Post by Pavane on May 23, 2012 13:34:42 GMT -5
Skahla - male wolf
Ikuna - male wolf
Tala - female wolf
Orsa - female bear
---Waterfall Pool---
The food was minimal. The sleep was fitful. But at least when Skahla wakes up, he is in better shape then when he finally returned to the pack. Not by much, perhaps, but by enough that he'll be able to see his way through the next few hours. Never one for sitting still, the haggard alpha has quickly set himself to the only thing he can really see to do. Searching out game trails. He's not good at the whole concept of comforting anyone. Wachiwa could probably use that comfort, and eventually Skahla will have to see here... but it is yet another way he keenly feels the loss of is mate. She would know what to do for her sister, Skahla is certain. And now, when Wachiwa would need her the most... the alpha shakes his head to try to rid himself of those thoughts. They don't do him any good. Food. Food can do all of them good.
Since Ahiga and Thaea left, Ikuna has mostly stuck around the waterfall and cave. A wolf can only sit still for so long, though. He can only have the same conversations so many times. Some time after Skahla's slipping away, Ikuna left the densite in Tala and Asku's paws and headed out himself. Their numbers have grown, with the return of his elder brothers. Perhaps even enough that they can both defend their temporary home and have a proper hunt. It feels strange, that defense should need to be such a thought; even when he was a halfgrown pup, there were times when he and his sister were the only ones awake at the den... and nobody worried about it. Now... he wonders if one wolf at watch is even enough. Not that they can manage more. The young wolf paces out a series of arcs from the densite; partway a hunt, partway a patrol. Partway just an excuse to get his legs in motion and think.
At least with the rest behind him and that little bit of food to give him energy, Skahla is better capable of keeping aware of his environment as he charts out the scents of animals too long gone for him to be actively hunting them now, but not so long gone that there is little chance they'll return. His pack picked the spot for their temporary home well. Prey is always more plentiful where there is always water. The gait that catches his ear is not one of prey, though. And a moment later, as the wind shifts, Skahla raises his head properly to let out a still-hoarse bark. He recognises that scent, and he and Ikuna have things to discuss. Things that the youngest adults of Ute need to know right now, and Skahla can be certain that Ikuna will pass them on to the others.
Ikuna perks his ears to the sound of a bark. He returns it, and turns in that direction. Skahla said there was something he needed to know. The alpha will likely find it easier to talk without a crowd, so perhaps this is the chance, and he'll get to stop wondering about one of his things. Probably only by gaining another dozen things to wonder about instead, but... maybe it'll help. Even if it doesn't, if it's important, it's important. The young adult emerges from between two bushes, and ducks his head briefly to his elder brother.
Skahla is no longer in need of physical support. All the same, as Ikuna appears and dips his head so respectfully, Skahla is quick to attempt to make contact with his brother. He doesn't lean against Ikuna the way he did with Tala so recently before, but even the quick nuzzle that he gives was quite the rare thing before everything that happened recently. With his tail held so easily parallel to the ground, Skahla says, "I'm glad to see you, Ikuna. Walk with me, yeah?" After the not-quite-question, not-quite-command, Skahla turns to do just that. Walk.
The nuzzle from Skahla surprises Ikuna a little, but seems to please him; his crooked tail gives a slight wag, and he retuns the motion before his brother steps back. "Yeah, sure," he says, and pads up to his brother's side to keep a pace alongside the other wolf. Walking and... talking? He glances sideways at Skahla, clearly curious but not quite certain where to begin or what to ask.
"You know I don't do this real well. I seem to remember trying, once. I just don't have the gift for it. There are better wolves to pass on the Ute history, but I remember what is important. And I think this is important now." Perhaps Skahla rambles a little, but his brain has never worked with any kind of linear pattern. Perhaps that's why he had so much trouble the last time he tried to tell Ikuna about any of Ute's history, because he was trying too hard to say things in a way that made sense instead of passing on the actual message. "You wouldn't have been old enough to remember. It was all before Mom and Dad... died. But there used to be... well, actually, from what I hear, when the Ute formed in these lands it was half to give some dogs who had no place else to go a safe place. When Skelaghe and Helaku reunited, Skelaghe had adopted a young dog. They stayed with the pack, until... one of them died. And the other one blamed Skelaghe. Turned on her. And hurt her... the way Chewy was hurt." That should make it obvious enough why Skahla feels now is the time to pass this on. "I barely remember them myself. Those half-wolf pups. Well, not pups, actually. Not by the time I was born. Mom always called them pups, though. Like they were her own, and they'd never be grown in her eyes. She loved them. The whole pack did, I think."
"I know," says Ikuna to Skahla's... explanation? Apology? Whatever it is. Regardless of the reason, he knows that Skahla doesn't often do storytime like this. His older brother's relations to the younger set have always been strained - Tala even thinks Skahla doesn't like her, despite Ikuna's insistences to her that it's just how Skahla is. If it's important, though - or even if it isn't, really - Ikuna will listen. He does that now, after nodding to his brother's claim of importance. The first part makes him blink. Dogs, in Ute. Not just in Ute, but being... a reason for Ute. When the name Skelaghe is mentioned, he nods. That makes some sense; from everything he's heard, Skelaghe was... well, like Wachiwa. Nice, kind, everyone liked her. (And what did Ahiga say about everyone and liking? Never mind that now.) For Skelaghe to adopt a dog makes sense. As the story continues, he frowns. Hurt her? Li- oh. Like that. Ikuna scowls, but he doesn't interrupt, simply nodding once. Half-wolf, half-dog... and pups of the pack. As Skahla winds down for a moment, Ikuna speaks up. He's still frowning, but his tone is fairly level. "I remember them, sort of. The half-wolves. There was... a shy one. And... a wild one." A frown. "I never knew where they came from. Or... what happened to them." He was just a pup, after all. He didn't pay much attention to things like that, not when they weren't involving his immediate family.
"It wasn't the same then as it is now. But... I don't remember Skelaghe, myself. Not really. Sometimes, I can tell myself I do, but I think it's just stories that I heard so many times, I started pretending I was actually there. Mom and Dad never put much faith in it, I don't think, but I still feel like I got the idea that everything happens for a reason drummed into me when I was young. Even if they didn't believe in it, Skelaghe did. We couldn't make a home for those pups. Not a one of them stayed after Mom and Dad died, and I don't think they liked it here even before Mom and Dad died. I wonder if they had felt more welcome... if the Ute wouldn't have to be going through this a second time, since we didn't learn the lesson the first time." He has never spoken about it, not to anyone, for a great many reasons. But Skahla has always firmly believed in things that can't be seen. In other worlds, and things no wolf could possibly hope to actually know, meaning that faith has to be enough. It is why he wanted so strongly to be the alpha in the first place, to keep that old tradition alive. In the end, he let his doubts about what others would think about him keep him from doing just that, though, so he has to wonder whether this, everything that is happening now, is more his fault than anyone could ever know. Because he let those things become unimportant.
Ikuna listens again, nodding at the talk of Skelaghe. It's like how... Ikuna can picture his mother during her battle with the snake that bit Asku, despite how it happened long before he was born. He just... he remembers it, now. As Skahla goes on to philosophy, though, Ikuna frowns. Reasons. That's where he has a problem. Reasons, it seems, always mean Spirits influencing their lives. Spirits, acting cruelly; Spirits, using their power to cause harm. The Spirits aren't leaders, nor parents. They're just... cruel. If they exist overhead, and they think that pain and death is way to teach their lessons... well then, Ikuna doesn't want to learn. The frown deepens as Skahla goes on to talk about lessons. "If..." He shakes his head. Time to be blunt. "I don't believe in the Spirits. Not really. I... don't want to. They're... mean. Taking things away. Biting us if we do things they don't like. They're like that wolverine, or that cat, the ones that took me. I'm not a puppy. Even when I was... I watched Dad. I listened to Chewy's stories. I saw what was good, and I did that. Every time anyone ever talks about the spirits... it's about being tested. It's about taking what they give us. It's about /suffering/. I'm glad to know what happened before, but I'm /not/ going to see it as a lesson. I'm going to give those pups a place in Ute because it's the right thing to do. Because they're Wachiwa's pups, not because of some... some failure of Ute when I was a pup."
As Ikuna responds, Skahla's tail lowers along with his ears. They are not quite flat against his head, but it's a close thing. "This, Ikuna. This is how I've failed as an Ute alpha. No, don't get me wrong. I'm glad that... you aren't going to judge these pups based on their father. It's hard to do, I know. But when we were growing up, that's not what we were taught that the spirits were. Not the Ute spirits, anyway. We were taught that they watch over us and teach us. Not test us and punish us. Not by Dad, or Mom, but by the others. The ones who were in Ute longer than Mom and Dad. And I failed to pass that on." It wasn't a job ever assigned to him. Skahla took it on himself, and he failed dismally, and now what is left? The Ute have been driven from their own, his mate is lost, and Chewy...
With both Skahla and Ikuna gone from the waterfall Tala of course has to go searching. The she-wolf is slowly moving along, ears perking, nose twitching as her blue gaze slowly drifts over the area until she catches the voices some distance ahead. She pauses, head tilting as she half listens before shifting forward once more. "Been wondering where you two had gotten off too." Her gaze drifts from Ikuna to Skahla.
In the beginning of Skahla's answer to him, Ikuna's crooked tail rises slightly - challenging, defiant, both at once - but as his brother continues, it lowers again, going to level and then past is to somewhat of a wilt. Not so much as Skahla's, but... there's no more challenge there. Just... listening. He's quiet for a long moment after Skahla finishes, and when he does speak, it's quiet. "When... I was lost. I decided that the Spirits were dead, like.. mom and dad. Because... that's the only way I could make sense of it. Of how... they could love me, and not help me." He makes a little almost-smile that only touches one corner of his muzzle. Puppy theology. Silly, and yet... that's where it all started. That's how his faith failed him. He's quiet again, until it's broken by the sound and scent of Tala approaching, and he lifts up his head to nod to his sister. "Walking. Talking." A faint smile.
The place stinks of wolves, which is a bit of an annoyance, but not much of one. What is there to fear in wolves when one does not approach hostiley? Besides. It's spring. Time to work on regaining weight after a winter of hibernation. Which is what brings the lumbering behemoth of a Griz slowly plodding toward the pool and the waterfall. There's good fish to be had here in fall, she knows this. But in spring, it's a good place to go to wash off all the dust and dirt clods from her underground den. Orsa grunts to herself lazily as she makes for the pool; large as she is, it's hard to miss the crack and rustle of branches. She does, of course, pause just past them as, squinting her eyes a bit, she sees wolves. Oh. So that's where they are. Well.
What was it everyone used to call Skahla again? Grumpy? He certainly always has had moods, and now is one such time. He glances in Tala's direction at the voice, but seeing his sister can't bring him out of this mood. So rarely in his life has he genuinely felt like a failure. Not when he was being picked on for being just strange. Not when it took so much longer than it should have to find his brother. Not even when he fathered a weak, defective litter. Now, though... Taking a deep breath, Skahla mimics Ikuna's smile without realising it. It is short lived, and as Ikuna answers his littermate's question, Skahla does not bother to do the same. Rather, he asks abruptly, "What is it you think about the spirits, Tala? What has being part of Ute taught you?" In his focus on his siblings, he doesn't notice the bear.
Tala watches Skahla a few moments, her ears lowering a touch before she takes in a slight breath. She would hardly think that she mere presences of her could bring her older brother out of anything, they have never been that close after all. Though she still feels he doesn't like her to some degree could have something to do with it. There talking about the spirits? Oh she can just imagen how that conversation is going. She moves closer to the pair and settles to her haunches, tail curling at her side. "I'm not to sure about the spirits. I think there a fickle bunch. Though I suppose they are needed for some things. I do think they are there, watching over us to some degree." How else could the three gotten away from a pack of savage dogs without being too harmed? Of course when Grim and Brutal came it did help matters, still facing a pack of dogs like they did the three should have been mauled, or worse. At the part of what the pack has taught her she is quiet for a moment, her gaze drifting off a moment. "We've been taught a lot in the pack, protect one another, help one another, we're a family." She glances back to her brothers. "All of us.." An yes she does included Chewy's pups in that. "I'm proud to be Ute, fickle spirts an all. An Ute is with us always."
When Skahla doesn't reply to him, Ikuna doesn't say anything further. He's explained himself. Moreso than he's done to Wachiwa, even; for he's always danced around the subject with her for fear of hurting her feelings. Skahla's feelings on the matter... had been less clear, which surely doesn't help the alpha's current mood any. His self-appointed task, and nobody even noticed. As for Tala's answer, Ikuna's certainly had these discussions with her before... but he glances away, as if to say, 'speak for yourself', and listens to what she has to say. Looking off as he is, the bear is noticed, but... for now, he simply watches it. It doesn't seem to be acting like a threat.
Big Bear is biiig. She's also quiet, watching the wolves; it's not polite to eavesdrop, but, they're just kinda sitting there in the open. She grunts, continues to the water's edge, and plops her fat rump down to scratch a back foot with a forepaw a moment as she continues squinting at them a little. "Far be it for me," she remarks, "To interrupt a touchin' little ole' moment here like I sees is goin' on," she pauses, sniffs, quints an eye, and hefts her snout into the air, making a face before wriggling a foreclaw in a nostril a moment, "But iffen y'all are talkin' about the great Spirits, maybe I can lend a little input from an indifferent point of view. Someone who ain't got no idear what y'all been through, but has been through bad stuff herself." She adds, pausing to scrapw the paw she'd been gold digging with in the grass about her.
At least Skahla can consider fickle to be a more apt term than cruel, or even worse, dead. Then his thoughts are interupted by a grunt. The sight of the bear, once his eyes fall on her, encourages him to raise his tail and his ears once more, but as much of a failure as he is, even Skahla is not so stupid as to attack a bear. No. She claims to want to speak, and if that is all she wants, what can Skahla do but allow it? But those thoughts, the ones currently plaguing him, soon assert themselves again. Let the younger wolves talk to the bear, if they like. Skahla, on the other hand, needs time to think. He can do that while watching to make sure the bear does not grown violent, and so long as she doesn't, that is precisely what he intends to do.
Tala watches Ikuna a few moments and then glancs back to Skahla as never give her a answer. Ears perk and she looks towards the new voice and blinks while peering at the bear. For a moment she is quiet and soon clears her throat. "Well.. Alright.." Is soon heard as she watches the bear seeming curious as to what she has to offer. She makes a face as the bear goes about picking her nose?.. An then makes a point to stick away from her patch of grass later.
Yeah, Ikuna's certainly not intending to add more pack laundry to the line with a strange bear listening. As Tala suggests the creature can speak, he nods, but doesn't say anything else. He can stand here and let her talk just fine, and better that than a fight!
A sniff. A snort. And the bear takes to scratching at her back with the same paw, as she speaks. "Well, see. My momma done taught me when I was just a little chile' that the Great Spirits are not there to assist us, nor ain't they there to punish us. They's there to make sure we learn, and pass our lessons on to our youngin's. Bad things happen. Good things happen. We need ta learn from both kindsa things, y'see? An' then pass on our learnin's to the chillen's. The Spirits are just there to make sure those stories pass on.. and so that when we's born or we dies, our own spirits go to the places they's supposed to go." She grunts. Pauses, then offers, paw extended, "Af'fer all, iffen we didn't got guides for /that/, y'all might end up with, like, a froggy's soul in the body of a mountain cat, an' a wolf's soul in the body of a field mouse."
Tala wtches the bear, her ears perking forward, a faint smile seen at the talk of a frog's soul in a mountain lion's body and so forth. "Your mother sounds like she was very wise bear." This offered with a soft tone before she casts a glance over towards her brothers. "Things happen for a reason.. Both good and bad.. We have to learn from them all." She's one to talk, so quick to anger and the first one to land a bite on someone.. Which she normally has a /reason/ for it at least. Grim was so asking for his ears to get chomped on, an the dog.. Well she is actually feeling a bit bad for how she acted towards it. Jayta could be innocent after all..
"I don't know the answers," is all Ikuna says, after listening to the bear and his sister both. He's frowning slightly. "I'm just a wolf. Maybe any of that's right, or maybe none of it is. I guess I'll find out when I die. Until then, I'll just keep trying to live my life and do the right thing."
"An' that's just what you /should/ do, chile'." Orsa says, setting paw back to ground, and chuckling at the wolf. She shakes her head. "Honey, ain't nobody knows all the answers, we ain't never SUPPOSED to. We's just supposed to live, learn, pass things on, and have fun in the time we do it all." She grins a little, then asks, gesturing vaguely with her paw, "Look at me, huh? I been alive for, shoot, a longer time than I 'spect even yer big ol' male there," a wave at Skahla, "Ten springs at least. I still don't know all the answers! But I know I was borned, I know one day I'll die, and between bein' borned, and gettin' dead, I know my business is to /live/."
Tala glances to Ikuna. "An there's nothing wrong with that." She offers softly to her brother before peering back over towards the bear. A faint smirk seen and she takes in a breath. "Well.. That's one way to put it." Is offered with a flick of her tail.
Ikuna nods to the bear, considering. "Suppose that's really all you can know." A glance to Skahla, who believes far more, and a little sigh. Ikuna looks again to the large bear. "While you're doing that living... if you don't mind... could you keep away from the very base of the waterfall?" He's got an earnest sort of expression... and any bear of ten years can likely figure out real easy why a wolf that's willing to talk to her would be worried about one particular spot.
A snuffle. "Yeah, yeah, I figured when I done smelled you folks movin' around here you probably gots a den back there now, s'don't worry, Chile," Orsa smirks faintly. "You an' y'alls little chillen's an' big mama is safe. Although I will say iffen y'all ever needs a pup sitter an' ain't no wolf can do it, ol' Orsa won't mind." She chuckles softly, scratchin' at her side again. "Ain't never had no cubs of my own, but I know a thing're two about babies, an' I can always entertain or watch out f' danger." She chuckles, then slowly rolllls over to stand, shaking dust from her honey gold coat, before starting to wade into the river. "Hope y'all don't mind iffen I warsh some of this here dirt off. Waterfall's a churnin', it'll make the water clean in no time."
Tala actually seems a bit amused as she watches and listens to this bear. "You should be aware as well.. There is a pack of dogs, there killers and have no reason or like for anything in the forest." Which is why the pack is even here at the moment. A faint nod seen. "Thank you for the offer.. An of course, don't see why not." This offered once the bear moves towards the river that is some distance off. Her gaze turns to Ikuna watching him a moment. "She..seems alright." Well, when it comes to bears Tala isn't crazy about them, but she can't actually recall ever meeting a bear until now.
Ikuna looks relieved as the bear promises to be no threat to the pups. The offer to watch them... well, he's maybe a little dubious, but he doesn't outright say no. Affable bear... Brutal. Affable bear... Brutal. He's not entirely sure which he prefers! Being wolf doesn't make automatic friends, so why should not being wolf make for enemies? Now that's a rough concept. Worth thinking on! ...so much thinking. He's certainly got no problem with her bathing, though, and as Tala warns Orsa about the dogs, he nods... as he does for her assessment of the creature. "I'm going to check on Chewy," he tells her. Not to mention see if Skahla's gone and wandered back to the rest or what, since he seems to have slipped away. He gives his sister a nuzzle, then heads off.
Ikuna - male wolf
Tala - female wolf
Orsa - female bear
---Waterfall Pool---
The food was minimal. The sleep was fitful. But at least when Skahla wakes up, he is in better shape then when he finally returned to the pack. Not by much, perhaps, but by enough that he'll be able to see his way through the next few hours. Never one for sitting still, the haggard alpha has quickly set himself to the only thing he can really see to do. Searching out game trails. He's not good at the whole concept of comforting anyone. Wachiwa could probably use that comfort, and eventually Skahla will have to see here... but it is yet another way he keenly feels the loss of is mate. She would know what to do for her sister, Skahla is certain. And now, when Wachiwa would need her the most... the alpha shakes his head to try to rid himself of those thoughts. They don't do him any good. Food. Food can do all of them good.
Since Ahiga and Thaea left, Ikuna has mostly stuck around the waterfall and cave. A wolf can only sit still for so long, though. He can only have the same conversations so many times. Some time after Skahla's slipping away, Ikuna left the densite in Tala and Asku's paws and headed out himself. Their numbers have grown, with the return of his elder brothers. Perhaps even enough that they can both defend their temporary home and have a proper hunt. It feels strange, that defense should need to be such a thought; even when he was a halfgrown pup, there were times when he and his sister were the only ones awake at the den... and nobody worried about it. Now... he wonders if one wolf at watch is even enough. Not that they can manage more. The young wolf paces out a series of arcs from the densite; partway a hunt, partway a patrol. Partway just an excuse to get his legs in motion and think.
At least with the rest behind him and that little bit of food to give him energy, Skahla is better capable of keeping aware of his environment as he charts out the scents of animals too long gone for him to be actively hunting them now, but not so long gone that there is little chance they'll return. His pack picked the spot for their temporary home well. Prey is always more plentiful where there is always water. The gait that catches his ear is not one of prey, though. And a moment later, as the wind shifts, Skahla raises his head properly to let out a still-hoarse bark. He recognises that scent, and he and Ikuna have things to discuss. Things that the youngest adults of Ute need to know right now, and Skahla can be certain that Ikuna will pass them on to the others.
Ikuna perks his ears to the sound of a bark. He returns it, and turns in that direction. Skahla said there was something he needed to know. The alpha will likely find it easier to talk without a crowd, so perhaps this is the chance, and he'll get to stop wondering about one of his things. Probably only by gaining another dozen things to wonder about instead, but... maybe it'll help. Even if it doesn't, if it's important, it's important. The young adult emerges from between two bushes, and ducks his head briefly to his elder brother.
Skahla is no longer in need of physical support. All the same, as Ikuna appears and dips his head so respectfully, Skahla is quick to attempt to make contact with his brother. He doesn't lean against Ikuna the way he did with Tala so recently before, but even the quick nuzzle that he gives was quite the rare thing before everything that happened recently. With his tail held so easily parallel to the ground, Skahla says, "I'm glad to see you, Ikuna. Walk with me, yeah?" After the not-quite-question, not-quite-command, Skahla turns to do just that. Walk.
The nuzzle from Skahla surprises Ikuna a little, but seems to please him; his crooked tail gives a slight wag, and he retuns the motion before his brother steps back. "Yeah, sure," he says, and pads up to his brother's side to keep a pace alongside the other wolf. Walking and... talking? He glances sideways at Skahla, clearly curious but not quite certain where to begin or what to ask.
"You know I don't do this real well. I seem to remember trying, once. I just don't have the gift for it. There are better wolves to pass on the Ute history, but I remember what is important. And I think this is important now." Perhaps Skahla rambles a little, but his brain has never worked with any kind of linear pattern. Perhaps that's why he had so much trouble the last time he tried to tell Ikuna about any of Ute's history, because he was trying too hard to say things in a way that made sense instead of passing on the actual message. "You wouldn't have been old enough to remember. It was all before Mom and Dad... died. But there used to be... well, actually, from what I hear, when the Ute formed in these lands it was half to give some dogs who had no place else to go a safe place. When Skelaghe and Helaku reunited, Skelaghe had adopted a young dog. They stayed with the pack, until... one of them died. And the other one blamed Skelaghe. Turned on her. And hurt her... the way Chewy was hurt." That should make it obvious enough why Skahla feels now is the time to pass this on. "I barely remember them myself. Those half-wolf pups. Well, not pups, actually. Not by the time I was born. Mom always called them pups, though. Like they were her own, and they'd never be grown in her eyes. She loved them. The whole pack did, I think."
"I know," says Ikuna to Skahla's... explanation? Apology? Whatever it is. Regardless of the reason, he knows that Skahla doesn't often do storytime like this. His older brother's relations to the younger set have always been strained - Tala even thinks Skahla doesn't like her, despite Ikuna's insistences to her that it's just how Skahla is. If it's important, though - or even if it isn't, really - Ikuna will listen. He does that now, after nodding to his brother's claim of importance. The first part makes him blink. Dogs, in Ute. Not just in Ute, but being... a reason for Ute. When the name Skelaghe is mentioned, he nods. That makes some sense; from everything he's heard, Skelaghe was... well, like Wachiwa. Nice, kind, everyone liked her. (And what did Ahiga say about everyone and liking? Never mind that now.) For Skelaghe to adopt a dog makes sense. As the story continues, he frowns. Hurt her? Li- oh. Like that. Ikuna scowls, but he doesn't interrupt, simply nodding once. Half-wolf, half-dog... and pups of the pack. As Skahla winds down for a moment, Ikuna speaks up. He's still frowning, but his tone is fairly level. "I remember them, sort of. The half-wolves. There was... a shy one. And... a wild one." A frown. "I never knew where they came from. Or... what happened to them." He was just a pup, after all. He didn't pay much attention to things like that, not when they weren't involving his immediate family.
"It wasn't the same then as it is now. But... I don't remember Skelaghe, myself. Not really. Sometimes, I can tell myself I do, but I think it's just stories that I heard so many times, I started pretending I was actually there. Mom and Dad never put much faith in it, I don't think, but I still feel like I got the idea that everything happens for a reason drummed into me when I was young. Even if they didn't believe in it, Skelaghe did. We couldn't make a home for those pups. Not a one of them stayed after Mom and Dad died, and I don't think they liked it here even before Mom and Dad died. I wonder if they had felt more welcome... if the Ute wouldn't have to be going through this a second time, since we didn't learn the lesson the first time." He has never spoken about it, not to anyone, for a great many reasons. But Skahla has always firmly believed in things that can't be seen. In other worlds, and things no wolf could possibly hope to actually know, meaning that faith has to be enough. It is why he wanted so strongly to be the alpha in the first place, to keep that old tradition alive. In the end, he let his doubts about what others would think about him keep him from doing just that, though, so he has to wonder whether this, everything that is happening now, is more his fault than anyone could ever know. Because he let those things become unimportant.
Ikuna listens again, nodding at the talk of Skelaghe. It's like how... Ikuna can picture his mother during her battle with the snake that bit Asku, despite how it happened long before he was born. He just... he remembers it, now. As Skahla goes on to philosophy, though, Ikuna frowns. Reasons. That's where he has a problem. Reasons, it seems, always mean Spirits influencing their lives. Spirits, acting cruelly; Spirits, using their power to cause harm. The Spirits aren't leaders, nor parents. They're just... cruel. If they exist overhead, and they think that pain and death is way to teach their lessons... well then, Ikuna doesn't want to learn. The frown deepens as Skahla goes on to talk about lessons. "If..." He shakes his head. Time to be blunt. "I don't believe in the Spirits. Not really. I... don't want to. They're... mean. Taking things away. Biting us if we do things they don't like. They're like that wolverine, or that cat, the ones that took me. I'm not a puppy. Even when I was... I watched Dad. I listened to Chewy's stories. I saw what was good, and I did that. Every time anyone ever talks about the spirits... it's about being tested. It's about taking what they give us. It's about /suffering/. I'm glad to know what happened before, but I'm /not/ going to see it as a lesson. I'm going to give those pups a place in Ute because it's the right thing to do. Because they're Wachiwa's pups, not because of some... some failure of Ute when I was a pup."
As Ikuna responds, Skahla's tail lowers along with his ears. They are not quite flat against his head, but it's a close thing. "This, Ikuna. This is how I've failed as an Ute alpha. No, don't get me wrong. I'm glad that... you aren't going to judge these pups based on their father. It's hard to do, I know. But when we were growing up, that's not what we were taught that the spirits were. Not the Ute spirits, anyway. We were taught that they watch over us and teach us. Not test us and punish us. Not by Dad, or Mom, but by the others. The ones who were in Ute longer than Mom and Dad. And I failed to pass that on." It wasn't a job ever assigned to him. Skahla took it on himself, and he failed dismally, and now what is left? The Ute have been driven from their own, his mate is lost, and Chewy...
With both Skahla and Ikuna gone from the waterfall Tala of course has to go searching. The she-wolf is slowly moving along, ears perking, nose twitching as her blue gaze slowly drifts over the area until she catches the voices some distance ahead. She pauses, head tilting as she half listens before shifting forward once more. "Been wondering where you two had gotten off too." Her gaze drifts from Ikuna to Skahla.
In the beginning of Skahla's answer to him, Ikuna's crooked tail rises slightly - challenging, defiant, both at once - but as his brother continues, it lowers again, going to level and then past is to somewhat of a wilt. Not so much as Skahla's, but... there's no more challenge there. Just... listening. He's quiet for a long moment after Skahla finishes, and when he does speak, it's quiet. "When... I was lost. I decided that the Spirits were dead, like.. mom and dad. Because... that's the only way I could make sense of it. Of how... they could love me, and not help me." He makes a little almost-smile that only touches one corner of his muzzle. Puppy theology. Silly, and yet... that's where it all started. That's how his faith failed him. He's quiet again, until it's broken by the sound and scent of Tala approaching, and he lifts up his head to nod to his sister. "Walking. Talking." A faint smile.
The place stinks of wolves, which is a bit of an annoyance, but not much of one. What is there to fear in wolves when one does not approach hostiley? Besides. It's spring. Time to work on regaining weight after a winter of hibernation. Which is what brings the lumbering behemoth of a Griz slowly plodding toward the pool and the waterfall. There's good fish to be had here in fall, she knows this. But in spring, it's a good place to go to wash off all the dust and dirt clods from her underground den. Orsa grunts to herself lazily as she makes for the pool; large as she is, it's hard to miss the crack and rustle of branches. She does, of course, pause just past them as, squinting her eyes a bit, she sees wolves. Oh. So that's where they are. Well.
What was it everyone used to call Skahla again? Grumpy? He certainly always has had moods, and now is one such time. He glances in Tala's direction at the voice, but seeing his sister can't bring him out of this mood. So rarely in his life has he genuinely felt like a failure. Not when he was being picked on for being just strange. Not when it took so much longer than it should have to find his brother. Not even when he fathered a weak, defective litter. Now, though... Taking a deep breath, Skahla mimics Ikuna's smile without realising it. It is short lived, and as Ikuna answers his littermate's question, Skahla does not bother to do the same. Rather, he asks abruptly, "What is it you think about the spirits, Tala? What has being part of Ute taught you?" In his focus on his siblings, he doesn't notice the bear.
Tala watches Skahla a few moments, her ears lowering a touch before she takes in a slight breath. She would hardly think that she mere presences of her could bring her older brother out of anything, they have never been that close after all. Though she still feels he doesn't like her to some degree could have something to do with it. There talking about the spirits? Oh she can just imagen how that conversation is going. She moves closer to the pair and settles to her haunches, tail curling at her side. "I'm not to sure about the spirits. I think there a fickle bunch. Though I suppose they are needed for some things. I do think they are there, watching over us to some degree." How else could the three gotten away from a pack of savage dogs without being too harmed? Of course when Grim and Brutal came it did help matters, still facing a pack of dogs like they did the three should have been mauled, or worse. At the part of what the pack has taught her she is quiet for a moment, her gaze drifting off a moment. "We've been taught a lot in the pack, protect one another, help one another, we're a family." She glances back to her brothers. "All of us.." An yes she does included Chewy's pups in that. "I'm proud to be Ute, fickle spirts an all. An Ute is with us always."
When Skahla doesn't reply to him, Ikuna doesn't say anything further. He's explained himself. Moreso than he's done to Wachiwa, even; for he's always danced around the subject with her for fear of hurting her feelings. Skahla's feelings on the matter... had been less clear, which surely doesn't help the alpha's current mood any. His self-appointed task, and nobody even noticed. As for Tala's answer, Ikuna's certainly had these discussions with her before... but he glances away, as if to say, 'speak for yourself', and listens to what she has to say. Looking off as he is, the bear is noticed, but... for now, he simply watches it. It doesn't seem to be acting like a threat.
Big Bear is biiig. She's also quiet, watching the wolves; it's not polite to eavesdrop, but, they're just kinda sitting there in the open. She grunts, continues to the water's edge, and plops her fat rump down to scratch a back foot with a forepaw a moment as she continues squinting at them a little. "Far be it for me," she remarks, "To interrupt a touchin' little ole' moment here like I sees is goin' on," she pauses, sniffs, quints an eye, and hefts her snout into the air, making a face before wriggling a foreclaw in a nostril a moment, "But iffen y'all are talkin' about the great Spirits, maybe I can lend a little input from an indifferent point of view. Someone who ain't got no idear what y'all been through, but has been through bad stuff herself." She adds, pausing to scrapw the paw she'd been gold digging with in the grass about her.
At least Skahla can consider fickle to be a more apt term than cruel, or even worse, dead. Then his thoughts are interupted by a grunt. The sight of the bear, once his eyes fall on her, encourages him to raise his tail and his ears once more, but as much of a failure as he is, even Skahla is not so stupid as to attack a bear. No. She claims to want to speak, and if that is all she wants, what can Skahla do but allow it? But those thoughts, the ones currently plaguing him, soon assert themselves again. Let the younger wolves talk to the bear, if they like. Skahla, on the other hand, needs time to think. He can do that while watching to make sure the bear does not grown violent, and so long as she doesn't, that is precisely what he intends to do.
Tala watches Ikuna a few moments and then glancs back to Skahla as never give her a answer. Ears perk and she looks towards the new voice and blinks while peering at the bear. For a moment she is quiet and soon clears her throat. "Well.. Alright.." Is soon heard as she watches the bear seeming curious as to what she has to offer. She makes a face as the bear goes about picking her nose?.. An then makes a point to stick away from her patch of grass later.
Yeah, Ikuna's certainly not intending to add more pack laundry to the line with a strange bear listening. As Tala suggests the creature can speak, he nods, but doesn't say anything else. He can stand here and let her talk just fine, and better that than a fight!
A sniff. A snort. And the bear takes to scratching at her back with the same paw, as she speaks. "Well, see. My momma done taught me when I was just a little chile' that the Great Spirits are not there to assist us, nor ain't they there to punish us. They's there to make sure we learn, and pass our lessons on to our youngin's. Bad things happen. Good things happen. We need ta learn from both kindsa things, y'see? An' then pass on our learnin's to the chillen's. The Spirits are just there to make sure those stories pass on.. and so that when we's born or we dies, our own spirits go to the places they's supposed to go." She grunts. Pauses, then offers, paw extended, "Af'fer all, iffen we didn't got guides for /that/, y'all might end up with, like, a froggy's soul in the body of a mountain cat, an' a wolf's soul in the body of a field mouse."
Tala wtches the bear, her ears perking forward, a faint smile seen at the talk of a frog's soul in a mountain lion's body and so forth. "Your mother sounds like she was very wise bear." This offered with a soft tone before she casts a glance over towards her brothers. "Things happen for a reason.. Both good and bad.. We have to learn from them all." She's one to talk, so quick to anger and the first one to land a bite on someone.. Which she normally has a /reason/ for it at least. Grim was so asking for his ears to get chomped on, an the dog.. Well she is actually feeling a bit bad for how she acted towards it. Jayta could be innocent after all..
"I don't know the answers," is all Ikuna says, after listening to the bear and his sister both. He's frowning slightly. "I'm just a wolf. Maybe any of that's right, or maybe none of it is. I guess I'll find out when I die. Until then, I'll just keep trying to live my life and do the right thing."
"An' that's just what you /should/ do, chile'." Orsa says, setting paw back to ground, and chuckling at the wolf. She shakes her head. "Honey, ain't nobody knows all the answers, we ain't never SUPPOSED to. We's just supposed to live, learn, pass things on, and have fun in the time we do it all." She grins a little, then asks, gesturing vaguely with her paw, "Look at me, huh? I been alive for, shoot, a longer time than I 'spect even yer big ol' male there," a wave at Skahla, "Ten springs at least. I still don't know all the answers! But I know I was borned, I know one day I'll die, and between bein' borned, and gettin' dead, I know my business is to /live/."
Tala glances to Ikuna. "An there's nothing wrong with that." She offers softly to her brother before peering back over towards the bear. A faint smirk seen and she takes in a breath. "Well.. That's one way to put it." Is offered with a flick of her tail.
Ikuna nods to the bear, considering. "Suppose that's really all you can know." A glance to Skahla, who believes far more, and a little sigh. Ikuna looks again to the large bear. "While you're doing that living... if you don't mind... could you keep away from the very base of the waterfall?" He's got an earnest sort of expression... and any bear of ten years can likely figure out real easy why a wolf that's willing to talk to her would be worried about one particular spot.
A snuffle. "Yeah, yeah, I figured when I done smelled you folks movin' around here you probably gots a den back there now, s'don't worry, Chile," Orsa smirks faintly. "You an' y'alls little chillen's an' big mama is safe. Although I will say iffen y'all ever needs a pup sitter an' ain't no wolf can do it, ol' Orsa won't mind." She chuckles softly, scratchin' at her side again. "Ain't never had no cubs of my own, but I know a thing're two about babies, an' I can always entertain or watch out f' danger." She chuckles, then slowly rolllls over to stand, shaking dust from her honey gold coat, before starting to wade into the river. "Hope y'all don't mind iffen I warsh some of this here dirt off. Waterfall's a churnin', it'll make the water clean in no time."
Tala actually seems a bit amused as she watches and listens to this bear. "You should be aware as well.. There is a pack of dogs, there killers and have no reason or like for anything in the forest." Which is why the pack is even here at the moment. A faint nod seen. "Thank you for the offer.. An of course, don't see why not." This offered once the bear moves towards the river that is some distance off. Her gaze turns to Ikuna watching him a moment. "She..seems alright." Well, when it comes to bears Tala isn't crazy about them, but she can't actually recall ever meeting a bear until now.
Ikuna looks relieved as the bear promises to be no threat to the pups. The offer to watch them... well, he's maybe a little dubious, but he doesn't outright say no. Affable bear... Brutal. Affable bear... Brutal. He's not entirely sure which he prefers! Being wolf doesn't make automatic friends, so why should not being wolf make for enemies? Now that's a rough concept. Worth thinking on! ...so much thinking. He's certainly got no problem with her bathing, though, and as Tala warns Orsa about the dogs, he nods... as he does for her assessment of the creature. "I'm going to check on Chewy," he tells her. Not to mention see if Skahla's gone and wandered back to the rest or what, since he seems to have slipped away. He gives his sister a nuzzle, then heads off.