Sex: FemaleHer sleek form rested upon the mossy ground of the forest – her eyes lingering upon the few red and orange leaves that stood out form the rest of the green. The frost was beginning to encase the world at night and the days were becoming colder. Soon, the trees would be brilliant in hue fully – and then bare only a few weeks after. Winter was coming, and she felt a flutter of nerves at the thought. This would be their first winter in Hearthwood River – and her past two winters had been in the safety of Cut Rock River.
She ached for their old home from time to time – especially how the pack had seemed far tighter knit then. Lachesis, Bastet, Naia, Jynx.. all of their wolves had worked in a well unit – but now, something seemed unkept.
And she loathed it.
Stanidng up, the honeyed woman gave a quick shake of her pelt, her eyes lingering toward the direction she believed her loving mate to had gone. She ached for him – for the closeness they had once shared, and she realized that it was her that had seemingly pulled away from everyone. A soft sigh released past her lips, and loping forward, the matriarch made to seek one of her pack mates out.
Naia turned as she heard the foliage rustle, expecting to see the squirrel but instead she came face-to-face with her alphess. She smiled warmly at Kisla, shifting into an appropriate stance for a second in the presence of her leader. For an instant Naia had the desire to impart her humorous experience from the moment before. Perhaps there would have been a time back in Cut Rock River when Naia would have told Kisla and they both would have laughed together at the squirell.. back when Naia had fancied her and Kisla’s relationship as something like friendship. Recent interactions had distanced the pair though, and lately Naia couldn’t help but feel as if she were being held at arm’s length. "Kisla, how are you?" Naia asked instead, her voice relaxed and curious. "Were you looking for me?”
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Dirt smudged upon the Scout’s nose, and Kisla eyed it with a trace of humor. She nodded to the newly stored cache, her tail giving a casual swing through the air. “Thank you,” she murmured, offering a nod to clarify that her gratitude was meant for the stocking of the caches. The winds were becoming colder – summer had passed them by, and soon they would once more come face to face with winter. She wanted the pack to be prepared.
Naia was seemingly distant from the woman – likely because of how she herself had pulled away from the others. Yet there was a warmth to her voice – one that reassured the Leader and stirred a sad smile to her lips. As her ears swept back to her skull, she gave a small nod. “Yes,” she offered, though lingered upon how to answer the tawny woman’s question as to how she was. She felt as if she were held in a downward spiral – but how did one state such a thing? As if skirting around the question, she gave a gentle shake of her muzzle. “I don’t know, Naia,” she offered, unsure of how to broach the topic. “I feel as if our pack is at a disconnect.” Naia, above all others, had been her confidant. But how much had changed between them that this was no longer the case?
sparking up my heart
”Many things have changed,” she agreed, and it was impossible to say which change was to blame for the disconnection. They had moved across Relic, the royal family had increased in size once more, Maksim had been injured and incapacitated, the firstborn prince was missing.. and then there was the presence of the man who called himself “the dragon”. “The Cut Rock River wolves were all connected to one another in our loyalty to Maksim,” Naia recalled. “I’m not sure that is quite the same with Hearthwood River. Now some are loyal to Maksim, and some to you. It’s small, but it does make the pack feel.. different, I think.” It was not just a different name and a different location.. Hearthwood River was a different pack.
But different could be good. They had the opportunity to change things for the better, to fix or get rid of what wasn’t working. And in Naia’s opinion, the alliance with Round stone Crest simply wasn’t working. Her alphas might disagree, but Naia blamed the tension with Whisper Caverns on Minka and her followers, and ultimately that tension was one of the deciding factors that led to the pack’s relocation. Also if it weren’t for Round Stone Crest’s tension with the Woodlands traitors, Naia would have been able to be honest about her identity at the Waterfall wolves’ border and she certainly wouldn’t have brought Kjors. The brawl would have never had to happen.
“There’s something I need to report,” Naia said then. It was slightly off subject, but she knew Kisla did not appreciate the sharing of important information being postponed aside for chit-chat. “I ran into the leader from the Waterfall again, the one from the.. fight.” Kisla would recall the bit of trouble Kjors and Naia had gotten themselves into the previous month. “It was completely unintentional and were both on neutral territory. It was a very brief encounter, but civil. I think this woman.. Iopah.. is reasonable, and peace is still possible with her pack, Broken Timber Pines.” Perhaps hearing that would take some weight off Kisla’s shoulders. After a slight pause, Naia added, ”Things are different here, but it doesn’t have to be bad.” Perhaps if things continued to go well with the Waterfall wolves, the River would eventually trade their old, worn-out alliance with the Crest for a newer relationship for a pack much closer.
Kisla might as well have been discussing the disconnect between the two women as well -- Naia had certainly drifted from her, though the golden female was oblivious to the fact it was from her own closed off nature. Still, she longed to mend the bridge between them, and as Naia spoke, the honeyed she-wolf gave a light nod. "Things might change for the best if Maksim rises once more," she commented quietly, wondering how Naia felt about it all. Hearthwood River had meant to be a change for them all.. a fresh start. It had only fueled them apart, thus far. "I miss Cut Rock River at times," she noted, her gaze seeking Naia's to see how she felt of it. 'But the pack had never felt like mine -- Just Maksim's" She paused then, and gave a brief shake of her muzzle. "In truth, it still does."
The conversation would drift to a report, and Kisla listened, intrigued that once more Naia brought news of this other pack. "Do you think we should seek a relationship with them?" Their alliance to Round Stone Crest had only thus far proved to be a joke -- the pack ahd sued them when it was beneficial to them and had not offered anything in return.. except for demands of her subordinates. She wasn't willing to place them in a similar situation.
sparking up my heart
The scout shook her head at the question of pursuing a relationship with the waterfall wolves. On that much they agreed; the River wolves valued family first and foremost, and any alliance that was not built upon friendship or kinship would feel as awkward as the shaky truce they held with Round Stone Crest, now that Minka was gone. “I think it is best we keep to ourselves for the present, and make allies of those packs where we already have roots.” Kisla’s former pack was on this side of the Pass, was it not?
Naia blinked at Kisla’s use of the word “if”-- “if Maksim rises once more”-- and after the slightest hesitation nodded in agreement. In the scout’s mind, there had never been any question as to whether Maksim would resume his reign.. the Baranski king was an unstoppable force, really just a small step below a god in Naia’s eyes, and she had assumed that his strength was steadily returning. Perhaps that was not the case though? The idea that Maksim’s infirmity was anything other than temporary made her uneasy.
Kisla divulged that even Hearthwood River didn’t truly feel like hers, which was confusing. Hearthwood was made up almost completely of the children of her own body, and a small few such as Kjors who clearly favored their female lead. Had the newer recruits even laid eyes upon the Baranski king, or heard him speak? The thought that Kisla could feel so alone when surrounded by family and loyal wolves was saddening, and Naia knew then that she needed to be a better friend to Kisla. To her and Maksim both- it was well past time she paid her old friend a visit.
“Truly?” Naia asked, expression quizzical. She mulled over Kisla’s words for a moment longer before venturing slowly, “Perhaps that’s the reason then.. the reason Hearthwood feels as if it is in limbo. We are Maksim’s pack, but Maksim doesn’t rule.” The scout looked slightly aghast by her own realization. Perhaps Maksim was indisposed, but here was one Baranski who was more than fit to rule in his absence. “What is it that you envision for a pack of your own? One that is truly yours?” What would it take for Kisla to really take ownership of Hearthwood River? To Naia, that seemed to be the key to pulling the pack out of limbo.
“A pack that is family,” was the simplest and most honest answer she could give the Aegina woman. Maksim lay in sickness – the pack lay divided, not only because their king had fallen but because the wolves of Hearthwood River did not trust one another fully. She could not place Kjors in the accepted graces of other s—not after the misconduct he had given some of them.. primarily Naia, and yet she was also surprised at how many glares the man was met with – as if distrust was the first reaction any of the River wolves held to a newer wolf accepted to their fold.
It was disheartening – but the best she could do to maintain their pack and home was to continue to integrate the members with one another. Her bright eyes carefully studied Naia – her own words stilling now that she had offered such a quick answer. “Has the packs values and honor changed so much from what it had once been at Cut Rock River?” She had not been with them since the day of their creation – Maksim had found her, injured and alone.. unable to travel to her family and birth pack. Perhaps Naia could piece together the missing pieces of the puzzle for her.
sparking up my heart
Naia knew a thing or two about family too, and her experience had been entirely different from Kisla’s. Naia knew wholeheartedly that wolves who called themselves family did not always love and trust one another, did not always listen to one another, and they certainly did not always agree. This was the chaos that Naia had been taught was “family,” and it was also why she had sought a different way of life for herself.
“Oh.. yes, very much,” Naia answered Kisla’s question almost as quickly as Kisla had answered her own. “Remember the words of Cut Rock River? If you do not fight, you cannot win. Those are not the words of a family; those are the words of a militia. If we seemed closer as a pack back then, it was because we were all united under one leader and one rule, with all our values and goals aligned.
“When you challenged Astra for leadership, you brought love into the alpha role for the first time. When you brought us your first litter, the River became a true family." The River had evolved almost unrecognizably from the days of if you do not fight, you cannot win, for which Naia was incredibly grateful. The words had never really sat well with the pacifistic wolf.
“The day we chose family over fighting.. the day we left the Cedarwoods.. I knew we would never be Cut Rock River again. But we were a family. We are a family. We fight like family, but we also forgive like family. Where there is love, there is not always harmony. But love will endure. Hearthwood River will endure where Cut Rock River did not, because family is all that truly lives on.” Naia bowed her head to indicate she was finished. There was no way to know whether her words would be a comfort to Kisla, but it was her duty-- not only as a subordinate but as family-- to give Kisla the truth.
Naia had an intricate way to speak the details, and Kisla studied the woman as she did so now, revealing not only an aspect she had not considered, but imploring an amount of pride to be instilled upon the Baranski's heart. She had challenged Astra that day for the claim to Maksim above all else -- and once she had made her stake upon him, he had courted her willfully. It was then she had resigned the name of Tainn and had taken Baranski -- it was then that Cut Rock River had begun to morph.
Rook's betrayal had forced them to flee, but once where she had felt the sting of pride pull at her, Naia had placed the belief of love above all else. She tipped her muzzle down now, humbled by how eye-opening the Scout's words were, and could feel the emotion well within her throat in that very moment. They had always been a family -- they had simply evolved. "Thank you, Naia," she whispered, feeling the tears within her voice only seconds before they clouded her vision. She looked away sharply then -- trying to clear them from her eyes. "I had always wondered if my joining Cut Rock River had been an intrusion at times. You are all so close to Maksim and respect him in a way I haven't seen since I was younger and lived at Swift River. That was how her pack looked to her as well."
sparking up my heart