but with a bit of practice... a lope should be possible. And a slow lope with a guide is likely far better than a fast run with no idea where to go. "Daddy..." she begins, and then sighs. "We'll see." Her ears splay, though they perk to Helaku's words. "It would be hard to miss the arguments," she admits with a smile. "But I will judge them for myself. As for their history and traditions... why should it matter? When our father was a pup, there was no Cerulean. Only Lazuli and Viridian. Each their own pack. Each with their own philosophy. My litter was the first to be truly Cerulean. Wolves move on. Let the pack be what it must be to the wolves who are part of it."
Anoki
Anoki continues to peer over Niyt's head at Helaku warily, then he ask, "If they don't think you're a good leader, why do you act like you are one? If you aren't a leader, doesn't that mean you don't gotter be serious alla time? If I don't gotter be leader I ain't never gonner be serious alla time." He says this, though seconds after turns somewhat serious as he looks at his sister and frowns: "Niyt, why do people gotta argue anyway? Can't we all just play the way we want? Like Krisha. I never yell at her for bein' Queen of da Grass.. I just tell her I'mma big ole' monster and I'mma eeter." His tail jerks slightly in thought-- because he doesn't think he's gonna be eetchooin anyone for a while. he almost got etted, and it wasn't fun..
Helaku
"I know too little of the modern Ute to accurately judge them, to be honest," he admitted. "But what I see is surely what the originators would not have wanted the pack to be. It was the sole idea of Ute, the Sun known as Tobba, that made Ute distinguishable from other packs; that it would act as other packs wouldn't. There's...no way I can explain this without sounding callous to certain individuals I knew when I was younger. It is likely best left unspoken." This was becoming hard to explain. Outsides wouldn't understand it, the unity Ute had before 'her'. Outsiders came in. Abel did not become Alpha, nor Aquene...Ute blood did not become Alpha. Wyanet ruined it all. Everything. Her and her warrior ways...the bear stole his chance by killing her. As calm as Helaku was before Niyt and Anoki, the wind foretold otherwise. The only thing Helaku ever gained being close to Ute was pain, more pain, and more pain on top of that, even if the moments he had with Skelaghe were among the best. Fortunately, Anoki's question distracted him from such negative thoughts. "Remember bad animals doing bad things, young one? I've met many. That is why." He spoke as gentle as he could and then put some distance between them. "Oh...the water here is very clear and cold if you want a drink."
Niyt
Niyt smiles a little as Anoki continues to ask the somewhat impertinent questions. He's allowed to. He's just a puppy, after all. And she's rather enjoying getting to hear the answers! "Even leaders don't have to be serious all the time. I remember you and uncle Tariro playing in the mud!" She smiles more, at the memory - and of how long mama was cleaning her brother off! Then it's her turn to get a hard question. Why People Argue. That's nearly as hard as Why Bad Things Happen or Why Death. She tries to put together the answer - and to make sense of Helaku's words. But she can't, not really. There's too much she doesn't know, and too much difference of philosophy. Anoki's question is actually easier. "Arguments aren't about people being bad. It's like... if mama wanted to give Krisha a bath, and she didn't want one. Only... about all sorts of things." Of course, in the bath argument, the puppy always loses, but...
Anoki
"That's not an argument," Pffts Anoki, "if I don't wanna bath I still get one anyway! ... only it.. won't be mommy now.. It'll be you or Uncle Tariro.." He frowns, laying his head down between her ears in thought at this. He feels a wee bit angry about not getting to say goodbye to his momma now. And there's.. something in the wind that doesn't feel right. Something that's just kinda off. He wrinkles his nose a bit at this, and then, sliding his head slightly to the side and lifting a paw to join it on Niyt's head, he asks, "... How come that silly Assukweetoo keeps talking about how the Bad Things are going to suffer? I don't want them to suffer. I Just want them to stop being Bad."
Helaku
Helaku leaned down to drink from the creek as he listened to the other two. there was so much volume here for him and he couldn't release any of it. The current Ute were not at fault or to blame. If there was something he could say, it was to Anoki's question. "Askuwheteau...likely Wyanet's pup. Wyanet was...putting it lightly...feisty creature...whenever someone riled her. It is a trait passed down. There are always two sides to a story...Askuwheteau is only seeing one. If we find the animals responsible and everyone is safe...and he continues to seek his vengeance, I will step in his way to prevent it...because that is what an Ute would do."
Niyt
Niyt's ears splay as Anoki finishes out that thought and rests his head between them. "Some arguments are doomed," she offers - but some of the cheerful mood has been lost. Her ear flicks at Helaku's words. She knows nothing of parentage, but... "You are both wrong. Askuwheteau is too cruel in his thoughts. But some things are simply bad. There is no reason good enough to save them. The ends do not justify the means. If they are so sick in their heads to think that stealing pups is okay, then they should be killed, the same way a creature with the foaming-madness should be killed. But to kill a sick and wounded creature is mercy."
Anoki
"... But isn't that ... what you're doing?" Asks the pup, in thought, listening to the wind as he does so. He's slowly getting an idea of something about this Helaku fellow. "You only see your side of things.. when it comes to the Ute.. And your side is that they're like, all wrong and arguey and stuff. That's the only side we've seen, too," he says, looking to Niyt. "Maybe there's another side, an' the only reason we ain't seen it yet is c'os like, the Bad Ones took Askyoowanna's little brother?" He considers. "Or because the snake bit Keaughe and she died..." he frowns as Niyt calls the other wolf, this Askifyouwanna guy, cruel. He doesn't think he's that word. Whatever it means. He thinks he's still. "He gotta right to be angry c'os they got his li'ul brother. An' if it's c'os of his sister, then it's just him not knowing how to be sad the right way."
Helaku
She wouldn't know that. Helaku reminded himself...she wouldn't know that. Her words froze him at the water's edge. He didn't hear anything said by Anoki after 'those' words. She didn't know, Niyt didn't know. Thus arose the chronologist's clock once again in memory, its ticking sound driving back the seasons to when he first came to the new Ute land before he ever knew Skelaghe. He wasn't known as Helaku II back then, but a different name. He came all that way, months, only to learn what happened to Alpha Helaku. The retracing of that moment sank heavily in the wind, as if something punched a hole through it. Everything about Helaku's presence was thrown askew by it. The memory tore at him so much his fur subtly prickled as he breathed and calmly took another sip from the stream. Niyt didn't know...remember that. If only he could turn back time like he could within his head.
Niyt
For all Niyt is aware, Helaku has only gone silent. She can't see him startle and freeze. So she simply tries to answer her little brother. "Askuwheteau thinks about doing mean things. Cruel things. If he just thinks them, that's okay. It's okay to get mad. But if he actually does those mean things, that would be bad. We would understand why, but they would still be bad things. We would be scared, and angry, and worry that he was going to turn bad all the way, if he actually did them. But we hope that he won't, and that we'll get to see a different side of him, too, once his brother is safe."
Anoki
Bobbing his head at the answer, slightly, Anoki just shakes his head. he doesn't HAVE to understand all this now! He's a kid! But sadly, he kind of does. "So like.. When I think Krisha is a poopyhead c'os she tells on me, it's okay to think it, but I can't call her that c'os it's bad and would hurt her feelin's?" He asks, trying to equate and failing some. He winkles his nose again. And while Niyt does not notice the subtle changes, Anoki, being a child, and always paranoid to the subtlties of behaviour in adults, perks his ears, and peers at Helaku warily, before sliding back down Niyt's back to her shoulders, and mumbling, ".. Niyt when can we go back to the tree, I liked it there.."
Helaku
Helaku's silence continued. How was he to speak without giving away the impact of what Niyt said? She had enough on her mind as it was without having to worry about his own well being. The wolf stared off into space, into his reflection and further to nothing. These were all new wolves. Where was everyone? Oh, yes...they're all dead and gone. Aquene, gone. Skelaghe, gone. Ixkin, gone. Bodhi, gone. Abel...gone too. Rowtag, nowhere to be found. Crescendo and Quidel, likewise. Perhaps he should go back 'there', to the ancient lands again. No, he couldn't leave Niyt and Anoki alone, but father was there...or at least his skeleton was, along with his father's Alpha who committed suicide in the lake. Despite how dead the land was, he didn't feel so misplaced there. All of this processed through his mind as he calmly lapped the water. His younger self would have snapped all ready over those words and yet he felt like he hadn't changed at all.
Niyt
"That's right, says Niyt to Anoki. A very different scale, but the same principle. Helaku's silence continues, and when her brother asks to return to the tree, she smiles. "How about now?" After all, the discussion seems to be over... and perhaps he can play with some of those other puppies. She raises her voice slightly. "Thank you for your concern, Helaku. We'll speak again later." With that, she turns and slowly pads off, trying to find the proper gait to walk with a little brother clinging to her back.
Anoki
"Okay. I wanna try eatin' onna them round things at th' bottom of the tree, too. They smell funny, but not bad to eat funny," Anoki says, of crab apples, before he snaps again for a clump of fur on the back of his sister's neck as an attempt to anchor himself from slipping as she moves. Slowly, though, he gets the hang of it and lets go, grinning proudly at himself. "See? I toldja I could sit on yer back like I does Daddeh." he says, proudly.
Helaku
And off went the company. It was a life a repeats, or a scratched disc on a broken phonograph, which he remembered from his time with the humans. After all he said, the more he felt there was nothing here for him. No one to honestly speak with. He knew...no one. Ever since his birthpack sent him on that ill-fated mission to find Alpha Helaku, life had been this way. Find a pack, get to know members, get shunned away. Find a pack, get to know members, become upset and have no outlet. Find, lose. Find, lose. He refused to make his own problems something others had to deal with. That's all that ever happened. He'd find something to support and soon after, something would trigger these feelings. He didn't give Niyt any response except the splashing of his legs as he made to cross the river in the opposite direction.
Niyt - Female Wolf
Anoki - Male Wolf (Juv).
Location: Curling Creek
----
Helaku
The grass swayed in the wind along the Curling Creek, the place Helaku designated for the private talk he wished to have with both Niyt and Anoki regarding the current situation. Too many wolves appeared at the last talk for him to mention anything; while not intentionally deceiving any of the Ute, this was not an Ute concern he wished to address...not entirely. The loner wolf sat in the grass, ears down and eyes shut as he awated the arrival of his new companions. The sun set, twilight arose. Night was his preferred time.
Niyt
The resting here, coming unexpectedly after so much exertion, actually has Niyt feeling a little stiff and eager to stretch her legs. So, she's rather glad to be coming toward the bank where Helaku said he'd be waiting at a slow pace, along with her brother. She's not about to let him out of her - well, not sight, exactly, but regardless, she's keeping him close as she heads to the creek for this meeting.
Anoki
Anoki's legs have been restless. His pace, however, is slow, and pained, because his feet still hurt. He's following Niyt, slowly, and reluctant. he liked laying under the apple tree, and he liked seeing other puppies. if he wasn't in so much pain about his feet, and his sister wasn't so worried about losing him again, something that's palpable around her, he'd be wanting to run off and play with the other pups! But.. Niyt wanted to go meet with a strange wolf, and Niyt wanted him to come, so come Anoki does.
Helaku
Helaku's ears erected when the two siblings drew near and soon his white eyes gazed upon them. Hopefully one of the Ute didn't try to follow them; he half-expected one would due to certain blood having mixed in with the pack but that wouldn't have been a fault of theirs. The grass is soft here," he said. "You'll enjoy rolling in it, sitting in it, lying in it." Ironically, this was the same seren place where he and Wyanet almost became...violently physical and yet also the same place Bodhi once spoke to him. The later made is more welcoming as a spot to have a discussion.
Niyt
Niyt keeps her pace slow enough for hurt-pawed puppy, pausing from time to time to nuzzle at him gently. As Helaku calls to them, her ears perk, and she nods. She lowers her head to Anoki, and says with a smile, "Krisha would approve. Maybe you can tell her all about it." Then she lifts her head toward Helaku again. "You said you had something you wanted to talk about?"
Anoki
Ears lay back, and Anoki whines, "Aw, do I /gotta/? Krisha is .. weeeeird." Anoki voices, though really, deep down, he wants to see his sister again so he can chew her ears and wrassle with her, and tell her to be good, and stuff like that. He sighs, though, one step at a time he comes to the soft grass, and waits for Niyt to stop walking before he collapses to lick at his paws and try to work she soreness from them.
Helaku
Direct and the point--Helaku liked that. He faced Niyt and Anoki with his fullest attention, like that an Alpha would give to any subject within a pack. "I may have fulfilled my birth-destiny of becoming Alpha, but I was still raised accordingly," he said. "And accordingly, I will act as one should to those who are my responsibility...yourself and little Anoki, Niyt." He raised onto his paws and came forward, stopping a short distance from the two. It was a chance for them to learn a little more about him, away from any prying eyes and ears. "That being you are my responsbility...you both have been through much and much would seem to prepare happenings in this territory. My concern is how well the both of you are after being lost and on a hard journey."
Niyt
Complaining about sisters is an important part of being a puppy. Niyt just smiles at Anoki's objections. Even just hearing him whine again is kind of pleasant... for now. She'll probably get tired of it again before long. She sits down just as soon as she's a reasonable talking distance from Helaku, and lets her brother rest as well. The mild exercise is probably actually good for the proper healing of Anoki's paws... even if it does hurt. When Helaku begins to speak, she gives him her attention. "You may act as an Alpha, Helaku," she replies. "But you are not /my/ Alpha." Her tone is a rebuke, but a gentle one; and after a moment, she smiles. "Your concern is kind, however. As for myself... the rest has done much. The return of my brother... more." She tilts her head to where the sound of his paw-licking comes from, smiling at the sound as she also considers his condition.
Anoki
Ears fold back at the older woof, and Anoki answers much like Niyt: "You ain't muh daddy or my uncle Tariro, so you don't got no charga me." ... Well, pups answer things differently. He also seems kinda grumpy over his paws, but he's allowed to be so there. He grooms fastidiously, until he feels like he can stand again, limp closer to Niyt, and flop over at her side, closer to her, resting his head on her shoulder, nose pointed up to the sky for the angle and his side. "An' I just wanner make sure Kachina is okay and I don't gotta go back in the Bad Hole again."
Helaku
Helaku chuckled softly. "Of course, I never meant that I was /your/ Alpha...only in the regard that I see to your well being," he answered. His voice didn't raise or twist into some malformed tone. Rather, he sounded content. "As far as I am concerned, you are the authority on the three of us, Niyt." His white eyes darted to Anoki to whom he offered a warm smile on his snout. "No one will force you to return to the Bad Hole, Anoki." And then he angled his attention back to the blind one. "If you do not feel fatigued, then my concern is put to rest. But then there's Anoki. Admirable it is you, Anoki, wish to aid Kachina, but your paws are weathered. Would you wish remain here with the Ute until the missing pup matter is resolved, or to eventually attempt a return to the Cerulean? Either one might be rough. Again, what you both wish to do, I will follow. I thought it best to ask your honest thoughts in private."
Niyt
( Anoki is totally allowed to be as grumpy as he wants. Niyt smiles as his answer echoes hers, more or less, and then her ears stay perked to the sound of his limping. The pattern of his paws against the ground... no, all is not as it should be, there. And while he's still a pup, he's not so little as to be carried around. Even if his dignity would allow it, he's too heavy. When he reaches her and leans against her, she leans her head over and noses at him lightly. She nods to her brother's assessment. "Yes. We have to save the others, and stop the bad people." Same thing. At Helaku's suggestion, though, her face grows troubled. "We can take the way home slowly," she says, but that's not what troubles her. Leave Anoki here? Lose him again? Kind as these Ute wolves have been... she only just found him! What if something else happens? The thought alone almost panics her. But he is injured. And there are other pups here. He could have friends. But... butbutbut... )
Anoki
Ears lay back, and Anoki stares at Helaku, his yellow eyes wide and appraising. he honestly isn't too sure what to make of this elder wolf, but he's also not sure he /wants/ to. He sniffs. "I ain't scared of the way home. I ain't scared of stayin' here. But I dunno if you can find the Bad Hole without me.. Niyt can't c'os there's no spirits there to help lead her, I know that! I dunno about the other woofs here. Maybe they could follow the way I came. But I'd haffa show them them the bad hole, and I don't think Kachina would go with anyone if I wasn't there lessen it was her momma."
Helaku
There was exactly what Helaku needed, and why he wanted this talk to be private. With the Ute involved, they'd likely make some suggestion to influence Niyt and Anoki's decisions before they could even process them. If only Skelaghe still lived, then that might not be the case. Hinto...he spoke like her, but he wasn't her. Helaku took a moment to consider both of their words. "Brave young one you are, Anoki," he said with a smile. "You'll grow up to be big and strong." Niyt, however, Helaku regarded with a tad more seriousness, kind seriousness. "As slowly as you need, but remember Winter still approaches. I see you're at a crossroad of what to decide. It is for that reason I am acting the role I am at this moment. There is no right or wrong decision, only what you feel is best for yourself and Anoki and by extension, the Ute."
Niyt
As her brother speaks, Niyt's panic ebbs. He wants to come. Well, maybe not wants to, exactly, but he thinks it's important, and he should. That's enough. She'll help him as much as she can, while his paws heal, but... he'll come. She can keep him close to her, and as safe as she can possibly manage. She lets out a ragged breath, and then takes a calmer one. "And we still don't know where her mama is," she agrees, then listens to Helaku's words. She shakes her head, having regained her calm, now. "We are not Ute. We are Cerulean. Perhaps that will change, but it has not. Our packs are allies, yes. We will travel together to stop the bad thing. When that is over..." She trails off, considering. "If winter comes too quickly, perhaps we may ask to remain as guests with Ute. Or for aid in travel. Why decide that now?" She smiles slightly. "Perhaps we will find the bad hole is closer to Cerulean's lands than Ute's, and Ute will winter with us."
Anoki
Thinking without thinking, Anoki shuffles a little, and in his movement, tries to climb onto Niyt's back like he once did his daddy's back. "Don't gotter walk if Niyt is here," he mutters softly, as he recounts Helaku's concern of his paws, "I kin' ride onner back like I does daddy's back. And we need daddy anywya, he's the hugest woof in the world, he kin' make the Bad Ones stop being bad better n' anyone." He pauses, catching at the nape of Niyt's neck to keep from sliding down, tiny teeth tugging at her fur, but not really long enough to do injury. "Besides.." he pauses, then peers over her head. "You don't seem to like bein' Ute, mister. You were talkin' to that other woof about things being bad. Why don'cha make your own pack..?"
Helaku
"No, You are not Ute. I am Ute, yet am not Ute," said Helaku. "But I forewarn you Niyt...Ute suffers from many problems they tend to not make outsiders aware. It is no fault of their own--trouble continuously finds its way among Ute, especially with the original members having passed." He inched closer to Niyt with the same reserve he'd shown since they first met. "Allies, yes. I'd rather not see their internal troubles consuming either of you. I just ask that you know when to draw a line on how involved you become. They are good wolves, but you are Cerulean in the end." Hard diplomacy, something which Alphas had to deal with constantly. "I'm not trying to steer you in any certain direction, Niyt. Merely, I try to prevent repeats of history that ended bad for all." At Anoki's question, the male smiled again. "Ute has a philosophy that has...begun coming apart with successive generations. Askuwheteau informed me that not many follow the traditions any longer....a lot of nasty complicated big wolf things, Anoki, that happened before you were born. I don't make my own pack because no wolf sees me as a leader."
Niyt
Niyt shifts herself a little to help her brother scramble up on top of her. She's a rather more challenging mount than their father - much more slender. But she knows that trick well, not because Anoki's done it to her, but because /she/ did it, on her great-uncle Lexus. Being the mount is a bit different than being the rider, but... she can figure it out. She smiles, even when his teeth nip for a moment. She probably can't run, but with a bit of practice... a lope should be possible. And a slow lope with a guide is likely far better than a fast run with no idea where to go. "Daddy..." she begins, and then sighs. "We'll see." Her ears splay, though they perk to Helaku's words. "It would be hard to miss the arguments," she admits with a smile. "But I will judge them for myself. As for their history and traditions... why should it matter? When our father was a pup, there was no Cerulean. Only Lazuli and Viridian. Each their own pack. Each with their own philosophy. My litter was the first to be truly Cerulean. Wolves move on. Let the pack be what it must be to the wolves who are part of it."
Anoki
Anoki continues to peer over Niyt's head at Helaku warily, then he ask, "If they don't think you're a good leader, why do you act like you are one? If you aren't a leader, doesn't that mean you don't gotter be serious alla time? If I don't gotter be leader I ain't never gonner be serious alla time." He says this, though seconds after turns somewhat serious as he looks at his sister and frowns: "Niyt, why do people gotta argue anyway? Can't we all just play the way we want? Like Krisha. I never yell at her for bein' Queen of da Grass.. I just tell her I'mma big ole' monster and I'mma eeter." His tail jerks slightly in thought-- because he doesn't think he's gonna be eetchooin anyone for a while. he almost got etted, and it wasn't fun..
Helaku
"I know too little of the modern Ute to accurately judge them, to be honest," he admitted. "But what I see is surely what the originators would not have wanted the pack to be. It was the sole idea of Ute, the Sun known as Tobba, that made Ute distinguishable from other packs; that it would act as other packs wouldn't. There's...no way I can explain this without sounding callous to certain individuals I knew when I was younger. It is likely best left unspoken." This was becoming hard to explain. Outsides wouldn't understand it, the unity Ute had before 'her'. Outsiders came in. Abel did not become Alpha, nor Aquene...Ute blood did not become Alpha. Wyanet ruined it all. Everything. Her and her warrior ways...the bear stole his chance by killing her. As calm as Helaku was before Niyt and Anoki, the wind foretold otherwise. The only thing Helaku ever gained being close to Ute was pain, more pain, and more pain on top of that, even if the moments he had with Skelaghe were among the best. Fortunately, Anoki's question distracted him from such negative thoughts. "Remember bad animals doing bad things, young one? I've met many. That is why." He spoke as gentle as he could and then put some distance between them. "Oh...the water here is very clear and cold if you want a drink."
Niyt
Niyt smiles a little as Anoki continues to ask the somewhat impertinent questions. He's allowed to. He's just a puppy, after all. And she's rather enjoying getting to hear the answers! "Even leaders don't have to be serious all the time. I remember you and uncle Tariro playing in the mud!" She smiles more, at the memory - and of how long mama was cleaning her brother off! Then it's her turn to get a hard question. Why People Argue. That's nearly as hard as Why Bad Things Happen or Why Death. She tries to put together the answer - and to make sense of Helaku's words. But she can't, not really. There's too much she doesn't know, and too much difference of philosophy. Anoki's question is actually easier. "Arguments aren't about people being bad. It's like... if mama wanted to give Krisha a bath, and she didn't want one. Only... about all sorts of things." Of course, in the bath argument, the puppy always loses, but...
Anoki
"That's not an argument," Pffts Anoki, "if I don't wanna bath I still get one anyway! ... only it.. won't be mommy now.. It'll be you or Uncle Tariro.." He frowns, laying his head down between her ears in thought at this. He feels a wee bit angry about not getting to say goodbye to his momma now. And there's.. something in the wind that doesn't feel right. Something that's just kinda off. He wrinkles his nose a bit at this, and then, sliding his head slightly to the side and lifting a paw to join it on Niyt's head, he asks, "... How come that silly Assukweetoo keeps talking about how the Bad Things are going to suffer? I don't want them to suffer. I Just want them to stop being Bad."
Helaku
Helaku leaned down to drink from the creek as he listened to the other two. there was so much volume here for him and he couldn't release any of it. The current Ute were not at fault or to blame. If there was something he could say, it was to Anoki's question. "Askuwheteau...likely Wyanet's pup. Wyanet was...putting it lightly...feisty creature...whenever someone riled her. It is a trait passed down. There are always two sides to a story...Askuwheteau is only seeing one. If we find the animals responsible and everyone is safe...and he continues to seek his vengeance, I will step in his way to prevent it...because that is what an Ute would do."
Niyt
Niyt's ears splay as Anoki finishes out that thought and rests his head between them. "Some arguments are doomed," she offers - but some of the cheerful mood has been lost. Her ear flicks at Helaku's words. She knows nothing of parentage, but... "You are both wrong. Askuwheteau is too cruel in his thoughts. But some things are simply bad. There is no reason good enough to save them. The ends do not justify the means. If they are so sick in their heads to think that stealing pups is okay, then they should be killed, the same way a creature with the foaming-madness should be killed. But to kill a sick and wounded creature is mercy."
Anoki
"... But isn't that ... what you're doing?" Asks the pup, in thought, listening to the wind as he does so. He's slowly getting an idea of something about this Helaku fellow. "You only see your side of things.. when it comes to the Ute.. And your side is that they're like, all wrong and arguey and stuff. That's the only side we've seen, too," he says, looking to Niyt. "Maybe there's another side, an' the only reason we ain't seen it yet is c'os like, the Bad Ones took Askyoowanna's little brother?" He considers. "Or because the snake bit Keaughe and she died..." he frowns as Niyt calls the other wolf, this Askifyouwanna guy, cruel. He doesn't think he's that word. Whatever it means. He thinks he's still. "He gotta right to be angry c'os they got his li'ul brother. An' if it's c'os of his sister, then it's just him not knowing how to be sad the right way."
Helaku
She wouldn't know that. Helaku reminded himself...she wouldn't know that. Her words froze him at the water's edge. He didn't hear anything said by Anoki after 'those' words. She didn't know, Niyt didn't know. Thus arose the chronologist's clock once again in memory, its ticking sound driving back the seasons to when he first came to the new Ute land before he ever knew Skelaghe. He wasn't known as Helaku II back then, but a different name. He came all that way, months, only to learn what happened to Alpha Helaku. The retracing of that moment sank heavily in the wind, as if something punched a hole through it. Everything about Helaku's presence was thrown askew by it. The memory tore at him so much his fur subtly prickled as he breathed and calmly took another sip from the stream. Niyt didn't know...remember that. If only he could turn back time like he could within his head.
Niyt
For all Niyt is aware, Helaku has only gone silent. She can't see him startle and freeze. So she simply tries to answer her little brother. "Askuwheteau thinks about doing mean things. Cruel things. If he just thinks them, that's okay. It's okay to get mad. But if he actually does those mean things, that would be bad. We would understand why, but they would still be bad things. We would be scared, and angry, and worry that he was going to turn bad all the way, if he actually did them. But we hope that he won't, and that we'll get to see a different side of him, too, once his brother is safe."
Anoki
Bobbing his head at the answer, slightly, Anoki just shakes his head. he doesn't HAVE to understand all this now! He's a kid! But sadly, he kind of does. "So like.. When I think Krisha is a poopyhead c'os she tells on me, it's okay to think it, but I can't call her that c'os it's bad and would hurt her feelin's?" He asks, trying to equate and failing some. He winkles his nose again. And while Niyt does not notice the subtle changes, Anoki, being a child, and always paranoid to the subtlties of behaviour in adults, perks his ears, and peers at Helaku warily, before sliding back down Niyt's back to her shoulders, and mumbling, ".. Niyt when can we go back to the tree, I liked it there.."
Helaku
Helaku's silence continued. How was he to speak without giving away the impact of what Niyt said? She had enough on her mind as it was without having to worry about his own well being. The wolf stared off into space, into his reflection and further to nothing. These were all new wolves. Where was everyone? Oh, yes...they're all dead and gone. Aquene, gone. Skelaghe, gone. Ixkin, gone. Bodhi, gone. Abel...gone too. Rowtag, nowhere to be found. Crescendo and Quidel, likewise. Perhaps he should go back 'there', to the ancient lands again. No, he couldn't leave Niyt and Anoki alone, but father was there...or at least his skeleton was, along with his father's Alpha who committed suicide in the lake. Despite how dead the land was, he didn't feel so misplaced there. All of this processed through his mind as he calmly lapped the water. His younger self would have snapped all ready over those words and yet he felt like he hadn't changed at all.
Niyt
"That's right, says Niyt to Anoki. A very different scale, but the same principle. Helaku's silence continues, and when her brother asks to return to the tree, she smiles. "How about now?" After all, the discussion seems to be over... and perhaps he can play with some of those other puppies. She raises her voice slightly. "Thank you for your concern, Helaku. We'll speak again later." With that, she turns and slowly pads off, trying to find the proper gait to walk with a little brother clinging to her back.
Anoki
"Okay. I wanna try eatin' onna them round things at th' bottom of the tree, too. They smell funny, but not bad to eat funny," Anoki says, of crab apples, before he snaps again for a clump of fur on the back of his sister's neck as an attempt to anchor himself from slipping as she moves. Slowly, though, he gets the hang of it and lets go, grinning proudly at himself. "See? I toldja I could sit on yer back like I does Daddeh." he says, proudly.
Helaku
And off went the company. It was a life a repeats, or a scratched disc on a broken phonograph, which he remembered from his time with the humans. After all he said, the more he felt there was nothing here for him. No one to honestly speak with. He knew...no one. Ever since his birthpack sent him on that ill-fated mission to find Alpha Helaku, life had been this way. Find a pack, get to know members, get shunned away. Find a pack, get to know members, become upset and have no outlet. Find, lose. Find, lose. He refused to make his own problems something others had to deal with. That's all that ever happened. He'd find something to support and soon after, something would trigger these feelings. He didn't give Niyt any response except the splashing of his legs as he made to cross the river in the opposite direction.