Charred Ash Draw dishonor on you, and your cow

@Naira - She will be much disappoint learning about her family

The fact was that Maera Slayer knew nothing of the other Slayers who’d inhabited the Lore in the past… well, most of them. She knew of Valeria and Absyrtus, but she didn’t know that they’d found these lands before her. She didn’t know about Shadowstorm, or Karpos, or Shade, or Adsila and the drama they’d all caused… she also didn’t know that anyone around her knew them, nor someone within the very pack she now called home.

If she did, she might feel ashamed of them, and a little embarrassed to learn the messes they’d caused.

A rabbit was clutched in her jaws, blood still staining her maw as she made her way to find some place to camp out and devour the small snack. She felt better, and she understood why her mother wanted to rejoin her aunt despite the awful treatment she’d received in the past… the more mouths you had working together, the better everyone seemed to eat. Ir probably had something to do with the fact that she could now call a rabbit a snack for her, rather than a meal… the fact was that no wolf could survive on just rabbits without feeling the effects of hunger.

She found a spot, too, not too close to the den but close enough that she knew her scent might waft, as well as the scent of the rabbit… just outside the den, sitting down on top of the snow as she started to dig in, her eyes intently watching her prey. Occasionally she’d pause to lick her lips, figuring she could gnaw it to the bone if she wanted to.

i think about all the little things that still remind me

Naira

Naira was full, but that didn't mean the scent of blood wasn't going to rouse her from her nap. It would seem that someone had had some luck hunting, she wondered if they might like some company.

Even in this sheltered little gully, her bones still knew it was winter. She took her time standing, stretching each limb with care, her movements still carrying a hint of stiffness as she left the den. One of her first self-imposed tasks once they settled, had been to go find herself a nice, sturdy fir branch. She nosed the fresh snow away from the gnawed wood, picking it up in her teeth and carrying it over to where Maera was enjoying her rabbit. She lowered herself down with care, taking her stick between her paws as she worked her jaws over the already worn end, allowing some time to pass in comfortable silence as they each worked on their respective mastication.

 

Finally, her brows drew down as she wondered if she had heard right the first time she had met the girl all those weeks ago. "Did you say your family name was Slayer?" she queried, pausing in her chewing to better hear the woman's answer. She could only wonder...

She was drawn from her snack to the thumps of paws, the scent that she recognized as the queen hinting at the air as she looked up to see the woman moving towards her, settling down not too far with a branch. She was a strange woman… well, as strange as any of them seemed to be. The question came with a tip of her own head to the side, intrigue starting to filter through her. “For as long as I’ve lived.” She responded without any sort of hesitation. “Why do you ask?” The question came with a certain level of confusion mixed into it. Why did it matter what her family name was?

Technically, according to tradition, she was a Rigel, but neither of them had really talked about last names, and Maera hardly ever used hers in introduction, only if she deemed them important. She didn’t see the differentiation as an important thing to note, and her last name held her history just as much as @Kerberos had history in his last name. “I can’t say that my blood family means that much to me anymore.” She admitted in her usual quiet yet sturdy tone. It was true, they’d all managed to find one way or another to betray her and her trust.

and i confess, i'm only holding on by a thin thin thread

Naira

She managed a smile around her stick as the other woman questioned her questioning. The sentiment of blood family not meaning much was a familiar one to Naira, except for perhaps her littermate sister she had little desire to wonder after the rest of them. They were grown, and living their own lives (those that had survived), beyond her grown children she rarely wondered after anyone. Lifting her head and allowing her tongue to pass over her lips as she thought back, "You're not the first I've met." She answered plainly, mind drifting back over all the faces she had met, trying to pin down who was who. Ah yes.

"A young pup by the name of Karpos, his pack disbanded and left him on the border, he knew my daughter so I couldn't very well leave him alone." Though she never really bothered to question where his parents were, she could only assume the worst from his sad tone and past tense speech whenever the subject came up. "What were they like? The rest of the Slayers?" she thought to question, to wonder if the foundlings traits fell in line with his blood or if he was a product of his upbringing. Perhaps she would have questions of her own to add.

There is a moose carcass that has been scavenged by coyotes nearby. +15 Health

Maera had never really understood the fetish that Naira seemed to have for sticks – she carried them around but the Slayer woman had never asked the queen about them, and she didn’t intend to for quite a bit more time. She almost thought it’d be rude to do so. Surprise etched her features when the woman informed her that she was not the first Slayer to cross her path, curiosity hinting at her features. Who was it? Perhaps it was Valeria, or maybe Absyrtus? She doubted any of the others had ever left home – not that she really knew them all that well. The others just seemed more poised for the crown from what Maera could tell from when Kael and their mother rejoined. They’d all been there for the blowup. “Is that so?” She posed, clearly intrigued.

Karpos. It didn’t sound very familiar – in fact she wasn’t sure it rang any bells at all. Perhaps it was some relation through another sibling of her mother’s who’d left before she was born, or maybe even as far back as a relation through grandparents rather than parents. “Slayers have a bad habit of turning their back on family, children, when they need it.” She responded flatly with a frown on her features as she picked at one of the exposed bones from what was left of the rabbit carcass. She didn’t have the best memories, and she certainly wasn’t about to sugarcoat that fact.

The question caught her by surprise, her head cocking slightly to the side as she pondered the question for a while. “Stubborn, too proud for their own good, unwilling to compromise.” She meant it when she said that she did not fall in line with the way her family treated each other. “My aunt chased my mother and father out of the pack when they had me… I lost half of my siblings that winter, and my father too, and only took my mother and brother back after they nearly starved to death without the proper manpower to survive a winter as a loner… as far as I’m concerned, they’re disgraces… though I’ve never met a Karpos… I had a couple cousins, but very rarely did they stray farther from their home.” Her tone was laced with various forms of melancholy, recalling the memories. Her mother had been ill – her brother thought it was something physical, but Maera wasn’t blind. Her mother had been dying of a broken heart the moment her father’s heart stopped beating.

Who knew, perhaps her mother was watching over her from the stars now too…