Post by Pavane on Mar 23, 2012 13:46:43 GMT -5
Silverstream - female wolf
Niyt - female wolf
Anoki - male adolescent wolf
Helaku - male wolf
---Cerulean's Lands: Two-River Fork---
Silverstream wonders around the cerulean lands, allowing herself a chance to explore the area. She enjoys the atmosphere of not having to hide herself here, having permision to be here from the alpha is quite convienent. She sniffs at the trees as she notes the scent of the pack is quite strong, even though it still makes her a bit nervous, she is happy to be here. She wonders around a bit, she would like to meet Niyt, she heard quite a bit about her.
Niyt sits on a small outcropping of rock not too far from the rivers. She has her eyes closed, her head lifted and her ears perked as she listens to the gentle wind that blows through her fur and teases the powdery snow into swirls.
Silverstream smiles as she spots what looks like a sleeping wolf, though she does not assume this. She carefuly aproaches as she watches her, she wonders what this wolfs name is? She enjoys the feeling of the power snow flowing through her fur as she watches Niyt, not wanting to close the distance tell the young wolf is aware of her presence.
Few wolves sleep in a sitting position, but this one certainly seems peaceful. She's quiet for a while, save for the occasional flicks of her ears, and then her muzzle lowers slightly and she opens her eyes. Those eyes have an odd look to them; fogged over with white clouding and not seeming to focus on anything save the middle distance. They don't go to Silverstream, not really, but she turns her head in about that direction and says, "Hello."
Silverstream realizes the wolf is sitting up and shakes the snow out of her eyes, she must really need to watch that. She sees the young wolf flicking her ears and figures she must be Niyt, she stares at the eyes for a moment and confirms it. She knows the look of the fogged eyes, she knows Niyt is a blind wolf. What are the chances there are two of them in this area. Yet it be rude to point such things out as she starts to walk towards her she tries to remain somewhat casual as she does not want to offend her. She says "Hello there." Not quite sure what to say, wondering what would be offensive to the young girl and what would be appropriate she becomes nervous talking with her.
Niyt smiles and nods, her ears flicking to the sound of a voice and approaching footsteps. After a few moments of silence, she says, "You visited us last winter, didn't you? I'm afraid I don't recall your name."
Silverstream smiles as she shakes her head, "Yes but I doubt you remember it since we never spoken to eachother, I know you off of what others have told me about you. My name is silverstream. Its good to finally speak with you." She states as she walks next to her, not sure how close she can get and maintain niyt comfort, so she keeps a bit more distance then usaul.
Niyt nods again. Her head tilts slightly, ears perked to catch the sounds of motion since her eyes can't track Silverstream. "Yes, that's right. Well... hello again, or for the first time. Either way."
Silverstream smiles as she says "Yes, I suppose that be hello again for me as well, though keeping track of whom we met and have not seems a bit confusing at times wouldn't you say?" SHe looks over and wonders if coinin will be by soon, she says "So do you help with the hunts, Niyt?"
Niyt laughs softly. "I would rather not collide with the other wolves... nor they with me. I don't join the larger hunts; when I hunt it is on my own, and for smaller game such as mice and voles." She seems unabashed about hunting small prey like that.
Silverstream chuckles and says "Perhaps you might collide with them, then again, you might one day be able to, I don't know, you were ablle to sense my presense before I even spoke to you." She smiles as she says "Then again I never been one to hunt much large game, since I never hunted in a group before."
"I found you, yes. You ran no faster than the wind." Niyt smiles. "In the hunt, all things become one; the deer is the wind, and so are the wolves giving chase. I could run with them, if I chose, but I would hurt the pack as much as I helped it. No, I hunt by myself, and only listen for deer to tell the others where to look."
Silverstream tilts her head and smiles as she gives this thought and says "I guess that is true, but I would not know, I merely was trying to encourage you. I meant no offense." She sees the young wolf doesn't seem to take offense as she adds "Though I suppose you are used to these ignorant comments by now?"
Niyt smiles, and she certainly doesn't seem offended. "I have been fully blind for nearly two years now, and my sight grew weak before it was gone. It is no recent wound, to be irritated by small things. The scar has grown over it."
Silverstream nods and says "That is a rather big stance you hold, I am glad you are strong. Many lesser wolves would lose themselves over such a injury." She sighs as she says "I am happy such things do not bother you, though." She pauses as she remembers her talk with helaku, feeling the urge to speak with Niyt, but knowing better then to interfere.
Niyt turns her head aside a moment, her muzzle to the wind and her expression a neutral one, almost studiedly so. She returns her attention to Silverstream, and smiles. "It is what it is; what more can we ask of the world? I have wandered, from time to time, but I am not lost any longer."
Silverstream tilts her head as she not sure how Niyt feels, her neutral expression could mean she hiding discomfort. She remains silent not sure if she had poked at an old wound. She tries to think of another subject but hermind does not seem to want to cooperate, she sighs as she hopes she has not made her first meeting with Niyt an uncomfortable one.
Niyt seems disinclined to break the silence, her posture relaxed as she listens to the wandering breezes.
Silverstream continues her thought as she shakes her head, She finally breaks the silence, deciding to apologize, "I am sorry if my talk has made you uncomfortable, its just that I do not know what is apropriate to speak of, I have never really had much contact with others of my kind. I usaully avoid other wolves, being born to a lone wolf mother, she was always cautiaus of those in a pack."
Niyt blinks, as though surprised. "Uncomfortable? No, it's fine." She smiles. "I know some others who were born without a pack. It is... a harder life, it seems."
Silverstream nods but feels silly after thinking a moment and says "Yes quite different, but on one hand it is also in some ways easier, you do not hafta take orders from no wolf, nor do you hafta worry about borders, hunting in others terrotory is risky but sometimes rewording. Another advantage is you are able to find a mate, and work together, from what I know of packs your trading freedom for security, you rely on the alphas to command the pack, and some you don't get a say in. Packs provide easier access to food and more security, but being alone provides more freedom its a tradeoff."
Niyt smiles. "I suppose it depends on the alpha, and on the pack. Some, or so I have heard, are very regimented, with a right and wrong way to do things, and treat harshly those who disobey. Here in Cerulean... well, Tariro is my uncle, and I have always seen him so. I have taken my own paths, and if I take a mate, it will be because I have chosen one."
Silverstream nods and says "I suppose so, but I am uncertain. How is cerulean different? Would your uncle really allow someone who is neither the alpha nor the beta have a mate? Even if you are his neice, I have not heard of such a thing before. Still you are better aquinted with the rules here then I am, so I will hold off that until I have spoken with Tariro, it just this pack is somewhat different then what I expected." She says as she shrugs and says "Everything I had learned from my mother seems not to be the case, but only time will tell if this is just some dream I am wanting to be true or a true home, I can be happy in."
Niyt laughs, and nods. "My great-uncle Lexus is neither alpha nor beta, nor ever has been - and he has a mate in Rayen. There have been others. It is still the alpha's role to determine if there is food enough for pups, but as for mates... yes." She smiles. "Your mother need not have been wrong, only... incomplete. Some packs, or so I have heard, train their pups as warriors, and allow them no emotions, no actions save obedience. Some are regimented and harsh. Cerulean is not so."
Silverstream tilts her head and says "I am confused, I mean I though.. er I guess I have a lot to learn about such things." She states as she smiles at Niyt, "I guess it be not too bad to see how things run around here by the way you describe it sounds rather pleasant." She smiles as she says "On a more personal note, does Coinin have a mate? I would assume so him being a bit dashing." She giggles as she has to admit he is rather attractive.
Niyt smiles, and nods to Silverstream as she talks about learning more about how things are here... and then tilts her head at the second question a moment before the corners of her muzzle curve up. "He has declared no mate before the pack. I would advise asking him yourself, if you wish to know more."
Silverstream nods as she tilts her head as she says "Well I would only I am not really sure what to ask." Jeeze and just a little bit ago she told another wolf not to be afraid of such things, yet here she is tensing up a second time as she says nervously, "How does one ask that question, to someone directly, and what if it makes me seem strange? Wouldn't it be better if I got someone else to ask him for me?" her voice getting noticably softer and softer as her expression makes her own cruish on the male rather easy to spot.
Niyt laughs. "It's a simple question, and yet... it so often seems difficult in the mouths of those who care most about its answer." She's seen this same sort of hesitation recently, oh yes. "You can ask him what you asked me of him. Go to him, and say, "Hello, Coinin. It's nice to see you. Oh, I was wondering - do you have a mate? If so, I'd love to meet her, for surely a wolf such as you would have a fine one!""
Silverstream nods and says "I think you are right about that, maybe it only seems difficult." She literally curls up and says "Oh no I couldn't ask so easily, well...maybe..posibly I guess I could ask him that." Her voice lowering just above that of a whisper as she shakes her head and says "Why does it seem helping others is less worrysome then asking something you really wanna know?"
Niyt keeps her seated position, not seeing Silverstream's gestures, though perhaps she can hear some of it in the tone of the other wolf's voice. She smiles softly. "It is always so. Easier to see another's path than your own... and even more, easier to see for another that there is more than one path; that if the longed-for does not happen, life will still go on."
Tension and the ironed scent of blood wafted in the air about Helaku as he trudged through the light snowfall. It seemed everything tried preventing his leave of this place, from those wishing for him to listen to...freak encounters. His first priority, now that he was in a safe zone, was the water he drank from the river; the wolf was a mess of twigs, dirt, mud, blood and numerous small nicks that he ignored. So too did he ignore the gash in his flank. While not a gaping wound it was a sight that gave a hint as to what happened beyond the border, suggestive of rather large claw marks. He didn't say a word. Only drank. The threat was dealt with, lured away. So much for going home.
Snow has been falling off and on; and really, Anoki has come to like snow. If used properly, he had found when young, that it could give cover to one's movement when hunting. While Anoki does not hunt large things, no one has net to deny he will chase down small creatures, like the voles his sister likes. Voles like the several he has clamped in his jaws at the moment, keeping him from talking, but most certainly not keeping him from grinning like jackdaw as, snow clogged in his fur from rolling around in it, he starts, from an unseen direction, towards Niyt and the strange female; taking each step with care so as not to be heard when his feet slip through the snow; and coming in upwind of them, to avoid being smelled. All this.. just to surprise his sister..
Silverstream smiles as she likes Niyts advice, she can see why Helaku likes her so, still she does not hide her feelings for Coinin well in front of Niyt. Something about the wolf disarms her defenses and she feels safe talking with her. Suddenly the smell of blood fills her nostrils and her fur stands on end, Helaku scent comes as well she says "I think there might of been trouble, the wolf I saw earlier, he never gave me his name but he is injured from what I can see." She imediately stands and runs towards where haluka is drinking trying to see if he needs help, She keeps a bit of distance as she is not sure how he will respond. "Hello there, are you in need of help?"
With her attention on the conversation with Silverstream, Niyt isn't paying much attention to other things. The scent of blood, when it comes to her, makes her nose twitch, but wolf blood and deer blood and vole blood all smell much the same, and hearing no panicked or hurting cries (and, of course, not seeing any signs of what's going on) she remains oblivious to both the wounded Helaku and her sneaky brother's approach. When Silverstream bounds off with a hurried explanation, she blinks, tilting her head in that direction but staying where she is with her ears perked to listen.
Helaku took his time drinking and raised his head only when finished. It was that same wolf from before, the female who paused him the night before. Again she offered help--how Ute of her...and that wasn't a sarcastic thought. It was genuinely Ute of her to approach him this much with generosity. Perhaps that is where the old traditions lived now. He looked stronger than before, entirely calm and strangely under control despite his own physical state. "I appreciate the offer, but it is not needed at this time," he replied. "The threat has been subdued." And he went back to drinking again. The cold took the mind off pain, and cold water was the best.
Close; A yard behind Niyt, and Anoki ducks into a half skulk, head low and shoulders shifting. He's still grinning like a bandit; but that grin slowly starts to fade as he sees what she cannot-- Silverstream running to help a wounded .. wolf? At the water's edge. He starts to lift his head, but stops when he sees who it is. Ah. Helaku. Well. Perhaps the older wolf finally got what was coming to him, letting his temper rule him so, and his pride get in the way. Lest his sister too try to join this strange she-wolf with the problem, he breaks his secrecy to creep up fast on her, nuding at her shoulder and neck, before dropping his mouthful of vole bounty at her feet. "It's The Great and Mighty Helaku," he murmurs in his sister's ear, "Looks like he tried to tell a bear how to hibernate and it didn't like the advice."
Silverstream nods and says "Are you sure? Your wound it looks rather deep I could bring you something from the woods to help ease the pain." She offers as she turns noticing Nyte has next to her some other wolf, She remembers him as her brother, yet his name slips her mind. Still that can wait till she is sure helaku does not need her she turns back to him and says "So your name is mighty Helaku? How interesting I am glad to finally know it." She smiles as she says "I am silverstream, are you sure you are not hurt I am sure I could bring you meat if you desired it."
When Helaku actually speaks, Niyt does flick an ear in something like recognition. It's enough distraction that she doesn't turn toward her brother until just about the moment that he comes to press against her... though she certainly does turn toward him. Maybe she's heard him, maybe it's just that his lack of So Sneaky thoughts means he's not keeping hidden from her other senses. Who knows? She nuzzles him, smiling a little at his words and ducking her head. "Any bear not sleeping is already a silly bear," she answers him, still keeping her ears half-perked toward Silverstream and Helaku... but no, she does not try to interfere. Not anymore. Instead she lowers her head, nosing at the offered voles, and smiles. "So, they're not _all_ hidden underground yet. Thank you."
"Yes," the wolf replied, "I am Helaku." He had his fill of water for now. "I've told you before there's only one thing that hurts me." And just like that he slipped past Silverstream, his mind having throoughly blocked out the pain coursing his body. "Long ago I saved a little pup from a bear on the edge of Ute land," he added, "That same bear just happened to remember me. It won't bother anyone." He stopped upon seeing Niyt and Anoki, his ears raised. It was a good thing Niyt couldn't physically see him, though her other senses likely made up for that. She'd be able to tell the extent of his injury, most likely, somehow. It wasn't life-threatening, but still...a bear. He slowly looked back at Silverstream. "If you ever see one, never fight it head on. That's how foolish wolves die."
"Pfft, well, they can hide, but that doesn't mean I won't dig'em out," Anoki says, puffing a little proudly, though he's not good at lying to Niyt and was mostly taught never to lie in the first place. "Actually, I caught them running just beneath the snow up in the woods. They think they're getting sneaky by making tunnels in the snow... they don't know /I/ figured out how to tunnel in snow when I was younger, so there." He grins, tail wagging slightly. ".. I was kinda worried about you not eating enough anyway." He smiles. Then half looks in Helaku's direction with a snort. Under his breath he mumbles, "Maybe we'll get lucky, and he's got some sort of sense boxed into his head." darkly. Seems something has happened to sour his favor of the other wolf. His ears twitch, and he snorts, calling out, "Seem to me, you should take into account your own actions before giving someone advice, oh Foolish Wolf."
Silverstream nods as she says "Very well Helaku, I guess that is good advice but I never tried to fight a bear better to not get in there way as my mother put it, A bear is a beast in wich resides the strength of a pack, do not cross there path and they will not harm you, only challenge one if you must protect something precious." She smiles as she says "You should consider not getting into scraps, might make things easier, though I see Niyts brother has a sharp tongue." She calls out, "You should consider showing more compassion to a wolf whom is hurt, not critisize him as he limps." She shoots back defending Helaku a little as she wishes to help the wolf.
Niyt laughs, and nods to Anoki. Oh, yes, she remembers the tunnel-wolf... sneaking around like some snow-beast, he was! "It's good enough to hide them from birds... but not from you," she says, nosing at him affectionately. She knows that technique of hunting herself; standing there and waiting to hear those scritchings underneath the snow, giving away where to pounce. At his concern for her, she smiles again, but with an almost wistfulness to it; how her brother is grown, that now he's the one worrying about her. It seems only yesterday... well, only last winter, at least. She doesn't answer any of it with words, but she nuzzles him again... and then lowers her head, and takes a bite of one of those voles, crunching the bones with her jaws. See? She's eating. Blind as she is, she can't see Helaku moving past Silverstream to speak, and so while she listens to his words, that's all. Her brother's retorts get a tilt of her head, still chewing - he's never been overly fond of Helaku, no, but this... this is new.
That got Helaku's attention quick, the bad sort of quick. "I see the Ute spawn of Wyanet's already influenced opinions here," he said. "I came here to get away from that, she brought it, and now you wield it on me, Anoki." His slowly pinned his ears back, his voice sincerely displeased. "I've only monitored your border during winter, spring, summer, fall, and now winter again for such things--it's what I do, what my ancestors did." Oh yes, Hel had words for someone again, his discontent laced heavily in how much he was tired of others not accepting the fact he sacrficed many personal wants...most of that seeking Niyt's company, or having a social life with the other members. Helaku wanted so much to just stop, but that was how he lived and he lived alone far too long to easily settle back into social affairs. He even gave up on becoming Cerulean. To him they were indifferent if he stayed or remained. "Packlife benefits wolves...so they say. The only packs I've been involved with kicked me out, shunned me, deceived me into leaving. Glad to know that even as a guest, it starts." Helaku actually snorted at this, for once--a sound he never made. He turned back to the river and started drinking once more.
Anoki snorts at Silverstream's scolding. Frankly, since he doesn't know her, he sees no point to take such words at all. "He limps because he appears to have taken a bear head on, yet he warns against doing that," Anoki calls back to she-wolf, "As if he is immune to the advice he gives." He snorts. And then adds, "Besides. I see no reason to take pity on a fool who fights with bears, then comes to seek sympathy from the first she-wolf he finds. He probably picked that fight with the bear /just/ to get pity. Like how he picked one with my guest, then tried to get the Beta to throw her out. Or don't you remember /that/, you were there." he frowns, ears canting back, his sister's touch for once not comforting. And then-- yeah. Ears pop forward and Anoki turns, ears laying back, spitting sharply out, "Helaku, shut your stupid stinking trap. I have not been 'tainted' or 'influenced' by Tala at all. No siree, all this 'taint' I have comes from you yourself. Or do you forget that, even though a pup, I was there with my sister in the Ute during that horrible summer, when you sat down in front of Tala, who'd just barely lost her mom, and you started telling her that her mother was a horrible person and deserved to die. I think all this 'Taint' you seem to think comes from the Ute is actually coming from you. Because you can't seem to let go of the past, you can't accept that sure, you got hurt, but yannow what, /you/ are alive. The people you /hate/ are not. And there's exactly fish. And. crap. That you can do about it, but instead you keep wallowing in it, and when your words about others come back to bite you in the ass? It's always the same. 'Oh, woe, all these packs have thrown me out and away'." He snorts, narrows his eyes, and then says sharply, "Have you ever stopped to wonder if maybe the reason they 'shun' you really /is/ your fault, and not the fault of some dead wolfess?"
Something has clearly gone on here... and at Helaku's mention of Wyanet, Niyt has a somewhat better idea of what. She frowns, for to her experience Helaku has always had a vendetta against those related to Wyanet; full of rage for no other cause than that name. If that's what has happened - again - then she too is unhappy. Her head faces forward, and her voice is calm but firm. "Nobody has asked you to watch our borders, Helaku - and you have chosen to distance _yourself_ from this pack. My uncle offered you a place once. You refused it. You are _not_ involved in Cerulean, by your own choice. You do not come to share our kills; you do not join us in sleep; you do not play with us, nor even accept aid for wounds. If you walk our borders, it must be as a lone wolf. You could have a place here, but first you have to ask for it - and you have to want it! You do not _want_ to belong, Helaku son of Helaku who carries his father's corpse on his back. You are too involved with yourself, with your supposed nobility and with your carefully nursed grudges. Helaku is no part of Cerulean. Snow might become so... if he is not dead." She falls quiet then, but it is perhaps a measure of her mood that when her brother starts to speak, she says nothing to reign him back, only remaining silent.
Silverstream sighs as she says "watch your tongue young one, I was there and yes I know tempers flared, but at the moment what you are doing is letting your anger do the speaking, please try and calm yourself." She turns to helaku and says "I can not speak for how wise your moves were to face a bear but I do think it be best to not blame everything on a dead wolfess, some of the fault does lie with you wether or not you care to accept it." She turns back to Anoki and says "That being said yelling at him is not going to change what has happened nor will it help him, I am only starting to get a better picture of what is going on." She sighs and shakes her head saying "But what is it that will help the situation."
"You are correct, Niyt, but Anoki...it's more than just what you've seen. I'm not going to talk of it because you'd just find a retort." The sad part was that Helaku was the only remaining wolf who even knew, and nobody believed a wolf that appeared so angry all the time. His eyes shifted to Silver before back to Niyt and Anoki--how odd history repeated itself in a strange way, not that any of them would know. "That's right, Niyt. Nobody asked me to patrol your border. I did it out of my own will. I refused Tariro because I was not ready; I do not join you in sleep, I would keep the rest of you awake. I do not play because play was never in my life; I do not accept aid for wounds should there be someone who needs it more. I am Helaku, I am Snow. You speak of me as if I'm two different wolves. Do you know why I cut myself off so much to benefit the Cerulean? You. You're the reason, Niyt. Why I keep coming back regardless of what happens, and yet I keep myself distant because I'm afraid. That's right. Me...not afraid of bears, or other large creatures...I'm afraid of hurting you." He coughed a tad and sank back, closer to Silver. "...it is a messy picture, Silver...the result of everything I am."
"I'll calm myself when /he/ either /learns/ to shut up about this stupid grudge he keeps carrying, or /leaves/. Life isn't always about the past. If life was always about the past, then I'd sit here day in and out moaning about how I was almost killed by a bunch of animals that are dead now thanks to the Ute, or that my mother died of the tick poison before I was able to escape, or that my father took my sister and abandoned the pack because of me. But I don't. I go out, I hunt, I take care of my sister, I play with my friends when they come -- although /now/ thanks to /him/ they may never come again, which means I have no one but my sister to keep me company, thank-you-so-VERY-much, Helaku." Anoki narrows his eyes. And then stiffly steps forward, closer to the water. "And you also refuse to talk because I'm right, and you know it. But yes! Let's not talk about things that prove you are a fool. How about we talk about my sister." He narrows his eyes as he comes very close to joining Helaku directly: "I've known you were smitten by her for ages. I'd have to be a moron to not see it. But here's the thing. She /has/ a mate. And he makes her /happy/. You? You don't. So I'll put it straight. I may be younger. And I may not be as good at fighting now. But Coinin's going to be showing me those things. And if you ever come near my sister and try to wedge yourself between her and her mate again? You'll be Helaku the dead." He bristles, shooting Silver a look that clearly suggests she should hold her tongue, "So stop with your idle daydreams. Go live in the present. Take her with you, she seems to like you. For now." He then turns... but does not completely give his back to Helaku, instead cutting a diagonal back for Niyt with a low rumble. "I'm going to go hunt more voles. They leave a better taste in my mouth than the present company does."
"I am a wolf who sleeps with my pack, Helaku. I am a wolf who plays. I am a wolf who gives aid. If you are none of these things, how do you expect to find me? You tell me how you offer me grass, and wonder that I still hunger!" Niyt shakes her head... and then tilts her head to her brother as he speaks. She frowns a little at his words - so angry, not that she can entirely blame him. She doesn't deny the mate thing, not this time... though she still hasn't actually admitted anything. Still, here in the heat of passion... either it's true, or it's not worth the argument. When he comes back toward her, she says quietly, "I can take care of myself, Anoki. Go hunt..." She pauses a moment, then adds, "...and when you're ready, think about this again, and if you're letting anger rule you." That said, she lifts up her head again, staring blindly in the direction of Helaku. Her tone is gentle, even if her words may not be. "He's right in one thing at least, Helaku. I don't love you. I have cared for you as a wolf wounded in spirit - as one who might become my pack - but I do not love you as one loves a mate."
Silverstream shakes her head as she says "You are not ready because you choose not to be, if you would accept help, maybe you could be helped through the pain of your past Helaku." She sighs once more as she says "Young wolf what is it I have done to sharpen your tongue towards me? I merely am trying to cool the fire that burns in your belly, You need to calm yourself and think about how it is you are acting." She tilts her head and says "You suggest I help him because I wish to gain something, yet you know very little about me. Please do not be so rash. I have no benefit in helping him I do so for his benifit alone."
Silverstream turns to Niyt and says "I see your sister is quite capable of deciding her own fate as well, I do not think she needs your protection here."
"Since when did she have a mate...?" he mumbled, mostly for Silver. He never heard that before. Not only was Anoki mean spirited, but now there were death threats. Yeah, just like old country, Ute and Miakoda. Helaku, or rather as Niyt called him, Snow, sat there.A soft whimper escaped him as he tried to hold it in. "I never knew you had a mate," he said. "Nobody said anything." He shakily got to his paws. It wasn't so much that Niyt had a mate, it was Anoki's words. They broke him entirely, more than anything else that happened so far. That very wounded spirit Niyt spoke of completely collapsed. "I never thought you did, Niyt. I was waiting to hear you. Now I have." He silently picked himself up and stumbled over his own paws, heading away from the river, Niyt, Anoki, even Silver. He half walked with a significant inbalance, away from everything. "There was another reason I came to this place," he finally said. "It was to see Haze, but he's gone now, so I hear. He met my father once, and was the last wolf..except for myself..who saw my sister alive. I'm tired of fighting. I'm tired of being controlled by what my birthpack raised me on, of it conflicting with everything father taught me, which had led to all the trouble I've had. Don't...Niyt...don't ever get involved with a Miakoda if any show themselves. You've seen what happens to one that's put outside his element. I'm not going to survive very long, I should think, this winter."
Silverstream's words fall on deaf ears-- Again, seeing her as a stranger more than anything, Anoki ignores her. Niyt's words make him stop long enough to shoot her a sour look but even Niyt should know his sour looks only last as long as his anger does. He sniffs, tail hiking into a dominant curl over his back a moment, and Anoki kicks some snow in the direction of both his sister and the other two wolves, before he bounds off, muttering, "Good riddance.." under his breath as he takes a pounce, and disappears into the snow, once more cloaking his fur in what with cling to it.
Anoki's irritation with her passes without comment; Niyt knows that wasn't what he wanted to hear, but perhaps it's what he needed to. He'll think on it once his mood passes, she's sure. For now, she stays facing Helaku. As it's brought back up, Niyt does answer one question. "I have not named him mate, but that is a matter for my own uncertainties; there is a wolf I love, and I believe that he loves me. So it has been since before I met you, though he was gone a long while." She stands where she is, not following after Helaku as he retreats. This, too, is his own decision, and she will not give him false hope. If he chooses to let winter take him, that is up to the Snow. The wind will carry his spirit away, and when it returns, all that pain and anger will be scrubbed away and he can start anew. "Goodbye, Snow. May the wind carry you."
Silverstream sighs as she expects her trying to help Helaku may have made her an enemy in the pack, yet she is glad his sister does not apear overly offended as she shakes her head and says "I wish you would not give up, there are things worth living for but that is your choice helaku. If I should not see you again then fare well." She turns to face Niyt and says "I hope the events have not soured your opinion of me, would you rather I left and returned when tempers have cooled."
Niyt listens to Helaku's footsteps depart, and then flicks an ear to Silverstream. "Do as you will," she says quietly, and then gathers up the voles her brother brought to carry them away, her steps going in a direction different both from Helaku and from Anoki.
Silverstream sighs as she shakes her head and she guesses that her best chance is to find helaku, she fears he may try something stupid again. She still unsure why she feels driven to help him. Yet something inside of her tells her he may need her even more then he cares to admit.
Helaku looked back at them. Was this what it was like when his father gazed at his dens that last time with Ixkin, who willingly eased against him despite the fact he had rabies, for one last wolf-hug? "...Niyt," he said. "One last thing. Many animals say my father became a spirit of winter when he died. Perhaps you'll sense me, free of pain, sometime..." He tore his eyes from her and this land. Everything was set. Coinin tried hard, so did Niyt, others. This fate was set on him by his original pack, higher ranks who wanted him out of the way for their own power. Helaku I never got to see his pups with Wuth grow, and Wuth didn't live too long after Snow was sent to find his father. His siblings were also doomed; Helaku II, the last remnant of Helaku's blood, slipped into the trees. There was only one name he never told Niyt that he told Coinin: His birthname: Wanageeska, the name he abandoned once he figured out his pack tricked him and yet still he failed in life just as they engineered. Fortunate is it the Miakoda live far and away, for it is one pack that seeks domination and utter obedience, in whose land the trees, hills, water, and land itself have eyes and ears to their Alphas. If anyone ever saw Helaku again, it wasn't on Cerulean land or Ute land.
Niyt - female wolf
Anoki - male adolescent wolf
Helaku - male wolf
---Cerulean's Lands: Two-River Fork---
Silverstream wonders around the cerulean lands, allowing herself a chance to explore the area. She enjoys the atmosphere of not having to hide herself here, having permision to be here from the alpha is quite convienent. She sniffs at the trees as she notes the scent of the pack is quite strong, even though it still makes her a bit nervous, she is happy to be here. She wonders around a bit, she would like to meet Niyt, she heard quite a bit about her.
Niyt sits on a small outcropping of rock not too far from the rivers. She has her eyes closed, her head lifted and her ears perked as she listens to the gentle wind that blows through her fur and teases the powdery snow into swirls.
Silverstream smiles as she spots what looks like a sleeping wolf, though she does not assume this. She carefuly aproaches as she watches her, she wonders what this wolfs name is? She enjoys the feeling of the power snow flowing through her fur as she watches Niyt, not wanting to close the distance tell the young wolf is aware of her presence.
Few wolves sleep in a sitting position, but this one certainly seems peaceful. She's quiet for a while, save for the occasional flicks of her ears, and then her muzzle lowers slightly and she opens her eyes. Those eyes have an odd look to them; fogged over with white clouding and not seeming to focus on anything save the middle distance. They don't go to Silverstream, not really, but she turns her head in about that direction and says, "Hello."
Silverstream realizes the wolf is sitting up and shakes the snow out of her eyes, she must really need to watch that. She sees the young wolf flicking her ears and figures she must be Niyt, she stares at the eyes for a moment and confirms it. She knows the look of the fogged eyes, she knows Niyt is a blind wolf. What are the chances there are two of them in this area. Yet it be rude to point such things out as she starts to walk towards her she tries to remain somewhat casual as she does not want to offend her. She says "Hello there." Not quite sure what to say, wondering what would be offensive to the young girl and what would be appropriate she becomes nervous talking with her.
Niyt smiles and nods, her ears flicking to the sound of a voice and approaching footsteps. After a few moments of silence, she says, "You visited us last winter, didn't you? I'm afraid I don't recall your name."
Silverstream smiles as she shakes her head, "Yes but I doubt you remember it since we never spoken to eachother, I know you off of what others have told me about you. My name is silverstream. Its good to finally speak with you." She states as she walks next to her, not sure how close she can get and maintain niyt comfort, so she keeps a bit more distance then usaul.
Niyt nods again. Her head tilts slightly, ears perked to catch the sounds of motion since her eyes can't track Silverstream. "Yes, that's right. Well... hello again, or for the first time. Either way."
Silverstream smiles as she says "Yes, I suppose that be hello again for me as well, though keeping track of whom we met and have not seems a bit confusing at times wouldn't you say?" SHe looks over and wonders if coinin will be by soon, she says "So do you help with the hunts, Niyt?"
Niyt laughs softly. "I would rather not collide with the other wolves... nor they with me. I don't join the larger hunts; when I hunt it is on my own, and for smaller game such as mice and voles." She seems unabashed about hunting small prey like that.
Silverstream chuckles and says "Perhaps you might collide with them, then again, you might one day be able to, I don't know, you were ablle to sense my presense before I even spoke to you." She smiles as she says "Then again I never been one to hunt much large game, since I never hunted in a group before."
"I found you, yes. You ran no faster than the wind." Niyt smiles. "In the hunt, all things become one; the deer is the wind, and so are the wolves giving chase. I could run with them, if I chose, but I would hurt the pack as much as I helped it. No, I hunt by myself, and only listen for deer to tell the others where to look."
Silverstream tilts her head and smiles as she gives this thought and says "I guess that is true, but I would not know, I merely was trying to encourage you. I meant no offense." She sees the young wolf doesn't seem to take offense as she adds "Though I suppose you are used to these ignorant comments by now?"
Niyt smiles, and she certainly doesn't seem offended. "I have been fully blind for nearly two years now, and my sight grew weak before it was gone. It is no recent wound, to be irritated by small things. The scar has grown over it."
Silverstream nods and says "That is a rather big stance you hold, I am glad you are strong. Many lesser wolves would lose themselves over such a injury." She sighs as she says "I am happy such things do not bother you, though." She pauses as she remembers her talk with helaku, feeling the urge to speak with Niyt, but knowing better then to interfere.
Niyt turns her head aside a moment, her muzzle to the wind and her expression a neutral one, almost studiedly so. She returns her attention to Silverstream, and smiles. "It is what it is; what more can we ask of the world? I have wandered, from time to time, but I am not lost any longer."
Silverstream tilts her head as she not sure how Niyt feels, her neutral expression could mean she hiding discomfort. She remains silent not sure if she had poked at an old wound. She tries to think of another subject but hermind does not seem to want to cooperate, she sighs as she hopes she has not made her first meeting with Niyt an uncomfortable one.
Niyt seems disinclined to break the silence, her posture relaxed as she listens to the wandering breezes.
Silverstream continues her thought as she shakes her head, She finally breaks the silence, deciding to apologize, "I am sorry if my talk has made you uncomfortable, its just that I do not know what is apropriate to speak of, I have never really had much contact with others of my kind. I usaully avoid other wolves, being born to a lone wolf mother, she was always cautiaus of those in a pack."
Niyt blinks, as though surprised. "Uncomfortable? No, it's fine." She smiles. "I know some others who were born without a pack. It is... a harder life, it seems."
Silverstream nods but feels silly after thinking a moment and says "Yes quite different, but on one hand it is also in some ways easier, you do not hafta take orders from no wolf, nor do you hafta worry about borders, hunting in others terrotory is risky but sometimes rewording. Another advantage is you are able to find a mate, and work together, from what I know of packs your trading freedom for security, you rely on the alphas to command the pack, and some you don't get a say in. Packs provide easier access to food and more security, but being alone provides more freedom its a tradeoff."
Niyt smiles. "I suppose it depends on the alpha, and on the pack. Some, or so I have heard, are very regimented, with a right and wrong way to do things, and treat harshly those who disobey. Here in Cerulean... well, Tariro is my uncle, and I have always seen him so. I have taken my own paths, and if I take a mate, it will be because I have chosen one."
Silverstream nods and says "I suppose so, but I am uncertain. How is cerulean different? Would your uncle really allow someone who is neither the alpha nor the beta have a mate? Even if you are his neice, I have not heard of such a thing before. Still you are better aquinted with the rules here then I am, so I will hold off that until I have spoken with Tariro, it just this pack is somewhat different then what I expected." She says as she shrugs and says "Everything I had learned from my mother seems not to be the case, but only time will tell if this is just some dream I am wanting to be true or a true home, I can be happy in."
Niyt laughs, and nods. "My great-uncle Lexus is neither alpha nor beta, nor ever has been - and he has a mate in Rayen. There have been others. It is still the alpha's role to determine if there is food enough for pups, but as for mates... yes." She smiles. "Your mother need not have been wrong, only... incomplete. Some packs, or so I have heard, train their pups as warriors, and allow them no emotions, no actions save obedience. Some are regimented and harsh. Cerulean is not so."
Silverstream tilts her head and says "I am confused, I mean I though.. er I guess I have a lot to learn about such things." She states as she smiles at Niyt, "I guess it be not too bad to see how things run around here by the way you describe it sounds rather pleasant." She smiles as she says "On a more personal note, does Coinin have a mate? I would assume so him being a bit dashing." She giggles as she has to admit he is rather attractive.
Niyt smiles, and nods to Silverstream as she talks about learning more about how things are here... and then tilts her head at the second question a moment before the corners of her muzzle curve up. "He has declared no mate before the pack. I would advise asking him yourself, if you wish to know more."
Silverstream nods as she tilts her head as she says "Well I would only I am not really sure what to ask." Jeeze and just a little bit ago she told another wolf not to be afraid of such things, yet here she is tensing up a second time as she says nervously, "How does one ask that question, to someone directly, and what if it makes me seem strange? Wouldn't it be better if I got someone else to ask him for me?" her voice getting noticably softer and softer as her expression makes her own cruish on the male rather easy to spot.
Niyt laughs. "It's a simple question, and yet... it so often seems difficult in the mouths of those who care most about its answer." She's seen this same sort of hesitation recently, oh yes. "You can ask him what you asked me of him. Go to him, and say, "Hello, Coinin. It's nice to see you. Oh, I was wondering - do you have a mate? If so, I'd love to meet her, for surely a wolf such as you would have a fine one!""
Silverstream nods and says "I think you are right about that, maybe it only seems difficult." She literally curls up and says "Oh no I couldn't ask so easily, well...maybe..posibly I guess I could ask him that." Her voice lowering just above that of a whisper as she shakes her head and says "Why does it seem helping others is less worrysome then asking something you really wanna know?"
Niyt keeps her seated position, not seeing Silverstream's gestures, though perhaps she can hear some of it in the tone of the other wolf's voice. She smiles softly. "It is always so. Easier to see another's path than your own... and even more, easier to see for another that there is more than one path; that if the longed-for does not happen, life will still go on."
Tension and the ironed scent of blood wafted in the air about Helaku as he trudged through the light snowfall. It seemed everything tried preventing his leave of this place, from those wishing for him to listen to...freak encounters. His first priority, now that he was in a safe zone, was the water he drank from the river; the wolf was a mess of twigs, dirt, mud, blood and numerous small nicks that he ignored. So too did he ignore the gash in his flank. While not a gaping wound it was a sight that gave a hint as to what happened beyond the border, suggestive of rather large claw marks. He didn't say a word. Only drank. The threat was dealt with, lured away. So much for going home.
Snow has been falling off and on; and really, Anoki has come to like snow. If used properly, he had found when young, that it could give cover to one's movement when hunting. While Anoki does not hunt large things, no one has net to deny he will chase down small creatures, like the voles his sister likes. Voles like the several he has clamped in his jaws at the moment, keeping him from talking, but most certainly not keeping him from grinning like jackdaw as, snow clogged in his fur from rolling around in it, he starts, from an unseen direction, towards Niyt and the strange female; taking each step with care so as not to be heard when his feet slip through the snow; and coming in upwind of them, to avoid being smelled. All this.. just to surprise his sister..
Silverstream smiles as she likes Niyts advice, she can see why Helaku likes her so, still she does not hide her feelings for Coinin well in front of Niyt. Something about the wolf disarms her defenses and she feels safe talking with her. Suddenly the smell of blood fills her nostrils and her fur stands on end, Helaku scent comes as well she says "I think there might of been trouble, the wolf I saw earlier, he never gave me his name but he is injured from what I can see." She imediately stands and runs towards where haluka is drinking trying to see if he needs help, She keeps a bit of distance as she is not sure how he will respond. "Hello there, are you in need of help?"
With her attention on the conversation with Silverstream, Niyt isn't paying much attention to other things. The scent of blood, when it comes to her, makes her nose twitch, but wolf blood and deer blood and vole blood all smell much the same, and hearing no panicked or hurting cries (and, of course, not seeing any signs of what's going on) she remains oblivious to both the wounded Helaku and her sneaky brother's approach. When Silverstream bounds off with a hurried explanation, she blinks, tilting her head in that direction but staying where she is with her ears perked to listen.
Helaku took his time drinking and raised his head only when finished. It was that same wolf from before, the female who paused him the night before. Again she offered help--how Ute of her...and that wasn't a sarcastic thought. It was genuinely Ute of her to approach him this much with generosity. Perhaps that is where the old traditions lived now. He looked stronger than before, entirely calm and strangely under control despite his own physical state. "I appreciate the offer, but it is not needed at this time," he replied. "The threat has been subdued." And he went back to drinking again. The cold took the mind off pain, and cold water was the best.
Close; A yard behind Niyt, and Anoki ducks into a half skulk, head low and shoulders shifting. He's still grinning like a bandit; but that grin slowly starts to fade as he sees what she cannot-- Silverstream running to help a wounded .. wolf? At the water's edge. He starts to lift his head, but stops when he sees who it is. Ah. Helaku. Well. Perhaps the older wolf finally got what was coming to him, letting his temper rule him so, and his pride get in the way. Lest his sister too try to join this strange she-wolf with the problem, he breaks his secrecy to creep up fast on her, nuding at her shoulder and neck, before dropping his mouthful of vole bounty at her feet. "It's The Great and Mighty Helaku," he murmurs in his sister's ear, "Looks like he tried to tell a bear how to hibernate and it didn't like the advice."
Silverstream nods and says "Are you sure? Your wound it looks rather deep I could bring you something from the woods to help ease the pain." She offers as she turns noticing Nyte has next to her some other wolf, She remembers him as her brother, yet his name slips her mind. Still that can wait till she is sure helaku does not need her she turns back to him and says "So your name is mighty Helaku? How interesting I am glad to finally know it." She smiles as she says "I am silverstream, are you sure you are not hurt I am sure I could bring you meat if you desired it."
When Helaku actually speaks, Niyt does flick an ear in something like recognition. It's enough distraction that she doesn't turn toward her brother until just about the moment that he comes to press against her... though she certainly does turn toward him. Maybe she's heard him, maybe it's just that his lack of So Sneaky thoughts means he's not keeping hidden from her other senses. Who knows? She nuzzles him, smiling a little at his words and ducking her head. "Any bear not sleeping is already a silly bear," she answers him, still keeping her ears half-perked toward Silverstream and Helaku... but no, she does not try to interfere. Not anymore. Instead she lowers her head, nosing at the offered voles, and smiles. "So, they're not _all_ hidden underground yet. Thank you."
"Yes," the wolf replied, "I am Helaku." He had his fill of water for now. "I've told you before there's only one thing that hurts me." And just like that he slipped past Silverstream, his mind having throoughly blocked out the pain coursing his body. "Long ago I saved a little pup from a bear on the edge of Ute land," he added, "That same bear just happened to remember me. It won't bother anyone." He stopped upon seeing Niyt and Anoki, his ears raised. It was a good thing Niyt couldn't physically see him, though her other senses likely made up for that. She'd be able to tell the extent of his injury, most likely, somehow. It wasn't life-threatening, but still...a bear. He slowly looked back at Silverstream. "If you ever see one, never fight it head on. That's how foolish wolves die."
"Pfft, well, they can hide, but that doesn't mean I won't dig'em out," Anoki says, puffing a little proudly, though he's not good at lying to Niyt and was mostly taught never to lie in the first place. "Actually, I caught them running just beneath the snow up in the woods. They think they're getting sneaky by making tunnels in the snow... they don't know /I/ figured out how to tunnel in snow when I was younger, so there." He grins, tail wagging slightly. ".. I was kinda worried about you not eating enough anyway." He smiles. Then half looks in Helaku's direction with a snort. Under his breath he mumbles, "Maybe we'll get lucky, and he's got some sort of sense boxed into his head." darkly. Seems something has happened to sour his favor of the other wolf. His ears twitch, and he snorts, calling out, "Seem to me, you should take into account your own actions before giving someone advice, oh Foolish Wolf."
Silverstream nods as she says "Very well Helaku, I guess that is good advice but I never tried to fight a bear better to not get in there way as my mother put it, A bear is a beast in wich resides the strength of a pack, do not cross there path and they will not harm you, only challenge one if you must protect something precious." She smiles as she says "You should consider not getting into scraps, might make things easier, though I see Niyts brother has a sharp tongue." She calls out, "You should consider showing more compassion to a wolf whom is hurt, not critisize him as he limps." She shoots back defending Helaku a little as she wishes to help the wolf.
Niyt laughs, and nods to Anoki. Oh, yes, she remembers the tunnel-wolf... sneaking around like some snow-beast, he was! "It's good enough to hide them from birds... but not from you," she says, nosing at him affectionately. She knows that technique of hunting herself; standing there and waiting to hear those scritchings underneath the snow, giving away where to pounce. At his concern for her, she smiles again, but with an almost wistfulness to it; how her brother is grown, that now he's the one worrying about her. It seems only yesterday... well, only last winter, at least. She doesn't answer any of it with words, but she nuzzles him again... and then lowers her head, and takes a bite of one of those voles, crunching the bones with her jaws. See? She's eating. Blind as she is, she can't see Helaku moving past Silverstream to speak, and so while she listens to his words, that's all. Her brother's retorts get a tilt of her head, still chewing - he's never been overly fond of Helaku, no, but this... this is new.
That got Helaku's attention quick, the bad sort of quick. "I see the Ute spawn of Wyanet's already influenced opinions here," he said. "I came here to get away from that, she brought it, and now you wield it on me, Anoki." His slowly pinned his ears back, his voice sincerely displeased. "I've only monitored your border during winter, spring, summer, fall, and now winter again for such things--it's what I do, what my ancestors did." Oh yes, Hel had words for someone again, his discontent laced heavily in how much he was tired of others not accepting the fact he sacrficed many personal wants...most of that seeking Niyt's company, or having a social life with the other members. Helaku wanted so much to just stop, but that was how he lived and he lived alone far too long to easily settle back into social affairs. He even gave up on becoming Cerulean. To him they were indifferent if he stayed or remained. "Packlife benefits wolves...so they say. The only packs I've been involved with kicked me out, shunned me, deceived me into leaving. Glad to know that even as a guest, it starts." Helaku actually snorted at this, for once--a sound he never made. He turned back to the river and started drinking once more.
Anoki snorts at Silverstream's scolding. Frankly, since he doesn't know her, he sees no point to take such words at all. "He limps because he appears to have taken a bear head on, yet he warns against doing that," Anoki calls back to she-wolf, "As if he is immune to the advice he gives." He snorts. And then adds, "Besides. I see no reason to take pity on a fool who fights with bears, then comes to seek sympathy from the first she-wolf he finds. He probably picked that fight with the bear /just/ to get pity. Like how he picked one with my guest, then tried to get the Beta to throw her out. Or don't you remember /that/, you were there." he frowns, ears canting back, his sister's touch for once not comforting. And then-- yeah. Ears pop forward and Anoki turns, ears laying back, spitting sharply out, "Helaku, shut your stupid stinking trap. I have not been 'tainted' or 'influenced' by Tala at all. No siree, all this 'taint' I have comes from you yourself. Or do you forget that, even though a pup, I was there with my sister in the Ute during that horrible summer, when you sat down in front of Tala, who'd just barely lost her mom, and you started telling her that her mother was a horrible person and deserved to die. I think all this 'Taint' you seem to think comes from the Ute is actually coming from you. Because you can't seem to let go of the past, you can't accept that sure, you got hurt, but yannow what, /you/ are alive. The people you /hate/ are not. And there's exactly fish. And. crap. That you can do about it, but instead you keep wallowing in it, and when your words about others come back to bite you in the ass? It's always the same. 'Oh, woe, all these packs have thrown me out and away'." He snorts, narrows his eyes, and then says sharply, "Have you ever stopped to wonder if maybe the reason they 'shun' you really /is/ your fault, and not the fault of some dead wolfess?"
Something has clearly gone on here... and at Helaku's mention of Wyanet, Niyt has a somewhat better idea of what. She frowns, for to her experience Helaku has always had a vendetta against those related to Wyanet; full of rage for no other cause than that name. If that's what has happened - again - then she too is unhappy. Her head faces forward, and her voice is calm but firm. "Nobody has asked you to watch our borders, Helaku - and you have chosen to distance _yourself_ from this pack. My uncle offered you a place once. You refused it. You are _not_ involved in Cerulean, by your own choice. You do not come to share our kills; you do not join us in sleep; you do not play with us, nor even accept aid for wounds. If you walk our borders, it must be as a lone wolf. You could have a place here, but first you have to ask for it - and you have to want it! You do not _want_ to belong, Helaku son of Helaku who carries his father's corpse on his back. You are too involved with yourself, with your supposed nobility and with your carefully nursed grudges. Helaku is no part of Cerulean. Snow might become so... if he is not dead." She falls quiet then, but it is perhaps a measure of her mood that when her brother starts to speak, she says nothing to reign him back, only remaining silent.
Silverstream sighs as she says "watch your tongue young one, I was there and yes I know tempers flared, but at the moment what you are doing is letting your anger do the speaking, please try and calm yourself." She turns to helaku and says "I can not speak for how wise your moves were to face a bear but I do think it be best to not blame everything on a dead wolfess, some of the fault does lie with you wether or not you care to accept it." She turns back to Anoki and says "That being said yelling at him is not going to change what has happened nor will it help him, I am only starting to get a better picture of what is going on." She sighs and shakes her head saying "But what is it that will help the situation."
"You are correct, Niyt, but Anoki...it's more than just what you've seen. I'm not going to talk of it because you'd just find a retort." The sad part was that Helaku was the only remaining wolf who even knew, and nobody believed a wolf that appeared so angry all the time. His eyes shifted to Silver before back to Niyt and Anoki--how odd history repeated itself in a strange way, not that any of them would know. "That's right, Niyt. Nobody asked me to patrol your border. I did it out of my own will. I refused Tariro because I was not ready; I do not join you in sleep, I would keep the rest of you awake. I do not play because play was never in my life; I do not accept aid for wounds should there be someone who needs it more. I am Helaku, I am Snow. You speak of me as if I'm two different wolves. Do you know why I cut myself off so much to benefit the Cerulean? You. You're the reason, Niyt. Why I keep coming back regardless of what happens, and yet I keep myself distant because I'm afraid. That's right. Me...not afraid of bears, or other large creatures...I'm afraid of hurting you." He coughed a tad and sank back, closer to Silver. "...it is a messy picture, Silver...the result of everything I am."
"I'll calm myself when /he/ either /learns/ to shut up about this stupid grudge he keeps carrying, or /leaves/. Life isn't always about the past. If life was always about the past, then I'd sit here day in and out moaning about how I was almost killed by a bunch of animals that are dead now thanks to the Ute, or that my mother died of the tick poison before I was able to escape, or that my father took my sister and abandoned the pack because of me. But I don't. I go out, I hunt, I take care of my sister, I play with my friends when they come -- although /now/ thanks to /him/ they may never come again, which means I have no one but my sister to keep me company, thank-you-so-VERY-much, Helaku." Anoki narrows his eyes. And then stiffly steps forward, closer to the water. "And you also refuse to talk because I'm right, and you know it. But yes! Let's not talk about things that prove you are a fool. How about we talk about my sister." He narrows his eyes as he comes very close to joining Helaku directly: "I've known you were smitten by her for ages. I'd have to be a moron to not see it. But here's the thing. She /has/ a mate. And he makes her /happy/. You? You don't. So I'll put it straight. I may be younger. And I may not be as good at fighting now. But Coinin's going to be showing me those things. And if you ever come near my sister and try to wedge yourself between her and her mate again? You'll be Helaku the dead." He bristles, shooting Silver a look that clearly suggests she should hold her tongue, "So stop with your idle daydreams. Go live in the present. Take her with you, she seems to like you. For now." He then turns... but does not completely give his back to Helaku, instead cutting a diagonal back for Niyt with a low rumble. "I'm going to go hunt more voles. They leave a better taste in my mouth than the present company does."
"I am a wolf who sleeps with my pack, Helaku. I am a wolf who plays. I am a wolf who gives aid. If you are none of these things, how do you expect to find me? You tell me how you offer me grass, and wonder that I still hunger!" Niyt shakes her head... and then tilts her head to her brother as he speaks. She frowns a little at his words - so angry, not that she can entirely blame him. She doesn't deny the mate thing, not this time... though she still hasn't actually admitted anything. Still, here in the heat of passion... either it's true, or it's not worth the argument. When he comes back toward her, she says quietly, "I can take care of myself, Anoki. Go hunt..." She pauses a moment, then adds, "...and when you're ready, think about this again, and if you're letting anger rule you." That said, she lifts up her head again, staring blindly in the direction of Helaku. Her tone is gentle, even if her words may not be. "He's right in one thing at least, Helaku. I don't love you. I have cared for you as a wolf wounded in spirit - as one who might become my pack - but I do not love you as one loves a mate."
Silverstream shakes her head as she says "You are not ready because you choose not to be, if you would accept help, maybe you could be helped through the pain of your past Helaku." She sighs once more as she says "Young wolf what is it I have done to sharpen your tongue towards me? I merely am trying to cool the fire that burns in your belly, You need to calm yourself and think about how it is you are acting." She tilts her head and says "You suggest I help him because I wish to gain something, yet you know very little about me. Please do not be so rash. I have no benefit in helping him I do so for his benifit alone."
Silverstream turns to Niyt and says "I see your sister is quite capable of deciding her own fate as well, I do not think she needs your protection here."
"Since when did she have a mate...?" he mumbled, mostly for Silver. He never heard that before. Not only was Anoki mean spirited, but now there were death threats. Yeah, just like old country, Ute and Miakoda. Helaku, or rather as Niyt called him, Snow, sat there.A soft whimper escaped him as he tried to hold it in. "I never knew you had a mate," he said. "Nobody said anything." He shakily got to his paws. It wasn't so much that Niyt had a mate, it was Anoki's words. They broke him entirely, more than anything else that happened so far. That very wounded spirit Niyt spoke of completely collapsed. "I never thought you did, Niyt. I was waiting to hear you. Now I have." He silently picked himself up and stumbled over his own paws, heading away from the river, Niyt, Anoki, even Silver. He half walked with a significant inbalance, away from everything. "There was another reason I came to this place," he finally said. "It was to see Haze, but he's gone now, so I hear. He met my father once, and was the last wolf..except for myself..who saw my sister alive. I'm tired of fighting. I'm tired of being controlled by what my birthpack raised me on, of it conflicting with everything father taught me, which had led to all the trouble I've had. Don't...Niyt...don't ever get involved with a Miakoda if any show themselves. You've seen what happens to one that's put outside his element. I'm not going to survive very long, I should think, this winter."
Silverstream's words fall on deaf ears-- Again, seeing her as a stranger more than anything, Anoki ignores her. Niyt's words make him stop long enough to shoot her a sour look but even Niyt should know his sour looks only last as long as his anger does. He sniffs, tail hiking into a dominant curl over his back a moment, and Anoki kicks some snow in the direction of both his sister and the other two wolves, before he bounds off, muttering, "Good riddance.." under his breath as he takes a pounce, and disappears into the snow, once more cloaking his fur in what with cling to it.
Anoki's irritation with her passes without comment; Niyt knows that wasn't what he wanted to hear, but perhaps it's what he needed to. He'll think on it once his mood passes, she's sure. For now, she stays facing Helaku. As it's brought back up, Niyt does answer one question. "I have not named him mate, but that is a matter for my own uncertainties; there is a wolf I love, and I believe that he loves me. So it has been since before I met you, though he was gone a long while." She stands where she is, not following after Helaku as he retreats. This, too, is his own decision, and she will not give him false hope. If he chooses to let winter take him, that is up to the Snow. The wind will carry his spirit away, and when it returns, all that pain and anger will be scrubbed away and he can start anew. "Goodbye, Snow. May the wind carry you."
Silverstream sighs as she expects her trying to help Helaku may have made her an enemy in the pack, yet she is glad his sister does not apear overly offended as she shakes her head and says "I wish you would not give up, there are things worth living for but that is your choice helaku. If I should not see you again then fare well." She turns to face Niyt and says "I hope the events have not soured your opinion of me, would you rather I left and returned when tempers have cooled."
Niyt listens to Helaku's footsteps depart, and then flicks an ear to Silverstream. "Do as you will," she says quietly, and then gathers up the voles her brother brought to carry them away, her steps going in a direction different both from Helaku and from Anoki.
Silverstream sighs as she shakes her head and she guesses that her best chance is to find helaku, she fears he may try something stupid again. She still unsure why she feels driven to help him. Yet something inside of her tells her he may need her even more then he cares to admit.
Helaku looked back at them. Was this what it was like when his father gazed at his dens that last time with Ixkin, who willingly eased against him despite the fact he had rabies, for one last wolf-hug? "...Niyt," he said. "One last thing. Many animals say my father became a spirit of winter when he died. Perhaps you'll sense me, free of pain, sometime..." He tore his eyes from her and this land. Everything was set. Coinin tried hard, so did Niyt, others. This fate was set on him by his original pack, higher ranks who wanted him out of the way for their own power. Helaku I never got to see his pups with Wuth grow, and Wuth didn't live too long after Snow was sent to find his father. His siblings were also doomed; Helaku II, the last remnant of Helaku's blood, slipped into the trees. There was only one name he never told Niyt that he told Coinin: His birthname: Wanageeska, the name he abandoned once he figured out his pack tricked him and yet still he failed in life just as they engineered. Fortunate is it the Miakoda live far and away, for it is one pack that seeks domination and utter obedience, in whose land the trees, hills, water, and land itself have eyes and ears to their Alphas. If anyone ever saw Helaku again, it wasn't on Cerulean land or Ute land.