you do not know who is your friend

or who is your enemy

until the   ICE breaks.

The trip north to the Ghastly Woods had done him good, and it was in a disturbingly cheerful mood that he returned home. In fact, the normally quite lazy wolf was too cheerful to be lazy, for as soon as he sprawled in the good-smelling moss, his paws began to itch. Itch, itch, itch, wanting nothing but to move, to feel the spring ground under them, itch, itch, itch, until he got up. Even so, he couldn't sigh and scowl at his own feet for wanting to wander, all he could do was smile dumbly and, tail like a solemn circus banner, trot around. Yes, trot. There was no hulking walk, no casual lope, but a springy, bouncy wolf trot. Feeling decidedly useless, yet unable to be put down by that though either, he'd begun to circle the den area in steadily increasing spirals. The business with weird loners hadn't entirely gone out of his head, but he wasn't actively thinking about it, and so all was well, no? Nearly humming under his breath, the large wolf kept "guarding" or whatever it was he did. "To guard", to him, wasn't exactly to run in circles with a grin wide enough to split your skull on your face, and a "guard" - which he officially wasn't either way - wasn't a wolf that smiled like a freak and bounced. A guard was solemn, silent, tall and handsome (or plain ugly), and stared at you with ice in their eyes. Heh. Ice in their eyes. Giggling to himself, Ice skipped over a log and a rock like an elite three-day eventing horse, but when he, without thinking, jumped into an ankle-deep brook he was less graceful and less elite. Yelping indignantly, he powered up the nearest bank and halted some fifteen yards off, glaring at the offending body of water.


That was when the scent hit him.


Turning his head and nosing the air, he scanned the forest trying to find whoever it was. He was just outside Corinna's carefully marked border, and to have loners here was a tad too close for comfort. For half a heartbeat he growled and began to stalk forward, but then he forgot to be angry and instead was just curious. Prowling through his home he caught sight of the female, and tilted his head. What on earth was she doing? She was running head over heels as if the devil itself was trying to nip at her haunches, and Ice planted himself firmly in her path. She was shorter and slimmer than he was, ginger brown, so he was quite confident in his ability to prevent her from charging headlong into the main den. "Yo ho, fair lady, stop run-" Well, for all the good it did... She didn't stop. Mid-sentence she collided with his broad chest, and grunting, Ice dug his paws in and leaned forward to absorb the impact. Quite naturally, she sprawled in front of his feet, and quite confounded, Ice gazed down the length of his muzzle and at her form. She was panting, nearly trembling, and all in all she didn't seem quite sane.


Well, to call her out as insane would be to cant, so he bit the words back before they escaped. Instead, he shifted weight from his right front leg and poked her shoulder with a heavy paw. "Uhm, miss? Are you alright?" Most likely the answer was no, because wolves that were alright seldom lay on his feet and stared at him with eyes that quite plainly did not see him. Both wary and curious Ice stood his ground, hoping for an answer that wouldn't be an attack. He wasn't quite certain he could, in a sane fashion, deal with crazed, violent loners - bad enough with the loud-mouthed ones. Besides, he had more of a mind to just pick her up, dust her off, and send her on her way. No chance in hell he was going to let a maniac close to the pups that would surely come later in the season.

.ice aesir

you do not know who is your friend

or who is your enemy

until the   ICE breaks.

Whatever had happened to her, she seemed to recover when poked. Amused, he wondered if he could offer it as medicine. "The Miraculous Ice Prod!", perhaps. His sense of humor quickly fled though, the wolf in front of him shuffling backwards. His eyes narrowed slightly. She didn't seem as gone now as she had before, her eyes were focused and it looked like her thoughts were on the present. When she'd come running, she'd been blind and deaf to this world, or so it had seemed to him. Strange. Very strange indeed. Pondering what on earth it might mean he watched her cower, but he didn't pursue her. No point in stressing her out even more, he didn't want a heart attack on his plate. At her words however, he snorted. "'A little'?" he asked, incredulous. She'd been outright crazy! Out of her mind! "I'd say that you were more than just 'a little' scared, miss." Pointedly he peered over her hunched back, as if expecting some monster to come charging after her. Nothing did, nothing stirred, and he shook his head.


"Now, the truth," he prodded, gentle voice masking the command. "What just happened?" Actually, she'd surprised him with how quickly she'd recovered from whatever spell it had been that had her running amok in their forest. She certainly wasn't consistent in her manners, and he was still wary despite his jolly attitude. He doubted Corinna wanted crazy wolves in her ranks, just as they didn't want disrespectful ones, and he was liege to his leaders. Without moving, Ice waited to see if she'd find her tongue and explain what had happened. If she didn't... he left the thought hanging unfinished in his mind, shoving the more unpleasant business of pack borders to the back of his mind. He'd been in a good mood and wasn't about to ruin the day with "what if"s. Perhaps there was a perfectly good explanation, like.. mania induced from wasp stings? Unlikely. The wasps were all asleep. No. He couldn't really shake the image burned onto his retina of her running without seeing where she was going, the glint of fear in her eyes and the dazed look as she'd sprawled. Is there a natural reason for such a behavior..? Even in spite of his mood and laid-back attitude, he found himself doubting it.

.ice aesir

you do not know who is your friend

or who is your enemy

until the   ICE breaks.

Despite having crawled off, she looked as if Ice was dwarfing her and being some Giant From Hell. He raised a 'brow and stared, unflinching, at her face. She was an enigma all right, and he was still undecided as to whether it was good or bad. Her first impression certainly hadn't been the best, but she was recovering quickly. Still, he knew absolutely nothing of her. How could he know she spoke the truth? Conflicted as usual where loners were concerned, Ice stared at her, and sighed. He still wasn't certain if they'd done the right thing with Hartt, but he pushed that aside. It was over and done, and it was too late to have second thoughts - it couldn't change anything. It was done.


"And you always run when followed?" he prodded with a neutral voice. With wolves that were a bit off the rocker, you could never be too sure, and he wasn't certain he'd trust her. He needed to poke and prod, to see what he could glean of her thoughts and the framework of her mind, and to test her limits. When cornered about this little .. mishap .. of theirs, would she break down? Turn to violence? Explain it all? Besides, running when being followed was a sign of cowardice. If a violent, crazy stranger came to their borders and tried to kill the pups, would she dare defend them, risking her own life for Swift River's future? Or would she, god forbid, run? What induced these spells of madness? Paranoia? Did they have triggers - scents, sounds, thoughts, sights...? Pondering this, he stood cold and silent above her, a statue chiseled from marble. She offered her name willingly, perhaps trying to steer the conversation away from her mad flight, but he wasn't going to drop it so easily. Yela Whitetree. He stored the name for later, and gave his own. "Ice." Ice Aesir to be precise, but he seldom offered his last name to anyone - better that he was simply, Ice.

.ice aesir

you do not know who is your friend

or who is your enemy

until the   ICE breaks.

Of course. Amusement spiced up with annoyance flitted through his body and mind at her reply; it gave nothing away, only bit back in a way he wasn't entirely fond of. Here he was, innocently questioning her, and she decided to be tricky! Woe. Well, perhaps she was within her rights to not divulge everything the moment a stranger asked about her reactions, but still... He watched her in icy silence, not switching to hostility but giving little away. It seemed that whatever had caused her to become nothing but a little tuft of frightened fur was wearing off, for she hauled herself more or less upright. Sunlight slanted through the bare trees and fired up her coat; not his, though. Never his. It remained cool to the eye, his back dark gray without a hint of brown. Well, good that she recovered at least. He wasn't certain he'd want to stick around if she went mad again, no telling what she could do, but her question provoked a snort from him. "If plain old curiosity isn't good enough, I'm trying to make sure just how off the rocker you are. After all, you are more or less on Swift River's border, and who knows, perhaps the next time you charge off without any heed to your surroundings it'll be straight into the den?" And only the gods could save her from Corinna if she did.


Perhaps his innocent voice and expression would lessen the blow of the accusations he'd unknowingly spat in her face, perhaps it wouldn't, but he kept regarding her with a look that still didn't quite judge. No matter what types on insanity that might or might not appertain to her, he wasn't fully convinced that she was dangerous - nor that she was harmless. Frankly, he had no idea what to do with her. She was unlike anything he'd ever met, simply because she was the first wolf to charge into him and act like the devil itself had stolen her mind. Sighing inwardly, he gave her a probing stare. "What were you even doing so close to our borders?" he questioned in a tone that was half-gentle, half-steel. Quite clearly he wouldn't take any mumbled excuse for an answer. Ice wanted truth, and backbone. Lack thereof would only turn his heart to iron, his soul to scorn, and label her as dangerous; insane, wicked, potentially disastrous. A deceiver, the worst of the worst. She was a wolf, and by the stars, wolves were supposed to be honest and not ashamed of what they'd done or was doing!

.ice aesir

you do not know who is your friend

or who is your enemy

until the   ICE breaks.

Ohhh, she had some spirit! He grinned boyishly as she growled back in response to his blurted assumptions, but he didn't make any noise in return - however, his pale eyes locked on hers and refused to budge. He didn't give any ground at all, but nothing came from it because she turned her gaze aside. Like a wave the hairs of his back smoothed again, but wariness had edged back into his flesh. He wouldn't show it, not yet, but her vehement reply sounded too much like denial to him. He couldn't quite shake the vision of her eyes as she ran. "No?" he teased with a wry lopsided smile. "Okay. Fair enough, maybe you aren't." And maybe you are... He didn't say that out loud, though. On some days, he had some tact. This seemed to be such a day, though he was ruing it a little because it brought on thoughts of such darkness, pondering the complex mysteries of the mind and its patterns of thoughts. What caused insanity? How many types were there..? Was she insane, or was he insane? We're both off our rockers. He would actually prefer to be a shallow, silly male right now instead of someone who probed too deep and stuck his nose where it didn't belong. It'd likely just get him bitten.


Hunting, and scouting. Really. His gaze narrowed again and he listened to the rest - psycho crazy brother? Well, isn't that dandy! He didn't know whether to shake his head or laugh - maybe do both? Insanity is in her blood, his mind whispered, but he ignored it. Insanity was in everyone's blood. "It's not exactly polite to hunt on a pack's hunting grounds," he said in a neutral voice, not giving away if he thought so too or simply said it. But, really, with the amount of loners gatecrashing their borders, it didn't surprise him that others snooped about in their vicinity and took their prey. Hartt had. Ice fought down that memory. "And, you solve the problem of your brother by running? Leading him to someone else?" To protect your sniveling backside? "If he's truly diabolic enough to send you into such a fright as you had, it sounds like he needs a more permanent solving." Gods, what was Corinna going to make of this? Wolf omelet, probably... Closing his eyes in frustration, he fought down the growl that wanted to burst out of his chest. What on earth was he going to do with Yela?! Send her away? Lead her deeper, to Corinna, and confess that a psycho brother might be on their tail? No way. He screwed his eyes shut tighter. She hadn't even asked to join the pack, but her entire being this close - scouting - was suspicious.


Tiredly, with all the woe of a borderman lodged in his gaze, he peered at her. "What am I to do with you, Yela?" he asked her quietly, philosophically. Pick her up and dust her off and send her on her way seemed the most logical, but it felt like they'd been dancing around and as if she still hadn't told him what really had happened.

.ice aesir