Grizzly Hollow a dark thing brought me here.

Well, at least he seemed to see her now. And recognize her. Hearing her name come from his jaws was a kind of a relief, but then she recognized the withered plants he'd dropped off before he spoke again to explain. Good for childbirth echoed through her ears as she stared down at the clump. How did he know?

"Um..." the words were stuck within her chest, unwilling to come out just then. Not after that. Felix's voice joined back in, assuring Veho that no children would be birthed here in the ruins of the Hollow pack. Hopefully, he wouldn't be right, but she didn't speak up about that. There was a level of stress to his voice, but nothing compared to her panic, and Nineva realized then just how used to this Felix must be. How long had he been alone in caring for his father like this?

Since when had pack laws stopped anyone? then passed through the air, and Nineva's ears snapped back against her skull with hurt as she realized that Veho didn't know, he was simply assuming. Assuming that she was like the others that had gone behind his back and destroyed the pack he'd fought so hard to maintain. He wasn't in his right mind, she knew that, and still it stung.

Maybe it was too late to try and thank him for all that he had done for her, to tell him that she loved him like a second father.

"You're strong, Felix," she whispered, attempting a smile as she looked up at the boy.

(This post was last modified: Apr 28, 2018, 08:17 PM by Nineva.)

Veho was perhaps more aware than either of the younger wolves gave him credit for – missed certain things, but gained sensitivities he otherwise did not possess when the mushrooms weren’t in his system. He could see that Felix was humiliated, that Nineva too was uncomfortable. Felix, well, he couldn’t help that. He was a shy boy. Clearly too embarrassed to talk about breeding with his father – or maybe it was the pretty girl afoot.

He tipped his head to one side, pale eyes settling on Nineva instead. “Pack laws do not apply when you are not packed up, now,” he felt the need to point out. He saw the flinch. Did not like it. Was trying to help, he thought. “You were always a good girl.” Which could not be said for his own, but he would not dwell. Not think ill of the deceased. Something (someone) squalled in his mind, and he winced. Shook it off. “But you are not a girl anymore. And this is not a pack. A grown woman. What you do is for you to decide.”

The only laws that bound any of them, he could see, were the ones they decided to hold themselves too.

There are several fresh rabbit tracks in the mud. Hunt Opportunity

Veho kept talking, and frankly, Felix wasn’t sure if this was better or worse than the conversation they were having before. Poor Nineva looked very uncomfortable – he knew his father’s ramblings could be hard to stomach sometimes. It was worse when he made sense – or sounded like he made sense. It was still hard for Felix to gauge whether or not he was being intentional. If the spirits actually used him as a mouthpiece.

He cleared his throat softly.

“He doesn’t mean any harm. Never has,” he hummed softly, still uncertain if he regretted encouraging Nineva to follow after him. “He speaks – in riddles, I suppose. I am not sure if it’s the Ancestors, or…”

The mushrooms? Just him?

Veho smiled, eyes clearer than when this conversation had started. It was self-satisfied. Knowing, almost. If he heard, if he knew the answer – it was for him to know. He’d given enough away.

Veho spoke before Felix was able, once again, but this time his words lifted both her ears and her heart. A good girl, he called her, and she felt the tears sting the backs of her eyes. Felix then made something of an apology, but Veho had already smoothed everything over with those words alone. She beamed at him with affection dampened only by the sorrow that she could not return the favor and make things better for the man that had done so much for her. For everyone.

Her great big body slipped forward and collided with the older wolf's chest, muzzle nuzzling into the thick ruff about his shoulders.

"I love you," she murmured, taking all the comfort she could in that he was alive and not alone. That Rook wasn't all he had been left with. Not that he didn't have a place with her; she would take him with her everywhere she went in a heartbeat, but she had a feeling that wouldn't be what he wanted. Perhaps this... state was overcompensation for the cage he had been kept in at the Hollow for so many years.

Too many people had tried for too long to decide what was best for Veho. He deserved a chance to find it for himself.

Even now, the pups could still warm his heart. They were hardly pups anymore. Felix himself was practically an adult, and Nineva had a whole four seasons on him. Still, they felt like children. Both of them – not in the sense that they were young in foolish – but only in the way a child could hold their parent’s heart.

The older wolf returned the loving gesture, nuzzling Nineva’s ruff, the side of her face. He even swept a few licks across those cheeks – paternal. Caring. “I love you too, Nineva. As much as any daughter of mine.”

And that was it, in truth. As Joan, Felix, and Ophelia had been his…Tomen and Nineva had been his as well, in equal parts.

Fade.

Gonna end here for the good feels.  <3