Thicket of Secrets The World Turns Upside Down

For @Miccah @Aideen only

The fallen Whisper Caverns prince had spent longer than he anticipated with Inali. Despite his time away and his resolve to steel his heart, the revelation that her mate had passed and gone renewed some stale hope within the young man’s heart. So he remained within Verdant Mosses where he first found her, tending to her needs where she saw fit and doing whatever he could to make her happy. Sometimes he thought that just seeing his mangled face could brighten her day. It was there that the connection was lost to Yuka.

It was not long before the desire to fulfill his duty overtook him and he said his parting words to Inali, offering her a swift kiss on the cheek before he headed out, in a brief moment of affection. Despite the many days journey to Secret Woodlands, he made sure to wash any remaining scent of the creamy woman from his pelt, least Miccah and Aideen assume anything and demand she be brought back.

When he finally arrived upon the borders of the thicket pack, a frown tugged at the corners of his lips. When the Thorben inhaled it only confirmed what he had already been told. Despite the changed scents on the borders, nothing had changed. With this in mind, Yuka tilted his head back and let out a lone call for Miccah and Aideen.

Yet another call at the borders, Secret Woodlands seemed to have become a popular haunt all of a sudden. The weary queen struggled back to her feet, legs stiff as she slowly made her way towards the visitor. There was something familiar about the voice, but she couldn’t place it, the tired folds in her face growing deeper as she frowned, trying and failing to fully remember. Her paws walked the familiar path easily by instinct as she speculated, but it still took her a while to arrive, movements slow and rigid. When she got there though, her scrounged up face smoothed in surprise. She’d all but forgotten the young man, after their brief meeting. In honesty, she’d never expected to see him again, it had been so many months since he and his mother left the Woodlands and the rest of their family behind; Family..! A new horror colored her shock, had he come here expecting to meet the rest of his family? Ash and the yearlings, who had all disappeared, one by one, over a season before; Oh no! Copper eyes wide, Aideen was starring, rather impolitely, at the scarred wolf across from her, every muscle frozen in place as her brain spun. There were so many implications, so many things that she had not even worried about for so long, but now it was all thrown back in her face, and she started to feel sick. “Yu… Yuka,” she finally managed, voice hoarse; “You… It’s been so long! Welcome… Back.” Her throat felt dry as a desert, tail hanging limb down behind her as she tried to figure out what to say to him. Nothing came to mind.   Word Count: 281  Thoughts "Speech"

Skudde-Textures @DA

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The call that came was not one that he expected to hear again, not after all these years. It took him a moment to place the voice, for the man had been younger than and Miccah had only seen and heard him briefly. Yet, when he did place the voice, the dark king couldn't help but freeze momentarily. It had been so long it seemed, since that conversation with Nina, but he had never forgotten. Life had gotten busy, their had been up's and their had been down's but he always wondered if their plans had been successful. Over the years, his views on the matter had never changed. Iopah and Koda deserved all the chaos and destruction life threw at them - after all, they had betrayed the one woman who had been loyal to them until the end. Miccah immediately stopped his patrol and made his way towards the call. These matters were important, but he couldn't help but think...Yuka had called for both Miccah and Aideen. It never would have mattered in any other circumstance, except in this one, Miccah had never uttered a single word to his mate about what he had done. He had never planned on telling her, but today it looked like his aversion of the truth was finally coming to bite him in the ass. His mate arrived before him it seemed, but Miccah stayed back in the shadows of the thickets for just a few moments longer. He flinched lightly at her voice - she sounded so tired. The strain in their relationship had not yet eased, in fact, Miccah only thought it had worsened. More times than he cared to admit, he had not slept within the den alongside his mate and children in the past couple of weeks. He wanted to tell her. Tell her he was so goddamned tired of their members leaving, then new members coming, and those leaving too. Their deaths weighed on him. His son leaving had taken its toll on the father. They were running themselves ragged...and it was showing. Knowing he needed to make his presence known, the dark king took a mental breath and silently stepped out of the shadows, making his way over to his mate and Yuka. A tired smile graced his maw and he rumbled his greeting to the lethal man. "Yuka...it is good to see you again." Miccah knew the reason why the scarred man was here. There was no use delaying the inevitable. Miccah had never been a wolf to beat around the bush, preferring to get right in the heart of things, so he continued to speak after a few beats of silence. "Do you bring news?" The dark king knew this finally needed to come to light...even though it could cost him everything he held dear. God, he was so fucked.

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He did not have to wait long. In fact, the new Queen of the Thickets greeted him – just as the former Queen had prior. The pale woman that greeted him though was a far cry from the mighty Hervok that greeted him before. Deep lines of exhaustion were written across her worried face and it reminded him yet again of the baggage that came with leadership. He could feel the anger stirring within him because the woman in front of him – Inali said her name was Aideen – continued to stare at him. In his mind, he reasoned that it was completely due to the fact that his face was torn and lip jutted out awkwardly, leaving him to look the least bit handsome. Had this not been a diplomatic meeting he would have glared but the last Thorben kept his anger in check and simply stared back at her. If she was going to be rude, so was he, and he made no motion to submit.

Aideen’s exhaustion showed in her voice and if he were a better man he might have felt bad, but since she was so visibly staring at him he felt a sick sort of satisfaction settle within him. She looked defeated but his amber teal-flecked eyes were no longer focused on her as another stepped foot onto the scene. Miccah’s sentiments were similar to his mate’s, though he noticed the man made no move to stand beside her. Eyes narrowed but he made no mention of it as the dark man got right to the point of his visit. Good, hopefully, I won’t have to stay long. Nodding his head, the russet hued man, opened his jaws to speak, “Yes, of course. I think you’ll be pleased to hear that Broken Timber Pines has been taken down. You won’t have to worry about them any longer.” Of course, he left out the part about how that had been about a year ago. He had left the lore right after the pack had disbanded in search of his mother, but they didn’t need to know that.

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She wasn’t left alone with the guest for long, and for a brief moment a wave of relief rushed through her, as familiar steps sounded in the underbrush, and a dark form came to join them. But something icy quickly crushed that warm comfort, brows furrowing as steeled, copper eyes glanced over at the dark king, taking up a position with plenty of space between the two leaders. A stab of hurt went through her heart at that, her body quietly aching for his closeness, his support; Couldn’t he tell she needed him? But then the anger flashed in her chest, burning away that vulnerability. The rift between them was once more widened and she squared her jaw stubbornly, turning back to their visitor; I’ve been handling EVERYTHING on my own for so long, this is nothing new! The sensible voice that might have pointed out the unfairness in that thought had been silenced by her fury. Her mate greeted the young man like she had, though with a bit more composure, immediately segueing into a question that made the queen’s ears twitch. What kind of thing was that to say? They hadn’t seen the boy in years, he had no doubt come here expecting to reunite with his family and now they had to tell him that they were all gone! But Miccah was asking him for news; Does he NEVER think? What had happened to the sensible man she loved? But to her surprise, Yuka did not appear offended in the least. Instead he seemed just as determined to press on, a strange, intense look in his mixed eyes as he nodded his head. The words that then left his mouth could not have been any farther from what she’d expected; There was no questions about his family, no happy expectation or even anger. No, He spoke coldly, as if delivering a report, the ease with which he passed the message a paradoxical counter to the weight with which it hit the petite woman. All the air left her lungs, as if a heavy body had just barreled into her, jaws parting and eyes going wide. For a moment her mind was blank, the shock freezing her in place. Just the mention of the pack name had her reeling, but the message that came with? ’Taken down’? What did that even mean, exactly? Finally she found enough control of her body to gasp for breath, wheezing hoarsely: “What… what do you mean? What happened to Broken Timber Pines?” She wanted to scream at him! What had happened to Iopah and Koda? What does he mean, Pleased? Aideen certainly hadn’t been worrying about them up until now. In fact she had hardly thought about her old friend in years, she’d resigned herself to the fact that she would probably never see her old friend again, but that had been with the knowledge that she was living happily. ‘Taken down’ however, sounded like the opposite of that.   Word Count: 497  Thoughts "Speech"

Shirstock @DA

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Miccah's maw clenched slightly as Yuka wasted no time in delivering his message, and though the words seemed to lift a weight off of his shoulders, Aideen's reaction seemed to double the weight right back on them. The dark king did not want to have this conversation in front of Ash's child, but it looked like he would have no other choice. This was the situation he had made for himself long ago, and now he had to deal with the consequences. Turning towards his mate, Miccah had no idea how to begin. He had no idea how to explain. Gods, when was the last time he couldn't find the words to speak when it came to Aideen? It had become harder and harder just to simply talk to his wife over the last several weeks, and now he needed to speak to her about this? Never had the dark man shied away from a challenge, so his gaze steeled. He knew this would hurt her, he had always known - it was one of the reasons Miccah had never wanted to tell her. "NIna and I...always thought it was best never to tell you. You have always let...emotions cloud your judgement." It was the truth, but Miccah wanted to kick himself right after the words had left his maw. However, this still did not make him regret his actions so long ago. "They were Nina's confidantes and our comrades...and then they betrayed her - everything the Woodlands stood for. They deserved their destruction." How easy it was to recall that anger now. As easy as it was to recall the pain. He could give two shits about Koda, but Iopah had been his friend. Their friend. Except, Miccah had done what had been needed to do where Aideen had chosen to forgive them. Miccah had not held forgiveness for the ones that had betrayed his parents so long ago, as he had held no forgiveness for Iopah and Koda. Not then, and not now. So he turned away from his mate, and looked at Yuka. "You've done well. Please, feel free and rest. I...must speak to you about other matters." "speech"

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The man did his best to avoid the awkward air hanging around the Woodlands couple. It did not seem fitting for him to be witnessing this and once again, he was annoyed that he was experiencing this unprofessionalism at borders that he had once been allied with. A partner was a partner and sometimes the personal aspects of the relationship had to be left behind to deal with more important things. Such as what happened to Broken Timber Pines. Especially since, as it soon became clear to him, Aideen was not looped in the circumstances of his mission. Amber eyes flickered towards the dark male, his lips twitching down into a scowl.

Yuka certainly did not want to be present for this conversation but he also wanted to know the answer as to what the hell was going on in Secret Woodlands. Perhaps, there was a reason for Ash’s decision to depart the Woodlands, given the timing of his sister’s unfortunate death. Yet, the Thorben still could not shake the sense of anger that flowed through him with the reminder that all of his family abandoned him, had not waited for his return. Miccah’s explanation struck a chord within Yuka, one he could relate with easily. Had he not readily lied to Inali about certain things due to how emotional she was? He certainly had.

Miccah’s conviction about Koda and Iopah amused him, because truly during his time there, they were not cruel towards him – though they weren’t exactly a prominent part of the pack either. Yuka took this as his opportunity to pip in. “Which was inevitable, really. Even if I hadn’t been sent there, the leaders were hardly ever there. They were killing their own pack. Disbanding the pack was the most logical thing to be done.” Yuka believed that Aideen’s shock stemmed from the fact that he might have killed them. At the time, the Thorben could not have done such a thing, unless outright commanded to.

The young man’s gaze returned to Miccah, his gaze steel. He had no intentions of remaining here, especially since none of his family remained. “Thank you, but I can’t stay. Say what you must and I have to be on my way. I have to get back to my –,” he paused, jaw clenching tightly. What exactly was Inali to him? He began again, “I have someone I need to get back to.” The man’s bushy tail lashed out behind him, annoyed with his slip of the tongue.

(This post was last modified: Sep 24, 2017, 02:09 AM by Yuka.)

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