The silvery wraith perched at the top of the snow-draped hill, icy eyes narrowed to slits as he surveyed the tree filled valleys that sprawled out below. His refined pose, with back straightened and head held nobley erect, concealed the impatience and irritation that crawled like static along his skin. They were running out of time. Garmr could feel it in his bones, the utter ache of each day that passed without finding that damned woman.

The wolves of this land were filthy, filthy animals. Little more than beasts wallowing in their own squalor. But Nayeli on the other hand... Garmr could see something in the star-marked woman, a small glint of the gifts that Fenrir had once bestowed on wolfen-kind, now sullied by bad blood and indolence in the peasants. It was a gamble, but with only pure blood left in himself, Vali, and Skadi, she was their only chance.

Waiting for Skadi's return, he could do little more than wait. With how long she was taking, he couldn't help but wonder about her devotion to their mission. She had to know how critical her task was, this wasn't a simple scouting trip for hunting grounds. Garmr's head turned as his pale gaze settled on his dark coated brother.

"Vali, how much longer do you think we must wait for her? I fear we are running out of time." He spoke calmly, as if simply discussing the weather. Though any that knew him well could hear the fire smoldering beneath those words.

 

Ainashi moved in to what Garmr had made their camp empty handed he had tried to hunt for food hopping that it could ease his father’s temper. And maybe just maybe for once his father would look at him whit something different than disgust and hate. Know he feared for what Garmr would say, to him leaving to hunt whiteout telling him and then coming back whit out any prey. But it had been a bad hunt and the only thing he had managed to find was a left over pile of bones. -he is going to rip my fur of and then feat it to me-b> he tough as a shiver of fear ran down his spine.

 

rift move to the far end of their camp where he sat down trying to get his fur in order, sins it was long, tangled and also rather muddy after the failed hunt. He groomed himself but kept and eye in the direction of his father and jet he never looking directly at Garmr. As Garmr questioned Vail he looked worried out over the white landscape beyond the hills, wondering what would happened if Skadi did not retuned, not that he believed she wounded. She was like a dog always she came running back to Garmr when he called her. And jet he could not blame her cause he did the same, even after almost a year where he had been the lowest rank among them. He had stayed among his family and he had help his father in his dark planes.   

 
"Speech."
-thoughts-
 

Garmr's dark rounded ears flicked alert at the sound of someone's approach, but he quickly settled once he realized who it was. He had been hoping it was Skadi, but was disappointed to find it was the runt. That was nothing new, Ainashi was frequently a disappointment, and useless as always the boy carried neither food nor news. The whelp had been meant to be their salvation, and now Garmr could barely stand to look at the broken, scrawny thing for long.

Dismissively, the leader looked away from the unkempt yearling. Returning his attention to Vali, he listened to his brother's proposal. More waiting, precisely what Garmr was sick of. One corner of his mouth lifted in a sneer before he turned his head back to look out for his sister. It was hard to tell what repercussions even another night of waiting could inflict on their plan. Garmr had half a mind to demand they march out immediately without her, but Skadi was a vital resource he could not afford to lose. They were lucky that Nayeli's paw was injured, slowing her down, but they couldn't rely on luck alone. 

"Nayeli couldn't have gone far, not with her paw the way it is. She must be on this side of the mountains." Garmr answered his brother, conviction lacing his voice. It was beyond Garmr how it was taking Skadi so long to find the whereabouts of an injured wolf. They would find her, there were no doubts about it.

 

 

Ainashi finally managed to get at least most of the sticks and leaves out of his long tangled fur know he was trying to get it untagged. He also listened halfly to what his father and uncle was talking about. As his father grew more and more uneasy about Skadi not retuning he wondered if he should off to go look for her. Not that he wanted dot he just wanted to get out of the camp aging begin around his father made him uneasy, for he knew that his father had expected a wolf witch was worth more than he was. He wondered what his father had wanted him to look like , what he was supposed to look like and as the thoughts circled around in his head the hate for what he really was and how his fathered had  refused him grew.

Ai wasn’t usually a hateful person but the thoughts of him not binge perfect, not being what his fathered wanted him to was enough to make him hateful over for himself and he also felt the pain of not belonging among his own family tore his chest apart.  He stood up walking towards the end of their camp"I go hunt, hopefully I can bring something home"he did not expect and aser ore anything if he was going to get any reply it was properly going to be Garmr denying him the hunt. He paused just before leaving camp. Waiting for the denial if it should come.

 
 
"Speech."
-thoughts-
 

Garmr snorted at Ainashi's announcement that he was off to hunt and would hopefully be bringing something back. Unlikely. The runt was good for nothing, and Garmr doubted the boy would find any success. If he was lucky, the kid would get himself gored by a deer. He had no doubt the defective child would die without the minimal care of his family. A sickly smile twisted the corner of the silvered male's lips. It was almost an amusing thought, the whelp starving to death out in the wastes without any to care, no one to hear his desperate cries.

Peering down at the white landscape, Garmr could see a dark grey shape moving up and down the rippling hillsides. Ah, just what he wanted to see. That could be no one else but Skadi. His tail waved a high banner over his back as she neared, his dark rounded ears directed towards her. He took a step forward, but left it to her to make the rest of her approach. "Took you long enough," He grunted disapprovingly. No one ever measured quite up to his exacting standards, though Skadi was the only one who even came close. She had better have good news for how much time she cost them.Soon, Garmr would have all he wanted under his paw, and such dreams could become a reality.

"The oak forest then? I trust you know the way." Garmr stated, expecting nothing less from Skadi, his slivered eyes staring into the dull yellow of hers. "Do you know how many of them there are?" He demanded.

 

 

Ai took his leave walking down the red mountain toward the forest beneath wondering what rank he would have over them if it stood to his father. Would he be below, above or around the same rank as them? As his body fell in to a steady run he allowed his tough to wander and for the first time it start it move on itself in his mind. And he welcomed it, it had been what he had created as a  pup to explane why he was so wrong. And later it had grown to become what constantly told him to do. it had been what told him that he was a broken paw, it had told him that he was a broken tool wroth of nothing that to burn in the fire of his father’s raphe. That being the family decoy, punching bag was the only life he would ever get.

 
Exit
 
 
 
"Speech." -thoughts -
 

Garmr kept his pale gaze pinned on Skadi as she neared him, his posture tall and dominant. He remained deadly still as she moved in closer, only his lips lifting in a flash of teeth as she nudged at his chin in placation. His high held tail swished in a quick show of irritation at having to wait any longer for his sister to deliver her long awaited news. He wasn't pleased by what he'd heard. His toes clenched into the snow as he silently did the math. Eight of them. Even for a wolf the numbers were clear enough; they were outnumbered twofold. Of course the three of them were better fighters than any of the soft, indolent pack wolves, but Garmr could not entirely discount the simple advantage of greater numbers. If only Phyrrus hadn't managed to kill his other followers, they might have been on more equal footing. It was beyond him how they had let that woman take so much from them.

A snarl rippled up his throat unbidden, angered by Skadi's news as if she'd had anything to do with how things had turned out, anything to do with the unfamiliar emotion of helplessness. Molten fury burned in his eyes, and without warning he snapped. Teeth bared and hackles raised, he lunged towards Skadi like a snake, already close enough within striking distance. His opened jaw like a reaching talon, bared fangs like white claws as he gripped around her neck and roughly shoved her to the ground. As rage tore through him, he had to keep himself from clenching further, into the delicate skin beneath the thick grey fur of her neck. He still needed her, and it would do him no good to cause his dear sister to bleed out on the ground.

Quickly, as if nothing had happened at all, he had released her. He calmly stared down at her, silver eyes narrowed as he regarded her. "I must speak with Vali. Go, make sure the runt doesn't intend on leaving." He said flatly.