In this cold I can see my breath.

Orin Takekuro · 01-29-2012, 01:03 AM

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She spoke of Niro and a spark of recognition ignited in the dark male. He said something to her that made her perk up then and there, a wide smile brimming on her muzzle as delighted golden eyes shone on him. “Yes! That's him! He raises birds. Oh, I bet he had Marahute with him. That was his first one, I still remember when he first got her egg. That eagle's been with him since before she hatched.” She turned her eyes back to the forest but the smile didn't fade. “That's funny. Small world.”

She couldn't help the disappointment that was clear on her features, that smile now faltering, as he said that this wasn't their den. She supposed it would be awfully close to the borders if it was, which wouldn't be a very strategically placed den. That close and they would be far too vulnerable to invaders. Deeper into the lands, making it a longer journey for trespassers to reach, was a much safer place for the pack to sleep.

It was a good thing that listening to her list of problems wasn't bothering him, because she had more on the docket and for some reason the man's presence made her feel comfortable, and things just came out. Not that Orin was ever known to be skimpy on words or anything, but far more had she told this man about herself than she would have told any common stranger.

Their foot paws made satisfying crunching sounds in the snow as they walked, and Orin paid attention to them for several paces. ...the best way to be rid of the dark is to speak of it. You will always have a trustworthy confidant in me.. The words he spoke sank in deep and took little contemplation, rather they spoke purely to her soul. She didn't even know what she planned to say, she just said it.

“There's a lot of darkness that I've never talked about,” she said, her voice low but it sounded like she was trying to be nonchalant about it. “A lot happened when my children were born. Did Titania ever tell you about her brother?” She glanced to Zalen's face, and then turned back to the forest. “There were three in her litter; three that would have survived. Can you believe Titania was my 'runt'? She wasn't much of an actual runt, she wasn't sick or weak at birth or anything, just the smallest of the three. Anyway, the boy's name was Demetrius, they were my little Shakespeare babies.” She chuckled softly to herself, though for all she knew Zalen didn't even know who Shakespeare was. “They were all healthy, they all would have lived, but somebody stole Demetrius in the night and... well you're a smart man, you can figure out the rest.” He probably knew, anyway.

“I ran from the pack with the girls, it was the only way to keep them safe or he would have come back for them, too. Everybody knows about this, everybody in d'Arte knows. I was gone for months but when I came back clearly everyone thought it was best not to bring it up, as if I'd somehow forgotten about what happened or something. Hmmff. No, they just wanted to avoid an awkward situation, avoid hurting me, I guess.”

“But it came down to that... never really stamping out the evil he did because everybody was to glad to have it over that they never realized his evil was still spreading, even after the man was destroyed.” Jace... a godsend...

“What no one knows is that there was another man, too, who attacked me. I was a day in the woods, just after my son's murder, and I was cleaning up in the river when he found me. Kept calling me 'dove'. Either he didn't know the girls were in the brush, or he didn't care. I can't imagine a man like that not hurting them if he'd known, though. I didn't want to bring any attention to them, so...” her voice became monotone as she related the story – the story that she had never told anyone before. It was almost like she was reciting something she had read rather than experienced. “I let him do whatever he wanted, to keep his attention on me. In the end it worked, the girls remained safe, and that's all I ever wanted.”

“That's how I found out Taliesin had a rotten soul, that man was his father. His name was Lucifer,” her eyes turned to Zalen, and the next person she mentioned she didn't know he would know, too. “There was a wolf in Phoenix Valley – where I hid out for a while – his name was Noah. He visited d'Arte just a few weeks ago and told me this, and I trust his word.”

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