Whisper Caverns get drunk on the good life

From the highest point she could find in the surrounding area to the lowest Aponi certainly had travelled but still found no answers. Now she paced in frustration within the opening of the cave she had stumbled upon while seeking shelter from the rain. Certainly not heavy enough to impede travel it was enough to soak her coat if she remained in the open for too long. Besides it was well past dark and into the middle of the night. Most likely anyone of use to her was hours into their slumber and not out wandering where she could corner them.

Still she could not sleep. The lack of information she had uncovered nagged at the back of her mind endlessly. She needed to find them before she ran out of time and excuses and returned to the Bend and she refused to return empty handed. Sure to the alpha's she would probably not have any news of importance, but to her the information was crucial. Of course Triell and Spieden may be interested to know where Drestig and Jessie eventually settled even if it wasn't her original mission. Truly Aponi couldn't give two shits about finding Samuel Lyall, he would only ruin her child by meddling. Though he could be useful if she ever needed an ally on the eastern side, a trick up her sleeve if you would.

A low growl of frustration crept up the woman's throat as she looked out into the dark. When the hell would she get her answers?

The Lyall should have had faith Morganna wouldn't disappear in the night without him, but he didn't. The questions of his own choices whispered darkly in the depths of his mind. What if? What if? Each doubt boring deeper with the beat of his heart.

Paranoid much? Silently, he snarked to himself. Of course he was, but he couldn't pin down the damn reason. Sure, she had said she'd like to think she loved him. Dropped hints of what hell it was remaining in the Ridge. Though he would like to think Craw was not something more to her, he could easily be blind, right? Seeing what he wanted, not what was. He really wanted to let it all go. Not to give a damn, but he couldn't stop it. It was all connected to how he felt about her.

Pale paws fell and rose long the ground in a quick pattern, there was nothing on the outside of his facade that gave way the disrepair inside. Why he was obviously trying to find her, staying the usual places she roamed, and the middle of the night no less, the sky began to open up. But ,the rain didn't bother him, not really. It felt good to feel something other than his torment, his guilt. His own madness. It only seemed to take a blink for it to begin pelting him, and with a heavy sigh he knew if he went a little further the Caverns would be in reach. He could hope she might be there. There was some reason to his madness.

With the pouring rain it didn't even register somehow else had had the same idea. No, not until he found himself suddenly skidding to a halt, face to face with a woman. The lack of light he could see she had brightly colored eyes, and hints of white about them, her muzzle. Other than that there was little to take in from his close angle."Well hell-o". The o might have been for his own benefit. He could thank God breeding season was over, but he wasn't sure who he had happened upon. The pack here had long disbanded, but he wondered if she was connected or just like him, avoiding the rain. Why he felt uncertain she would care to share the space he wasn't about to run back out there in that mess. That he hoped was the only thing that carried in his stature.

Her growl might have been drowned out by the light pitter-patter of rain and the howling of wind blowing through the tunnels but it seemed to be answered. Not with a returning growl or any sound at all but rather with the sudden appearance of another. Aponi barely had time to register that there was a stranger in the area before he was suddenly on top of her. Lips curled back instinctively as the mother to be took a step back away from the male, though her tail remained neutral. His words and stance were not threatening and so her own softened, clearly a mistake rather than an outright attack.

A few weeks ago the woman may have been up in arms over a simple mistake like this one, but with the knowledge of new life growing within her she was more reserved. Annoyed, but reserved. Blue eyes watched him warily as Aponi paced away before settling once more at the mouth of the cave. The silence stretched out between them before the silver tail finally twisted around her and her head settled down upon her paws.

This stranger could be useful, of her side opportunity if nothing else. The scent of the pack he carried was the very same as the one Samuel had the night of their courtship. Smiling softly at him Aponi did her best to play nice, "Sorry to come off as rude, you certainly surprised me. My name's Ella." Again a fake name, a fake personality to go along with it. Maybe Ella would be nicer than Aponi ever would.

Just as taken by surprise, he caught sight of her teeth in warning. Since she was moving away from him, he remained in the shelter of the cave, seeing her coiled muscles relax to a certain degree. Though he could tell she wasn't pleased about the situation by the simple look on her face. For a moment he thought about stepping out. As he breathed a sigh of relief he noticed in his return air she had to be pregnant, and of a pack he had never been acquainted with. That was interesting, and explained why she wasn't fond of a stranger's company. Had she been waiting for someone to return? As if "they" could come any time, he glanced to the landscape outside, but saw nothing.

Since she took rest across from him, he found himself reclining to his haunches deciding since she seemed all right with it he would just stay put. Mindful, his sharp, golden eyes lingered to her silver face where he found a smile that seemed genuine. There was a faint smirk to the side of his jaw, for Renier hardly fully smiled. "Understandable," he kindly put in return while logging her name away. "I'm Ren," because right now that seemed the easiest thing to give. "You waiting for somebody Ella?" He inquired, hoping he sounded like a concerned gentleman than a creepy, nosy bastard.

Ren looked out of the cave as if he was half expecting someone else to materialize and for a moment Aponi was distracted from the questions pressing on the edge of her tongue. Blue eyes followed his gaze and scanned what she could see through the dark and the mist like rain but was met with nothing out of the ordinary. Was he expecting someone else? A companion perhaps who was a few minutes behind him on whatever he was doing out in the middle of the night. Perhaps even Samuel himself.

Her own musings were cut short as she was presented a question and she turned her cranium in surprise. Here she had been expecting to be the one asking the questions in this impromptu meeting. Shaking her head softly she smiled, "Not waiting per say, more along the lines of actively looking for someone. Someones rather." The words were polite and as warm as she could muster given that she really wanted to just demand he tell her what he knew. Given the scent that lingered on his tawny pelt it was clear that he knew something about the father of her pups if not of Drestig and Jessie. The other two that she had met on her quest had proven to give her little useful information but maybe the third time was the charm.

He was damn sure no one was looking for him. He had little friends. He wasn't the funny bloke, or the one who could chat about diddly squat all day. He didn't openly seek any one's company. It had been awhile since she had came to him. After their stale mate, or whatever he doubted she would. Why, he wanted to find her he thought that made him come off too desperate and clingy. He was trying not to be that guy. Why he was racking his brain what he should do, he had little ideas. Why approaching Nicolo or Elettra, even Angier had come to mind he felt no obtainable goal except for his own exile. After all Morganna had set him straight about their relationship or lack there of, and how it was only her children. The moment he didn't feel like anything would change that when it came down to it. Too little too late. Why he thought he had made it clear how he felt. That hadn't been enough. Wasn't what she needed, nor probably wanted. Still he clung to the idea of hope.

Ella had his attention now. Why it may sound odd, he was glad she wasn't expecting someone. Likely, because he was already an outsider, and didn't need to feel even more so in the temporary shelter. Brows raised as he met her stare. "Someones huh. Can't say I know them." Faintly, he grinned, though should she tell him whom he had no qualms of pointing her in the right direction. So he thought.

He grinned easily enough even adding a joke to her vague description to why she was present in the caves so late at night. The joke was horrible but 'Ella' smiled all the same, she would have gone to extra mile to add a couple of chuckles but she just couldn't muster it. Her pregnancy hormones were tired of this fruitless quest and just wanted to drag the answers out of everyone she met, none of these polite games. None of this impatience showed on her face however when she paused for a moment as if to muse over whether to let him in on her mission.

Suddenly the wind whipped through the caves, causing the air to moan from far down below them as it moved through the stone. Shivering as the damp air wrapped around them the woman moved slightly closer to Ren before she even thought about what she was doing. In fact she hardly noticed the change in position as her mind wrestled with what she really wanted, "I left seeking Drestig Avalon and Jessie Tainn. But from the pack scent on you it would seem to also know a friend of mine, Samuel Lyall?" Perhaps this wolf would be more honest than the woman she met on the mountain.

The storm had no intention of letting up, and in one blow it attempted to force its way in. What a eerie sound did the wind's voice stir as it crashed against the cavern.The long hair along his spine prickled by a chill that was not just cold. How a pack of wolves lived in these things was beyond him, but his silver mask remained composed. They were relatively safe in here, and that's all that mattered to him. Why he did take notice of her sudden closeness to him, he didn't address it. She clearly had other things on her mind.

She got to the point, but the names she spoke meant nothing to him. Because he was a gentleman he placed them in his mind for safe keeping should he come upon them. He knew how tiring a search could be when no one knew who you were wanting to find. There was a change to his gaze a the mention of the last fellow. He knew there was no such creature called that in Willow Ridge, but she was indicating there was. He snorted "A friend huh," it was evident in his tone he didn't believe that to be the case. She didn't know her 'friend' very well. "There are Lyalls in the Ridge, but none come close to being Samuel. I have to wonder who your friend really is, and what you want with him." It was plain and simple. Perhaps she should tell him her true intentions and he would help her. Maybe Ren wasn't that imaginative, but he was sure there were few reasons a pregnant female would be on the search for a friend who hadn't even given his real name. It wasn't that hard for him to narrow down the possibilities of this Sam Lyall.

Ren's gaze shifted immediately after 'Ella' spoke of her friend in the willows, a change that hardly went unnoticed. Gone was the pretend weary but friendly mask she had been donning and instead the blue eyes looked him over critically for any other clues. She was not disappointed when she was met with a snort and a rather cryptic response, the Aponi she was couldn't help but smirk. It was a reply she herself probably would have given to a stranger sniffing around for someone at the Bend. Shaking her head the blue eyes rolled in annoyance, not at the man but at the words coming from her own mouth, "To be perfectly frank Samuel is the only name he gave me but you're not the first to tell me he doesn't exist, at least not under that name." The smirk faded and in its place laid an un-amused rather jaded expression.

"Called himself the prince of the west but I'll be damned if I believed that was anything but a lie too. The other two are who I truly seek, but I couldn't help my curiosity about his kingdom and his true alias when I smelled the same pack upon your pelt." Once again the pale ice like eyes were trained on Ren's face to watch for any flash across his features that might react to what she had said. Truly Aponi didn't know why she even continued to ask for a Samuel Lyall who didn't exist when the thought of involving the father made her stomach turn. The children growing within her didn't need someone making them soft, and they definitely didn't need the kind of father who ran around in the dark of the night impregnating females under false names and backgrounds and then running off.

Perhaps all she really wanted was to gloat. Flaunt in his face that this was something he could never have, even if he didn't want it. Maybe what she really wanted was to know that out there somewhere in the back of his mind he knew there was a secret that could appear at any moment and destroy anything he had. Aponi wanted him to know that she held the ace.

Ella must have been on this search awhile. Annoyance suddenly apparent where it had not. Smirk smothered by a face clearly done. For this he could not blame her. Especially, hearing she may have passed some other Ridge wolves who wouldn't give her more. He wanted to the same. Maybe, her determination changed his mind. Fruitless searches were not on his list of favorites either. Skoll's use of the Lyall name didn't help.

"Ha," was the brief sound he made at the man's description of himself. He was more certain now what stranger she had run into. The rogue could understand her want for information. Renier had to know the man. Skoll surely had to know what he had left to chance. He probably hadn't thought it would catch up to him so swiftly. Or maybe he hadn't paused to think when he had saw her blue eyes.

Clearing his throat, there was no smirk when he answered. "Let me guess. He's had a dark coat, bits of silver, and a good scar on his face. His eyes a pale silver. If that's who you seek his name is Skoll Archer. I guess he could be said to be a prince of Willow Ridge. His mother Elettra Archer founded our pack and has ruled it for a long time, till she was recently injured. Her daughter now holds her place. Skoll could do the same, but as you may have noticed he's a bit of a flight risk." Skoll in general played at his own nerves, and seeing he had another baby mamma it left a bitter taste in his mouth. Morganna wanted her own so badly, and her brother didn't even take care of the ones he created. The world was cruel and strange.

Pale brow quirked, his look somber as he met her eyes. "I hope you do not seek him for help." With the rain he couldn't decide if she was part of a pack or not. Now, he wondered if he should have said anything at all. He didn't think Morganna would have taken to her any better than Hecate.