Red Fern Forest The Secrets That You Prayed For

@Iopah

It was almost like this place was made for Ava to walk through. Every step added another notch to the woman's air of arrogance, each stride rising her head a little higher. The colours. Oh! The colours! They were beautiful! So rich and vibrant, so very much like her own with the rich earthy browns and lighter chocolate tones. Granted there was a lot of red which aptly suited the area as it was named, but red was just another shade of brown. So the woman would have herself believe. Anything to punch up her ego. Such was why she walked with such a careless strut, not daring to waste her thoughts on who might hear or see. She looked nothing but elegant in her steps, a royal gait befitting the queen that she one was. A spring in old legs, lifted ears and watchful eyes. She almost dared someone to come out and play. She was sure she'd be able to blend into the foliage quite easily. So it was almost a shame that she could not enjoy it quite as much as she would have liked to. There was too much beginning to play about on her mind. Too many things that she had - literally - lost sleep over. It was a foolish thing of course, to be so bothered by such a harmless thing. Why was she so disturbed by the fact that the crazy-eyed @Urien had screamed the name of her most hated son. @Kjors. He was here. She had heard his name, and not for a moment would she allow herself to think that there could have been another person bearing that same moniker. Oh the mixture of emotions that came with that moment. Fear - for the boy she had never loved had indeed killed her more favoured son, and that same thought stirred anger and a thirst for revenge she could no longer ignore. She needed to find the male, to make him pay for the sins cast against his brother. She would end his life, and he would never even realise she was gone. She just needed a hint... a clue... something to point her in the right direction. The day of reckoning would draw ever closer with time...

It was not a static red. This was not some forest from a fairy tale where the colors never bloomed and faded with the seasons, where the cold did not come and burn the edges of the fronds. Iopah paused, extending a nose to the nearest fern and touched the brittle, bronzed edges. It smelled different already -pervasive and slightly cloying as fallen leaves began to decompose. She pushed her head below the masses of scarlet-maroon and brown and breathed deep. This was her first fall here and she delighted in the ever-changing kaleidoscope of colors and smells. Somewhere in the distance she could hear the scurry of tiny rodent feet. They had a sprint ahead of them, gathering food and hoping it was enough before winter shut them down.

Wolves had it different.

Iopah listened to the scurry, pale ears curving studiously as it moved away. All of the wolves had a test of endurance before them, and Iopah was determined that her Pines' wolves see it through. They would need this forest, would need to learn how it changed through the seasons and how best to hunt in it. Thankfully the packs only two neighbors were distant and, for the most part, nonviolent. Iopah was beginning to think of @Kjors as a loose canon even his alphas could not fully control, and in any event, the one-eyed male had never returned. Apparently she had just needed a little muscle to get her point across.

The bustle of rodent feet was replaced by the something much larger. Iopah's ears flicked back and then forward sharply. This was not her forest, but it was very important to her and she was not inclined to ignore something decidedly wolf-sized. Like @Avari, she made no attempt at concealment. She carried a non-hurried lope, parting the ferns slowly. Her carriage was high, proud and confident as she glanced about for the traveler.

There is a family of deer nearby. Hunt Opportunity

The interruption to her senses took longer than it would have were she in a calmer state of mind. The rich smell of the autumn forest gave way here and there to the scent of another wolf, but not so much that her mind was prepared to pay it any mind, with her thoughts so heavily concentrated on the sudden bombshell that was the proximity of her son, it wasn't until the others' aroma was really striking her nose that she realised she was not as isolated as she might have first perceived. Very little changed though, aside from perhaps a small portion of her internal demeanour. Indeed her eyes did start to scan with more intent than they had been before the scent struck her nose, but her steps if anything got louder, not quieter. Now was not the time for fear. Now was a time to be outgoing, and maybe with some luck she'd find a spot to hole down before the harshness of winter truly struck. Through the ferns ahead she'd catch an initial distant glance of her sudden and unexpected guest, though on her current path she was off a ways to one side, and the woman would not turn her head for stubbornness until she'd taken a few more strides, carrying herself in that same elegant grace, with all the properness and prestige that was to be expected of the queen she once was. As she turned her head to meet the other though she was calm as anything, showing that she had not been blind to the arrival of the other, but simply that she preferred to engage on her own terms, that she wished first to finish what she had been doing before turning her attention to something else, and if what she was doing meant just taking another step or two than so be it, the world would wait on her, and not the other way around. What struck her instantly was the carriage of the other, the way she stood and held herself in very much the same way Avari did herself. Confident, bordering arrogance even. It brought an effortless curl to the edge of her lips as from the space between them she would share a gentle smile. Ava had seen the real and the fake, both looking the same but so very different. This stranger, she was no fake. "If only there were more women who would stand as tall as us." That presence alone had done enough to win a morsel of respect from the ageing brown woman. It was the best possible start one could get off to. "The world might be a less troubled place, don't you think?" Slowly her body turned to front-on the stranger, and if only to show a lack of fear she took a few slow, lazy steps in her direction, paying little mind to what might have been in her path she kept her eyes on this stranger's face, with a quiet hum of curiosity vibrating in her throat... How very interesting...

There. The ferns shifted in a way that was not part of the forest. She shifted -stepping through a patch of bronzed foliage- to bring the other wolf around and into clearer sight. It was another she-wolf, of similar build and even age as herself. Good, no more dealing with socially-challenged youngsters. Iopah pushed through the foliage, feeling the brittle stems rustle against her ivory and gray coat.

When the other turned their head slow to regard her, Iopah paused in her own approach. It was not wariness, but rather awareness. Confidence did not mean careless. She wasn't naive to the unpredictability of other wolves, and had even been guilty of it herself. Her tail flicked -idle and unbothered- until she knew how they were going to react. Avari was composed and decidedly unconcerned by her presence, so she took another step to show her interest in the older woman. Her head tilted at the greeting, it was as nonchalant as the woman herself. "Perhaps," she commented, letting a pale ear sweep back in skepticism. How did you even answer such an open ended question? If you were Iopah with blunt, unadulterated honestly. "Perhaps not."

She swept her gold gaze on Avari's face, not demanding or nor apologizing. "It's more dangerous if wolves don't know what to do with the weight they throw around." It had certainly been more dangerous with that @Kjors throwing himself around like a squeaky toy. "I'd rather wolves who know what they shouldn't be doing."

Although Avari had long since fallen from the state of grace and power she once held with such esteem, it was evident simply in the way that she carried herself - how she interacted with the world, that she still considered herself a force to be reckoned with. While she was well past her better years of fighting tooth and claw for land and resource, it would only take a single wrong word to turn her against an individual, and their family. Instantly it was obvious that this other woman was not to be taken lightly, the look in her eyes more than enough to say that there was something to behold, and for a moment the elder female would simply take in the appearance, examining her gaze, her stance, each and every thing that could be taken from merely looking and listening. In some ways, they seemed very much the same, but the potential could have swung countless ways. It would be wonderful... or devastating. "The latter is always the safer of options." She hummed a quiet sound of thought, regarding what had been said with careful consideration. "How often do we find that what we shouldn't be doing is exactly what we want to do?" Such could be said about her right in this moment. So far, she had yet to divulgate her intentions to the world... it was high time that changed. "It's a balance of risk and reward." Her tone of voice changed. Clearly, she'd had a change of heart somewhere in her travels. The days for subtle searching had been without success. "I likely shouldn't speak aloud the name of that I've been hunting... but the reward of finding him outweighs the risk of you being one of his friends." That said, they had yet to exchange names, and in her experience one was far more likely to dispel information if there was an air of anonymity. "Do you know of a boy..." and she remembered him most fondly (which wasn't too fondly at all) as a boy "...who goes by the name of @Kjors?"

This woman poised and directed herself like a wolf who would understood the need for deference, and yet seemed to speak like one who couldn't care less. Iopah wasn't quite sure what do think of this encounter. From all outward appearances it was congenial and relaxed -as if they were discussing something more innocent than insubordination.

Iopah kept quiet as Avari spoke her opinion, a delicate snort the only comment she contributed to the matter. This wasn't a conversation she was going to participate further in, the heart of it was too sensitive for such ease on the part of the Reinier queen. Broken Timber Pines (and her daughters) were worth their parents decision, but there was far more in Iopah's history and none of it was going to be discussed so openly with this veritable stranger.

As the conversation moved away Iopah let her brows rise. Was that superstition? She would have expected a woman so clearly trusting in her own abilities to not place stock in such an illogical theory. Her brows went higher still at the name and then narrowed suspiciously with a low growl. The Sorenson male might have taken her willingness for violence to heart and stayed away, but there was no love for him. Her dark lips pulled back in distaste, "We are not friends." The one-eyed male thought he could bring danger to her borders and then skip away scott-free? Did Kjors have any idea of the mistake he had made that day? "He came to my borders and started a fight with my wolves."

It wasn't usual for someone of Avari's mindset to so easily settle for a snort as a response. She had offered insight of her thoughts into something many deemed of great importance, and the only feedback was a rather unfashionable grunt. Long gone were the years that she could seek to reprimand what some might have considered dishonour. She was not here looking for a battle, though that was not to say that she would curl into a ball should something arise. Though all was forgiven the instant that this woman reacted to the name that had been all but spat at her. Leering eyes were an instant signal of distaste, and it warmed Avari to know so quickly that the sickly boy had not grown into making friends any better. A lash of the tail showed her own contentment as her head inched forward, ears high and eager as she listened to the unsavory response without being thrown off by the show of gleaming teeth. "He does not make friends." The elder woman quipped back rather quickly, the end of her sentence coming with a click of her teeth as she shut her jaws. Brilliant! She'd stumbled upon an enemy of the boy, purely by chance. Risk and reward had paid off in her favour, and while it might have been chance she wasn't about to let herself think that it was anything more than some kind of talent that had led her to this place. Obviously she had done it all on purpose. "Nor does he deserve them. He slayed my son..." and if nothing else the slight hitch in her voice was enough to put any thought of her as a liar out of reach "...and I have spent too long waiting for my chance to seek revenge." There was too much against her in the moment though, for her to do much about it. She was on her own, without any knowledge. For all she knew Kjors had a pack to stand behind him. Hell - she couldn't even be too sure of what he looked like after all this time.

She was not expecting support of the one-eyed male from Avari, but the intense animosity caught her off-guard all the same. It was a vehemence long remembered from home. How fervent and savage had her parents been? They had killed and stolen without apology. How silly was it to believe she could forget it, or not carry a little of it herself still?

"I understand."

She had children herself now and knew without a doubt she would be just as bad if anything happened to either daughter. Iopah looked upon the other woman with understanding and equal wariness. Avari must be desperate now to find the killer, and desperate wolves were often more dangerous for it. Despite how much she disliked Kjors, the desire for revenge was not shared. His transgression had been punished for already and there was nothing to gain from this.

"So, you want to tell you where he is." Golden eyes considered @Kjors' would be-killer as she mulled the man's life around in her mind. She didn't need to ask what would happen -it was pretty easy to deduce- Iopah was more worried about the fallout. "And what will happen to the other wolves of his pack? They will not hand him over willingly." There were good wolves there and she was not going to send harm their way. "How much damage will your revenge cause for them and for me?"

Politics was such a fickle thing at the best of times. Herein was a woman that clearly possessed what the other thought to be crucial and critical information. Avari's decision to quit playing safe and roll the dice had paid off in waves-- almost. It was understandable of course, as the dark woman bowed her head momentarily, that someone might not be so willing to hand over information without due diligence. Ava herself had once held an empire in her paws. It would have been unfair for her to turn around and say that Iopah was unjustified.

"While I would have once shared your concerns..." the slightly older woman mused "...I would argue if you understood - if you truly understood, you would not have asked." The counter-argument was not intended to cause any ill blood, and thus it rolled from her mouth in neutral, friendly tones. Could one ever truly understand anyway, when each mother that had lost a son would deal with it in her own way?

"I am not looking for his pack..." though it was nice to know ahead of time that he had taken up residence as such "...or his wives or his husbands or his daughters or his sons. It would not be just to make them suffer the consequences of his actions." A shake of her head did little to affirm her already stern and pointed words.

"They will not have to give him up... he will take care of that himself." Or so she thought at least... it would only take an announcement of her presence to have him crawling from the back of his den to enact his own vengeance. "As for the damage, I'd think of it more as a favour to them, and you..." A shrug of her shoulders and a slight tilt of her head as she considered what protection could possibly be offered.

"You I have never met."