The World Goes On

[Pavane]

Niyt - Female Wolf
Lexus - Male Wolf
Helaku - Male Wolf

--Two-River Fork---

It's morning. The sun has just begun to creep over the horizon, but Niyt is already awake. She sits atop a small rise, facing toward the east and a little to the south - where the sun rises, this time of year. Her eyes are closed, not that it matters. The cold winter wind blows through her fur, and as the sun finally crests high enough to send beams of warmth to reach her body, she lifts up her muzzle and begins to howl a song of greeting. ~The day is born; the world goes on. The years go by, and we are here. I welcome you, the rising sun.~

It was a long walk through a very cold night that finally brought Lexus back into pack territory again for though he enjoys the company of family there are some places in the mountains he'd still rather go to alone. Thick though his coat is and used to mountain winters as he has been he's glad for a bit of warm sunshine as it breaks over the horizon and his path alters to stick mostly to the sunny patches until the sound of a howl makes him pause. He easily recognises the voice and notes that the pack seemed to be sleeping in a different spot again, at least he's saved the bother of tracking them down again. His much less musical howl shortly follows Niyt's, just a simple announcement of his presence as he heads towards her position.

The rest of the pack may not have paws quite so wandering as those of Lexus, but they never have been a pack inclined toward sitting still. How many homes has Niyt known? Ah, but they are all home, if her family is there. She keeps her eyes closed after she finishes calling, but her ears perk at the sound of another howl, and she smiles. She stays where she is atop the rise, easy to follow after and find, and her ears perk to listen for approaching footsteps.

Lexus does appear to be in a hurry this morning but the journey's end is welcome and the crunch of paws in the speeds up as he moves into a steady lope. It's still a few minutes before he can see the other wolf sat upon the rise and he barks his greeting as if she couldn't have already heard him coming. Trotting on up the rise he finally stops by Niyt, a quick lick aimed at one of her ears "Morning pup. Home all safe and sound?"

Niyt has already turned her head in the right direction, and she smiles as she wuffs back. Her tail gives a single thump at the lick, and she turns her head and nuzzles at his cheek in return. "Good morning," she replies. "It seems to be, yes... though the rivers have been bringing us wolves instead of fish." She chuckles a little, though some of those wolves have brought more chaos than anything. "We've had a great many visitors."

Lexus' tail moves in a steady swish as well until her news causes him to look mostly amused but also somewhat puzzled "The rivers are full of wolves? Well that's a new one on me. I've heard of rivers full of bears but never wolves" he chuckles as well and casts the partially frozen water a look, he knows what she means really but the image is amusing "Winter is the season for new faces apparently" he raises his nose to sniff at the air "Perhaps the prey is more scarce than usual"

"Really, they've only been following along the rivers, not actually in them," Niyt says. Well, as far as _she_ knows, anyhow. "Though Anoki was investigating the ice a bit." She smiles fondly at the thought of her brother, then nods. "So it seems. There's even one claiming to be a daughter of Helios, which is the first I've ever heard of it, but... I never did know Helios well. Perhaps he does have a daughter from another pack."

Lexus smirks whether she'll see it or not "Unless they were ice wolves sticking to the bank would seem wise. I'm happy to heard Anoki seems to be venturing out, some good memories to cover the bad" and he's assuming they are good, he doubts Niyt would smile if he'd fallen through the ice. Lexus squints at the name "Helios? I think I remember him returning from a journey, if I'm not mistaking him for someone else it may be possible...I can't say I know him much either, Haze should if anyone does"

"If there are ice-wolves, I haven't seen them," says Niyt with a laugh. She nods about her brother. "He's doing better. It's slow, but... he's getting there." Back to... well, not normal, exactly. Normal would be an awful lot to ask. But he's getting back to Okay. Then she hmms, and nods at the mention of Helios' journey. "Perhaps I'll ask Haze, if I see him," she says, but she frowns a little. There was another wolf who wanted to see Haze too. Helaku. Helaku, whose problems with Ute made him lash out even at innocent Maka. No, she doesn't want to talk about Helaku. On the other hand... "There's another new wolf around, her name's Maka. She seems to be rather a wanderer.... has been all up and down the mountains on both sides, from what she told me. You might enjoy sharing some stories with her."

Lexus nods slowly as he flops down to sit by her side and seconds later decide to sink the rest of the way down to lie down, warming his paws under his fuzzy fur "Give it time, he'll grow up, learn how to take care of himself and find his confidence again. He's still young yet" his eyes shift away from the river to glance back at her for the talk of new wolves "Hmm, well all new wolves come with new stories, I look forwards to hearing some. Wanderers do tend to see the most" he chuckles quietly "Is there anyone else in the area I should avoid driving out if I meet them by chance? I wasn't gone that long and the pack already seems to have changed"

"He's getting big, though," says Niyt. Her little brother, growing up. Things will change, as they always do; but he's still her brother. Just like Lexus still calls her pup. Things change, but some things stay the same. She smiles as he talks about hearing new stories, and nods... and then it turns to somewhat of a frown as he mentions other new wolves, and the changes that have been happening. She sighs, and slowly lowers herself toward the ground. Easy part first. "There's another female. The aunt to Helios' daughter. Their names are Rayen and Catori." That's the easy part, and then... she lowers her head a little, and sighs again. "And then... there's Helaku."

Lexus aims a little nose nudge at her side "Pups get big, you did. One day you'll suddenly find all your brothers and sisters have grown up" and most of them wandered off to do their own thing "And you're all running the pack, looking after the next generation or two" he chuckles "Great-aunt Niyt, or Grandma Niyt. I'll retire somewhere sunny and warm with lots of flats for running across, you can do the history lessons and try to keep track of the family tree" he's intentionally silly, trying to keep the frown away. He settles down to listen to news of the new wolves though "I'm guessing the aunt of Helios' daughter isn't his sister but the sister of his mate? Perhaps she'll be able to shed a little light on things as well" he catches the little sigh at the end and tilts his head "Helaku is a bad thing?"

Her uncle Lexus does know how to cheer Niyt up. She laughs at his teasing, and nods. "No running off to those flats early, though," she says and gives a nuzzle at his shoulder. "You've still got a few years of helping with pups in you, I'd say." The smile lingers, even as she returns to the more serious matters of what's been going on lately. "Yes, Rayen is of that pack, not Lazuli." She may not know the Lazuli wolves in detail, but she _did_ learn enough genealogy that she suspects she'd recognize a... what would that be? Great-Aunt-in-Law? Haze is her great-uncle, like Lexus, and his mate Larkspur is the sister of Helios... so, yeah. That brief distraction aside, she returns to the current scent-trail. "She might. I'll talk to her, when I meet her sometime less chaotic." And there she is, right back to the bad part again. The chaos. "Helaku... is broken," she answers. "He might be a good wolf, some day; but he is obsessed with the past, and filled with hatred for those already dead. So he spews that hatred on all things related to them. I thought perhaps he could overcome that, here. So did Tariro." Her uncle-alpha welcomed Helaku, after all... at first. "I still think he can. I do not know if he /will/. He has taken his break as his strength, and does not wish to learn to walk again without it."

Lexus smiles at her nuzzle and the snow by his tail is flattened by a small wag "As many years as I can manage and not a second less" he's going nowhere soon. He's already been attempting to work out the relation too, everything gets more complicated when Lazuli is brought into it. He frowns faintly at the description of Helaku and appears thoughtful for a moment before he replies "I don't know the wolf but I imagine time will be the only way to tell whether he is able to move on or not. If his past does not follow him then perhaps he will leave it behind. A new start with another pack may be what he needs or wandering may bring him peace. Give him time to settle, it's not always easy to let go of old memories" Lex certainly has a few that haunt him but his path is quite different and some form of family has always been out there somewhere.

Niyt nods slightly. "Time, I don't mind giving," she says. "I'm not going to let him poison others, though... and I don't think his past can help but follow him if he stays here. He hates /Ute/. I've visited Ute. Afra took one of them as his mate. I'm planning to go visit there again come spring, so their pups and ours can play together. They do some things differently, but they have good wolves, and Helaku just hates all of them, especially Wyanet and her children."

Lexus sighs faintly now he sees the true scale of the problem "That is a difficult one. I don't know the Ute wolves well but what little contact I have had with them hasn't made me wish to see them less. The packs are far closer than they were in my day, he may have to deal with them again..." he glances back up at Niyt, still lying comfortably beside the younger wolf despite the rather uncomfortable conversation "Why does he hate them so much?"

Yeah, that would be the problem. Niyt nods, and shifts a little closer to Lexus, enjoying the warmth of his body near hers as they talk. At his question, she considers for a moment. What is the root of the problem, really? "His father was alpha there once," she says after a bit of thought. That's the start of it all, so far as she can tell. "New wolves came and joined Ute, years ago. It seems the female alpha - Skelaghe - liked them, but the male alpha did not. There was some fighting over this. Then... those new wolves became the next alphas, from Skelaghe's choice. Helaku wishes the pack had stayed among the descendants of his father."

The Ice Ritual, it only helped slightly. Helaku knew he was meant to live, but the condition of his exit from the flows made the direction uncertain. He survived and came out rather decent. Normally this meant he was fine to go in whatever direction he pleased...but he wasn't sure what direction that should be. His father wanted him and his siblings to be the perfect balance between Ute and Miakoda--savage when needed and intellectual when not. When he came to this region, he hoped to learn from the Master himself. Even with Skelaghe's comfort, he was lost on where to go. Several times he considered returning to the Miakoda to simply put an end to it, to see how many of the traitors he could kill before being killed. What would that accomplish anyhow? He was the first born between Wuth and Helaku I. He should have been among the three leader pairs. Even his half-brother and half-sister were denied their birthright. These were the things he considered as he pushed through the snow, two rabbits..small ones..in his maw. He'd been off ever since and from the looks of it had run into something during a hunt. The cold made him tremble; the lack of fur from whatever scarred him around the neck and shoulders allowed the cold in. He bore several cuts and fashed on his face, forelegs and flanks but ignored them. He was used to that. Used to fighting for everything. He didn't spot Niyt or Lexus very quick--his focus was finding a tree, even a small one to lay under.

Lexus begins to frown but listens quietly before finally shaking his head "It must have been quite the disagreement between the alphas...I admit, if the alpha was no longer in the family line I would...consider it uncomfortable. It's what I'm used to but I trust the alphas to know what's best for the pack, not just the family and, well, challenges can be made, packs change" he sighs quietly "If they were chosen I certainly wouldn't hate them for it. To be chosen by one alpha and not the other though..." his thought doesn't finish as he smells a new wolf on the wind and raises his nose to check. While he assumes it's likely to be one of the known new comers his hackles still raise a little when he spots a wolf he doesn't recognise in the territory. He doesn't get up though, awaiting Niyt's reaction to see if the scarred wolf is recognised by her first.

"That's sort of what happened for Lazuli. An alpha not of the blood," says Niyt. It's her uncle who became alpha; her father who was beta; and the Lazuli wolves that merged with Viridian... were in an uncomfortable sort of position. No wonder some of them felt they didn't belong well enough to stick around. Still, none of them took it like that; they just... wandered, only loosely connected to the new pack of Cerulean. "The fighting, though..." she sighs. "I don't know the details. I'm not sure anyone does, anymore." No, not even Helaku; whatever vision of the past he remembers, it has been too tangled up in his emotions for too long to be simple truth. As the wind blows that scent past their noses, she shifts to an alert position, though not a defensive one. "So, still here," she murmurs softly, then adds, for her uncle, "That is Helaku."

Helaku paused in the snow, deciding that looking for a nice tree was out of the question. He started digging instead, just like a coyote might dig. After all, he was part coyote somewhere in his history. He fug through the snow to the bare ground and promptly curled up with the two rabbits. It was a technique for staying warm he learned back at home, which his birthpack had learned from its acquired members that had come from the extreme far north where the Arctic Foxes roamed...and it nicely kept the wind off him, whenever it blew. helaku tucked himself tightly and kept the two rabbits close. They were fresh kills; their bodies were still warm. When they went cold, then he would eat.

Lexus relaxes a little as Niyt does indeed recognise the other wolf but the conversation continues as he simply watches Helaku for a moment "For the comfort of Lazuli we can't return to the mountains, even if the others cared to we're already too close to Viridian still, accepting an alpha they don't know is hard enough. We had to be a different pack, none would have accepted joining the other. Pride of a pack...The gap seems less over the years and Haze is my brother, at least there is some connection there. The situations are not exactly the same" he hmms quietly as Helaku settles into his hole in the snow "Well he doesn't appear a horrible threat" Lex raises back to his paws a few seconds later and starts to walk towards Helaku's position, a quick bark of greeting sent.

Niyt tilts her head, listening to her uncle's words about the joining of the packs, and nods. "I was born Cerulean, not Viridian," she says in agreement. "I'm not sure how much Anoki even knows of how things once were." She was born when the matter was a far more recent one, after all - and has done rather more listening to the old-timers. "Things are never the same." The same, no. But sometimes one situation can instruct for another. At Lexus' comment about Helaku, she smiles a little, but doesn't answer - though when her uncle rises, she does the same, padding along beside him.
Helaku's tears perked above the snow, though he stayed huddled in his little hole for the wamrth. It wasn't a bark he was familiar with, though the way the wind played he knew one of them was Niyt. What was going to happen now...another lecture? Being told to go away?

Lexus stops a few paces away, his head tilting as he looks down at Helaku. Curious wolf. He gives Niyt a glance but carries on a moment longer "Good morning. I'm just meeting the new faces around the pack lands, Niyt has been bringing me up to speed. I believe you are Helaku?" he's trying extra hard to sound polite.

Niyt doesn't say anything, just waits and listens. Of course, many of the more interesting features of Helaku's current state pass her by entirely; she can't see his water-bedraggled form, or even that scar on his shoulder. She can smell his scent, and hear the shifts when he moves, but other senses can only compensate so much. She does nod, though, at what her uncle says about her.

Helaku's white eyes slowly peered up at Lexus. Who was this, exactly? He hadn't met this wolf before. "Yes," he answered. Up close the smell on Helaku was a bit more prevalent. He had been in a fight somewhere off the territory, perhaps over the two rabbitshe hunted down. Helaku was bleeding, but not too much. As far as his spirit was concerned, it had become incredibly murky, difficult to pinpoint, like someone who wanted to stay hidden.

Lexus can sense the conversational equivalent of a possible uphill struggle in his future "My name is Lexus, I've been with the pack for many years" explanation enough as far as he's concerned, particularly as he's close enough to have had a proper look at the wounds now. He settles down, once more going to sit in the snow to try and keep everything nice and relaxed "Trouble in the woods?"

Conversation with Helaku an uphill struggle? Never. Niyt would be shocked at the very idea. Okay, no, not really. She stays where she is, letting her uncle speak. She's curious how Helaku will respond to another voice.

Helaku's wounds amounted to the average one might expect for a brief skirmish with other wolves, but the way they had fallen on the wolf may hint that he did more damage to them than they did to him. His eyes slowly moved to Niyt, and instantly he dug his muzzle for one of the two rabbits, which he set onto the snow. "...For you..." he said quietly to Niyt. Soon his attention went back to being curled up, but focused on Lexus. "Two rogues outside your border where I hunted," he said. "Interfered with my hunt."

Lexus smiles faintly at the offer of food to Niyt, that he certainly approves of and nods a little before perking his ears to the news of other wolves "Hmm, noted. We'll have to keep an eye out on the patrols. Which way were they?"

Niyt's nose twitches at the scent of the rabbit, and her head tilts slightly at Helaku's words. She doesn't move to pick it up just yet, though. This is Helaku; rages and gifts. "If you have been fighting, you have more need of it," she answers quietly. And if it is an apology, well... there are others who have more need of it than she does. At the news of fighting, she listens, but has no further questions.

"Northeast, flowing down the river," answered Helaku. That didn't confirm if or not he killed them. But in his defense, they did try to steal his food. And they tried to do so in the middle of winter. And they tried to do so in the middle of winter while attacking him. "Didn't even ask if they could share, only attacked." His eyes shifted to the rabbit he laid down for Niyt and then to his own rabbit. "I have enough food for myself, Niyt. If you don't need it, then Anoki may."

Lexus assumes they're alive unless told otherwise and nods slowly as he raises his nose for a quick sniff. There's nothing on the wind but he still narrows his eyes that way "Winter is quite the desperate time, manners are often the first to go. I'll keep an eye out, hopefully they're smart enough not to trespass"

"I will see it goes to good use," says Niyt to Helaku, lowering her head slightly. There is an entire pack to feed, after all. It is a gift to that pack, now; not one simply to herself. Under those terms, she accepts it. As for the fight, it does not trouble her. She will be cautious, yes, but she is no stranger to the fact that there is sometimes need for fighting. Being attacked is one such time. She lifts her head, tasting the wind for details. "The thaw is not so far away, I think; but there is still more winter yet. Things will likely get worse before they get better."

The truth was they were likely dead, but Helaku wasn't about to say that. He had no reservations about killing unknown wolves if they attacked him or someone he knew. That was the law as Miakoda put it, and something his father emphasized in Winter despite him being born Ute. If one allowed their enemy or assailant to survive, then it only allowed them to rally a gang to return. "I told you that where you call home I would, Niyt," he said. "But I must make something clear...what becomes a problem is when everyone respects a certain wolf of the Ute while ignoring what she did. There's only one among you that has seen that devastation. That is Haze. He saw briefly what became of my sister after Wyanet tore the family apart." He got to the point quick. His tone said he was tired of thinking about it.

Lexus raises his eyebrows at Helaku before a frown appeared. He doesn't really understand half of that based on the limited information he has and the other wolf's tone doesn't make him keen to ask just to satisfy his own curiosity. He looks back into the pack lands, pondering upon the idea of asking Haze instead.

Niyt holds her head in a steady, middling position. "Then let me be clear to you, Helaku. No wolf is without flaws. Neither are they without virtues. You call Wyanet a destroyer. So. In part, this is true. She caused anger. She fought. She may have killed. This is truth. What is also true is that Skelaghe trusted her; that she raised a family with love; that she led a pack to survive. Both these are true. I ignore /nothing/. I acknowledge both these things as true. Wyanet was no hero, but nor was she a villain. She simply was." Niyt takes a step forward. "I could say the same of you. You have driven away a wolf we offered hospitality to. You have brought a gift of food for the pack. I do not call you hero or villain either. You are simply a wolf. If I judged you by the standards you judge Wyanet, you are both worthy of hate. I judge you both by my standards. You are both simply... wolves. Neither wholly good nor wholly evil."

Helaku's ears lowered. It wasn't what Niyt said--it was the mention of driving off Maka. Why did no one heed his words or listen to him? He urged her to stay, and yet she didn't. Nobody listened to him and that was something that started to shove him into the strong direction. He slowly took the second rabbit and placed it on the snow. "I requested Maka to take the offer...you were there. But again, nobody listens to me," he said. Maka wasn't staying for the winter, then things were going to become awkward for him fast, the wolf that drove another away. Helaku slowed pulled himself from the hole in the snow..there was one other thing he didn't quite agree on concerning Wyanet, but he wasn't going to mention it. A part of him was glad that bear killed her. "Not in my home birthpack where I had ranked status...not in Ute..not here...not anywhere. This is why I'm rogue, Niyt. Even the smallest suggestion I make that would help someone is often ignored, and now you tell me Maka isn't willing to stay? Where you call home, I call home...but I'm simply causing too much trouble to reside on your territory. I should leave before something worse happens." And there he went again, walking away.

"Stop," says Niyt, her tone firm. "Listen for a moment longer. Then, if you wish to leave, I will not stop you." She pauses a moment, taking a breath and ordering her thoughts. "You have no power to command Maka. But you are wrong. She listened to you. How could she not? We all heard you. But what you said was hatred. What you said was spite against her relative." She shakes her head. "Yes, you told Maka to stay. A word! One word to stay. A dozen more of hatred. If it was a battle, you set a mighty pack against a single wolf, and now you are surprised that the pack won. Of course it won! The other was outnumbered, surrounded by enemies. Maka may yet return, but that is her decision and her decision alone. She has accepted /no/ wolf as alpha, yet."

Helaku looked back at Niyt upon that. "I didn't turn the pack against her," he said. "You and the others were still trying to welcome her. This isn't about commanding. It's about others actually listening to my advice for once. I harped on her relative, yes, but wolves around here simply do not understand anything about honor, Niyt. I might have ratted on her relative, but you didn't see me chasing her away as I left. I told her I wouldn't hold her sister against her, told her not to be like me and left for her benefit. Back home, that would have been noble and honorable, but apparently....no...not here. I'm glad to know my willingness to keep myself away from something that might be good for me so someone else can be happy is spurned." He turned and slowly stepped away through the snow, leaving both rabbits behind. "Can't do this anymore..." he mumbled to himself. He knew Niyt couldn't see him.He hung his head, lowered his ears and his tail. His eyes watered as he trudged along.

"You are not there anymore, Helaku," Niyt calls after him. "Their ways are not ours. If you wish to learn of Cerulean... I can help you. If you wish to live as though you are among the Miakoda, I cannot." That's all she has to say. Perhaps his home pack does not believe in these things called... feelings... but around here, they're pretty important. She doesn't follow after him, just lets him walk away once more.

"I have no wish on how to live," he answered. "Except, I believe that I have no place in any pack. The only way I will ever live in a pack is to return home and reclaim what was taken. When I get there, it'll be just me...against most of the pack. We're simply too different, Niyt...even with the Ute virtues my father encouraged me to learn."

Lexus flicks his gaze from one wolf to the other, picking up bits of the story and trying to assemble it into some form of sense until Helaku starts to leave. He frowns thoughtfully for a moment before adding his own thoughts "Consider the family honor and perhaps she doesn't wish to hear of her relative's faults, particularly when they are dead. An apology and an attempt to consider her an entirely unrelated wolf would likely help in this case. If she didn't mean to be driven out then that is good but you can't expect to insult someone's sister and have them take it well. Perhaps of course she desires to forget as you do, the entire conversation is a danger of insult really" his frown deepens a little "Of course you appear to be set on believing you are against the world, alone and misunderstood by all without much attempt otherwise"

Still Niyt does not follow Helaku. If he wishes to leave, that is his choice. She said as much to him. At her uncle Lexus' words, she tilts her head, and listens, then turns it back to reply to Helaku once more. "If that is what you believe, it is so. You make it real for yourself in believing it. If you change your mind... you know how to find me."