Secluded Spring Let the River wash it away

@Gent

She hated it, it had started days ago, and yet it has yet to subside the young healer was doing everything she could think of in order to sate the irritating burning she felt under her skin. Yet, nothing seemed to work that she could actually try. Between the scent and the desires, scary emotions swirling through her, Sylva had done one thing that had always brought her comfort before. She had sought out the peace of the water and trees. Though with the temperatures still freezing, the pond was frozen, and it’s voice muted in the cold.

All that left were the trees, something that had sheltered her when she was younger from the harshness of reality, sometimes Sylva found herself longing for thoses days, starving, hunting, hiding in their safe, leafy embrace. It wasn’t something she could continue to do, alas. She had to deal with the confusion that came from growing up, but sometimes, you needed guidance and now was the time. She paused for a moment, she hadn’t really been as social as before ever since Zilas had been banished a little over a month ago, but maybe, just maybe she could feel some of that old security.

Her muzzle lifted toward the clear sky, Sylva let out a howl, seeking out her mentor and teacher to come find her, she needed him.

ThoughtDialogue

He had expected @Jynx and even @Marianna to enter their heats, the former the pack's alpha with his own wife taken down a notch by illness and the latter an eminent wolf by nature. For separate reasons, he had grown even more protective of them both since the season turned and with it their scents. @Nascha he felt less so inclined, allowing her heat to test her should she fall under its sway. The pack's law was clear, and should it be broken then simple ignorance could not be used as an excuse. But Sylva? In all honesty, he hadn't expected this facet of nature to touch upon her. Catching the change in her scent upon the wind was a reminder, that she was not the humble child he'd always thought her to be. She had grown into an adult by every right, and stood as third in the pack's hierarchy. That wasn't something to sneeze at.

Still, he saw this as the ultimate test to her impulsive nature. If she was willing to throw away the home and trust that had been given to her to sate a month-long itch, then he supposed ultimately the pack would be better off knowing she was, at the core, so fickle. More than anything, however, he simply trusted her. He was on edge only when she left the territory, fearful that someone might take advantage of small, untrained stature, and strove overall to try and keep her inside of it with busy work.

All in all, it was a lot to keep track of, and he was only one wolf. While Jynx was surely doing her part to control the chaos of the impending spring, they were only two pairs of eyes and ears and could not catch everything. So when Sylva's needful call reached his ears, and he realized the sound sourced outside of the pack's territory, his heart sped up a few beats with concern. He jogged his way through the forest and around the edge of the Spring, circling the frozen waters until he reached her. His ears were up and his nose worked the air, but overall she seemed unharmed.

"Hey. Are you alright?"

(This post was last modified: Mar 05, 2017, 09:33 PM by Gent.)

Shallow water has trapped several fish in a small pond. Hunt Opportunity

@Gent

As she saw the large dark shadow stride around the frozen pond, Sylva felt a small ounce of familiarity and comfort, but at his words, it dissolved like mist in sunlight. Where could she begin to describe what she was facing? So many emotions swirled through her mind, for the pack, for the future, for herself. She paused, taking a deep breath and flopping onto her side, There was just too much happening at one time, too much a young inexperienced girl could sort through on her own.

“I don’t know Gent...there’s so many new things I’m experiencing, it..it scares me.” she confessed her confusion, hoping that maybe the Alpha had a solution, he seemed to for other situations, why would this be any different. “I don’t know what to do, the thing with Zilas has me...so...so confused.” she finally said it, frustration evident on her “Why did you say no? Why did you turn him out to die?” It was a death sentence alright, though it came out a bit harsher than she had meant, all those pent up emotions ‘I...I don’t know why I feel this way about him...I see reminders everywhere I go…”

ThoughtDialogue

His brows knit together with concern as she did not immediately allay his slight alarm, and even as her next couple of words seemed to explain it all, he still felt uneasy. While it was more or less a familiar trouble, he certainly was not well equipped to speak with Sylva about the changes her body was undergoing. If only Raela were feeling well, she would certainly be able to handle this situation with the tact he did not possess. But then Sylva threw him a surprise, bringing up Zilas.

The features of his face hardened at the reminder of the betrayal, but he also suddenly felt the need to be guarded. After all that student and teacher had been through together, Gent had come to trust Sylva deeply, perhaps far more than he should have. The amount of emotion, specifically the accusation, that now flooded her voice raised a red flag behind his eyes and for the first time in a long time he found himself viewing the young girl as a land mine.

Why was she still holding onto this? Maybe it was guilt, feeling that she was in part to blame if the man did indeed die out in the wilderness alone. That would be the most benign answer, and he hoped for it.

"Whatever happens to Zilas is within his own paws. He made his choices, and he has the freedom to start making the right ones and get himself to a better place," he told her, his voice holding a stern edge but not yet harsh. He cared now just that Sylva listened to him and respected his authority to make the choices he had, but also that she genuinely understood where he was coming from.

"I trusted him to have my back, to protect the pack and my family, and he repaid that by vanishing without a word to chase after wolves who have done nothing but abuse him his whole life. A second time. I can't trust him not to do it again, and so I won't rely on him, and I definitely won't let those I care about him rely on him so that he can let them down, or worse."

A wolf like that could do more than cause hurt feelings; he could wind up causing a grave injury or death.

@Gent

The small wolf listened carefully to Gent’s explanation. She wanted to be angry with her Alpha, she wanted to have someone she could blame, someone she could trace all of this confusion and anger back to, but the more he spoke, the more she felt what anger she did have melt away into frustration. Frustration, not with Gent, but with herself. Damn him and his logical decision, as much as she hated it, hated herself for not hating it more, Gent did make sense. She hated it even more now, because, not only did she not have someone to blame, but she felt conflicted even more, was thinking about Zilas a betrayal to White Fir Notch?

A small sigh escaped Sylva as she nodded slowly at Gent’s words, confirming that she did indeed understand it, though by far she didn’t like it at all, one could even say that she hated it. “I don’t know what to do Gent, everything used to be so easy but now...it’s like..like being thrown in the deep end of the River without knowing anything, it feels like anything I try could hurt me or others..I’m scared, scared that I’ll you down, and let the pack down.”

ThoughtDialogue

(This post was last modified: Mar 10, 2017, 01:50 PM by Sylva.)