Oak Tree Bend Toil and Trouble

For @Sahalie

The earlier snows had already melted, but she knew the warm days wouldn't last much longer now. Already the pain in her joints was returning, her movements slower than they had been in weeks past. Oh it was only delaying her border passes by 10 or so minutes for now, but deep down she knew that once the snows set in that she would be lucky to reach the borders at all.

She had wanted to take a trip to the mountain before she reached this point, and now the journey would have to be delayed until the spring rolled around again (gods if she even lasted that long). It was with a heavy sigh that she turned towards the infirmary, not sure she had enough of what she needed to get through the winter but knowing what she needed now, she still had time to replace. 

She could barely fit her shoulders inside the cache, elbows aching and threatening to give way should she try to bend them. It was with a grimace that she leaned back, wondering whether she could scoot forward enough on her belly or if she was better off just finding herself a white fir and ripping off a branch to chew fresh from the source. Oh, but could she go that far? Golden eyes glanced critically at the trees that surrounded her, never quite landing on just what she sought.

Skipping like a child, the girl carried the last remainders of some grass stems back to the infirmary. She had busied herself with collecting the few things she knew now that autumn was upon the world and soon all the plants would shrivel up or become buried under the snow. The infirmary now had a wealth—or perhaps even an over abundance—of sweet grass, aconite, and yellow rattle. Sure, the girl would have loved to be carrying back some variety to the den, however her woeful medical education left her lacking in the ability to do much of anything. With great embarrassment she remembered not even knowing what ginger was for when Aponi dumped it in front of Larkspur. The girl huffed. She could get better. She could learn on her own.

Only the whole self-teaching thing had yet to yield any real results when she was too scared of accidentally poisoning herself.

Her knees locked underneath her though when she saw a familiar backside at the entrance to the infirmary. Tendrils of sweet grass floated gently to the ground. The dark girl sucked in a breath. Should she turn around? It seemed very possible that the woman was too old and might not have a good enough sniffer on her to have noticed Sahalie already. But then the girl remembered the talk with her father and exhaled. She should at least be trying to have a working relation with the woman. It would at least make her stop feeling so guilty all the damn time.

Picking up the grass she strode boldly to the opening. "You're in the way Naira," she said stiffly.

She was on her best behavior.

so take me down, take me down

Naira

You're in the way..., a muffled bark of laughter answered the cross person just hidden from her sight. From the tone she almost could have placed the displeased youth as Aponi, but a whince laden shuffle back far enough to look over her shoulder left her apologetic grin falling on Sahalie instead. "Sorry, it's hard when your body stops doing what you tell it to," She bit back a pained whine as she moved a little faster to get out of the way, unable to bring herself to stand she resigned herself to rolling back, her belly exposed as she flopped on her side, bent neck finally lowering to straighten out just enough to take the pressure off her shoulders.

A heavy sigh left her chest as she took a moment to allow the girl to put her grass away and rest her aching joints. She braced herself to try and get back up, holding her breath as she rolled to support herself on her elbows, resting again before attempting to push herself up into a seated position. When she finally managed it, her ears were turned back, head turned to look into the trees somewhere to her left still hoping to spot a stray fir tree, the blur of Sahalie still in her right side peripherals. She didn't want to impose on the girl any more than she already had.

These were the most words the two had spoken to each other since Mako and Marina had been born, as Sahalie didn't really make a habit of lingering anywhere in the woman's vicinity. It made it all the worse that Naira was apologizing and smiling all nicey-nice. It made Sahalie feel like she had just imagined all the grumbling and snapping of the woman when she had been a small child, like everything up until now had been misinterpreted. But she had seen it, she could swear. With uncertain, narrowed eyes below arcing brows, the girl stared back at Naira. She had to wonder if age would be an excuse for everything to this old woman. Then again, Sahalie had no idea what it was like to be old.

As she placed the herbs in their corner along with the mountain of every other sweet grass tendril she had uselessly collected she couldn't help but watch Naira from the corners of her golden eyes. True to her word, every movement of her body seemed to betray Naira's intentions to sit or stand or lay down. She looked very uncomfortable. "Just how old are you?" Sahalie's attempt to make civil conversation was ruined by such an inappropriate question and a barely disguised tone of condescension. In some deeper part of her mind, the girl wondered just how far she could push this woman around: how much longer they would both behave before the eye of the storm moved on. 

"I'm just wondering if it was appropriate to have children that you might not even be able to raise." There were enough wolves she knew with barely any memories of their mothers who had abandoned them accidentally or on purpose. It seemed like a cruel fate that waited for Treyah and Reiko. Triell already had to raise one litter while mourning a woman while apparently this one in front of her "kept him together." But she had certainly not been responsible.

Shallow water has trapped several fish in a small pond. Hunt Opportunity

I've got fire in my soul, rise up, ting-ting, like glitter

Naira

Just how old are you? The bluntness of the question brought a smile to her face as she gathered her legs beneath her and slowly stood up. "One year older than your father." For all that some cold days it felt like she was a whole century older, she had to wonder how Mapplethorpe ever managed. @Sahalie's next question though made the older wolf outright laugh. It wasn't a warm sound, a hint of the ice in the air giving her words an edge completely contrary to the smile on her face. "At least you don't have to worry about me running away on them." She had been out there, combing the woods for any sign of Nayeli. The only wolf that dissapeared that well was a wolf that didn't want to be found. "Anytime I've left on purpose, my children have come with me."

It was a low blow to be sure but the girl was a yearling now and the harsh realities of life outside the bend would catch up with her soon enough. It was only a matter of time before she outgrew these trees and the wolves that clung to them, if her little band of age-mates was anything to go by, that was. She waited to see if the girl had more spit to throw at her. Like an angry little kitten, she was utterly adorable.

In spite of the years that had smoothed out many of Naira's rough edges, she still rose to the challenge. Oh. Just a year older than her dad. Naira didn't seem offended. She was smiling. Except Sahalie didn't really know how old her dad was, and often he seemed pretty old. He didn't bounce back from injuries in the same way the younger wolves did, but then again he wasn't spacing out and complaining about his joints or whatever. So in the end this wasn't really an answer, and Sahalie was left to assume this was the woman's snotty, casual way of insinuating that the girl was hypocritical when it came to her age. It was her subtle retaliation for a question that was outright rude. She simply shrugged, either this woman hadn't aged well or her dad wasn't acting his age.

The laughter only further cemented this point of veiled retaliation. Triell's daughter no longer felt guilty about her insolence. The woman was not-so-vaguely alluding to Sahalie's own mother, which apparently was meant to be a jab of some sort. Sahalie stared back at the woman, her expression impassive. When it came to Nayeli Sahalie was never really upset: she couldn't miss a woman she didn't know, never felt for want of a mother. Sahalie was only frustrated when her father mentioned her, or when she had been just a girl and others had insisted on looking for this woman at the expense of her father. "Cool. I don't care," was all the girl had to say. Did she deserve a reward for not abandoning them? No.

"So you've had a lot of other children?" That was the implication, since the woman had never left Oak Tree Bend in between now and when Reiko and Treyah had been born. These other children would not have been with Triell.

and i confess, i'm only holding on by a thin thin thread

Naira

Her smile didn't falter at Sahalie's response, another piece of the puzzle falling into place with her lack-luster response. The next question was to be expected too, she supposed, and she wasn't about to deny her an answer now, who knew if they'd ever really chat like this again? "One litter before Aponi and her sister, another between them and Treyah and Reiko," She figured it wasn't worth mentioning the names of wolves Sahalie wouldn't know. It wasn't nearly as many as her own parents had borne, nor a shadow on her grandmother's record, but she still had some years left in her yet. She might laugh out loud if it wouldn't be perceived as completely insane. Sahalie wasn't privy to her thoughts, though she supposed that was probably a good thing.

She could have gone on, she could have mentioned Nova and the resemblance she held between Triell and Sahalie, but she knew better than most how fragile the relationship between parents and children could be and wouldn't work to drive more of a wedge between them than she already presented. She wondered if perhaps the girl would have any more to add, or if she would take the lull in conversation as an opportunity to escape.

feel free to leave in your next post and then i'll reply and archive editing post to fade/archive

Four litters seemed like a lot to the girl but she had no basis for comparison: her father had 3 at least. It was probably normal. Discovering that Aponi had a sister was also pretty interesting. Or—wait, Aponi? Her eyes practically blew up. The woman spoke so casually that Sahalie had practically missed this fact, something she had been circling around for some time now, suspecting but unable to confirm that the two were actually related. "Huh," Sahalie grunted in response, no attempt to conceal her surprise. "Just figured she didn't look anything like you so you weren't related." But Aponi sometimes—especially where the woman was concerned—had quite a bite to her, any maybe that was like her mother.

She shrugged again. "I wonder what happened to the rest." All of them. They weren't here now, so either these ones were the ones that she'd left on accident or they'd left her. From the way Aponi spoke the children were probably the ones that chose to leave. Did they feel neglected? Did they not care? Or did Naira leave them not "on purpose." Did she ever look for them? Sahalie was curious but she was not sure how much good it would do her. Maybe she could at least justify it to her father as "Getting to know Naira," in the only way she could stomach. It was probably only fair that Sahalie offered up something of her own.

"I know you know I don't like you." An obvious statement. "But thanks for making sure he came back." Without Naira, would he have kept searching for Nayeli? She hated it more than anything that the woman might have been the only thing tethering her father to reality. But that was that, really. There was nothing more to be said between them, and so she turned to leave and strode away.

(This post was last modified: Apr 17, 2017, 12:21 AM by Sahalie.)