Thicket of Secrets Voices across the sea

@Koda @Enoki

Iopah couldn't meet Enoki's bright gaze. Now that she understood this woman to be Kele's sister, she was recognizing him in her every gesture. The amber gaze was remembered too well to be returned without a burning sense of guilt. How many combined hours had Kele stared her down, silently willing her to understand? In all those hours Iopah had glared defiantly back, refusing the explanation he had to offer. She'd wanted to leave, he wanted to stay, for a reason she still didn't understand. It didn't matter that she'd been right in that battle, when he died she had lost the war anyways. She couldn't meet those amber eyes again.

Enoki was saying something again in the same soft pleading tone that had been ignored earlier, however this time Iopah listened. The conversation went around her, but she did not turn to follow it. She was still standing partway between Koda and Enoki, and she saw the amber eyes fix on the male behind her. Enoki may as well have asked for the sky, and now she was begging and pleading for something Iopah would fall short of. Her ears did not swerve to catch a reply, a telling gesture in and of itself. She did not need permission, the Woodland wolf had already made up her mind. She'd already let one Ashrelle sibling down. Whatever this woman was to her now, it wasn't enemy. But where to start, what to say?

"The day he came to live with-- " No, that was more lie than truth and certainly Enoki knew it. Iopah flattened her ears further in guilt and pushed out, "I remember the day my parents took him. My brother and sister were gone, exploring without me. He was by himself and I," Her sentence broke off and she swallowed repeatedly, looking down. "I didn't know what my mother and father had done and I... I just walked up to him, like he should know me, and started trying to play. We learned to hunt together. I was closer to him than my siblings." Iopah knew how this would sound. Koda was still behind her and while she wanted to go to him, something kept her frozen. Somehow she was letting him down by saying this. "He saved my life once. One night the hounds found us and chased us up the mountain. It was after the famine had started and we were weak. Everyone else made it over the rock bank. My sister and I tried, but we couldn't. Kele turned to come back for me and Rose ran at the dogs. They were still ripping her apart while Kele dragged me over the bank." She stopped, swaying slightly. There were more things she had to say. Enoki needed enough to know her brother. But it hurt to remember these things, and her mind was stuck spinning in the dark past.

Her feet moved on their own. She turned without a sound and crept toward Koda. He couldn't protect her from this conversation, but just being next to him helped. It always did. Once Iopah was where she belonged, the Woodland wolf leveled an expectant gaze on the Ashrelle woman. No doubt she had more questions.

without a doubt the most she has ever said at once...

Hope you don't mind me posting now to kinda get things moving again.

It was Iopah that spoke then in the clearing instead of the man in the shadows, her words starting then stopping as she changed the way she would tell the story. Of course Enoki knew the true way of how Kele had come to be within her pack. The very tale told numerous of times around the family feast while the older wolves bantered and chatted between bites of deer or mountain goat and many of times the pup sitter of the day would fill the children's ears with the tale, though there had been many variations, but all of them all had one thing in common. Kele was a bartering tool to keep the peace during the great famine.

Slowly raising herself from the dirt to gain a more comfortable position sitting with her head lowered respectfully, she listened while Iopah continued to speak her words palpably with the pain it brought recalling the memories of her past. Inside Enoki felt a tinge of guilt for forcing the woman before her to relive the memories, but this was something she had to do. For herself as selfish as it may seem. "I didn't know what my mother and father had done and I... I just walked up to him, like he should know me, and started trying to play. We learned to hunt together. I was closer to him than my siblings." She went on to say causing a bout of jealousy to surge forth and a snarl hiding beneath the surface of Enoki's calm exterior. That could have been her bond with Kele if she hadn't taken him away. It was Enoki and Kele that could have bonded over the love for hunting together, but as she learned more about her brother and the woman it was evident that Iopah was not the one to place the blame on. She didn't know how he came to be there and was only a pup, unaware of the major things that happened around them growing up at that time. This time an audible sigh broke passed her lips, her amber gaze taking on a reflection of sympathy the more the woman continued to paint the picture of what Kele's life was like.

And then her heart sank like a two ton rock in her sympathy, the words the Barberi woman spoke now floating around her as her ears just barely picked them up. Enoki was told the stories of baying hounds who chased their prey and tore it to shreds once they could get their filthy canines on whatever their target was. It was the equivalent of a horror story when she was a pup, though the Calarosa pack was lucky enough not to fall victim to their wrath. The same couldn't be said for Iopah's sister. Kele had saved Iopah's life, but there was no way for him to do the same for Rose. Her words stopped abruptly then as her body began to sway faintly, a look of concern flashing across Enoki's countenance. Had she pushed her too far and now her body was paying the price for going back to the past?

Silently the Woodland woman strode off, seeking the comfort of her fellow pack mate and leader. A few fleeting minutes passed as she seemed to become slightly more stable now that she had Koda to lean on, her gaze expectantly meeting Enoki's with a silent que that she was ready for more questions to be thrown at her. But could Enoki bring herself to ask more? The pain that filled her words struck home with the Ashrelle woman and made her ponder if she was truly capable of causing this woman more pain than she had already endured. No, she would show this woman mercy and allow time to pass before asking more in depth questions. But there was one question she wanted to know the answer to now. "Is..is he still..alive?" She forced the words out, locking her amber gaze on Iopah's while waiting for a reply, bracing herself for whatever answer would be sprung upon her.

@Iopah, @Enoki

It's fine, I know I'm going extra slow in responding so if I take too long again just skip me, I'll post when I can. Koda doesn't have much to do then sit, watch and listen :D

He sat in silence, engulfed by his own thoughts. He could recall wondering if Iopah had ever been in love before, it was during a time when he had went through the steps of his own breakup and his heart yearned for Nina, but the agouti second in command had helped him whether she actually knew it. The company she had given him helped to stall the pain in his heart and the constant worries over his broken relationship had left him depressed and confused; today he was confident, proud and enjoying this new happiness. This meeting was what he needed to understand where the golden eyed woman had come from, and the fact that someone had once stolen her heart surprised him, she had always been so guarded in everything that she did--he wondered if losing Kele had made her the steel woman that she was. He leaned into her when she came to his side and nudged her shoulder with his narrow maw for comfort, he knew she needed it, this meeting would surely be a test of their relationship.

Enoki was surprisingly quiet and he knew why, the news that her brother had passed was sad to anyone listening, and he wondered how the long walk back home would treat her without company. What was she supposed to do now, especially since she finally had the confession she'd been waiting for, but he cared little as long as she no longer bothered Iopah and let her go one without reliving such a horrible past. Although he did not speak in this meeting, the emotions were evident through his green-speckled gaze and he pushed in closer to Iopah, giving her a gaze that seemed to say "you don't have to torture yourself any longer" before casting them back to Enoki, she had asked another question, one that made his stomach drop and he bit his lip. He had a feeling that the male was not, considering the abuse he went through, but he did not know the story and kept his opinion to himself, instead he glanced off into the distance and waited for Iopah to speak once more.

@Enoki @Koda

It seemed that neither knew what to say to the other now. In the dark of night a silence had started between them, the two watching the one. Nearby, just at the wolves feet, a grasshopper was rasping softly. Unnoticed, Koda was leaning closer to her. Iopah huffed gently into the quiet when she noticed the offered comfort. In response she turned and rested her muzzle on the male's shoulder with a pale ear curving back to Enoki. Calmer now, Iopah followed the grasshopper's movements out of sight. Koda pushed into her again, as if trying to communicate something. Her head turned slightly and she met his gaze. She saw support mixed with gentle discouragement and Iopah regarded him with a sad, stoic expression. She blinked softly, but said nothing. There was no benefit to stopping now. Those dark memories were already loose. They would be with her all night even if she said nothing.

And Enoki was still there, watching them. Iopah had done nothing for Enoki. Her parents had stolen her older brother and Iopah had let him die. The least she could do was give her closure. Kele's sole purpose had been to keep the peace between the Barberi and Ashrelle wolves. Iopah was not going to just throw away the tremulous truce that was forming between her and Enoki now.

Enoki spoke again and both Iopah and Koda glanced to her. Koda looked away and Iopah looked down. The pale hunter shook her head roughly. No, he was dead. Up until a few months ago her life had hinged on his death. If he had been killed, she never would have left home. Never would blindly run north (north, she always fled north). Her life here would never have happened. "We were hunting and... and we split up. I foun' him later after the bull elk caught him." Strangely she didn't feel as empty after that statement as she used to. Enoki was trying to catch her eye still and Iopah looked up, stinging slightly at the question's insinuation. "I'd never have left otherwise." The love she felt for him was beginning to be replaced, but even now she was fiercely loyal to his memory.

It almost made the woman uncomfortable watching the way Iopah and Koda, the lead interacted with one another. There was a bond there that one couldn't glance over as Io's muzzle rested on his shoulder, the male responding by pressing his weight securely against hers. Shifting her weight from this discomfort as she sat before the pair she averted her eyes momentarily from them as if a sense of invasion of privacy would happen if she continued to watch. Affection was an emotion foreign to the Ashrelle woman after years of being alone.

Silence filled the twilight hour as Enoki awaited the answer to the dreadful question if her brother was still alive or not. Meeting the golden gaze of the Barberi woman once more her breath halted mid inhale, her answer finally falling from her lips. Dead. The world seemed to spin around the she-wolf as the words sank in a little more with each passing second and the breath that filled her lungs were sucked from them involuntarily. He was gone and she was never going to meet her older brother. The last bit of speech Iopah spoke fell on deaf ears while Enoki rose on shaky feet, almost loosing her footing in the process. Too much. She was optimistic and was hoping for the best that he stayed behind in the black hills, that maybe they just went their separate ways once he came of age to travel. Her hope was crushed to smithereens before her and it was all too much to take in at one time. Run. She needed to run and that was exactly what she planned to do. Iopah had ran from her and now it was Enoki's turn to run from her, from her words.

Sweeping her gaze from one wolf to the other her words fell shaky from her lips as her body began the retreat from the clearing, backing up slowly towards her exit route. "I..no..I..I gotta go.." With a hard shake of her head in an attempt to dispel the feeling of despair that began creeping through her veins, Enoki turned her back on the pair of wolves. Where would she go now? Unlike Iopah who had a place to run to when things got unbearable and someone to sooth her the piebald had nowhere, had nobody. All she could do was run where her paws took her, wherever that would be. Without giving things another thought she bolted from the scene and disappeared through the thickets while avoiding the pack boarder as she did so, a silent growl beginning to form in the cavity of her chest as she tried to put as much distance between herself and the place she had just come from. Enoki didn't know if Iopah would give chase or not, but that didn't matter to her if she did. She would keep running until her legs gave out. Her brother was dead and there was nothing she could do.

Exit.

@Koda! and next is their 1-on-1 chat...

Enoki had wanted to know. The Ashrelle had chased her all day just for this opportunity to ask, and Iopah tried to steel herself the reaction. The woman wanted to know, Iopah forced herself to remember. You are helping her. She's lucky just to finally know. The sentiment was held firmly in mind as she sympathetically watched Kele's sister. Even before the words had been sucked up by the nearby thickets Enoki was rising to her feet. Their ragged breaths were in unison now, rhythms matching in their shared misery. Iopah She didn't feel like a generous benefactor right now. She felt like she did when she'd found Kele that day. The Barberi woman was failing all over again.

She watched silently as Enoki glanced about. It was impossible to know what to do. Should Iopah say something more, or step forward and attempt to comfort her? Indecision warred within. She settled for shuffling her paws awkwardly, reluctant to leave Koda's side. Amber eyes met hers again the breath caught in the pale hunters chest. The shell-shocked expression made Iopah whine softly. A thin mournful sound that carried as Enoki started to back away from her. No matter how it was spun, this was all Iopah's fault. "I'm sorry," she whispered after the running black and white shape. They were so similar, both running from their pasts. Vaguely, Iopah looked to see if Enoki was running north as well.

Every emotion seemed to have drain from her, mechanically she turned on her feet and slipped into the underbrush of the thicket. She wanted to be home, somewhere utterly familiar and safe. Instinctively her pale feet lead towards the den under the fallen, shivering every time they lifted at an unfamiliar sound. There were no words on her part, thought certainly Koda held some in reserve. The twisted roots of her den came into view and Iopah curled herself up into a tight circle under their protection.

Iopah's exit for this thread.

He was but a statue in this meeting, a rock as Iopah shared her deepest secrets and he listened with the intention of a new lover curious of their partners past. He could understand that Iopah was uncomfortable sharing this information with Enoki, it did not have a happy ending and yet the young woman deserved to know what happened to her brother. As the story spilled forth, the tension that filled the area could be sliced with a knife and yet he remained silent, simply watching and waiting--he was the sole protector of Iopah and he would remain so.

When the story had finished he turned to Enoki, he expected a combination of emotions that she hide quiet well, one that she could not conceal was the urge to flee and Koda watched as he left the area without much word more. He sighed, knowing that despite the closure she'd received, the reality that Iopah was partially responsible for the death of her lover made his heart sink. The woman's past was a rocky one and he sympathized with her in enough ways that he promised internally that he would not leave her--she was just a broken as he was. Only when Enoki had disappeared completely did he turn his attention back to Iopah, and he leaned into her with hopes to give her more strength as they sat a moment or two longer before leaving the scene. There was nothing left to discuss, Koda understood her reason and respected her enough for admitting this information, he only hoped that eventually, as time passed, that there would be no more secrets between them, he had hoped to make her his mate one day and secrets could potentially destroy these intentions. --Koda exit--