Grizzly Hollow build this house from nothing

@Veho

Oula needed to first get some space after the events at the streamside. She issue of the frozen water that had precipitated it all hadn't even been entirely resolved, but they would survive; one only had to walk a little further to the main stem of the river, or there was plenty of snow to eat besides. She still couldn't believe what she'd seen with her own eyes, that her sweet little girl would outright attack one of their own packmates over nothing in particular. The Whitebark woman quickly excused herself, trotting with purpose through the wood as if she was going somewhere in particular. Her heart was still beating quickly, nostrils flared as she breathed deeply the cold air, paws slightly trembling. 

Poor Pip... She dearly loved the girl, and it hurt to see anyone hurt her, and it hurt even more for that person to be her own daughter. It spoke poorly on her own abilities as a mother, and raised uncomfortable questions as to how their children had been reared in her absence. She dearly hoped this was a recent and unprecedented outburst, and not a continuation of a pattern. And of course, Pip would never be able to tell the true extent of it.

Without realizing it her paws had taken her towards Veho's infirmary. The trail was recently turned by fresh pawprints, and she could smell the male's scent on the air. At least that explained how he had managed to miss the morning's pandemonium that engulfed almost the entire pack. She hated for this to be the first thing of the morning she spoke with him about, but it simply couldn't be ignored. "Veho?" She stopped before the medicinal den, peering into the dark and hearing rustling inside. "Can we talk?" She said with that simple gravity that instantly conveyed this was not necessarily a conversation she wanted to be having, but nonetheless needed to have.

There was a certain amount of peace to be found while organizing the herbs in his medical cache.  No longer was he able to do all the collecting himself; leadership was busy enough, even without three children to provide for and pay attention to.  Those rare gathering trips were treasured, but it was the thick of winter now.  Nothing grew save for the evergreens, and Veho had to content himself with organization and order. 

Truthfully, he found himself wanting to speak to his Ancestors again.  He only had a few mushrooms left, and--  Well, it wasn’t an emergency, it was simply a want.  It seemed greedy to use his limited supplies to consult the Ancestors when it was simply a whim, a comfort, and not a dedicated need.

At the sound of Oula’s voice, the alpha thumped his head on the top of the den, and grimaced.  I should be paying more attention, he thought wryly, backing his way out of the burrow carefully.  Shaking the dust from his coat, he turned to regard the mother of his children, his friend, and offered her a tired smile.  Her tone did not bode well for his peace of mind.  “Good morning, my dear,” he murmured softly, padding over to offer a small kiss.  Anything to feel normal.  “Of course we can.  What’s on your mind?”

VEHO MACIEO

& our song goes on and on

@Veho

Oula sighed what was perhaps the biggest sigh anyone had every sighed on the planet. She wasn't even sure where to start. With the commotion that had woken her up? The frozen stream that had brought everyone there? How Pip had been standing there doing nothing? Or how their little Ophelia had shown a side of herself that Oula didn't know existed? That she was concerned their daughter was on a road to ruin? Or maybe she should warn the healer that he would soon be having a new patient, if they ever managed to track Pip down.

Oula leaned forward, firmly planting her forehead on Veho's shoulder and resting it there. As if all the thoughts in her head were simply too heavy for her to carry by herself. "A lot of things," She finally murmured, peeling away from the male and looking into his silver eyes. 

"I saw something that rather disturbed me this morning. There was a commotion at the stream, it had frozen over and everyone was gathered there. I arrived just in time to see our Ophelia..." Oula shifted uncomfortably and looked away, there was no pleasant way to phrase this, as it was an entirely unpleasant thing. "Well, she attacked Pip unprovoked, injured her and scared her quite badly. Pip fled, and the others followed to try to help her." Oula paused. That was bad enough, but it wasn't all.

"I reprimanded her for attacking a packmate, and she-- Ophelia, said that Pip was so weak that she didn't belong here, didn't deserve to be here." Oula said, her pale brow furrowed with concern. 

"I... I hope this surprises you as much as it did me." She added as she looked back to Veho, feeling rather lost.

A lot of things did not bode particularly well for the man.  Veho bit the inside of his cheek and resisted the urge to sigh, showing no other outwards signs of his concern.  Instead, he simply allowed himself to be the shoulder for the Whitebark woman, curling his head to press his nose to her crown.  For all the peace he might have found organizing his things, there was something else, something much more satisfying than anything even the most potent mushrooms could give him.

Unfortunately, that peace was not long-lived.

The information about their water was troubling all on its own, but what Oula said next, about Ophelia, about their Ophelia…  Pale eyes went wide as he lifted his head, staring intently at his partner as if waiting for something else to follow, something else to lessen the blow.  But that was it.  That was all Oula had to say, and for a moment, Veho struggled to find his words at all.

“I--  She did what?  Attacked Pip?!”

Poor Pip!  Ancestors, he did hope the others found her and convinced her to come back to the medical den.  He would fix her up in a quick stitch.  But that left the pair the other problem, didn’t it?  Their daughter.

“I cannot believe--  I suppose I could--  She is bossy with her siblings, sometimes, but I never thought she would be violent with anyone.” Veho sighed heavily, his shoulders drooping under the weight.  “I should have been more strict in their discipline.  I just never thought…”

VEHO MACIEO

& our song goes on and one

Oula could only nod sadly as Veho stammered. She probably would have reacted the same had the roles been reversed. It was difficult to believe such a sweet, if not spirited girl was capable of hurting the pack's most defenseless member. Had she not seen it herself, with her own eyes, she was not sure she would believe it either. But barring some collective hallucination, this was the situation they were faced with. But strangely his surprise wasn't the comfort she thought it would be. If he hadn't expected it either, then what had been the cause?

“You don't think,” she started, softly, “That this is partly my doing? I was gone for so long, it must have been hard on them.” She said with a frown. “I've missed so much, and now I realise I no longer know my own children as well as I thought I had.” Oula turned, walked, turned again, starting to restlessly pace. “I wouldn't have thought she had that kind of rage inside of her, and now I wonder what else I have missed. What else I've been missing.” Her pacing ceased, and she looked back to Veho feeling even more confused than ever. She didn't know whether they had to treat the symptom, or the cause.

There is a family of deer nearby. Hunt Opportunity

“No.  No, I do not.  You did what you had to do – for yourself, for this family, and for this pack.”

Yes, some of Oula’s leave had been for personal reasons, but she’d also been seeking Rook, the children’s other parent.  It was times like these that the man sometimes struggled to forgive the other male – Oula had at least been present for part of their childhood, had made an effort to find him, even if—

No.  Getting angry or upset wasn’t going to help either of them, it wasn’t going to help Pip, and it certainly wasn’t going to help the triplets.  He sighed softly, shoulders falling further as he watched Oula pace restlessly in front of the den.  Perhaps if he had spent more time with the children – the children he’d asked for – this wouldn’t have happened.

Poor Pip.  The victim of his own inadequate parenting.

“I didn’t--  I didn’t either.  Earlier this winter, Felix managed to find a moose in rut and it was Pip, you know, who grabbed the moose by the face and allowed Felix and Ophelia to get away while the rest of us brought it down.  I don’t understand.  I don’t understand what brought this on but – but we cannot abide by it, Oula.  We have to punish her.”

It tasted sour on his tongue – what a bitter pill to swallow.

VEHO MACIEO

& our song goes on and on

@Veho

Her partner's reassurance did little to assuage her guilt. What her family and pack needed was for her to be there, and as he continued it only further cemented the fact that she had missed much. Oula's angled eyes widened a surprising amount, sage orbs staring at Veho in owlish shock. Her children, against a moose in rut! Even though the events had already passed, and obviously the children had come out the other end of it quite safe, Oula felt a cold shock seize her, standing so still she drew not even a single breath. And then... Pip?! The meekest little wolf, against a moose? And not for any whim, but to protect Oula's own blood. No one had told her of any of this before. Oula felt dizzy, finally remembering she needed to breathe.

If the little omega were in front of them that very moment, Oula would have showered her with the greatest praise. She was so proud of her, she always knew there was more to that little silent she-wolf than met the eye. While she had been gone, unable to protect her own family in the most basic way, Pip had stepped in for them. 

The initial shock worn off, she was now fuming. In this light, it further underscored just how out of line their daughter was. That was the thanks Ophelia gave to someone who had risked her life to keep them from harm? "You're right. If that is how she shows her gratitude to someone who's risked their hide for her, she is in desperate need of correction. At the very least, she owes an apology to Pip for her behavior." Oula said coldly. "Not just that, but I think she needs a reminder of just how a wolf earns her place in the pack."

(This post was last modified: Jan 19, 2017, 01:54 AM by Oula.)

It…was perhaps not the best moment to inform Oula of his lapse in parental abilities, no, but the truth would have to come out sooner or later.  Pip would never be able to explain it herself – quite frankly, the alpha did not expect his adopted sister to do as much, even if she had the voice.  Pride was certainly not one of the omega’s faults.

The youngest Macieo, however…

Veho sighed heavily, wiping his forearm over his features in his best approximation of rubbing at his tired eyes.  If only there was an easy solution to this!  It wasn’t even that Ophelia was his daughter, but that she was still a child; were it Tomen or Nineva who’d done this at such an age, he would not have considered banishment for them, either.  It was a teaching opportunity; one the girl probably deserved, given the upbringing she’d since received, but it should not be gentle nor passive, either.

“I--  Yes.  You are correct.  She must apologize to Pip as soon as Pip has been seen to.”  And perhaps, given a chance to recover.  It would not do them any good to traumatize the omega further. “She should be assigned a watchful eye for at least a few weeks, one that can keep her out of trouble and – make sure she completes whatever chores we assign for her.  Fishing, perhaps, since she has put Pip out of commission.  Or hunting, to keep the caches full.”

Something, he imagined, his daughter was not going to be terrible fond of.  Alas, poor Ophelia!  She was a pack wolf, not a princess, and every single soul must earn her place.

VEHO MACIEO

& our song goes on and on

@Veho This post is a mess but here u go

Veho looked about as tired as Oula felt. She knew this wasn't an easy conversation to have, and even harder still was the fact that Oula still had to seek out their daughter... Talk things through. Hopefully enough time had passed that Ophelia's hot temper had cooled. The girl would soon be an adult, and speaking like adults was an important lesson to learn, even if it was a lesson that came about in a startling, painful fashion. 

"Yes, she should do something to help out, more than her usual chores." Oula nodded, agreeing. "I will go talk to her. I think she will have cooled off some." She decided. It was time she stepped up as a mother, even if she could not make up for the months she had been gone. Ophelia needed direction, the right direction, not whatever tyrannical path she had found by herself.  And it was Oula's place to provide it.

Oula rounded back to her partner, burying her nose in the soft fur of Veho's cheek. "Thank you," She said. For their talk, for being her rock, for not holding her disappearance against her, as much as she thought he had a right to.