Morning was a good time to patrol the surrounding mountains for fresh game and fresher loners. The prickly air that accompanied the rising sun suited her overwhelming numbness. Night patrols used to be her favorite, but it had been a long time since she'd gone off adventuring beneath the stars. The twinkling lights that had once guided her now seemed to mock her, cruelly shining like personal spotlights to mark her shame and failure. The sun, at the very least, basked the entirety of the Lore and left her feeling much less singled out. So daytime runs had replaced her nighttime ones, even though these mountains surrounding the Lost Lake were entirely neutral territory. Despite the fact Ava knew well that herself, as well as the rest of her pack mates, treated the peaks like they were their own - they basically were, anyway. Out here another wolf's howl came seldom if not never, for there was no reason to call unless they smelled the borders. That made the low call that sounded suddenly through the mountaintops a rarity, but nothing to be concerned about... for her other pack mates, perhaps.

It was a voice she would recognize anywhere, though it sounded so foreign in the mountains that her casual lope came to an immediate halt just long enough to turn her wide-eyed stare to the sky. The coal-pelted female was quick to realize she could not remain frozen for very long and pounced forward, taking off like the devil was on her heels toward the source of the howl. The immediate feeling that rose in her chest like a tidal wave of cold water was fear. Stars forbid that one of her pack mates got to the howl before she did. As rarely as that happened, Ava could not help but dread the worst. The one time she would recgonize a call, the one time it would be imperative that she got there first and no one else did, would have to be the one time that some other stupid pack mate of hers would appear and smell Swift River on his grey-dusted coat and alert the troops. Things seemed to be working out with such kindness for Ava in her life; it was only fitting that it would play out as such.

As her long strides swallowed the cold ground beneath her she felt her paranoia growing more and more intense. What if it was a trap? What if the River wolves had come seeking revenge for her pack's constant intrusions on their borders? What if they were returning Mist's head as a warning for the next Poisoned wolf stupid enough to go close? What if that silent coppery wolf was there, fangs glistening and hungering for the blood of an enemy? Or Corinna, left her cubs with the babysitter and come to show how her snarl hurt less than her bite? Or even Indru Tainn, some sort of famed leader that she knew nothing of at all, here to prove his reputation to the newest pack of lawbreakers? Maybe they had found out that she and Ice were friends, close friends, and forced him to come and howl for them knowing that she would show up without reinforcement and completely off-guard. They knew, somehow they knew that Rhysis and Naira had abandoned them and now they came as the angels of karma to forsake the followers whose leaders had forsaken not only their oaths to Poison Path but their oaths to Swift River as well, just to prove that karma was as evil as their little pack.

Her legs quivered as she leaped further up the mountainside, her dark ears pointed forward to catch the slightest sound of an ambush. The wind failed her and whipped around her in just about every pattern but one to bring her the scent of Swift River. It was not until Ava pounced through a cluster of rocks slipped from Riddle Heights before her bright eyes caught the pale figured situated stoicly on a ridge of the mountain that provided a lovely view of the Lost Lake. There was no one but him, no scents but his, and against the bright blue sky his many shades of grey seemed stark white.

The overwhelming pain that shot through her veins at ever heartbeat seemed worse tenfold as she stared, but surprisingly her legs refused to lock. They carried her up to the Guardian slowly, weighed down by the guilt of all the thoughts she'd had on her way over. Sometimes Ava stared straight at him, happy that he was here and hopeful for something good, but other times her gaze averted to her toes and she wondered how he could possibly be here for anything good. Her idiot pack mates - and she too, even - were doing nothing but causing trouble for him. It just wasn't probable that his business on the mountain was good. Yet Ava begged mercy of whatever deity that did not exist in the sky above for pity.

Her ears slicked against her skull as she stopped directly before his chest. What she had hoped to be a professional and strong facade broke as a whine escaped through her clenched teeth and she reached up to touch her dark nose to the underside of his chin. Forgiveness, she asked, she begged. Not from Swift River, not for the other Poisoned trespassers, just from him to her.

His tiniest gesture of acceptance couldn't have made any more than the world of differance it did. The rumble of his voice reveberated through his chest and into her own body, further solidified by the simplest lick to one of her ears. For once the sigh Ava heaved was far from apathetic or angry - she was so relieved that not everything had gone up in smoke in front of her face. The pale fur felt so familiar, his scent having undergone minimal changes. Though her bright eyes had closed she saw him there anyway, the light at the end of the darkness, foregoing the mere role of the knight and actually being one. Ava did not know if it was selfish of herself to lean on him in such a way, but it truly felt as though he was her hope.

She remained as still as she could and let his heartbeat fill her with peace, but only resisted slightly when he pulled away. Ava lingered in the moment as much as she could, feeling equal parts drained and replenished at once. It wasn't until his nose bumped against hers that she opened her eyes and met his silver stare. There was some odd curiousity in them, or was it confusion? The Poisoned girl had been expecting something of their reunion, though she couldn't say exactly what, so the look he gave her was not so strange. What was, however, was the question that followed. It was not the words that slapped her in the face but the answer that formulated in her head. Black jaws parted briefly, but her voice refused to leap out. A film appeared over her eyes, masking whatever emotions that bubbled within her heart from showing on her face and she cast her gaze on the stone ground once again.

That's right... nobody else knew but them. How eerie it would be to have to speak it out loud one more, to hear herself tell the truth. She had finally been recovering, or at least, no longer deteriorating. Ice's arrival was the first spit of happiness that had brightened her existence in weeks. As much as she did not want the fact to ruin the pleasant feeling that had overtaken her, Ava reluctantly agreed that the darkness had to seep back into her eventually. It had been foolish to think it was old news when the secret had remained confined within the mountains. Yet to her surprise she had no itch to contain it any further than she already had; after all, what was the harm? Swift River was not Poison Path's enemy in the way they were to the wolves of the Grove. All their secrecy had been to protect Rhysis and Naira and the growing brood of the tawny she-wolf's belly. There was nothing to protect anymore, save Belladonna and Datura... but as Ava finally looked back into his liquid metal gaze she couldn't find it in herself to believe Ice or any of his pack would come storming the mountainside to kill harmless pups.

It was the strangest sensation she felt in her throat, a wild desperation to tell him already and a ceaseless hesitation to relive the pain of speaking it. Yet finally, one side won her tongue: "They left. Athena leads, I am her Second, and as of yet we have no competant complemant to our leader's side."

Immediately following her words she swung her body around so that she was parallel to his side. The weakness in her legs grew too strong and Ava, having grown accustomed to it, allowed the emotional strain to take physical toll. All she could do was lean against his side with no particular care for the smell that was to rub off on her dark fur, hoping the feel of a true friend would prevent the misery from drowning her yet again. But once she had begun broken the barrier of speech Ava found it hard to resist her emotions and instead let her mind purge itself of its thoughts. They finally had a safe recipient, after all.

"This would be a wonderful opportunity to try and fix the relations between your pack and mine," she began, a nervous-sounding energy ringing in her voice. "Had we not a shitload of fucking idiots trespass on the Grove..." The she-wolf remarked dryly, though she did not include herself in the list of fucking idiots. She would refuse to mention that Kegan, of all of them, was their stand-in leader until Tlarx found the right moment to take him out of his place, nor would she beg any question of Ice about Mist's whereabouts. The she-wolf had never reappeared at the Poison Path densite since her visit to Swift River, as far as Ava knew. Vafri had come back and tried to spin her a tale of lies, fitting for her was their bard, yet the moment he was informed of Rhysis and Naira's disappearance the white wolf had fled the packlands again. Some loyalty, she thought bitterly, though the irony of such words stung her heart immediately following.

A surfeit amount of words bounced around within her jaws and she simply couldn't allow their escape, not yet. Ava wondered if Ice would have as hard of a time grasping the facts as she had, and allowed the silence to prevail for his own expression to fill.

Ava remained in a stand-still reality that followed her words, as though when the truth came out its power had taken time away from her. She had been certain the universe would come crashing down around her like it always did every time she thought of their (most recent) betrayal, and yet that couldn’t be what she was feeling. Forever more was she empty, but this time it just didn’t… hurt as much. Ava would not dare call it a relief to tell someone new, to admit one of the secrets that made her heart black, but at the very least she did not feel so miserable as she had before. Maybe when he left she would drown again, but for now, her head was above the water. Beneath her weight she felt him shift and for a moment thought of someone other than herself. Perhaps the heaviness of her heart was translating into her build. A hushed sigh escaped between her teeth and she slowly lowered her bottom to the ground to stop herself from transferring her stress to the pale wolf.

There had been no way to predict what his reaction would’ve been. From any other Swift River wolf, Ava might have expected joy. A party thrown in their honor, a hilarious testament of irony and mockery both. Ice, however, was her friend too, and she had long before realized he liked her just as much, if not more, than he hated Rhysis and Naira. He’d proven to her his good heart, but even a good heart could beat cruel now and again. Maybe he ought to have laughed at the fact that the Poisoned founders took off and left them in a mess, after all he deserved to enjoy their removal from Relic Lore. Ice didn’t laugh or grin, though – he launched into… a tale of Athea? His story took Ava entirely by surprise, and for a moment she just furrowed her brow and tried to make sense of it. Why was he telling her this? Yet for whatever reason he chose to disclose these little bits of his past, this encounter with the Athena that Ava had never known, it comforted her.

The mountains, he’d said. Fireweed rise. Places that their poison had stained. Ice had been here long before they had. Swift River had been here long before they had. And yet they’d taken what they wanted when they wanted and went on with their selfish way of life. She ought to have never agreed to this life, but then again Ava would have never guessed this was what her promise had entailed. His briefest mention of the Cedarwood pack hit her strangely; he said the former Second and all she could think of was Elettra, and what Kade had said of her, but who knew if they were even talking about the same former Second? This had been long before her intrusion into the Lore.

Then he painted her a picture of her new Leader: Athena, hiding, eavesdropping. Well she was a cautious wolf, Ava would have to agree. A smart wolf, and back then had she anything? Ava imagined if she had been small, she probably wouldn’t have gone anywhere near Ice… well, maybe not. Size had nothing to do with the sheer size of her gall. Maybe if she had been a loner, though, she would’ve stuck to herself. Athena had to have been a rogue then. For a moment her mind drifted away from the white lady and she wondered how odd it was to be in Ice’s position. This teeny wolf he met in the Rise once would someday join his pack, betray his pack, defend another betrayer in the same place they’d met and ultimately take over the still-betrayer pack. Life had an odd way of just shitting on everyone, now, didn’t it?

And to think of little Athena - once eavesdropping on larger wolves out of uncertainty - now leading a pack! “You never see those things coming,” Ava remarked with a slim smile, though as hard as she tried to keep it up it waned continuously. Tiny Athena becoming the leader of a pack. Ava showing up at the Swift River border. Leaders of a pack abandoning without a single word. All such things to strike a wolf with surprise.

Ice changed the subject, yet the last subject lingered on in her mind for a moment into his words. It had been easy, living in the memory he told her, but reality begged to be seen and Ava could run from it no longer. Not with Ice around, at least. Quietly she returned her attention to him, bright gaze toned down as he spoke his side of the story. It was actually quite a relief to know the truth, even though she had known all along. Her pack mates were dumb as rocks and they got what was coming to them.

Marsh was a name she would not soon forget, a name of copper and the similarly metallic taste of fear and blood. So the two wolves made up the welcoming committee for visitors at the border – how odd, that they were such… polar opposites, or at least they appeared so. Though at a pack meeting regarding a bunch of Poisoned assholes, she didn’t figure they would act very different from each other at all. The very first detail pulled her lips back in a growl: a scrap of white fur. "Vafri," she spat, her distaste marked clearly on her face. "He was our storyteller... actually told a good one, once, but tried to weave lies about he found Marsh on the mountain during border patrol and fought him off. First of all, it's hilarious because he reeked of Marsh and some other River wolf… and the fuckin’ Sacred Grove. You’d think if he wanted to lie about where his face was rubbed in the ground he probably should have figured out if I had ever been there first. What’s more, if you've never seen Vafri, he was lanky enough to blow over in the wind. There was no way in hell he was going to fight off two River Guardians on our own mountain... and just no way in hell River Guardians would come here without reason."

Her rant ended with an angry huff; what did these fucking wolves take her for? The very lies that their pack was built on was beginning to make her sick and even more sick was the fact that she almost understood where Jedd was coming from when he left their tainted group. How dare everyone doubt her authority… how dare everyone think they could do as they pleased. At least when Ava had trespassed on the River wolves it had been her leader’s bidding, and nobody had found out about it either. Blood was boiling quickly beneath her skin so to close the subject the she-wolf remarked viciously, "He's gone now too, abandoned us when we found out Naira and Rhysis had."

Just as she knew that the Sacred Grove pack would not approach their borders unwarranted, Ava was unsurprised that they had chosen to wait until their brood was safe before coming to tell their nemesis that they’d recruited a bunch of morons. But the timing was just funny in such a sick and twisted way. Ava even went so far as to laugh, dry and humorless and dark, at the very extent to which karma would go to knock their Poisoned heads together for their past transgressions. Oh, sure, why don't your leaders abandon you and half your members disappear and also raise these children, and then you know what else? Here come your enemies at your doorstep. Enjoy! However morbid her thoughts were, Ice’s plaintive statement about murdering her pack mates seemed to fit right in. No shock accompanied his admittance. Ava knew, she'd smelled Ice's scent on Kegan when his wounded ass had returned, though she frankly would not have minded if he hadn’t come back.

Ice’s gentle reminder of common courtesy was meant well – that much she could tell from his tone – but the words still felt like pins in her spine. It was downright shameful to be associated with wolves so stupid. “I guess Naira and Rhysis didn’t inform the newbies of our lack of Swift River friends during their orientation,” she began bitterly, “hoping that they would be smart enough to stay away from pack borders. Every wolf knows that. Especially wolves fresh off the loner life. How stupid. It’ll be different now. It will be. Now that I have some kind of pull with them, I’ll make sure the rules get followed.”

The bite in her voice could not be denied. Ava was different now, and she could not find it within herself to care if the change was permanent or not. One night she had opened her pain up to Treena and the two had purged their emotions through song and play. Then she found the she-wolf cooing gently to a sick-minded loner over the borders and had to correct her mistakes… and the female still had it in her mind to resist Ava’s orders. There had been something horrible and angry in her jaws when she took Treena’s, wanting to bite down and cause her pain for thinking she would ever be right against Ava’s opinion. But drawing blood would not make their broken pack strong. Somehow she would find a way to make sure the stupidity would never again go unpunished. .. somehow.

Yet she was not allowed to drink the venom of her anger much longer as Ice’s topic drifted into a stranger territory, one tat she had been avoiding quite fervently: the cubs. This time, Ava did not hesitate to answer. They were already pouring salt in the wounds; there was no more pain left to anticipate. “She... she took two of them. Probably couldn't carry them all. They were not even a month old..." Ava whispered, still somewhat fearful for the safety of the children. "We have two, though. Healthy and alive." At the very least a solemn smile could etch itself upon her face at the thought of Datura, a little ball of golden fur, who snuggled at her side whenever she paid a visit. The child was Ava’s to raise, and her scent would always be in his memory somewhere around the association of mother. But she couldn’t help but wonder how they would turn out with such a strange family.

Ava said nothing more, but gave him a half-hopeful stare. At the very least, they were still trying to move forward.

For the past month Ava had been living within a cloud of her own, dark and dreary and awfully selfish. The weight of her sadness had consumed her and there was nothing more important than her own depression to concern herself with. Friendliness was a kindness she had rarely imparted, and even on her few interactions with loners her words had come clipped and careless and when the moment was over she would find more shame come into her bubble for how impolite she had become. It was within the shadow she remained, awaiting her pale friend's reaction, taking comfort in the consistent misery though it caused her daily pain. There was no under to be pulled by her grief any more - she was entirely submerged in the blur of her world. Half-life, she liked to think of it. Stuck in drowning. Never feeling the release of life nor death. Awful, awful thoughts they were, but thankfully they only struck in the dead of night.

Through the water she heard his interjections, giving a name to the female scent on Vafri's fur, though she held her scoff inward at the comment that followed. Was she new? Ava could never say something so cruel to Ice. It was just a plain asshole type of question, even if she thought it to be true. Vafri had seemed so... unbecoming. She had never been frightened of him, even before her personality had taken a turn for the worst. How could he have gone to Swift River and taken on a member of their Guard - and actually have put up a decent fight? Her dark fur bristled slightly, only to have her flame extinguished at Ice's mention of loyalty among the River wolves. There's just four besides him. Five wolves who actually meant it when they made their promises and swore to serve. Five wolves, that was all.

Life was nothing but learning to balance the difficulties. How did one accept trustworthy wolves, yet disarm their emotions when they turned out to be the opposite, all while maintaining a safe enviornment to raise children that weren't even her own? Ava took what little comfort she could in Ice's nuzzle, but time could not stand still. The moment words began to infiltrate her bubble of dread all pleasantries were lost, replaced by reality again. He told her a story that, within her dreary cloud, sounded like just that - a story. A happy ending. A false hope concocted of someone else's mind. And Ava would have been happy to think of it in such a way, had there not been just the strangest beat of her heart that made her listen closer. So familiar, these characters, because they were not created of falsehood: They had been real, once, some several months ago. They were them. A nameless paladin and a stranger girl.

His story was a reminder of the past, and yet it struck her differently than others did. Something in her hollow heart had felt an emotion that was not overwhelming misery. It was difficult to lift the shadow that blanketed her away from her skin. It fit right in among the darkness of her fur that she sometimes wondered if it had truly become part of her. And yet everything Ice said was true - would always be true. There was not even a mote of liar's bone beneath his pale fur; his word was trusted. If he said so then there was a future to be found, if only she could swim back to shore. Traitors were traitors but they were gone. Children were their's to mold and no longer the brood of monsters. And all others be damned, if Ice said the sun was rising, then it was damn well rising. Quietly she lifted her hooded gaze from the floor and observed the pale glow up above, trying to fashion that it was not a spotlight on their failures but the encouragement for their success.

A good leader. Some smart wolves. Two pups to raise. Land and food and home, still, even if it didn't always feel that way. A new start. A past detached. Friends, both here and beyond the mountainside. For the first time in weeks she smiled of her own accord - something pleasant had entered her thoughts. Suddenly the silence they shared did not seem so deafening. The amber tones of her eyes shone with gratitude as Ava finally looked over at her friend, the cold of his nose actually registering beyond the numbness she'd worn as a second skin for so long - and then he said three words.

Wasn't it supposed to be the simplest of things? A name, a short, one-syllable word, one that was usually exchanged within minutes of greeting another without actually knowing anything about your company. It was a formality, saying it was just some kind of common courtesy to pretend you had some kind of respect for the existance of another wolf you never knew. But that wasn't quite their case. A name, a short, one-syllable word, and it destroyed everything that had ever existed before, if destruction could be a good thing. The world they'd built before - made of glass, always stepping on eggshells - shattered. They no longer needed to pretend like they didn't know each other. They were no longer explicitly forbidden from interacting. All the restriction that they had swam through to become friends went down the drain as the plug was pulled so suddenly.

Ice.

Well, he certainly looked the part, didn't he? Her bare smile cracked open just the smallest bit wider, enjoying her own terrible humor as it finally made it past the dark gate that had closed over her mind. Just as he had killed the illusion, however, Ava had to do her part too. She was no longer a stranger girl - no longer "just the fourth pillar". There was a place for her, and it was no longer being a nameless ghost beneath the cloak of the night.

"And I'm Ava," she breathed after a moment, still holding a genuine smile static in her expression. There was no going back now, but that was what needed to happen, wasn't it? The past could no longer be dwelled in, for it no longer existed. The children would grow, Swift River would know, and the earth's rotation would not stop for any mopey wolf. Moving forward was difficult, but she was finally free from the gravity that held her back with only one knight in shining armor for which to thank.

A half-laugh escaped her as she shook her dark head and looked back to the sky. Was it more blue now than it had been before? "I don't know how it happened. I don't know how I went from that stranger girl, so self-assured and so ready to take on the world, to this mess. But you're right. I can't let it go on any longer. We have all the right things... they just need to be pieced together." And what an easier job that would be with all the problem wolves gone. Sad or not, it was the truth, which always had to come out. The excitement of a new life that flooded her veins fell quiet for a moment in which she met his silver stare like she had many times before, sans a goofy grin and a fiercely wagging tail. "You didn't have to come up here and save me. I didn't deserve it." But her voice did not ooze with a pathetic anguish that her agonized tongue was used to - Ava was only speaking the truth, as simply as she could. "But I'm really, so happy you did."

Gently as she could Ava bumped her head into his cheek, reveling in the fact that she could actually feel the contact. "Ice," she murmured almost gleefully. So much more than just a simple name.

It was almost a miracle, the way things worked sometimes. Just as quickly as the landslide had taken Ava under the brutal sea of depression, its uncontrollable waves had tossed her back, toward the voice of a friendship that was even deeper than the black water that swallowed her in the first place. It was almost as if that was all it had taken - a best friend to bring to her heart genuine acceptance - and then the smile could blossom once again. Funny how one of her most honed skills, to control the expression she wore, could be so easily forgotten in times of great emotion. Before it was turmoil which had sapped the light from her amber eyes - but now it was a brilliant fire that had started again, pulling on the corners of her lips and allowing a glimpse of white teeth to break though her dark mask.

There was quite the domino effect, it would appear - where her smile would prompt one upon his face, and the wag of his tail and yip of excitement rose her body from its slump. Reality suddenly appeared to her, but unlike in the times of her haze it did not ruin her any further. Now the world had possibility - not just misery. Or had it always been there, and she had just grown blind to it out of the selfishness of her own agony? Of course, that was probably the answer, but Ava made the conscious decision not to dwell on it. That had been her mistake in the first place - dwelling on it. Sure, the betrayal had cut like a knife, but all wounds would heal at some point. And she had plenty of company, and good company at that, to help the process along. Among the most important of her good company was just a hair's breadth to her side and that was a fact she could no longer ignore, and no longer wished to ignore either.

Something cheeky overtook her, shining brighter than usual on a face that had been so dull before. "Oh of course, silly me. I should have known." It was his duty - he was Relic Lore's very paladin! Both in play and honesty, though, was the Poisoned girl honored that he had done his part, and willingly. Somehow the fact that he had stuck alongside of her - not literally, of course - this entire time was incredibly resounding in her thoughts at that very moment. He didn't have a reason to stick around aside from sole affection, and it was a realization that invoked a warmth within her chest that probably could have melted her pale friend, had she been capable of bursting into flames from it. Ava, obviously, did not have any sort of desire for that. His gracious allowance of shoulder to lean on was much too comforting for it to disappear into a puddle, though she did chuckle a little bit at the image of it.

Her amber eyes flickered up toward his expression as she mused slyly, "Don't worry, I didn't bring a lick of flame back with me from hell. Figured you weren't interested in a souvenier." Ice was indeed safe from her madness. Any remnants of it, should they have any inkling of reappearance, would be snuffed out much quicker than they'd need to appear around her compeer. So despite her toothy, wide-spread grin's direction, the black-pelted female truly did mean what she said. And in case such a point wasn't clear, she accepted his head burial as though it were some kind of ceremonial rite to finish the proceedings. First her, now him, providing the shoulder to lean on and accepting the lean as it came.