Drooping Willows earth intruders

With a bobbing gait Skana limped through the territory, her wet black nose sweeping over the snow. Her chest rumbled with a growl at the vulpine scent she'd caught. Normally a fox wasn't anything much to worry about, the little scavengers not as much a nuisance as the coyotes could be. Normally she wasn't bothered by the little things, but winter always made the Coho wolf more irritable, and the sign of disease she'd seen in the Wildwood had the old wolf nervous. Anything foreign, especially anything that might carry the illness within its body needed to be chased out at all costs.

Other things were bothering Skana as well. Narime's disappearance had weighed heavily on her mind as Skana was rather fond of the young huntress. Thankfully Narime' had returned, but Koda was still nowhere to be seen. Skana had always wondered about the man, he never really looked entirely in place in his throne in the way that Elettra did. Skana had to wonder if maybe he'd died up in the mountains, but couldn't help the thought that maybe he had abandoned the pack like Remy had.

The fox was close, she could smell him now and she parted her jaws to let her annoyance become audible in a snarl. Her grey grizzled head swung side to side, searching for the fox as her large body slowly picked up speed. Finally, a blur of orange flashed in the distance before her, and she snapped her teeth and lunged into an uneven run. There was no way she would catch up with a fox, and she'd only managed to send a few deep barks his way before the orange smudge disappeared. She slowed, then stopped, staring after where the intruder had vanished. She marked the place with her scent, then stood for a moment to make sure the fox wouldn't make an attempt at slipping past again.

Much as Skana, Elettra was worried and rigid with such worry, over paranoid of maintaining her pack's borderline and making sure the members of her pack were in line. Had word not passed fully through the members to make it official, perhaps the lack of sight and scent would tell them that Koda had been missing for well over a week now. Still, Shade was out in search, perhaps Sica too and Tempest had even held interest in seeking out Koda within the mountains. With Phineas and Guiness return now that Narime was free, the others presence was less dire and so, Elettra only hoped them well on their search party. Still, she was the remaining Lead if only for the given time and Elettra would allow herself no slip up in her posture and dominant role.
The scent of the fox had not only placed Elettra's Second on edge, but herself. A fox meant little worry to wolves and without knowledge of the illness Elettra might not have bothered. But Elettra was in an ill mood and the chance of destroying an intruder would be enough to calm that mood if only for a moment. She was all snarls and hackles high as she trotted into the direction of the scent, only to see the odd running display of Skana beating her to the punch. Edging away her snarl, Elettra huffs in the direction of the retreating dog and towards Skana. Her vision is hard, more so by the pale of her gaze as she assesses her new Second. "How fair the leg this winter?" She asked, knowing of the woman's limp and how it seemed to have worsened with the cold weather, much as Kanoak's had. Though her tone lay hard, the seriousness in her tone only suggested her meaning to make sure her members were okay.

Skana stood rigidly still as she stared off towards where the fox had disappeared, her ears pricked forward until the crunching of paws on snow caused a single notched ear to turn back. The scent of the Ridge leader as well as the previously snarling voice told Skana who it was before she turned her face towards the coal swathed woman. No longer on high alert, Skana's dark tail rested by her hocks and she held her head lower than that of Elettra's. It had been uncomfortable and strange to get used to, but it was Elettra who she had to answer to, and to whom she owed her current existence.

Skana gave a thoughtful sigh and a hum at Elettra's question, glancing down at the leg before answering. An attempt at experimentally tapping the swollen toes only managed a pained twitch of the digits that twisted her face into a scowl. "Not great, but I suppose it could be worse." She grumbled. Skana wasn't really sure how it could be worse, after all, it wouldn't be much of a loss if the whole limb was missing, as it failed at keeping her any steadier as this season's ice had proven, and it just nagged painfully all the time. It was frustrating that one little accident was still haunting her years later. Her vision flicked over Elettra's healthy sides, even with the scars etched in through the Willow Queen's fur it was apparent she was at her prime. "You only get one body, and once chance at ruining it." She warned.

Elettra takes heed to the sudden drop of Skana's tail upon her own arrival, the lowering of her skull just shy of her own. Though Elettra had bothered never to ask, she assumed te pride in the woman was perhaps by her own leadership back a time ago. Though it seemed easier on the Advisor to do so now, at firstly submission was hesitant as though forced. Remy had shown her own bit of resilience, willing to bow her head only to Elettra but making sure he held way higher over everyone else. Now Skana held the position, answering to no one savor Elettra's self and even so, as an Advisor her position in the pack had it's perks. She could question Elettra so long as it was in regards to helping and guiding the younger Elettra as she should. If Elettra's suspicion was correct, then the woman held the perfect experience when it came to governing a pack.
"If it becomes too much a nuisance, I've a mind to help you rid of it." She speaks, a smirk turning over her lips, as though perhaps she had thought to read Skana's own thoughts but surely had not. It was though a joke that many would quiver at the thought, but perhaps one that this lady before her would come to find as humorous as Elettra in her own way. "I've a heart for the fight, I know, not just the safety behind herbs and political garbage....though we've our Guardians to keep the danger at bay." Hopefully Skana, as well as Elettra's self, would be protected from any dire danger should it ever erupt in the lands so long as protectors like Shade, Guiness and Tempest kept a weary eye. Though Elettra didnt plan on getting fat and lazy, though might hone her skills in a spar whenever the moment was able. "It's a shame I've no nettle bush berries due to the winter, they would do well to relax the muscles and joints." Her words once more sway to the subject of her Second's leg. She longed to know what had happened, but figured it was none her business. The past of all Elettra's members and herself was just as this - the past. Though she knew her members presently she knew little of where they came from and what they had endured. It was these things which formed the wolf they were now, though Elettra was content to know them only as they were not, not precisely which had made them that way. "I do have some Black Willow for the swelling, however, if you'd take it?"

Skana laughed, a gruff bark of a sound, at Elettra's teasing. Almost a tempting thought, but it was probably best to keep attached all the appendages she had.

Elettra went on to mention her desire for a fight, and Skana had to agree there. Skana's soul craved for challenge, longed for the bygone days of the wild coast tamed by tooth and held down by paw. She almost wished the fox hadn't eluded her, and she wondered if that was all she was fit to take on anymore. As Elettra said, the Ridge was fortunate to have able guardians, as Skana wasn't too sure if her bite outweighed her bark anymore. "Ahh, I'd love for a fight. Not even sure how I'd manage now. It's been a while." A long while, the last time she had been bold enough to fight was in the heat of revenge of the grounds of Salmon River. She looked into Elettra's silvery eyes for a split second, a light in her pearled and amber gaze that wondered how she might match up against the coal and ash colored leader.

She eyed Elettra skeptically, an eyebrow lifted as she considered the offer of willow for just a moment. Consequences were consequences, and this was something she felt like she had to live with. It seemed like a cheater's way out to resort to medicine, though maybe if healing had had more a presence in her home she would not have been so initially opposed to the idea. But, being useless didn't really suit Skana either. Her lips pulling into an almost-grimace as she finally gave a nod, "Sure, I'd try it."

"Perhaps when spring arrives and I've pumped you full of herbs, we could give each other a run." Though perhaps Skana might have thought her ill capable of the fight with not specifically her age, but her injury, Elettra had been curious how much heart was left in Skana still for the battle. After all, Skana was now her Second and it was her duty to back Elettra's leadership up if not with dominance and threats, but brute force. It was obvious Skana was, or had one been, a capable fighter and it left Elettra to wonder if there was anything she could learn from the woman before her.
Now, Elettra is left with a smirk by Skana's hesitant reply but then finally willing to allow herself to give the medicine a try. It was with the same treatment many a wolf Elettra had faced within her birth home had offered her. Many would risk infection, disease or amputation then to take aid in their injuries due to a need to allow themselves to heal. If they could not do it by their body's own accord, then they would rather die. It was a pride that even Elettra did not hold, rather allowing herself to work with the nature the world had offered her to bring her strength quicker when she was weak, a state which she did not lengthen simply because she didnt want to 'take her medicine'. Nudging her nose to the direction of the pack's den where the Infirmary lie, Elettra's eyes moved to sweep beyond Skana's ragged limb, to the scarring features of her face and her blinded eye. "Bother not answer if the question is too intrusive, but I wonder how you gained this injury firstly?" Perhaps it was with a run if with a wolf in war who far out matched her. Perhaps in her travel she had been attacked by a band of wolves or perhaps, something more spiteful.

Sorry for the wait! Hope it's alright if I say they started walking? Let me know if not!

A light lit in Skana's clear eye at the proposal of a good spar once she'd mended up some. If the herbs would let her get a few fights in, the idea of taking medicine didn't seem as reprehensible.

With Elettra's pointing towards the den, Skana started off towards the place at her slow, steady pace with the intention of covering some ground as they conversed. "The paw was my own fault, got too close in a hunt and the elk landed its hoof on it." She began with the easiest and most straightforward answer. She nearly left it at that, almost ignoring the deeper question and way Elettra's silver gaze had looked questioningly at her face and the lines that mapped across it. If Skana wished, she could have even skirted the answer with stories of the smaller and lesser noticed of her scattered scars earned from spars and skirmishes. If Skana had stopped there, she knew Elettra wasn't the type to further push the matter.

But, a part of her wanted to go further, as if accepting help had been the first step in freeing the rust from the hinges of a door that had long since been firmly closed shut. As much as keeping her damaged paw to herself had been wearing at the joint, keeping what had happened to herself was equally as wearing on her soul. She had gained enough trust in Elettra to tell the woman honestly. The old wolf didn't want or need comforting, and only wanted to confide in something that had been dogging at her heels since leaving the coast.

"A trusted hunter of mine, I suppose she wanted my pack well enough, to turn my own members against me. She was sly enough to not challenge us directly, rather to try and pick off my mate... Perhaps I would have gone down in a similar 'accident' if I hadn't caught on. Maybe confronting her was a bad idea, but what else was there to do? Any other way would have been a coward's way out." Skana swung her head away from Elettra, looking off into the willows for a moment as she grit her dull teeth with a small clicking sound. She had long passed over sorrow, with only bitter burning anger left in its place. Sometimes she dreamed of returning to Salmon River, avenging Kawak and taking back the pack that had been hers, but she knew it was only a foolish fantasy. Just the journey alone would probably be too much for her, and she could never hope to take an entire pack that was no longer loyal to her.

A sigh, and Skana looked back at the path ahead, secretly and shamefully nervous at the response she would get and thus thankful Elettra was on her blind side, and thus only a black, featureless blur in the corner of her eye. "But, my pack was not behind me. Rather, they were hers then, and turned on me as her hounds." Skana left off there, letting Elettra fill in the blanks of just how the deepest of her scars were placed where they were. She almost wondered if she'd said too much, if she would be seen as weak for losing control of her own subordinates, or weak for being too open and sharing too much.

Thats fine!

She admits the ill fate at her hunting attempt, thus hindering the limb which now moved awkwardly along as they strode, Elettra keeping her slow pace, close at her side should she need a moment's rest. Though she was certain the woman would object leaning for support, Elettra was close enough for it to be done, should the woman decide. This was the pride Elettra knew and was understanding of. And, despite the fact that Elettra would not push for Skana's past and the events that had led up to her coming here (events which Elettra did not know from much of her members, never being one to pry with much secrets of her own) the woman spoke anyhow, freely. It was words that Elettra knew she had gained through trust and so, listened to them intently to place them to memory.
"You were brave taking them on. I would have done the same - to protect my place, my home. Even if I lost. At least I tried...." Just as Skana had. Not taking 'the coward's way out', as she had placed it. There was no way Elettra would ever tuck tail and run from the very pack she had founded, the lands that she had pissed all over and claimed her very own. She would go down with a fight and a hell of a fight and it seemed Skana had done the same. Elettra would have expected nothing less of the woman. It was a shame, all the same, her mate had not been there to fight at her side, having been taken out before hand. "Though I have not ruled a pack previously, I have too experienced my share of betrayal...." Her brother, whom had attacked her in her very sleep with the intent to seal her death out of jealousy. Her first and only love, who had rather raped her for the pups he demanded then to wait until his young mate was ready. "I understand." Though Elettra would not say 'sorry' (for sorry was an ignorant gesture, being not her fault, nor words which could mend the damage done) she allowed the woman to know that Elettra understood her feelings and felt for them.