Beasts that hunt never can forget the smell and taste of blood - the sharp, metallic cloy on the back of the throat, thick as whispers and dark as dying when the violence recedes and leaves scabs to close up or maybe just leaves pools on the ground, rotting, filled with the most distant echoes of a beast once alive. Vafri's cuts already clumped into uneven scabs beneath his fur but still the dark stains on his chest, his face, glared like livid tattoos at a sky wrapped in thick clouds. He ached - not for the first time - to see the burning eye above his mountains, to feel it cut through his retinas in an angry burst. He ached for the numbing burst of an icy wind or the oppressive silence of the falling snow - for the keening slash of a familiar voice rising on slow ribbons toward the low sky. Nothing Vafri needed came to greet him though and lonely, the white wolf padded up familiar mountain paths. He paid little heed to the path he took and subsequently marched too high at first and spent the better part of his day backtracking, looking in vain for the narrow path up toward the higher peaks, that suddenly would switchback, fall away amongst the pines, and become the sandy shores of a too-deep and too-silent lake that sung in muted colors when the aurora lights began to burn.


Vafri's shoulder complained in the weary language of repeated throbbing while he walked - limped - out across the sand and let his dark eyes watch for nothing but the path ahead. Gods damn that entire pack, and his, too, for living so close to a raving bunch of zealots. The hard lines of the brown male's face swam sharp in Vafri's memory and he took care to fix it on the very insides of his skull, that later when he needed it he would still know the face, the fight, the trickle of warm blood that smelled now like scabs and like clotted hair. It wasn't so much blood but Vafri always flinched away from his own; memories of tragedy long past made him wary, imprinted on his mind lost scenes of crimson bright and treacherous across the hard snow, of antlers and teeth unattached to a handsome face, and the brilliant awful yodeling that tore from Vafri's own throat...


There was no one here to trust. He lapped at the lake's cold water and it burned down his esophagus, hot fingers digging into every nerve and speaking words of pain and comfort and of life. Thirst gripped the white wolf and he drank for a long time before looking up, dark eyes expecting someone, maybe - one of the lower females driven from the den site where Naira lay giving life to new cubs, cubs Vafri didn't care about but would inevitably care for and tell stories to, and do his own part in shaping. He sighed and waded forward, lips drawn back in a quiet snarl as cold flooded his ankles. With a brittle sigh then Vafri slipped his face below the surface and worked at it with the rough pads of his right paw - scraping and scraping - until the soft scab broke and started bleeding once again and he gave up, and sat back - wet, bloody, tired, lonelier than he had been when only stars sang down at him and the only greetings he received were bared teeth and flat, angry words.

"Sir, are you alright?"


Between the itch of new scabs and the splash of water Vafri missed his quiet new companion until Kegan stood behind him and spoke too politely. Vafri's big ears twitched forward; he blinked as the other male kept talking - praise, praise so undeserved and unashamed it must be too sarcastic even for Vafri to pick out the sour notes. A mild frown crossed his face and the white wolf ceased washing, pink water running down into his chest fur. You loved that time? he almost spat, hackles not up but posture unexpectedly tense. The encounter with Rhysis ran fresh in Vafri's mind, and Marsh... he stood unconsciously tall, tail up, dark eyes slanted down his nose. Something felt... wrong. Suspicious. "Kegan," was all the pale wolf answered at first. He spoke softly now, no longer loud enough for anyone around to hear. For an instant Vafri's gaze shifted, inscrutable as the light moving through shallow water, fleeting and incurious and almost hostile - but then his mouth shifted into what ought to be a smile and he chuckled. "I've been through worse, I'm sure."


He might have managed to laugh it all off, too, but the sudden dark blur at the edge of one eye caught Vafri's attention. He turned and suddenly stood on his toes, one limb coiled toward his chest as Ava lunged toward them. The big male yielded without argument, head and tail both lowered as his dark eyes lingered in the water where the female's eyes burned from her trembling reflection. "Ava." Her name rolled more somberly from Vafri's lips, almost contrite. He chanced a look toward Kegan in search of explanation - but he knew of course, even expected this - from Naira or Rhysis... Ears pressed back, Vafri gave a cautious wag of his tail. "Peace. I was ambushed near the borders earlier but it's been dealt with. I doubt they'll return." His long tongue curled out to lick a fine stream of dark blood from the corner of his mouth. Already the shallow scab began to close again and Vafri wondered how best to impress the trivial nature of the wounds. "I was unaware, though, of the beasts we call neighbors." Here the lightness in his tone diminished and he raised his dark eyes toward the female, glanced once at Kegan as if to acknowledge that he worried for less gifted wolves. "Dangerous, to say the least."

His fellow on the lakeshore hardly offered any adequate assistance. Vafri’s dark eyes lingered on the other male as Ava leapt; he could hardly care less about what happened to Kegan, but Ava’s fury concerned him. Such rage for such a little thing… He sighed, unable to say he never expected this – only that he found himself exasperated with the thoughtless rage of the female. Did she not pause to think? At last Ava seemed to be digesting his words, though the sudden arrival of another white wolf – Athena – set Vafri back on his heels. He made a point of tucking his tail low and glancing away, hoping that Kegan’s lack of manners gathered the brunt of their attention. It was every man for himself when the lady gang had their hackles up… And we were getting on so well, too. He had a long explanation ahead of him. A long, careful explanation… Though maybe if he left it all to Kegan he could dodge most of their ire and lope off unscathed. He liked that idea. He certainly disliked the intense confusion brewing within him; all that hurt in Vafri’s dark eyes was not entirely for show.


”You doubt me?” he countered Ava’s words quietly. ”Or do you think me stupid?” Vafri’s teeth clicked hard over the last syllable despite his submissive pose, and the pale wolf’s dark eyes flickered away from Kegan and toward the two females. ”The bastard didn’t tell me what he wanted. Probably didn’t even know how to talk. I certainly wasn’t off adventuring with him,” he added with a dismissive shake of his muzzle toward the other male. ”Only met him just now, trying to take care of wounds inflicted while I was defending our border.” He was growing carelessly bold, his tone a shade above the solemn whisper now and heated, though nowhere near the blistering intensity of the two female stares. ”I certainly was not followed. I certainly was not the one to sow their hatred of us.” Vafri glared through narrowed eyes. "It might be in my interest, though, to know who did." He directed his attention at the other male, one side of his mouth pulled taught in agitation.