October 16th; Early morning, after sunrise; Cloudy; 33º F.

The broken man that was supposedly Angier Lyall dragged himself through the Drooping Willows. His eyes, so keenly focused on the forest ahead of him, were blind and unseeing; the expression on his face was blank and the nose at the tip of his muzzle was lackluster. The man who had once been the defiant second-born and envious yearling of Bertram Valley had been reduced to a wraith of the words and promises that he had failed to fulfill. Winter would be just around the corner, he knew, and when he stumbled into the presence of the color-changing willows, the sensation of relief was the first to surface before giving way to the sting of anxiety and panic.

Perhaps he would not be able to find his way back. Suppose he had gone too far or maybe even gone in the wrong direction completely. He scrambled to right himself. Elettra's scent wafted his way, followed by Remy's. With their perfume being the most recently rediscovered, aside from Jaysyek's, he was fortunate to have been quick to place them to memory. To be able to remember.

His ears drew forward from their positions at the ruff of his neck and he scanned the forest around him. Salvation, his thoughts cried out in his skull. Salvation is coming. She will take care of me. His breathing quickened and his senses heightened as he hopped and lurched further towards Lady Elettra's domain, or at least where he thought the wolves of Willow Ridge could be.

He and Vlarindara, he reasoned with himself, never stood a chance to begin with. She had been taken with Borden from the start and he had greedily and happily loved her when his brother had made no more claims over her. They had seemingly been blinded by jealousy and doomed by Angier's selfishness. Now, with her disappearance, maybe he could find himself again. Maybe he and Elettra would be an entirely different {and successful} story altogether.

Elettra. The hope of her protection, her grace, and strength willed him to move forward. He tried to focus, to keep his mind intact, to keep the past where he had tucked it away. Willow Ridge was his only option now. His chance for redemption, a refuge away from the pain that had shaped him into the wolf he had become. His nose twitched and he stopped in his tracks as soon as one of the pack's everyday paths crisscrossed with his own. He was close.

"ELETTRA!" he cried out. He could have easily been mistaken for a pup calling out for his mother. His features sobered from the suspense that had gripped his trembling being and his eyes wildly darted from the spaces between the arched trees to the edges of the stones that surrounded him. "Elettra! You promised!" Hurt laced his words, but while he could do nothing but blink as he awaited for someone's approach, he allowed himself to feel. To become aware of the hunger in his gut, the ache in his back, the fire in his throat, the weakness in his limbs. The despair in his voice. "You promised you'd be here for me!"

‘Elettra!’ The cry against the silence of sunrise stirred a blink from the lumbering ivory male, his fiery eyes lifting to the sky as a flock of birds were startled from the outburst and took flight. Phineas’ pink tongue slipped past his lips in contemplation, and without further hesitance, the large male loped in the direction of the seemingly desperate call. There was another cry – the voice seemed to mingle with pain and a frown furrowed the Ridge wolf’s brows as he continued forward. Still a stranger to the pack lands and Relic Lore, the Argyris male would not pretend to be involved with his surroundings; whoever was crying at the borders was a stranger to him, and while his Leader seemed to know him, it did not soothe Phineas’ weary mind.


He prowled the borders, noting the brisk start of the day as the sun began to filter through the clouds. Winter was coming; the hours of darkness grew longer, and soon their days would be even shorter than they were now. With a wounded heart and mind, the alabaster beast at least took solace in the fact that he had been given a safe haven for the worst and longest season of the year.


Phineas saw him then. A pale tawny wolf, large in stature, though around his size. His pumpkin eyes swept harshly over the male, noting there to be no physical damage to his being. His desperation seemed to stir from emotion, and while the Ridge wolf could emphasize with such, the instinctive nature that had settled upon him the moment he had been accepted to the pack lifted, and the white male’s hackles bristled as his stoical features regarded the unknown male. “It’s awfully early to be bellowing,” he noted dryly, his tail giving a flick behind him.

It was indeed awfully early to be bellowing. The morning's chill was far from risen, her path toward the offending sounds marred by clouds of breath that escaped her parted jaws. It was not often that loners came around so close to sunrise, or called into the willows with such urgency - thus the leash of duty pulled particularly strong on this case. Remy, determined not to disappoint her Leader any further than she already had, forgoed her morning's patrol and changed course immediately, toward a scent that hinted faintly of some familiarity (though the voice did fail to recognize).

It was both a surprise and a stab to the gut to find at the scene a wolf marked of Elettra's scent whose acquaintance she'd just barely made. This was typical; she did not seek the comfort of company much. But that he had beat her to the Guardian's post was particularly shameful - she had to do better. The time of her absence had correlated exactly with a large influx of new members and she would not be overtaken by a single one of them. Remy still held her position as tightly as she had before her disappearance.

The tank-like woman moved forward - not swiftly by any means - but strongly anyway, coming to stand a little ways before, but still beside, the pale wolf who had greeted their guest. With her chin and tail high in the air she cast a steel-soft glare upon the male. In appearance he was exactly the same as she'd seen him last, but he resonated an aura so entirely shattered that she felt the edges of glass in her skin just from his hollow stare. What was that he had wailed? Something about Elettra and promises? She had not entirely trusted him during their encounter in the Wildwood, and his current demeanor made it difficult for any progress to be made on such a judgement. To her own surprise she found it difficult to turn teeth on him - which, with any other mentally questionable wolf she would have instantly. Perhaps he was so close to Elettra as he had claimed to be at one point or another - either way, Remy chose to wait and find out before sending him off.

Solid in her protective stance the red-eared female returned with an air of command, "A broken wolf's cries are indeed unpleasant. Calm yourself, Angier." Easily she dropped the name - for Angier, a casual reminder that she recalled their last encounter and for her fellow packmate, that her jurisdiction here lied not only with her rank but her slight familiarity with the wolf at the border. Remy did not continue with an interrogation - it was quite clear what he wanted here. Instead she fixed him with her iced green stare, awaiting her dark-coated queen's arrival as well.

The prompt arrival of one of Willow Ridge's males caught the Lyall off-guard. "It’s awfully early to be bellowing," he had stated and immediately Angier's ears and posture dropped. The corners of his mouth turned downward in shame. "I-I'm s-so-sorry," he stuttered. "I-I jus'..." The appearance of another wolf, actually a familiar face, made the mask on his face distort even further. "A broken wolf's cries are indeed unpleasant. Calm yourself, Angier," Remy's words hit him as more of a reprimanding as she seconded the male's statement.

Calm? A low whine came from his throat. He was certain for a moment the duo would send him away without being allowed to see even a hair on Elettra's hide. It seemed like some time before she arrived but once the dark-pelted lady had approached, almost similar to an eidolon, or rather the ever-vigilant, shadow-shrouded queen of a forbidding kingdom, he sank even further onto the cold ground. With his eyes wide and anxious they exchanged a glance, and he watched the Willow Ridge leader acknowledged the brute. Eventually her metallic eyes rested back on his face and he respectfully and hastily averted his eyes. "Do tell me you do not come banging at my doorstep to suggest that I have broken such a promise, Angier Lyall?"

Her voice lapped at his ears and he couldn't help but shudder as he quickly shook his head. It was as if she had just slapped him harshly with an iron hand then immediately caressed him as if to undo her first gesture. The sound of his name made him jump and he cautiously looked up to meet her eyes before looking away once more. She drew nearer and he braced himself, anticipating the snap of her jowls somewhere along his coarse pelt. "What has become of you?" The placid question made him quiver but it had easily coaxed a reply from the depths of his soul. "Worry," he answered. "Fear, m'lady." He grimaced, "I was afraid that you wouldn't come."

His tongue slithered past his lips, his fiery eyes managing a rather cold appearance given the heat of his gaze. His tail cast a quick lash, uncertain if he should wait for Elettra to come or if he should send the stranger away from the borders until the male learned the common use of etiquette and did not bellow around another’s borders. The stutter of apology soothed him slightly, and Phineas’ hackles lowered – the stranger was clearly in an emotional agony.


Before he could question anything, the silver she-wolf he had seen on occasion was quick to the scene as well. Relaxing his posture in her presence, the ivory male noted she knew the visiting wolf’s name, and gave a light nod of understanding. Having nothing more to say, for he knew the male not, the Argyris male awaited to see how the tawny male would be dealt with and how the pack dealt with a more neurotic border greeting.


Elettra was swift on the scene, and as his Leader came alongside him, Phineas felt the faintest of her touch with mild surprise, but not ignorance. She was an attractive lady – perhaps even more so than his ex-mate, though he knew very little of her. Koda was a lucky man. His eyes briefly skimmed the Lady of the pack, his muzzle tipping in respect before he allowed his muzzle to graze her shoulder and the base of her neck in greeting. The dark she-wolf seemed just as displeased by the male’s announcement at her pack’s edge, and the alabaster wolf remained in case his presence was needed.

She held on to her stone mask as Angier's apology wobbled through his teeth; Remy had of course seen many an emotional outburst though getting personally involved with one was far from her cup of tea. Her pale-coated packmate seemed to have relaxed to some extent following his stuttered sorries, but Remy did not follow suit. What with his gifts at the borders, his alliance with Elettra, and her own personal experience with the mischievous wolf that this encounter was far from over and would prove particularly interesting.

It was unlike her Lady to be late and she was no less hasty today. Of course the urgency with which her name was wailed at her own border could certainly be perceived as a hastening factor. As she approached the scene Remy lowered her head, flattening her red ears against her skull to nudge the Leader beneath her chin. As she raised up again the massive female took one step backward, keeping a wary eye on the two wolves in case of... well, anything, though she made certain not to hold her gaze too intensely. After all it was an emotional cesspool out here, and she did love her leader but Elettra's redamancy for Angier was not of top priority information.

In either case she remained at the ready off-sides with her fellow border-patrol-enthusiast, should the spectacle end short and the alliance go sour.

He was grateful Elettra's duo of guards kept their distance. At the moment it was taking all he had to keep himself as composed as he could possibly manage. He could only imagine how desperate and rather pathetic he must have sounded, looked, seemed as a whole. "This is my home, and you've come knocking," Elettra resumed. "We had an agreement - why wouldn't I have come?"

His eyes closed. That was right. They had an agreement... but were his tokens of meager supplies enough? His forehead creased and his ears pressed back along his neck. The dark lady prompted him for an answer, to enlighten her as to why exactly he had come to the edge of Willow Ridge. "Yer protection," he offered quietly before clearing his throat. He tried to speak with more confidence and clarity, "The security of your pack. I... I-I've given you anything an' everything of value that I've found on my travels to an' from Swift River."

"Indru is gone," he informed her, stealing another glance into Elettra's hardened gaze. "And with him, my debt with Swift River... I... I want t' serve you, m'lady. Really, what other purpose do I serve when Relic Lore has nothing more for a rogue like me?"