Drooping Willows kiss me hard before you go

[For @Elias]

and with a spark its going to be

The Queen stirred.

A crinkle in her nose, she could feel the shifting in the air. It was heavy, thick. The horrible storm which had passed through the drooping willow woods had left the land covered in a thick blanket of snow, leaving the wolves that lived here locked away safely in their dens. Yet now as it passed the lands were still gloomy, dark, with the clouds covering the afternoon sky. Ravenna woke up on the wrong side of the bed, to put it simply and found herself restless. The need to get out and check up on her territory pulled at her and the moment she untangled herself from her pack mates out into the dim lighting, she was off.

Ever since @Adeltra had reported that Revon had been found, things grew silent with Willow Ridge once more. Sven had reported the information to the Heights wolves and, now that they knew their daughter was safe and obviously their own family had not been a part of it, the Ridge wolves had been left be. Ravenna couldn't help but feel a bit bitter towards it, after how her brother had dismissed them in favor of a lie because his wife thought it true. Ravenna hoped one day their relationship would mend though she would not make any first moves. She wasn't the one that screwed up, after all.

Though, for the first time in nearly a month, she had every intention of moving east bound instead of to the west. She had not been near the footfalls of the mountains in some time and was curious if anything there may be of value to the pack. Still just at the edges of her pack's territory markers, she moved freely and proudly, her head and tail high, a silent announcement of her command over these lands.

the biggest fire they've ever seen

(This post was last modified: Feb 20, 2018, 01:38 AM by Ravenna.)

Everything seemed to be falling back into place, Revon was safe and the wolves of the Willow's were absolved of any blame that had fallen upon them. Elias couldn't help but feel as though he had gotten all worked up over nothing, that his worries had bounded ahead of him and come up with all sorts of extreme situations that had never come to pass. He was relieved, honestly, this was all he could've hoped for and yet...

Things weren't perfect by any stretch of the word.

Elias considered Ravenna to be one of his nearest and dearest, amongst the handful of wolves who had helped make these lands feel a little more like home. But she hated him, resented him for things he hadn't said, things he should have done. And honestly, he had a hard time blaming her. He was the worst, he was a coward. and most importantly, he should have believed in her.

Elias had tried to make amends before, but they hadn't gone over so well. Coming to the Willows was more or less asking for trouble, and yet here he was, inching ever closer as her familiar scent lingered on the wind. What was he going to say, what words did he have at his disposal to make this better? None. He reached out, hoping to grasp onto something good and worthy of her attention but came back empty and hopeless. Why did he even bother?

It was too late to turn back now,her white, womanly shape emerged from between the trees and Elias' gulped, his tail curving inwards between his legs.

"Hi." Was all he managed to say, the single word lingering in the air like a cry for help.

and with a spark its going to be
It only took moments for Ravenna to catch the scent of Elias, her attention snapping towards his direction, who moved towards her though cautiously as his tail moved to tuck between his legs. Ravenna had not even said a word to him and already the large wolf began to cave, showing off his submissive personality to her obvious dominant one. Her pale eyes offered a hard, critical stare at he moved and she too took a few steps forward, crossing the invisible lines of her pack's threshold. A 'Hi'was all her offered, her disappointed displayed with a silent barring of her teeth.

She had thought a moment to simply turn and leave. Why bother? Why waste her energy when it was obvious there would be no changing the minds of Aurora wolves even when they were obviously wrong? But then, her tongue pressed against the roof of her mouth and she scoffed, unable to hold back any longer. "Why the hell are you here? Revon was found. Heights wolves have no business snooping around Ridge borders." They had no business with them. Not any longer, but before she let Elias pipe in she sat out again. "Screw off." She snarled. "I don't think your Alpha would enjoy you smelling like one of us no-good thieves and pup-nappers." And by Alpha, she meant Kyna. Obviously though her brother had not thought Sven had done the deed, it was not his word which swayed his pack nor did it seem his own decisions which decided his actions, either. She waited then, fully ready to watch Elias turn and go. He was good at that after all.

the biggest fire they've ever seen

Elias' ears flitted against his skull as he ducked his head down a little. She was still angry, of course she was, why wouldn't she be? Rather foolishly he had hoped she'd brushed it all under the rug, that she had moved on and was willing to forgive and forget. She had a point though, though it hadn't been his intention he was rather close to their borders.No wonder she was taking his presence as an outright insult, she probably thought he was here to stir up more drama. He wasn't of course, anything but, but how was she to know that?

"I'm not snooping." He corrected her, gently. "I wanted to see you...for real this time." As clearly then didn't count, at least not in his eyes. "Kyna doesn't know I'm here...And please don't put words into my mouth, I don't think that of you. I never would."

Elias wasn't the confrontational sort but he wasn't to let this situation go awry because he couldn't explain himself. It was hard, each word was a struggle but it was worth it. Or at least he hoped it would be.

"I just...I miss being friends Ravenna. I hate this...tension. It's eating me up and it's all I can think about. It was all a misunderstanding, it all happened so fast and I- what do I have to do? I'll do anything."

Perhaps that was too much, too desperate, but he couldn't help it, he needed to be loved and liked. Elias took a hesitant step forward, hoping to narrow the distance between them, his tail swishing cautiously behind him. Had his words made things better, or worse? God, he hoped it was the former.

and with a spark its going to be
Much to Ravenna's surprise, Elias did not leave. His ears fell and his head dipped down before her though he had kept his placement, explaining how he had come to see her. Ravenna's eyes shifted, sparing a moment as he spoke to look around the area beyond her territory to see if any other Heights wolves were around. Last time Elisa's presence has been followed by the whole pack. Apparently they just couldn't get enough of Drooping Willows.

Kyna didn't know Elias had come here he spoke and then denied her words, which caused her lip to twitch. Maybe he didn't think so, but the majority of his pack seemed to. He was still tangling with a wolf that he likely shouldn't be. "Anyone can tell Kyna does not like us and I'm sure her finding her daughter doesn't change that. You'd betray your Leader by coming to spend time with the enemy?" She was curious just how far his friendship for her (not to mention Adeltra) would go if it meant going against his Pack's wishes.

When he spoke about missing their friendship, how it was eating him up and he would do anything to repair it, it sounded like the words of a desperate man. Ravenna couldn't help her ears from falling, her head and tail remaining high but Her gaze falling from him and two the space inbetween them. She was silent a moment as she watched his odd bird feet move a bit closer. She had enjoyed their friendship very much so, his happy and friendly personality easing her. It did not make matters simpler by the fact that physically he was quite appealing, too.

"How can I trust you, Elias?" She finally spoke. "We were supposed to be friends, Greer and I had formed an alliance and you said nothing... Did nothing." There was not too much he could have done, really, less he be seen as a traitor, but he could have at least made some kind of input to ease the manner. "We lost a pack mate because of your Leader's mistake." She grumbled the comment. It wasn't his fault, of course, not by a long shot. Still, Ravenna wanted to let him know what his Leader's mistake had cost the Ridge whom was supposed to have been their newly formed allies.

the biggest fire they've ever seen

It was true that Kyna clearly didn't harbour any love for the Ridge wolves but Elias didn't think that she hated them, let alone consider them to be enemies. Things were shaky but after thinking long and hard Elias had concluded that things were salvageable, they all just had to  find it in their hearts to forgive and forget. Though he was a hypocrite for thinking so, as he more often than not lived in the past, he believed it was time to move on and start things anew. Of course, it would never be as easy as that but Elias hoped for it nonetheless.

"Well...she never forbade me from coming here." He mumbled, knowing fully well she wouldn't exactly be pleased either. It wasn't as if he was sniffing around to cause problems, he was just trying to make amends. That's all. "But I don't think I'm betraying anyone here, I'm talking to my friend, what's wrong with that?" He asked, blinking quickly as his head tipped slightly to the side in an obvious show of confusion.

It wasn't as if they were conspiring, or cooking up a nasty plot. He was just trying to make amends, to patch up the wounds that he had inadvertently caused on that awful day.

"You can trust me." Or at least he hoped he could, prayed he wouldn't fail her again. "I'll do better next time...I'll-I'll think of something to say-I won't let my-"He snapped his mouth shut, accidentally biting his tongue in the process.

He winched as his ears flitted back and somehow managed to hold in a long, drawn out heeeeeccck! That would hardly help his cause, would probably make him look like even more of a fool, unworthy of a Queen's time and attention.

Then she told him about her former pack mate and he was once more awashed with shame and guilt. What was he supposed to say to that? She seemed so eager to pin the blame on Kyna, but she was so good and kind and Elias adored the Fire Queen with all he had.

"I'm sorry." Was all he said, all he could manage.

and with a spark its going to be
Ravenna could not help the smirk that formed over her features as Elias stated that his leader had not specifically forbid him from coming here to the willows, looking to speak to not only one of the Ridge members, but the female lead herself. It was a loophole, of sorts, Ravenna figured. It was true they were not conspiring anything, nor was he giving away any information about his pack, he was just coming here to speak to someone he considered a friend despite the tensions that had lie between their two packs. His cocked head in confusion caused a huff from Ravenna, who finally and suddenly then plopped her thick fluffy hips onto the icy cold ground below. Fine then, if he wanted to spend time with her - so be in. It was obvious she was still upset, something which only time would mend, but if Elias was willing to prove himself and working to mending it, then so be it.

Elias said sorry, something which he could really only say. He couldn't have prevented @Lorcan from walking out on the pack although it was true that perhaps it would not have happened if these tensions had not rose from the mistake which the Heights wolves had made against them. This comment passed by quickly over Ravenna's mind as she focused on his broken sentence. "Won't let your... what?" She spoke, her head leaning forward towards him, single ear turned back as she wondered where he had been going with that sentence before deciding against his words. If she was ever going to be able to forgive him and trust him again, it would mean holding nothing back.

the biggest fire they've ever seen

She sat down but the Queen of the Willows looked anything but content. It wasn't good, but clearly this was a start and some improvement was far better than none. Hesitantly, Elias sat down and-out of habit- used tail to cover his hind bird-foot. If they were on equal footing, so to speak, then perhaps this would go better. Either way, standing around in the cold was hardly comfortable, sitting was always going to be the more appealing option.

At her question he paused and his gaze flickered up to the canopy above, with it's bare, drooping branches He imagined that in the warmer months it would be be so dark in these parts, with all the foliage covering up the sky. The wolves of Willow Ridge didn't seem to be the sort that slunk around in the shadows and yet Ravenna's mother had chosen to claim them as her own. He couldn't help but wonder why.

Really though, Elias was just dodging the question. Looking for an excuse to think of anything else but the words he'd elected not to say. Denying her wouldn't get Elias very far, he knew that, but at the same time he was skittering dangerously close to topics he had no desire to approach. Would she press the issue, make him speak of it? Looking back down at her and those steely grey eyes made him think that yes, she would make him speak. That she would perceive his silence as a sign of his guilty conscience.

"I have... I am-" He started, then stopped, his ears flicking to his skull as his frustration and discomfort grew. His shoulders hunched as his eyes creased around the corners, like the sunlight was too bright, too much to bear."I've been in a situation like that before, it all got out of hand and they started fighting. People died."His voice cracked, as though someone was pushing down on his throat. Hard, just as Savion had done to his cousin, to his uncle.

It was all too much. If Elias kept this up he was going to cry, his glassy eyes said as much.

(This post was last modified: Feb 25, 2018, 08:59 PM by Elias.)

and with a spark its going to be
Elias sat down with her then, hesitating to speak at he looked over the view behind her. He stumbled on his words, uncomfortable and nervous. It annoyed Ravenna. She was not in the mood to play games and his inability to speak what was on his mind knawed at her. Finally, he spoke, what little he could, his eyes glassy, an obvious pain at the subject. She shifted uncomfortably, fighting with a need to comfort the man she had considered her friend or to spat at him for letting his past weaken his future.

Ravenna remembered the day they had met when Elias was out looking for his friend. He had said that his home back in the tundra was a bit of a mess. Had also said that some bad wolves had attacked his family and that was how he had lost some of his toes. For the most part she had been able to put the pieces together and still today wondered that when he found the wolf he was looking for, if he would go back to the chaos. Ravenna could only imagine the wolf before her had seen his fair share of warfare. He was a big man and could surely hold his own but it was obvious he was a gentle giant. She had to wonder just how similar the events in his home land compared to what happened with his pack and her own now. Ravenna, however, had no intentions of having a blood war with her brother's pack even if she knew she could not trust his mate nor his members to be reliable allies.

She wondered then, what he would have done should a fight have started. Would he have done something to try and stop it or would he let fear and cowardice get in the way? With growing up around men like Sven, Angier, Greer and Skoll, Elias delicate nature was an odd and rare feature to her and now, after what had happened, she couldn't decide if it was a good thing or a bad thing. "It's like we've been cursed somehow..." Ravenna then spoke with a sigh. "The bigger our family gets, the more it seems to divide. I had always been told that the Archers of Torbine were very lawful wolves. Rough-asses, cold sometimes... But they followed things by the books. Too many of us now are far more chaotic for their own good. Starting drama, disrespectful of rank and borders, not thinking things through, think just cause their Archers they can do as they please without consequence... " She shut her mouth only when she realized she was rambling a bit, ranting on about what was fat beyond her to be able to change.

the biggest fire they've ever seen

(This post was last modified: Feb 26, 2018, 08:03 PM by Ravenna.)

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