Oak Tree Bend you should know

@Spieden I hope this is okay.  I know Triell wanted to talk with her, and figured this would take place right after he returns.

When Sahalie seemed content by her tales, and Drift knew he was back, there was one other Triell needed to speak with at this time. After a lot of convincing he would be right back to help them catch a snack, he sought out the brown cloaked woman of the pack. But as likely as she would probably be returning to the den with afternoon drawing near, he wanted to speak to her without little ears, and as swiftly as possible. 

He started with following her morning trail, finding it veering off to a certain part of the borders. She had long been the leader of the Bend, and so her scent was thoroughly all along the invisible lines. The Tainn could easily sort what was new, and what wasn't so once he established which way she had started instead of continuing on the same path,he began to work backwards. It seemed better to think this way he would actually run into her.  Surely, she would be checking this part of the terra next. With a steady stride, he kept his eyes sharp. While it  had occurred to him he needed to speak with Drestig too, he had so much more to say to Spieden. Why, he was not necessarily angry of the story of the moose, he wanted to hear the whole story from an adult. Her in particular.

@Triell

Without Triell, things seemed to move along much the same as they had before. She wasn't particularly waiting for the male's return, he would either come back one day or he wouldn't. For the cubs' sake she hoped he would, but she wouldn't hold her breath. Spieden hadn't expected today to be any different from the rest, and her easy lope through the borders of the territory so far had kept up with that expectation. So far no rampaging moose or dead packmates or deranged cultists, and once she was comfortable of her assessment that the lands remained protected she released a sigh, tension ebbing from her muscular shoulders as she started her course to round back.

Her nose twitched at the scent of a male, Triell's scent nearly forgotten but not quite. He was back? Her silver-flecked brow furrowed, slightly unnerved that he had slipped into the Bend without her notice, though to her credit she hadn't yet checked this portion of forest. She continued forward, ears flicking and head sweeping as she looked for him. Finally she spied the black wolf through the sparse autumn foliage, giving him a small bark to call his attention. Her tail swished, she hardly ever spoke with the man but she was glad to see his face again. "Triell," She greeted shortly. "Any luck?" She asked, bright amber eyes searching into his topaz orbs, though she could practically know his answer seeing as there was no Nayeli at his side.

Eyes came to rest on her peppered figure by the sound of her bark. Dark banner low wagged in turn, and with habit he checked her over finding that no harm had come upon her in his absence. It made him less tense, to see for himself she was fine. Surely, Sahalie would have told him if she had been hurt, but it was something the Tainn had always done long before he had become a leader.  A long formed habit of worry. But, he cared for the well being of his pack mates. It wasn't just because she had helped take care and raise his children.


Why he shouldn't take offense to her comment, he found it stung a little with her probing gaze. But, it probably had more to do with Nayeli absence than Spieden. Roughly, he shook his head hoping to dismiss the issue. Hopefully they would all believe he had given up that endeavor, especially after being gone so long with little to show for it. Besides winter would be on its way and like hell he would do anything but be there for them. Perhaps he would just have to prove it. He wasn't sure what state the pack was in necessarily, but he was going to find out. Would any object if he took his place back? Would she? She had long been unchallenged in her position as leader.

"How were things here?" He murmured, bright eyes watching her closely, not yet giving away he had already spoken to his daughter. Why he trusted Spieden, he was curious to know how she would handle this situation.  

(This post was last modified: Nov 16, 2015, 04:02 PM by Triell.)

are you with me through it all?

Triell's silence answered enough for her and so she let the issue lie. The swift change of subject did not escape her notice, but she easily went along with it. There was little more that could be said about a search that failed to turn up anything.

Spieden shrugged her broad shoulders at his question, Triell's absence had been felt, but day-to-day it wasn't too much of a change in things. "Same as usual." She said with a snort. "Nothing too exciting, really. Nobody died, at least." She said bluntly, a sort of dark humor to the situations that the Bend had too often been victim too. "We had a close call with a moose though, some bears drove it in here from the red hills after riling it up. There was a bear cub it killed, too." Spieden said with a wince and a flattening of her crooked ears. She had a healthy respect for the ursine competitors, and while she did not like them coming in towards her home she still felt poorly for the young bear. Much like a wolf cub, it probably hadn't known any better than to tangle with a fully grown bull.

"He gave Darrah a pretty good whack, and the kids were a bit shaken but we all managed to chase the bull out." She assured Triell. Truly though, Spieden had been pretty shaken herself after the ordeal. She didn't want to see any of the pack hurt, but Drift and Sahalie brought out a particular mamma bear.

"Darrah, he's a good brother. Got himself right in there and took the kids back to safety while the rest of us were getting the moose out." Spieden said softly. She wasn't sure if it was something Triell already knew about his son, but from what she'd heard from Darrah it did not sound like they were very close.

@Spieden

He sensed a change within the Coho woman. Though maybe it was simply what had always been behind her quiet face. The world was a cruel place, and one just accepted it as such. He could understand that, but didn't appreciate her comment. His dark face remained a potrait of one listening without interuption. Until she winced, and his brows furrowed a bit, not quite sure if it was the cub's death that bothered her or something else. All he was certain was he hardly knew this woman, and he didn't like that fact. 


She carried on, and his features were grim over the moose getting Darrah. His son hadn't mentioned that,  and he felt it leaving another mark of guilt. For a moment all he could do was nod, mutter a, "I see." 

It was the gentle tone of hers that brought his eyes clearly to her, and a faint smile. "He told me that, but I'm glad to hear so from you. I always worried he wouldn't be fond of Sahalie and Drift. Thankfully, it's not the only thing I've been proved wrong about." What else he didn't say.

He cleared his throat, and hesitantly took a step forward. "I'm glad things were well while I was gone. But, I really wanted to tell you how much I appreciate you Spieden. You stepped into a place you didn't seem ready for. You have long taken care of this pack when you could have stepped down. But, more so you took my children in as your own, keeping my family whole when it didn't feel so." He took in a heavy breath, dark ears folded back. "It means a lot to me, that they see you as their mother. I regret how long it has taken me to say so. That I don't know you like they do."

are you with me through it all?

@Triell

Spieden returned the slight ghost of a smile that edged Triell's features at the mention of his son. She wasn't sure why Triell thought he might not have liked his siblings, the boy had always seemed to have a kind heart to her. But she had to admit she knew little of the Tainns or their past.

Spieden shifted slightly as Triell stepped forward, not scared of the man but rather looking in that moment like her own skin didn't fit quite right. And perhaps it didn't. As a leader, as a mother. In action those were the roles she filled, but she was always aware that she was a replacement. And if she wasn't a real mother, or a real leader, what was she? A fake? A sorry substitute for the someone who was long gone? Of course the pack followed Spieden's direction, and the children seemed fond enough of her, but she knew everyone else would rather have the real thing. So it caught her off guard that Triell had words of thanks for her, just the same way his son had caught her off guard with his appreciation months prior.

"Doesn't it... bother you though?" She hesitantly asked, almost afraid to call attention back to painful things. Why couldn't she just take a compliment? "That you see me where... someone else should be?"She asked, unable to say the woman's name. 

gosh feels like triell is giving a pep talk >.>

Shred it all to pieces, my sanity and reason

"Is that what you think Spieden?" The question fell from his lips without pause. He had tried to imagine what it was like for her. How uncomfortable, awkward it must have felt taking on two roles she hadn't asked for. He hadn't thought of it in that way. If she was in spot that belonged to someone else.

Brows furrowed,  partial disgust evident in his tone."That we...that I look at you and rather see her? She should be there, not you?" Dark ears fell back, and eyes shifted to the edge of the wood. He wasn't really looking at the trees. More of images that never were. Voice grew quiet, hollow."Maybe once I did. Why she couldn't have stayed. Been their mother, lead beside me." Briefly, he looked at her, a shake of his head, "I never thought instead of you." The Tainn's mind had never been so dark to wish Spieden had left not Nayeli. Looking at her if she had ruined what could have been. He never pictured it that way. He saw life would go on in its own way.

 "No, I marveled how someone who was not their blood, who held no cause for their existence, who I knew so little of, would become their mother. They would want her to take them for walks. Tell them stories. They would count on her to keep them safe. How a submissive lady, wary of such a group of strangers could lead, and guide them. If you think I see you as a place holder you are not. She left Spieden not just me, this pack. She left them. At the end of the day you are their mother, and you are this pack's leader because you made it so."

are you with me through it all?

@Triell

Spieden almost felt guilty for asking, then quickly regretted even bringing it up. The disgust in Triell's voice was strong, not the usual stoic mask, and at first she didn't understand that it was not pointed at her. She flinched, a scrap of her old self finding its way to the surface as her ears folded expecting a reprimand. But it never came. As he continued it became clear she wasn't being scolded, rather quite the opposite.

"Triell, I don't... I don't know what to say. I mean... " She said at first, her mouth awkwardly trying to find its way through the words that spilled aimlessly from it. She shook her head, she wanted to deny it all, point to the children she'd undoubtedly broken, the pack she'd assuredly torn, the buried bodies that begged to not be forgotten, those deaths she could not stop, disappearances she could not prevent. But whether he'd meant it or not, the words had been a gift, and she couldn't give them back. Triell didn't think she had failed.

She did know what to say. "Thank you." She said, meaning it. She stepped forward, her nose slowly reaching out to delicately press against Triell's shoulder. A simple and minimal touch coming from anyone else, but it meant much to her.

Shred it all to pieces, my sanity and reason

 Topaz colored eyes settled upon her, as if daring her to refuse it all. In a short moment he thought she would, but maybe she realized he meant it. All of it, and there was no need to shove it aside. There was nothing small about what she had done. Heaven only knew what state the Bend would have been in without her. Did she grasp that? Surely, he would have had nothing.

Whatever it was he was glad in the end she accepted it sincerely, and in return he felt honored by her soft nudge. He knew its significance and meaning were great and did not take it lightly.  There was a broad smile to his dark muzzle, and a light in his eyes for now he did not know what to do but accept it and feel some relief that she knew these things he had long kept unsaid.

{fade}

are you with me through it all?

There is a deer that was killed by a lynx nearby. +10 Health