Sacred Grove Between heartbreak and revival

For @Wraith

Things hadn't settled down yet but now that Morganna's heat had finally abated and a new perfume had replaced it, at least she was getting back into routine. With everything running so smoothly for once she had a moment to breath. Tomorrow would be the third sunrise, but she wasn't going to hold her breath waiting for @Skoll to take action. No her brother could certainly talk the talk, but very rarely did he seem to follow through. At least this way she might not be alone in her disappointment.

With things so quiet she hadn't caught more than a passing glance of @Wraith for days, and after @Sven's little display of possessiveness she supposed she had best check on him and... Discuss... things. Her face twisted as her stomach flipped. She should have had the discussion she had with @Nios upfront with all of them, rather than leaving herself to deal with all this residual awkwardness. Hindsight was always 20/20.

Casting about, searching for a scent, it would seem he had been this way recently. She set out on Wraith's trail, wondering just how this might turn out. She could only hope she hadn't ruined everything.

Making himself scarce seemed like his only good option at the moment. Tensions were higher than ever within the ranks and Wraith felt responsible for a good deal of it. Where better to spend his time than one of the only places within Relic Lore that he had found made him feel welcome simply for being in its proximity. While the northerner would usually have preferred the tall peaks and ridges of the neighboring mountain, the recent meeting left a sour taste in his mouth. He cared not for the scents that would remind him of what took place within the cavern. No, he would far rather lose himself in the midst of the thick forest. Exhausted from all his recent hunting - a distraction to keep him from his worries - and the worsening struggles with sleep, Wraith lay within the rotted out hollow of a long dead tree to catch fits of sleep that felt far from restful. His head pounded, making true sleep hard to come by. Of course, approaching pawsteps determined he'd not get that sleep he so desperately needed. Stifling a yawn, Wraith's dark ears pinned forward to catch the pattern of footfalls. With the wind blowing the wrong way, it was difficult to tell just who was approaching by scent. However, Wraith was fairly certain he knew just who it was who'd come tracking him down. The brute wagged his tail in slow, cautious greeting when @Morganna came into sight. He waited until she approached to lean forward and lick at her chin in greeting. "What brings you out this way, my lady?" he asked, thought Wraith needn't have bothered. He knew the what. Just not the why.

Burtn @DA & Dawnthieves.de

A lynx has left behind the remains of a deer. +5 Health

When @Wraith moved in to lick her chin she brushed her muzzle along his cheek, taking confidence from the fact he had greeted her at all. His answer was met with the ghost of a grin and an arched brow, "I was worried about yer. Did you think I wouldn't notice yer fading away?" she questioned back. She marked her borders as any leader should, ventured out to locate their next meal. She kept quiet tabs on everyone, "I'd expect as much from @Greer but mot from you." If he would allow it she would bring herself along his flank and groom the thick fur between his shoulders. With the days growing longer and warmer, and he being accustomed to much colder climates, if she didn't help him out he was bound to grow itchy. Having just gotten over a terrible bout of itchiness herself she had no intention of watching her pack mates suffer.

She needed to reassure him, but how to do so without potentially hurting his feelings... Old Gods at least @Nios had enough sense to get an answer out of her upfront... "I want things ter change." she finally spoke, "I want this pack ter be family, Archers or not." Hell after this fiasco with her uncle and @Skoll knocking up @Hecate she would be more than happy to be the last Archer left in the willows with @Elettra and her Archer-Lyall siblings. "Fer as long as I can remember we've been a winter stop, a place ter bulk up before pissin' off ter somewhere else. A place people use ter start their own packs, stop in so mother can heal them or teach them..." When she was with Wraith, she wasn't afraid to let her frustration and sadness show.

"Yer the only one that gets it. Don't go leavin' me now." Her voice was soft, her head sat low. She knew she couldn't force him to do anything, obviously there was something (or someone) pushing him away, but unless he spoke up she couldn't try to fix it.

(This post was last modified: Mar 31, 2016, 09:35 PM by Morganna.)

Wraith shifted his weight over to allow @Morganna the room to lay beside him. When she began to groom at the thick fur along his back, he lay his head across her paws in companionable silence. "I didn't mean to worry you," he murmured gently. He'd only needed the time and space he couldn't seem to find while within pack territory. The constant tension wasn't something the male was used to, and Wraith hoped he wouldn't have to grow accustomed its presence. Apparently she was weary of it all as well. The northerner was quiet as she spoke, breathing even and calm. He had to wonder at her mind-reading capabilities. But as the Kael male thought on it, he realized what it was that made her so perceptive today. @Craw. She must have spoken to him. "I'm not going anywhere," he murmured, hoping to reassure Morganna. The last thing he would do was leave her in the midst of so much trouble. While he didn't care to be around it, he'd be damned if he let her deal with it on her own. Besides, he wouldn't leave Craw, either. Wraith had never connected with another wolf so thoroughly before. He'd be a fool to cut ties so strong just to wander alone again. Lacking his usual animation, Wraith lifted his head off her forelegs to bathe her head directly between her ears. "I've known no other meaning to the word pack besides family. It has been a harsh learning curve coming here. I won't lie on that. But if you've a mind to make it just that, my heart is with you on it. All that I am," Wraith promised.

Burtn @DA & Dawnthieves.de

It was a recurring theme it would seem, and she forced a smile as @Wraith's tongue passed across her forehead. "I'm sorry things 'ave been so horrible." she genuinely meant it too. Capable had expressed a similar displacement, and it was hardly fair that all this chaos was tainting the welcome their latest additions should have been receiving, but if they could get through this, they could get through anything. 

In another universe she might have been sitting across a great oak table, cigarette in one hand, the other using an extended finger and thumb to massage her temples. "It won't be long now." she attempted to reassure him. "There is more goin' on than I mentioned at the meeting," Hell surely by this point even @Elettra with her failing sense of smell must have detected the change in @Hecate's scent. All in good time. The countdown had begun.
Surely all this stress was bad for the children.

A sweep of her tail indicated she'd rather not drag him down with politics, "but yer needn't worry about that." besides, no doubt @Craw would rather let him know himself (or not).

Wraith listened, ever the patient ear for her. But when @Morganna deemed to talk around the subject, his bathing tongue retracted and he nipped her forehead with annoyance. "Stop coddling me like a pup. You wouldn't bring up whatever it is that's going on if you didn't want to talk it out. Be straight with me, Morganna. I deserve that, at least. Say your piece, or don't. But no more talking around things." The northerner was a straight-forward man used to straight forward answers and a straight-forward life. Since joining Willow Ridge, the only thing that had been straight-forward was hunting and taking down a pair of boars that thought to cause trouble for them. Was the only time the wolves of Willow Ridge could get along during life and death situations? In his head, Wraith scoffed. No, there were life and death situations every day with all the rising tensions. Sighing, Wraith lowered his head back onto her paws. "Don't leave me in the dark." She could take the meaning any way she cared to, for there were plenty of instances during which he was left unawares, including what it was that was between them. If he were only a means to an end, he wanted to hear it from her. If there was more going on, he wanted to hear that as well. But being left to flounder on his own was clearly not working out for the miserable wolf.

Burtn @DA & Dawnthieves.de

She supposed with his closeness to @Craw he might hear a whisper of it either way. Was it better coming from her? "The meeting wasn't about shaming @Skoll, it was supposed ter give everyone a chance ter discuss their rank if they weren't happy with it." but apparently everyone was just fine. For all that she appreciated Angier she had expected more than Craw to question his position, or for the elder to speak up about it himself. Surely as he was, he would prefer to avoid confrontation. "Apparently my temper skewed that though."

She drew in a deep breath, moving her grooming attention further up @Wraith's neck, the familiar action helping to ease her nerves. At least with her nose buried here there was no chance of a stray whiff of Hecate making her see red. Despite the current (soon to be once her stomach started to grow) elephant in the room she still trusted him. He hadn't done anything to make her consider otherwise. "Skoll is the reason Hecate stinks the way she does." she finally shared with a sigh. "I'll show her out while he's dealing with Nicolo. She says he'll go with her but yer can never be sure with Skoll." She didn't need to say the rest. With Nicolo out of the way if Skoll left too then responsibility would fall to Craw. If her brother stayed...? 

Then he had chosen her over Hecate and there was nothing to worry about.

Who was she kidding?

"Morganna," Wraith murmured patiently, turning to allow her better access to his neck. The action soothed him as much as it did her. "No one in there would feel safe discussing their rank unless they were willing to challenge @Skoll for his right then and there," he pointed out. While he could understand the intention, Wraith had imagined the meeting to go far differently. More like a call to arms. As a pack. As a united front against a common enemy. Ah, but things rarely went as planned, did they? As for @Hecate, Wraith couldn't even say he knew the wolf well enough to have noticed his superior's scent upon her. He'd been so busy trying to avoid judgement that he'd been missing out on the inner workings of the pack. "Do you want him gone?" Wraith wondered idly. It was hard to tell with Morganna sometimes, but Wraith's whole grasp on the Willow Ridge Pack seemed as fleeting as a summer wind in the Highlands, so he supposed anything was possible. "What is it exactly that you want?" Could she envision it? If she could, then perhaps he could start to as well and have a better idea of how life would change in the near future. "What future do you want for your little ones?"

Burtn @DA & Dawnthieves.de

Tagging @Isuni for a mention.

Do you want him gone? It was a twist from the knife that protruded from her back, an unintended grimace buried in the fur of @Wraith's neck. "Of course I don't want him gone, he's my brother. I love him." Her tone spoke of the battle that was warring within her, "But its never gonna be about what I want, its gotta be about what the pack needs." Nothing would change with her brother at the helm. @Skoll was too aloof, all talk and no action, and the Willow Ridge she envisioned was not compatible with her brothers style. "Lowest wasn't enough fer what he did, an' he goes right ahead an' does it again. I can't run him off, but I can make him choose." His sister and his home, or his lover and their unborn child. She was ready to come off second best.

And what did she want for her children? That one was easier. "I want them ter know what loyalty is. I don't want them ter be abandoned time an time again." The revolving doors of Willow Ridge were closing for good. "I want good wolves like you and Capable ter feel like this is yer family. It shouldn't matter that yer not Archers, yer here because yer choose ter be, not through some twisted obligation because somewhere else theres a distant relative that ties yer here. I owe them nothing," She had never understood the concept, that she should be obligated to show loyalty to a stranger based on a name. At the end of the day, she wanted what any mother wanted for her children. "I want them ter be loved, ter grow strong. I want them ter trust the people that live here because they are trustworthy, an I want them ter know whatever they decide ter be, they'll have my support, and the support of everyone who helped ter raise them."

Morganna heaved a deep sigh, there were still too many unknowns, the path would be clearer once Hecate was gone and the dust had settled.