Sacred Grove kamikaze airplanes in the sky

<blockquote>Comforted by his hero's words Fenru nodded, cherishing every syllable that Ice had spoken. The guard said that he would stay... <i>if Fenru had wanted him to.</i> <b>"P'ease,"</b> he murmured, the word lifting from his vocal chords like it had been said by a three-month-old pup. The boy's tail swept along the ground a number of times before settling beside one of his hind limbs. <b>"I-I just..."</b> he began quietly again. <b>"I like knowing something won't... change."</b>

One side of his muzzle lifted then drooped downward as he kept his eyes trained on the grass in front of him. <b>"The River... changed... and it took my only safe place with it. Mum and Dad were... were acting weird. My uncles <i>and</i> Rihael <i>and</i> Kisla are... are always gone! And, I can never find them."</b> He gazed downward and clamped his muzzle shut as though the sudden outburst had surprised him. When he began again his voice had lowered, <b>"No one's telling <i>me</i> anything, Ice. I don't know... what to think, a-and... it leaves me thinking of other things... like... like if I had thought of something, what if it had come true because... because I thought of it?"</b> Distress started to seep into the youth's words after he shook his head and continued on his flight of topics, <b>"I didn't want more siblings before... My parents would probably be so mad if they found out... I... already <i>have</i> a brother and sister, but now there's more of 'em and they're there keeping Mum in <i>that den</i>. Then... I want to be useful to her but there's so much I don't under-stand... so much that I'm still scared of. I'm no good at catching rabbits or minding borders... I'm not tough... so, I can't be a guard... like you. S-s-so <i>what then</i>?"</b></blockquote>

Taekwondo (M, W, F) | Rapid-Response Day (Tu) | WoW Nights (F, Sat, Sun)

you do not know who is your friend or who is your enemy until the   ICE breaks. "P'ease," and Ice's heart broke all over again. Fenru was nearly of a size with him, but still he leaned in and over the younger wolf, warm tongue lapping over his head again. Despite the confusion that lay just beneath the surface of his mind, Ice wanted to protect Fenru, he wanted to stand over him and always be there, a shadow; something safe. Something cherished. Something that didn't change. His eyes were concerned as he listened to what the yearling had to say, trying to take it all in without forgetting any of it; the words were just spilling out, and Ice let them, listened, tried to comprehend and think and do everything at once. He seemed lonely, afraid, not sure if it was his fault or someone else's, the River changed, everything changed, his agemates were scarce, and to Ice, it sounded like two things: plain old loneliness, and a lack of purpose. When the stream of words had ended, the pale Guardian was silent, watching the trees at the far end of the clearing. Hey hey Fen Fen, I'll go get mom. His thoughts felt too empty, not deep enough, what could he say? In the end, he sighed, brokenly, and looked down at the young male he was curled up around - surprised, again, at how large he really was, big paws and all. He was an adult now, he should do adult things, but he wasn't ready. He should've been a child a year longer, growing up slowly; Rihael took everything in a stride, except having Ice snarl at the first loner he met, but Fenru, little Fenru, tangled up in the web of his thoughts. "I'll not leave," he promised again, listening to the sound of the boy's breathing. "But, you know, change isn't always a bad thing. Stability, is something we need, something that remains relatively unchanged. But everything thrives on change, though some changes are uncomfortable, and maybe thrust us out into unknown territory - but the more you live and learn, the lesser the number of things that will be unknown. And so, changes become less... bothersome." He wasn't exactly scolding Fenru; Ice had a bit of a conservative streak too, but he'd come to realize that the world was always changing, and fighting it wasn't going to do anyone any good. Change happened, so it was better to go with it, try and control it, though he had a notion that he was afraid of something that had - or maybe had - changed recently, something he didn't like. He just didn't care to remember it yet. "And I don't think you have to worry. If everything I thought of came true, or had the opposite come true..." He shook his head. "Think of all the things you have ever thought about. How much of it actually happened, or mocked you? You'll just give yourself a headache if you're constantly worrying about what you're thinking." Briefly he laid his head over Fenru's back, as if to comfort him, but he wasn't sure who he was comforting anymore. The words were just tumbling out of him, too, though they didn't quite seem that way; they weren't rushed and jumbled, it was just that he didn't know what he was talking about anymore. "No one is born perfect, and no one is ever perfect, for true perfection lies in imperfection; how fun would it be to be perfect? It's our flaws that make us unique. You can't hunt, or guard? You can learn. You can do other things - mind the new kids-" Ice grimaced, wondering if Fenru was accepting of them now or wishing them to the other side of the Lore. "- keep an eye on the food caches, explore... Learn, live, see, hear. You could tag along with me, Marsh or Triell for border patrols. When there's nothing exciting going on, we sometimes try to flush out some small prey. I suck at hunting rabbits, though, honestly. I just get dizzy." He grinned crookedly - the last was very true. Ice was fair at hunting larger game, because he was slow but strong, but rabbits? When they got it into their heads they were fast and dashed about madly, and Ice wasn't quite fast enough to keep up, nor balanced enough to avoid running into things. The downside of being so heavy was that when you worked up a fast speed, it was a lot harder to dodge ill-wishing trees and rocks and logs. That was probably why Ice didn't hunt rabbits. .ice aesir

let the stars above shine in your soul

<blockquote>The Guardian repeated his promise and Fenru continued to listen, continuing to hang onto Ice's every word. <i>"Change isn't always a bad thing,"</i> Ice told him. The yearling's brows knit together, not convinced until the word <i>stability</i> came to mind. It took him a minute to accept that fact that everything <i>did</i> thrive on change. But then... if it did... He supposed change was what allowed him to grow up in a sense that his 'cradle' was no longer accessible to him. It gave way for the pack to build a more suitable den for Fenru's younger siblings. Coming of age, becoming a yearling, threw him into a whole new mix of emotions and trains of thought he had never even imagined before.

<b>"I guess,"</b> he admitted, sniffing slightly. When asked to list the things that had bothered him, the things that had changed in the past few months, the boy's face twisted into a grimace. The grim expression was washed away, however, upon feeling Ice caress him. The flood, the new den, the growing disconnection he felt with his litter mates, the scarceness of his uncles, the growing confusion about how to function as a part of his father's pack and the arrival of Rissa, Torrel and Aiyana... Ice's next words washed them all away and it occurred to Fen that the excessive thinking he had fallen victim to <i>was</i> the culprit of all his worrying.

<i>"No one is born perfect,"</i> the Guard continued, <i>"and no one is ever perfect..."</i> Fen opened his mouth to protest but closed his jaws again, not wanting to be disrespectful. The offer for him to join Ice on border patrols made a small smile appear on his face though and his brows rose in interest. So... <i>that's</i> what they often did when they weren't about the den. Aside from keeping an eye on the numerous markers and the territory borders, they <i>hunted</i>. Ice's grin prompted the yearling to return it, the smile on his face broadening into a grin that showed a section of teeth. <b>"Me, too,"</b> he confessed, his large ears laying back over his neck. <b>"B-but, Ice... Wait. What... What do you do when you pat-rol? What if someone crosses the borders?"</b></blockquote>

Taekwondo (M, W, F) | Rapid-Response Day (Tu) | WoW Nights (F, Sat, Sun)

you do not know who is your friend or who is your enemy until the   ICE breaks. It seemed to have done the youngster good to let all the words out, let the worries tumble out into the air and not stay locked up. He seemed less tense and miserable already, ears fluttering to Ice's soft voice - his eyes, they seemed to say I am thinking a lot right now, but the pale Guardian guessed it was good thinking this time, and not the toxic bad one. No one got happier by brooding. But, he was a bit envious. If letting everything you bottled up out created such relief... Ice had no desire to flood Fenru's newly liberated mind with his own woes, woes he weren't quite certain of what they were at the moment, just that Marsh had stared at him with eyes cold enough to freeze his soul. He suppressed the memory, tried to be here instead, with Fenru's warm auburn eyes. Worries still skittered across them, but he didn't look like a ball of angst anymore. It was something at least, and he felt a small, irrational sting of pride. He, Ice, a sometimes careless insensitive idiot, had managed to comfort someone! Comfort someone he was convinced was intelligent, too! And, because of that, everything he had said couldn't have been a terrible mess, because then Fenru would never have believed him. So somewhere in the murky depths of who he was, he actually had a pretty good grasp on how the world worked. The smile upon his face widened into a warm grin, and with a thoroughly dorky expression he kept watching Fenru's face as he listened. Ah-ha! Ice wasn't alone in being an awful rabbit hunter, and he was just about to ruffle Fenru's ears with his muzzle when the boy's ears fell back and he continued, more hesitant. The question caught him a bit by surprise, for after so long in the wolf world it wasn't a mystery to him, but after a moment's thought he guessed it was the sort of thing young boys wondered about if no one ever told them. "Mh, crossing a pack's border uninvited is a very disrespectful thing," he said, watching Fenru for his reaction. "It also sets the entire pack on edge, especially in pup-times. They are defenseless, so we must defend them, and if someone sneaks in... We cannot assume they're not meaning to harm us. If someone crosses the border, we chase them out, and do not hesitate to use violence in order to convince them it's best they run." He tilted his head, trying to soften the words with a smile and his gentle baritone voice. "But most wolves are smart enough to not cross a pack border, they're kind of hard to miss. It's very rare that someone actually bursts across it." Or walk across the river in the dead of night, for flowers. He forced the memory of her sleek, wet fur aside, focused instead on the little boy - large boy - he lay next to. "Next time you hear a stranger howl on the borders, or any of the Guards for that matter, why don't you come help investigate?" he invited with a bright grin. Fenru still needed that adventure, but perhaps not today - helping out on the borders, or just observing, might be adventure enough! To start with, at least... If Ice could have his way, he'd drag the boy on a tour of the Lore and teach him loads of useful things. Oh, speaking of that... He tilted his head, focusing his pale eyes on the youth. "Oh, uh, have you ever been outside of the Grove, Fen?" .ice aesir

let the stars above shine in your soul

<blockquote>Ice was indulgent in supplying answers to his questions and Fenru realized that he ought to be very, <i>very</i> grateful. Slowly, inch by inch, the fog that had plagued his every waking moment began to lift. Every word that he spoke, began to encourage the light at the end of the tunnel to blaze and illuminate the path toward him. Crossing into another packs territory, stepping over their borders, was disrespectful. Fen's brows knit together as he recalled his encounter with the girl from the west a few months ago.

He decided if he wanted to tell Ice about her but opted not to. For now, at least. The yearling continued to listen attentively, but the last part of Ice's explanation easily snagged his train of thought in relation to Arlette's chance meeting. <i>"If someone crosses the border, we chase them out, and do not hesitate to use violence in order to convince them it's best they run."</i> Fen nodded once more. He guessed he could do that. After all, Indru had taught him well in learning how to utilize his more dominant side - the side that was meant to help him keep up with Rihael in all his rowdiness and verve.

<b>"'kay,"</b> he answered as Ice carried on with an offer. <i>"Next time you hear a stranger howl on the borders, or any of the Guards for that matter, why don't you come help investigate?"</i> <b>"Oh-kay,"</b> he reluctantly agreed. It sounded like a terribly intimidating task to perform but with Ice there... well... why not? Upon being asked if he had ever left the Grove, Fenru paused to recall a moment where he had wandered past his parents' markers. <b>"Once, I think?"</b> he answered quietly, a brow lifting to exaggerate his uncertainty. <b>"Wait. <i>Twice.</i> I met this lady once near the Willows... and... and she was kinda scary. Her voice was all like... <i>ah'm nawt gawn-na hertcha, young'un.</i> And then... then there was this one time where this <i>girl</i> made me lose my bird. She... She ran into me when I crossed over the border and I told her she wasn't allowed in. She told me she got scared by this badger and I told her that I had to escort her out. She was from Grizzly Hollow."</b> He added the very last part of the second story on an impulse; as soon as the words had fluttered his tongue, he looked into Ice's eyes, wondering if the place would register as something important.</blockquote>

Taekwondo (M, W, F) | Rapid-Response Day (Tu) | WoW Nights (F, Sat, Sun)

Ice should be nicknamed "Sir Talksalot"...

you do not know who is your friend or who is your enemy until the   ICE breaks. He gave the boy a fond grin, and on a whim leaned over to nuzzle his ear to reinforce the good feelings associated with border work. Most wolves had enough sense to be respectful and not do crazy things, so most encounters at the borders were civil (unless Ice was in a bad mood, then he had a tendency to be a real asshole for some reason). But usually, it was just a matter of meet-n-greet, and if the loner was judged to be lacking by the guardians, they didn't even bother to call a leader over. But if they showed promise, Indru or Corinna was called, and decided on whether or not to let them join. Ice had a tendency to run most wolves off. He wasn't sure why, but he guessed it was protectiveness - he was much friendlier outside of the Grove, and once he'd even brought home a male to join. But he didn't stick around either. He smothered the sigh, not wanting to worry Fenru by sighing all of a sudden. If he could, Ice would just not permit anyone to join, nor leave, either. That way things would be good. As the boy answered his second question, Ice's eyes grew wide. He'd only been outside of the Grove twice? And he was a year old already? Of course, the first half a year or so you didn't really go far, but Fenru was more or less an adult now - he needed to see more of the Lore! Then again, if his first meeting had been sort of scary... He'd heard a couple of wolves with the accident he mimicked, one of them had been Finn, the female they'd booted from the pack. And then... a girl from Grizzly Hollow? His eyes widened a fraction, and then he gave a hushed laughter and licked Fenru's forehead. "That was a good thing you did, Fen," he told him. "If a stranger isn't aggressive, there's no need to be anything but civil to them. I've met a few wolves from Grizzly Hollow, too. They live to the west of us. I once helped save one of them from a bear." He gave the boy a crooked grin. The wolf in question had pissed himself and fainted, and he and a small female who smelled like his pack had helped him drag the unconscious wolf away. Marsh, Bear and the scarred, thin female he'd first met in the Lore had distracted the beast in the meantime. The proximity to where the Hollow pack supposedly lived had made him fairly certain the three wolves belonged to it. "Marsh was quite the hero, distracting the bear. You see, the wolf I helped save had fainted. He wasn't hurt, just out cold - so we had to drag him away. Some of his pack mates helped us." Ice and Marsh saves the day! No point in mentioning Bear - he was long gone anyway, just like the rest. "But you know, the Lore is really large. It takes maybe two days to get all the way up north, same to the south. You could come out with me sometime - perhaps not so far the first time, but just south of the willows there's this huuuuuge meadow! We could go there sometime if you wish, and see if we can find something small to hunt?" He grinned at the boy; once he got confident roaming the Lore, either with Ice or alone, maybe they could take trip up north and say hello to Ruiko. The pale wolf tilted his head, and gazed down at Fenru. Maybe it would make him happy to do that? To have it as a goal, perhaps? "We could go north, too, when you feel confident enough to be away from home for a couple of days. We could go visit your Uncle Ruiko and his pack, see how he is doing - but we should wait until the start of fall, for the sake of his pups. They'll probably be all tense about anyone who isn't pack, even if they're blood relatives, and we'd not want to give them a headache, hm?" .ice aesir

let the stars above shine in your soul

<i>xP Hehe. Wrap it up? Serious 'thanks' to you in helping this kiddo. <3 Guess he just needed someone to connect with.</i>

<blockquote>The boy smiled, lapping up the praise Ice had bestowed upon him for having successfully dealt with Arlette the way he should have. Though upon being told that Ice had helped the Hollow wolves by saving one of their members from a bear, Fen's soul began to feel weightless in his chest. Suddenly, doubt no longer burdened it; and, everywhere within it the warming sensation of hope and invulnerability coated it entirely. He had always known Uncle Marsh to be quite the Guard. Where he had lacked words, pure, instinctive action made up for what wasn't said; but, every single movement was empowering and awe-inspiring. The scene unfolded in his head, a once-blank canvas instantly splashed with color to show the burly auburn wolf confronting an equally large bear. Alongside him, a slate gray wolf, Ice, had shown up, towering over the helpless victim as other Hollow wolves appeared.

Ice continued to tell Fenru that the realm of Relic Lore was vast and possibly boundless in comparison to the sizable Grove he and his family called home. Fen merely expressed his amusement with raising his brows. Upon being offered the opportunity to visit his Uncle Ruiko, Arlette's name and face came to mind and for a second he considered taking up the offer. Perhaps if he heard news of his Uncle or caught up with him, he could use it as a means to seek out he ivory-coated girl again. <b>"Yeah,"</b> he humbly answered. Slowly withdrawing from Ice's side, he stood up on shaky limbs. Once he had gained his footing, he steadied himself, shaking his coat out briefly before gazing to his newfound hero. <b>"Show... Show me the route you like to patrol?"</b> he asked, mild curiosity reappearing on his masked face. <b>"Now, if... i-if it's okay?"</b></blockquote>

Taekwondo (M, W, F) | Rapid-Response Day (Tu) | WoW Nights (F, Sat, Sun)

<3 I enjoyed it

you do not know who is your friend or who is your enemy until the   ICE breaks. It seemed like things were going well; Fenru's eyes took on a dreamy cast and Ice grinned, slightly pleased with himself. Perhaps this spell of good feelings wouldn't last forever, but hey, it was a start, and whenever Fen Fen got down again, he could remember that there was good things.. brightness.. joy, camaraderie, those who cared, protected, cherished. He wasn't alone anymore. Ice hoped he would take comfort in that, and in knowing that no matter what happened, Ice would be around. Perhaps not always in sight, perhaps not always in the Grove, but even if he was gone for days at a time, he would come back. He'd not disappear like a ghost in the night - he himself knew the pain of that all too well. If Fenru's world needed a stable center to revolve around, a foundation for his own life to rest upon, Ice was more than happy to supply that for him. After all, Fenru was the future, and Ice was merely the safe-keeper of it. It wasn't with fear or dismay that he realized he would die for Indru's children - it was with a sense of comfort, duty, peace. Ice wasn't old by any means, but he had sworn his life to Indru (and later, to Corinna, never in words but in actions). That meant that he would not break away from Swift River to form a pack of his own. That meant that he was the past, the children the future. The world was very backwards if the future died and the past lived on. It felt - good - to know it, to know it in his heart, too. Though, to be honest, he was a bit disappointed in Fenru's lack of excitement at the prospect of exploring Relic Lore and visiting Ruiko, but he shrugged it off. Life was, hopefully, long. He'd have time to get Fenru used to going outside the Grove, and then whisk him off on an adventure and hope he didn't get traumatized by it. It was a flawed plan, but the best he had, and when the boy himself took initiative to tag along for a patrol he lit up with a boyish grin and sprang up - graceless, but with far more vigor than Fenru's own hesitant get-up. Ice nodded vigorously, nearly bouncing on his paws. "Sure thing! Come along, Fen Fen," he exclaimed brightly and bounded out of the clearing, then stopped to check the Tainn kid was still coming. Bouncing wasn't required when patrolling, and with a sheepish grin Ice tried to rid himself of some of the excess energy. It wouldn't do to just bounce around and show him the terrain - he'd have to point out some things, teach him a little, maybe tell a few stories... Ice grinned broader and wagged his tail, and once he was sure the boy was caught up, he drifted off along the designated route, sharing bits of information, anecdotes, and other random facts. It felt good, to forget the wrenching pain in his chest, if just for a little while. [ The end. <3 ] .ice aesir

let the stars above shine in your soul