Dead Empress Backwater Humpty Dumpty had a great fall [s]

For @Viorel only please. Nash has come to deliver news of Sephrina's death and Isla's disappearance. Dated late evening 2/21

He'd left that night, after doing what little he could to help... clean up, he supposed, even if the words felt foul even in his own mind. It weighed upon him like a cougar upon his back, that their neighbor's child had come to the Cove in good faith and died - drowned, in the very waters that had brought so many of them life the past summer. Sephrina had died, and Isla was nowhere to be found. Nash couldn't justify waiting to find the girl before bringing this news to her father. He deserved to know, and he deserved to know now.

As leader of the pack, Nash would deliver this news himself. He was responsible for their guests, and he had failed so tremendously he wouldn't blame Viorel for ripping him to shreds here and now. He couldn't even fathom what he would do if one of his children had died during the exchange. He would rip apart the whole world, if only he might have a chance at saving them.

So he'd slipped away by himself and made the journey down the mountainside, hardly stopping to rest until he reached the Backwater's borders. Without stopping to think about what he might say any further, Nash tilted his head back and let out a slow, mournful call to Viorel - and only Viorel. The warning to others who might answer was clear in his voice.

This was to be a conversation between leaders, between fathers.

(This post was last modified: Mar 04, 2023, 03:10 AM by Viorel.)

It was late, and the Valle man was surprised to hear anyone calling at their borders, let alone such a sad call. Thankfully Viorel was often awake this late and he could only assume what it meant. Sighing he turned his tail towards Nash’s voice, what had his daughters done? Certainly a call like this meant they were being returned to him early after some major discretion. Had they fought one of the other children? Said something horrendously offensive? Get caught sneaking out and putting their agemates in danger? He could only imagine.

He had so much faith in the adults of the pack to keep them all safe, what really happened was not even a thought. He had no knowledge of bears hibernating in mountain caves, or how deep lakes never really freeze all the way, or that just hours ago his daughter’s chest was being cracked by a wolf desperately trying to bring her back. If only this blissful ignorance could go on forever.

He got to the border with an apologetic grin adorning his face. He was ready to grovel for whatever they had done, when he noticed Isla and Sephrina weren’t by his side. He stopped walking, looking questioningly to Nash. What is this?

Nash had hurried, because if it were his child he'd want the news as soon as possible, but perhaps he'd hurried too fast. He'd turned what was usually a two day journey into nearly half that. He'd had no sleep for two days, and he hadn't prepped what to say, and now Viorel was stopped before him, giving him a cautious but curious look. The fellow leader clearly knew something wasn't right, but there was no way he could be prepared for the news Nash was about to deliver...

The leader of the Cove had never been good with words. Perhaps he should have sent Chan ahead to tell Vi and brought the body with Auburn himself. Chan was a much better emissary. But this was better news given father to father (although he supposed Chan was that, too) and leader to leader. Even if Nash didn't have the words to land the blow softly.

There was no soft way to land this blow.

"Vi..." he said slowly, almost breathlessly, before having to take a deep breath and force himself to look Viorel in the eyes. "There was... an accident. A bear woke up early... it chased Sephrina onto the ice." He swallowed. Each word grew harder to speak as he watched the father's face. The look in his eyes. "I'm so sorry. We tried everything."

He bowed his head, ears drooped and tail dragging on the ground. Viorel had trust him with his children, and he had failed so spectacularly. It took several more moments before Nash could raise his head enough to say, "Chan is bringing her back here so she can be buried with her family, in her home."

Something really strange was going on with Nash. It was like he couldn’t look him in the eye and his voice sounded breathless as if he had sprinted here. Jesus christ, his daughters must have done something really terrible, and yet they weren’t here being returned to him. Suddenly he felt frozen in the green gaze, not knowing what was about to happen but having a deep sense of dread at the expression in those eyes.

Then everything shattered down around him. An accident, a bear, Sephrina. He had just lectured the girls about safety on the ice after her last fall through when Vayko had fished her out. No, there was no way. Anger flashed across his expression and he was about to accuse the other leader of trying to pull off such an awful joke. Because it had to be a joke, none of this could be real. How much more was he expected to lose?

Then anger faded away into an expression of fatigue that no amount of sleep would ever be able to cure. His voice was hollow, ”Thank you. For bringing her home.” But, more than one child had gone onto the mountain. Yellow eyes lifted to look at Nash again, ”Did Isla come with you or is she with Chan?” He just needed to see their faces, Isla safe and sound and Sephrina. He needed Sephrina to be laid to rest with grandma Katna and Walleye and Inger. A gravesite growing larger all the time.

The shifting emotions in Viorel's face were expected, but soon the rage faded into that hollow grief. It would have hurt less had he raged against him, screamed and blamed or even attacked him. Anger was easier for Nash to handle than this emptiness that had consumed half his pack. Consumed his wife, was threatening to consume him. He wanted to know what to say.

He was nodding and about to explain Of course we're bringing her home when Vi asked the dreaded question: where was his other daughter?

This was almost as, if not more, difficult to say than Sephrina's death. One child dead, the other missing. "We... Can't find her," he admitted, head and ears hanging low in shame. "Chan saw her run but was so focused on saving Sephrina..." he didn't blame his brother for Isla's disappearance. She must have been terrified. "We're looking for her like we did our own children. We'll find her, Vi," he promised, looking up at him again. "We haven't abandoned her. We'll bring her home."

Lots of swearing in this one

They. Couldn’t. Find. Isla. Now the rage was back, and this time it didn’t simmer away so quickly like it had before. Viorel’s yellow eyes were suddenly ablaze as the salt and pepper hackles stood on end, bristly along his spine. His whole body felt hot, he couldn’t think straight. Claws dug into the snow underneath him as he stared at the other leader completely silent for a long time.

Finally he spoke. His voice started off low, threatening, ”Eight.” It was all he said and then he was silent again for a minute, tail whipping behind him in fury. His teeth grit together, clenched even as he talked, ”We kept eight of your pack’s children safe, healthy, and fuck I think they were even happy.” He spat out, ”EIGHT!” He turned as if to walk away trying to compose himself.

But he couldn’t.

Spinning back to face Nash his voice was cold, ”I am happy Chan will be here tomorrow. I really am.” He took a step closer, ”Because once he drops Sephrina home back to us. Where we will have to BURY HER I don’t ever want to see a Cove wolf around here.” This time he actually spat at the dark man, ”We aren’t allies, fuck, if you don’t find Isla you can consider us enemies.” He was seconds away from lunging, from trying to tear Nash apart so he sidestepped. He couldn’t fight him, not with his girls still gone.