Magnolia Glen Reunion

After what had been several long weeks, Zia had finally returned to Relic Lore and Magnolia Glen. Her true home. Her reasons for leaving were perfectly justified, but perhaps not the most logical. She had noticed Borlla's sudden disappearance, and immediately grew concerned. So, without a second thought, she turned her back on her home, and set out on a rather long journey to try and track down the ivory queen. Ultimately, she met a dead end. All of her searching had been in vain. She encountered no dead bodies, no blood, no pawprints. Not even a single pale hair. It was as if she just fell off the face of the earth.

The silver female honestly hadn't expected to be gone as long as she had, and after some thought, she realized what a fool she had been to leave in the first place. Phineas was probably worried sick, and without her familiar face around, he was left to raise three pups without a mother! Zia was quite honestly, furious. How could Borlla do such a thing...to just up and leave her children, her family behind?! Didn't she know how this would affect the youngsters, abandoned by their own mother? It was a devastating blow to the pack, which had enough losses. First Inkheart and Lucero, then their son Kyros, and now this? Zia would put her foot down...she was done tolerating such disloyalty. Should Borlla dare to show her face again, she'd be welcomed with open jaws.

Stiffly, she now strode towards the clearly marked borders of her home. She knew Phineas wouldn't be pleased with her sudden absence. She'd have a fair bit of explaining to do once she summoned her King, and was prepared to be turned away, should he see fit. The summer sky was painted in the warm colors of oranges, yellows and pink as dusk reigned, the dark shapes of bats occasionally flying overhead. However, Zia's blue eyes were only trained ahead, into the grove before her, where Phineas was likely fretting. Cool and composed, she sat on her haunches, and howled...her familiar voice breaking the silence once more. She called for one wolf only, and hopefully, their reunion would not be their last one.

The familiar beckoning that echoed across the sky came as a surprise to him. Zia was right to consider him fretting – his eyes swept over his trio with worry. He would not take them to the borders.. not yet. Yet, he also did not find comfort at leaving them with another pack member.. aside from @Deneb, he barely trusted anyone. With a heavy heart, the regal ushered all three inside the den walls – Takis, @Evy and @Celandine. With strict but hushed orders to stay inside until he returned, the male swept off, knowing full well it was likely his orders would go unanswered.

His pace was quick, and within twenty minutes, he reached her. She sat – composed, regal in her own way, and while Phineas had once looked upon Zia with comfort, it was disappointment that radiated from him now. He drew himself up, feeling the sharp sting of her abandonment as he closed the distance between them. His lips pulled back to expose teeth, assuring her of his stance that was between them now. She was on his borders now, ones she had chosen to leave. With his muzzle jutting upward and his tail flagging out, he was silent for a moment, his eyes demanding her submission with a fierceness that was only spurned by the bitterness of the pack’s current downfall.

What do you want, Zia? The tone was harsh – never had he spoken to her that way before, and had his wounds of betrayal not been so fresh, he likely would have at least cringed inwardly. Instead, he reveled in it. An outlet, at last.

She knew he would be less than pleased to see he face again. But she also dared to hope, that he would be relieved at the same time. So there she sat, her ghostly fur glinting in the fading light as she awaited the inevitable. During the time it took for him to answer her call, she thought about how she would go about explaining her absence to him. Should she be emotional, yet passive beneath her superior? Or should she remain logical and unbending? It was a tough call.

In the evening air, the familiar scent of Phineas filled her nose before she could see him. It was a comforting smell, yet one that also stirred a feeling of anxiousness within her. When the pale King finally slipped into her vision, teeth bared and body full of dominance, he wasn't exactly a friendly sight. Even as he demanded her submission in his anger, for a long moment, Zia stood firm. Unflinching, she sat like a proud stone statue, a hard glint in her eyes. During her time in Magnolia Glen, she had evolved into a proud, strong wolf, yielding only when absolutely necessary. When he spoke, his harsh, bitter words sliced through the air and she bit back a growl of protest. She was just as angry as he was, but if Zia stood any chance of being welcomed home, then she'd have to show her superior the respect he now demanded.

Slowly, but somewhat grudgingly, she lowered her lanky frame well beneath his own, legs bent at the joints as her belly fur brushed the ground. Her ears slicked back against her skull, and she averted her eyes towards his paws. "You ask what I want, Phineas?" She began in a quiet voice, replaying her thoughts in her head. Recalling her unexcused journey. "I came to ask for my re acceptance into your pack." There was a long pause, before she spoke again. "And, to explain my reasons for disappearing." Would he turn her away, refusing to listen to why she had fled, in search of Borlla? Now she waited, while tension surrounded the two of them. The only remaining wolves who had the pleasure of calling themselves founders of Magnolia Glen.

Sorry bebe. :c He wasn't going to take her initial challenge at him well at all.

His eyes flashed dangerously as she stood, unbending to the male who reigned alone in these lands. She had left them, and now, as she stood at the borders she once called home, she was refusing to even submit. His snarl intensified as he took a step closer, his muzzle jutting up higher as his hackles bristled. He would make her if she didn't see reason soon.

But she did -- albeit, with a hint of a grudge. Who the fuck did she think she was? She spoke then, her eyes falling upon his paws, stirring hi slips to pull back in a sneer at her words. She wanted to come home. No, he spoke then, his tone bitter and harsh as his growling subsided. You don't get to fuck off and then waltz back in here with an attitude like that. There was a pause. Magnolia Glen does not take its deserters back.

He did not ask for her excuses -- he did not care to hear them. In the time he needed her, when the pups needed her, she had left. And then, she had expected to simply walk in here with her tail held high. Now leave. I have pups to care for. he reminded her harshly, his eyes flashing once more as they regarded her, belly upon the ground. Aside from his mate, she had been the only other one he had trusted -- and now here they stood. Her, challenging him and demanding acceptance in to the pack she had abandoned.. and him, left to pick up the pieces his mate had left behind.

Immediately, she realized her mistake. Her attempt at appearing composed and resigned had backfired. Instead, the gray and silver female had come off as arrogant and demanding, in the eyes of her former leader. That was not how she had intended to portray herself, despite her bad mood. To try and quell his fury, to appease him, she backed up several more feet, head hung low and turned to the side, eyes averted.

She let his words fly, absorbed the brunt of his anger, before he finally demanded she take her leave. But was this really the end? Would he turn her away so coldly just because of this? With her attitude changed into one of guilt and shame, she was now put back firmly in her place. She shuffled uneasily on her paws, reluctant to leave. But first, she had to at least plead her case. If he would hear it. "Alright...I'm sorry Phineas. I did not mean to come off so high and mighty. It's just that...." Her voice was softer now, choked up. She turned her head towards the side, eyes pinned to earth.

Drawing in a breath, she searched for words again. Yet at the same time, she was prepared to spring to her feet and flee, should Phineas decide to physically force her off his borders. "I know what you are going through is painful, and my absence didn't help matters." Phineas had never been angry at her before, so there was no telling how the male would deal with her. "But...when I discovered that Borlla was missing, the first thing I did was panic. The first thing I could think of was her well being, and where she could've gone. That's why I left, to try and search for her." There, it was out. Zia had in the past, assisted his mate on several occasions. Coming to her aid when she was injured, defending the den from an angry badger, and stealing a scrap of meat during the winter so Hypatia wouldn't starve. Would he remember all that she had done? "I made a mistake...I should've come to you first instead of leaving you in the dark like that." But now the more she thought about it, she found herself growing angrier. The tide had turned once again. Drawing back up to her natural height, Zia donned a look of pride and self assurance once more, as well as a look of disgust.

Pinning her eyes against his, ears swiveled back, her muzzle crinkled in a sneer. "Phineas, this has gone too far. What I did was for the good of the pack. Out of the kindness of my own heart! I wouldn't have cared if I didn't do what I had did! And yet this is the thanks I get?" She growled, her tail lashing in agitation behind her. "Called a deserter, turned away because of a simple little mistake? Ridiculous." She spat in his face. "If that is how you feel, then go back to your children. You can manage Magnolia Glen perfectly fine...alone." She shot the word at him, marking it as the final nail in the coffin. He had burned all of his bridges with her, and there was no fixing that. She would be just fine by herself. It wasn't like she had any real connections here...no friendships. All the familiar faces she had once known were gone. It was a mistake, trying to come back. With a huff, she turned away from him and marched off into the night, alone. She had a life to rebuild...without him.

Zia exits

(This post was last modified: Sep 09, 2014, 02:34 AM by Zia.)

She seemed to try to appease him – his anger bubbled still, and yet she gave word to her reasoning, stirring him to inhale sharply as his eyes fluttered shut, if only for a moment. He felt the tenseness in his body slacken – his teeth stopped gritting, and his shoulders sagged noticeably as grief took way to the position he stood now. His mouth opened just after he swallowed thickly, his gaze now darting over her as he attempted to formulate an apology – but she cut the air with a sudden vigor that stirred his eyes to narrow then.

To welcome home his old friend died upon his lips, and his ears slid back as his teeth unraveled. Leaving without word and expecting no repercussion is ridiculous, he hissed out at her as she turned from him, his tail flicking agitatedly through the air.

He watched her go – his ivory figure lifted high as he maintained his composure of the entire conversation – abrupt, and yet ever insightful to the true colors of the female who had served as a Beta for so long in the Glen lands. He did not call her back – clearly, given her initial plan to simply depart without word and then grace her presence among him once more and fully expecting him to be a mind reader was not something he was looking for in his next co-lead – which is exactly where she likely would have ended up.

Magnolia Glen had dodged a bullet.

Once she was from his sight, the fiery regal shifted then, his paws thrumming the ground as he quickly made his way back to his children.