The Winter Den

Spirit had expected something similar to the answer Soran gave her. His response was short but she felt they had a double meaning to them, running deeper than just his wound. She let out a small sigh, her gaze falling to the ground. Everything seemed different and Spirit couldn't help but worry about what tomorrow held in store. She hoped it would be better; a time for trying to repair some damage that had been done.

She was at a loss for words as he returned the question. What was she to say? For her, life felt different. Her feelings towards the pack, especially certain individuals, had altered. She didn't know what to expect from them now. In all honesty she was still in a bit of shock and slightly depressed. There was a lot of hatred directed at her and Soran and even though she tried to push it off her wounds hurt more than she liked to admit. She only desired to heal and be comforted.

"Time has a way of fixing things... I'll heal." She sighed. "I'll be alright."

Altair awoke from a frightful dream. His heart pounded in his chest like an encaged bird; he stood and stretched. There was no way the brute would be able to get back to sleep anytime soon. His pale eyes looked down at Mahina who was now sleeping peacefully. She had not be disturbed by his awakening; he leaned down and quickly drew his tongue over her ears before departing into the shadows of the trees.

He intended to wander aimlessly but his paws seemed to be taking him back to the clearing though his mind was not aware of it. It was elsewhere, thinking of the previous day's events. So much blood had been shed and he wasn't fully aware of why. He knew it had involved an old hunter who returned, Mahina, the dark brown brute, and his new mate. Jealousy was the first thing that crossed his mind but he was uncertain. Too many things could have been set in place before he arrived.

Altair had not seen the looming, dark shape ahead of him; he did not stop. Rather, he crashed right into the wolf who was in front of him. He shook his head, dazed. But his eyes widened when he realized who he had crashed into: Dakota.


"I'm so sorry," he apologized quickly. "My mind was elsewhere."

Altair noticed the look that the fae gave him, therefore he nodded and spoke in a quiet tone.

"Are you alright?" He asked, his eyes looking her over. He noted that he could see the indent of where he had crashed into her and his ears flooded with heat.

He was ashamed of himself for not noticing that another had been in front of him. The fact that he could have injured a fae angered himself the most. All of his father's rules echoed in his mind but to never cause harm to a female was the most important to his family. Out of all his fore fathers, Altair was the only to have caused pain to a she-wolf even if it was unintentionally.

His paws shuffled in the snow. The moonlight caused the world of white to glitter in beautiful array of colours. Said colour ranged from all the spectrum of the rainbow; he couldn't help but look at the snow that lay in the horizon. Beautiful things always attracted his attention.

Altair walked the second she began to prod him with her nose. He was used to obeying the whims of fae's and this one was no different. The two walked into the forest's shadowy embrace once more and a soft breath escaped Altair's mouth. He had been walking in the forest for many a day and had just gotten out only to go back in. In reality, he was sick of the trees for a bit.

"Why do you insist on being awake right now, and talking to me?" the female said in her quiet voice, doing her best to stay calm.

"A dream woke me," he replied without any hesitation. "I decided to wander to get my mind off of it and to maybe lull me back into sleep. But instead, I ran into you."

He noticed that her gaze turned to take in his appearance; he stood absolutely still. He made sure that she was on his left flank so she would not see the wound he had sustained from fighting the cougar. When he heard the fae stiffle a laugh, he looked at her.

"Why are you laughing?" He asked quietly. His voice tended to be quiet; he did not need to try to make it stay that way unlike the fae.

"You look like Incendiu. he was my mate," Dakota breathed.

Altair had not expected for Dakota to respond and yet she did. There was a note of sadness to her tone but maybe he had mistaken it. After all, underneath the emotions that were on the surface there are often many under tones that no one pays attention to. Altair had been taught to not only look at the over laying, obvious emotions he had also been taught to read what was hidden deep.

"What happened?" He stopped walking again and turned to face the fae. They were only seperated by a few inches; he signalled with his eyes that if she were to walk that he would drop the subject. His head was lowered a tad as well.

"We had pups together. Then, he just left one day, without a word," the fae whispered

Altair sat before her, his pale eyes blank. He pitied her but he had a feeling that she was not the type of wolf that wished to recieve pity. Instead he put the pity aside and allowed her to sense that he was sad for her.

"I'm sorry for the loss of your mate." He murmured. "I'm also sorry for making you remember such a memory."

He noticed that she was holding something back. Something that would forever remain buried in her heart.

"You still love him, don't you?" He leaned forward a bit and brushed her muzzle with his as a gesture of comfort. That's all it meant to him.

"Uh, I'll be going then I suppose," Altair said as he stood up. "I must get back to Mahina."

He turned and walked away. His scent still hung in the air; he could follow it back to where Mahina, Kira, Silver, and Amethyst most likely remained. They would be hidden due to all the cover of the trees and the heavy scent of many wolves. He doubted any creature would try to take on what would be an illusion of a pack.

The path he walked was covered in shadow and ocassionally there would be a dapple of light from the moon breaking through the thick canopy of trees or the absence of a spruce. Where the light hit, the ground was aglow with various colours and hues. It was radiant. This was the first time he had seen the snow in the dark with the soft light of the moon shining upon the world.

He glanced up and took a careful note of the stars. They shimmered brightly sometimes pulsating with the light they emitted. On the black sky it reminded him of a navy blue pillow adorned with tiny white flecks that sparkled.

Everything interested him in the night. For him it seemed as if everything became more beautiful in the silence and darkness. He felt slightly disappointed when he reached the location of where he had began. The walk through the forest had been so beautiful; something he would remember for an eternity.

However, that twinge of disappointment faded when he found himself standing over Mahina. He was glad that he had been able to help her today. It made him feel important to the pack. But, he was not finished taking care of her. His job would not be complete until she told him that he was no longer needed as a pillar of support.

His ginger-and-white pelt mixed with Mahina's as he settled down beside her again. The fae's side was slightly cool but far warmer than it had been previously. Letting loose a sigh, Altair closed his eyes and vanished into the depths of his unconsciousness.

Kira snapped her head up in alarm as she heard the soft crunching of snow, before she jumped to her paws she realized it was Altair and she allowed herself to fall back lazily with a sigh. She drug her front paw lightly on the ground, her claws creating rivets in the snow, before striking the packed surface with her other paw, sending a small amount of snow in the other direction as she looked to the sky.

Falco smiled to Rune as he said just to settle for now. "Thank-you Rune, I shall indeed wait a small while before I go hunting with a few of the members, If you'll excuse me I must find Silver, I haven't seen her in a while" He smiled to Rune and gave a short bow, before turning slightly and moving off. The white hunter saw a questioning face on a fellow hunter. Falco shook his coat and looked to his fellow hunter and spoke "We shall hunt later. I need to find Silver first, I won't be long" he smiled briefly to Shadow, before taking off in search of Silver.

He soon came across Silver, alongside Kira and another wolf that he hadn't met before. Falco also noted the blood dribbling down her paw onto the white snow, let alone her white coat. He reached her side and stood silently for a moment, then interrupted her out of slight worry "Are you okay Silver? What happened?" he looked around to the stranger wolf he hadn't met yet. "Hello, I'm Falco. Sorry for interrupting" he said quickly, his voice quavering lightly before turning his attention back to Silver. He gave her a gentle nuzzle into her neck and gave her ear a quick lick before whispering, so that she could only hear "Where have you been? I missed you, y'know? he gave another light nuzzle and stood beside his mate, still waiting on her every syllable.


(gah you lot post way to quickly )

Soran listened carefully as she mirrored his words, somehow sounding more realistic coming from a mouth other then his own. Realizing now that the answer ran much deeper, he glanced back towards the woods where the small group had disappeared. Even in the bright moonlight, he couldn’t make out any individuals, but by the large scent trail, they seemed to be resting in the comfort of the trees.

They could scoff if they wanted, hate him for not remaining with Mahina; but he felt happy, one of the few times since Mahina had left the territory. Something clicked in his mind as he turned back to the argument between himself, Mahina, and Dakota. What would the bronze female do now that her pups no longer remained here? Surely she would go and search for them. But maybe she would return to claim her rank another day. Besides, he still needed to talk to her. He was his oldest friend, the wolf he had met when he first crossed into BWP.

Even though the shock of the day’s earlier events still loomed over them, he felt a comfortable atmosphere beginning to settle. With tomorrow brought changes, and he would work to rebuild the relationships that had twisted after today. “That’s true, healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a matter of opportunity.” He finally replied, making a move to slide down into the snow to rest. “Although it may have to wait until tomorrow.”

Spirit sighed, slowly lowering herself down to the snow. She rested her head on her paws, looking over at Soran as he spoke. She nodded, though remaining silent. There was always tomorrow for things to be fixed and it would certainly be the day for it.

Exhaustion was beginning to wash over her and Spirit could feel her eyes beginning to droop. Parting her jaws in a yawn she closed her eyes and let herself be pulled into the oblivion of slumber.

"I can help with the herbs," Kanae said quietly, fearful to speak up. "I know a lot about them."

Maiara nodded to Kanae in spite of Soran’s rejection of help. The two were seriously injured and would need medical attention. And that aside, Soran had only specifically denied Silver’s help.
“Yes Kanae, please do,” she said, realizing that, with those words, her job could be done for the night. “Thank you,” she added, so glad that Kanae possessed the skill with herbs that the alphess hadn’t known she had. With that she walked off, returning to the site of her fallen tree, dragging her feet slightly. She stood there a moment, looking up at the mighty log, and decided it wasn’t worth the effort to jump up onto again tonight. Instead she went to Rune and lay down at his feet, her fur just touching his paws. “What are we going to do?” she asked him, referring to the events that had taken place that she forgot he knew nothing about yet, and not sure herself whether she even wanted an answer. Her eyelids fluttered slightly, willing her to close them, but she didn’t want to yet. Instead she twisted her head around, looking up to stare into Rune’s eyes.

(eh, lame)

((Too much reading to do when you're tired, I apologize if anything is off in my post))

When multiple voices sounded in her ears, Mahina opened one eye, thought her breathing was still slow like she was still sleeping. She caught sight of Amethyst as she left, and watched as Falco came into the scene so suddenly. The female lifted her head, though she couldn't bring herself to stand up. She had certainly been weakened greatly. Mahina simply stared at the wolves around her as if they were just faint forms that her mind created for her.

"Hello, I'm Falco. Sorry for interrupting" he said quickly, his voice quavering lightly before turning his attention back to Silver.

"You're not interrupting anything," Altair raised his head sleepily. His body felt heavy; he knew he had not quite healed from the encounter with the cougar. However if he ate something he would feel fine.

The stirring from the form that leaned against him brought his attention to the mottled fae beside him. She lifted her head and looked at the others like she was in a slight daze. Altair did not speak, he just looked at her with bright eyes. It was unexpected that she would wake up so soon, he had anticipated at least another few hours.

"How are you doing?" He breathed so it would only be caught by her.

"How are you doing?" He breathed so it would only be caught by her.

Mahina looked towards Altair, she blinked, still trying to decipher what exactly was going on. "Tired... a little out of it." She have the male a sheepish grin as her mind whirled. She could figure out where she was, she knew who the wolves around her were, and she knew what had happened. Maybe her weakened state was causing her to feel under the weather.

"Tired... a little out of it." She have the male a sheepish grin as her mind whirled.

Altair nodded, it was to be expected. To be honest, she had not really slept that long. He was surprised that she did not detach herself from his flank. The initial thought was that she would wake and instantly break away. When she didn't he felt slightly puzzled but did not say anything. It felt nice to have another's warmth to share.

"We'll have to get you something to eat." His voice showed that he stiffled a yawn.