Hidden Tree a few of my favorite things

What had happened to her brother that used to work so hard to keep them all together? All the fights and speeches and hard work that he put into them. Indru had been like their father, in an odd sort of way. Borlla gritted her teeth, looking down at her paws again as Corinna spoke. The leader's words were true. She still had a family. A good one. Though still looking at her furry toes, she smiled, and nodded a little. Slowly, she looked up, <b style="color:#32527a">"Oh, no...Not yet. I saw them though, you know, at the meeting." Although, if anything, she'd been trying not to look at them, for fear of getting an evil look. But Borlla was certainly curious about them. <b style="color:#32527a">"I thought I'd try and teach them something...Useful, I guess." Her eyes rolled slightly, as if she was actually useful. She still yearned to help somehow...Maybe when the snows came, she could show one of them the weird color-changing foxes, just like Indru had. <b style="color:#32527a">"speech."

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Gone Tomorrow

Originally, Corinna had balked at any suggestion that Borlla might approach her children. But with time running out before winter came, the pack needed to buckle down and begin teaching the youths the skills they would need to survive. Not that Cori would ever let a lack of knowledge kill her offspring, but survival skills were definitely in order to be taught. "They'd appreciate that, I think," she commented, a grin in her voice. "Rihael especially. The child has his father's energy, it's all I can do to get him to sit still." A mother's musings, she had become one of those creatures who was defined in majority by her role as a mother. But what else was there? "Where did you go, Borlla?" When you left? She had wondered, not just of Borlla, but all of her packmates. Where had they gone when they were looking for Indru?

Initially, Borlla had been cautious to even take a step near Corinna's children. There mere fact that she brought up her intentions to help made her canny. Which was why Corinna's reaction surprised her. The female even sounded happy to help her help. Borlla managed to work out a smile, a slight one, but a smile nonetheless. She bowed her head, <b style="color:#32527a">"Hopefully I can do something with it," She was actually a bit excited now at the idea of doing this. She wouldn't feel as if she were sneaking around her leader. Her ears flicked at Corinna's question, which took the aging yearling a moment to decipher. Oh.

They twisted back now in a look of shame, and she rolled her shoulders. <b style="color:#32527a">"I'm not even sure. I thought I was following him at first, but I reached a point where I was just so far away, I'd been travelling for so long, his scent was just...gone. I don't know. I tried living on my own, because that was what I wanted, I guess. It was just better that way." She'd never seemed to play well with others. <b style="color:#32527a">"But it wasn't so easy. It didn't last long either..And, um...I came back. This is my home, and I had hoped that maybe Indru had realized the same thing, too." That wasn't the sort of heart-warming story that Corinna may have wanted to hear, but it was the long and short of it. The life of a lone wolf wasn't cut out of her, at least not in a place she wasn't familiar with, with wolves that didn't seem to like her being there. <b style="color:#32527a">"speech."

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Gone Tomorrow

While the question might be an awkward one to answer for Borlla, it was a question that Corinna had a right to ask as leader of the pack. The decision to allow Borlla back onto Swift River lands had been Indru's, not her's, and while the younger she-wolf might have explained herself to her older brother, she had made no attempts to explain to Corinna where she had been. As the more dominant of the two wolves currently, it was Corinna's privilege to have that sort of information at her disposal. Plus, she simply curious. She herself had been a lone wolf for quite a period of time before finally being admitted into the Swift River pack. The gray and creme female had never once imagined being its leader. But she knew well the harsh lifestyle of a lone wolf, and as Borlla unraveled the bare bones of her short tale, Corinna found herself nodding in an understanding. How many times had Corinna herself wanted to return home after not finding a pack? Far too many to count.

"Honestly?" Corinna's tail flicked idly at her haunches as she cast her gaze away from Borlla, as if peering into space. "I always assumed you would leave at some point. You've got the leader gene, like Indru. And as difficult as it is, that's what leaders have to do sometimes. But in either case, I know that your siblings are happy to have you back in Swift River." A small smile was given, and her gaze redirected. Indru's return had brought the remaining Tainns out of hiding, and it was an abnormal day indeed when the leader did not trip over one of them.

Borlla took the leader's words as a compliment. Borlla loved the idea of one day leading a pack, being looked up to by her family, her followers. The feeling of power and accomplishment, and knowing that others relied on you and respected you. Right now, she didn't feel any of that. She felt the opposite. In response, Borlla gave a small shake of her head. <b style="color:#32527a">"I wouldn't be so sure about that," The girl half-muttered, and sighed. Her brothers had never liked her. They'd never been given a reason to. She had been cruel and mean to them.

<b style="color:#32527a">"I'm glad to be back though, and...I want to fix it. Everything." She tried to keep her gaze steady as she spoke. Her words were honest, but she was afraid to see Corinna's reaction to all of this. When everyone else had been alienated, who did she have? <b style="color:#32527a">"speech."

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Gone Tomorrow

Borlla doubted the words that Corinna spoke, and in all honesty, the leader couldn't blame the girl. Borlla had been sour for a long time, and while she knew that her brothers would never stop loving the creme girl, she also knew that she had tried their patience more than once. But if nothing else, Corinna had learned that the Tainns had it in their very essence to forgive those who had wronged them, particularly if they were family. As for how Borlla would fix it, the leader could offer little advice. The only thing the youth could do was prove herself to be dedicated to the interest of the pack. "Talk to them, make sure they know you want to be here," the words were frank and simple, but it was the honest truth. Borlla could not prove her loyalty if she did not participate in the growing of the pack. With the pups about looking to learn something new every day, there was no shortage of opportunities to prove to the family that she wanted to be there.

Borlla nodded slowly, hoping that her leader was right. She wasn't necessarily looking for them to be one big happy pile of puppies, they'd never been that, but to at least know that they could talk to her and look her in the eye. That was all she would ask for. Glancing down at her paws for a moment, she tried to collect her thoughts before looking up at Corinna, <b style="color:#32527a">"If there's anything you need me to do...Just ask. Anything." She wanted to be involved, to help and to participate. She wanted to fix what had been broken. Even if her brothers had given up on her, perhaps she still had time to know her nieces and nephews before she just became some absent, nameless face. <b style="color:#32527a">"speech."

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<3 Yay for good threads!

Gone Tomorrow

The rain hadn't let up in the entire time that the two Swift River females were talking, but the leader hardly noticed. This was the first time that she and Borlla had really talked to each other in months, and she would happily deal with a little rain if it meant that they could put their issues behind them. They needed a united front in order to raise the puppies properly, and whether Corinna liked it or not, Borlla was family. And while she had left, she had also returned, just as Marsh and Triell had - and Corinna had not held grudges against them. Why she had picked Borlla to take the brunt of her anger, she wasn't quite sure, but that's what had happened. Which is why they needed this talk. The rain was doing more than washing away the deadness of fall, it was helping to clean the dirt and grime out of their relationship.

Nodding mutely in response, Corinna turned her green eyes away from the pale girl, looking back towards where she had come. She had left them for far too long, she was afraid, and had to return to her young ones. Offering a small smile, she dipped her head in the direction of home. "They'll be wondering where I am soon. But, this was nice." While her voice had started the conversation cold and flat, there was warmth. It would not be an instant process to forgive the young Tainn, but they had made a successful start. Offering a shallow dip of her head, Corinna leaped forward, forepaws finding sure footing despite the mud and headed off towards Swift River.

:D

The silence suddenly seemed to consume her and Borlla realized that it was still raining. Shaking her head, she looked at Corinna, who seemed to be interested in heading back. Borlla nodded, smiling slightly now. She was glad that she'd come here, even if she'd been utterly nervous at first. And now it was over, and she felt better. Watching Corinna run off, Borlla waited a moment and slowly followed suit, casting one final glance at the burnt tree before she headed off.<b style="color:#32527a">"speech."

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