Oooh, Aro's in trouble now! D< Also, Jaz is away until Monday, so it shouldn't be too long a wait. XP
Wc: 1071

In truth, Ghita had thought that she'd be less worried than her mate. Well, visibly anyways. Instead, the timber fae seemed to have aged overnight, of course spending a sleepless night sitting on the porch outside. The agouti mother had never experienced anything in the realm of this before, and the fearful possibilities had begun to creep in with the darkness of night. How different the descent of the light-giving orb could be, depending on the company. It couldn't have been all too long ago that her son and the mother lay beneath the stars, wondering just how the world worked in happy harmony. But even that seemed a distant memory as her baby boy multiplied in size and temperament, and the situation had drastically changed.


As soon as the first stars emerged, so did her first fears. What if he had tried taking down a bear by himself? Remembering the first time Ghita had tried to teach her son hunting, big prey like bears had been prevalent on his mind. Even the huntress needed at least one other wolf with her to take down the massive mammal - had Aro relied on size and strength alone? Trying to fight of the anxiety was like stabbing a gigantic enemy in the dark that was twice as fast as you were; it would always move away, attacking some other part of you before you had fully recovered.


Just before dawn broke, the fae finally gave in to her anxieties and set off to track her son's scent. She was a huntress, after all, and in theory the activity hadn't seemed too challenging. Ever since her romp with Alder, her walking stick had gone missing, and so Ghita had shifted to Secui form to track her son. It had taken her the better part of the day, but she'd tracked him across the ethereal eclipse plains, and all the way to Dahlia de Mai's territory.


The mother felt like a failure. Somehow, she had let her baby son fall into the paws of a pack who had barely come out of a war a few months ago! Who knew what the Dahlians could be up to - she knew no one from that pack, only that her friend Anslem had been a part of Inferni, on the opposite side of the war. Pacing just behind the border, for once Ghita listened to rational thought, and made the trek back to her manor running, ignoring the stabbing pain that birthed from her leg every time weight was placed on it. Every stab of pain felt was one less until she reached the Manor. Hopefully then she could talk to Savina and Anu, and maybe she could convince the high-ranking females that a trip would need to be taken over to Dahlia de Mai - a formal visit to reclaim Ghita's son - who, for all she knew, was held prisoner.


The injured female, unbeknownst to her, was only a few minutes behind her son in traveling. She had taken a different route - a shorter route, back to the manor, so although her son had left earlier, they had both taken different paths to arrive at the manor within minutes of each other. The fae's turquoise optics were blazing with fear and fury as her body stretched and convulsed, her limp badly pronounced, now. Her ears lay flat against her head now, out of the tempest of emotion that was ravaging her body - all in all, she was a fearsome sight. But to those who knew her, like her mate and son, they would be able to see beyond the angry facade to see the quaking fae who had truly been scared to the bone.


As she ran, she had refused to think of the possibilities that could have befallen her son at Dahlia de Mai. Instead, she went over what she would say to Anu and Savina as soon as she entered the Manor and assembled a meeting. She had never been an eloquent speaker, but she knew that this speech, and their speed, might save her son's life. Ghita could not make any mistakes. In her heart, she knew that Savina would be moved by her plea, and would probably want to act just out of love for her nephew, but the ebony sister was bound by chains to her pack, and could only act in their best interest.



Whatever Savina would decide to do or not do, Ghita knew that she would charge down Dahlia's borders to go after her son, even if she died doing it. Nothing could defeat a mother's love, or rage, especially once they had been combined.


But the fates swooped in to intervene, luckily preventing a possible war between the two packs, and the agouti female stopped as her senses were assaulted by her son's scent. Unable to, no, unwilling to fathom what state her son would be in, as his scent was fresh, the fae instead kept running, until she reached the manor, and saw her son's large frame nearing the doorway.


All emotions melted away from her, and Ghita simply began to shake. Running on shaking legs, she half-crashed half-tackled her son, muzzle seeking out his fur, her son's fur, to reassure her that her son was alright. That he hadn't been taken prisoner or beaten, and he was in perfect health. Lying there for a few endless moments before standing up, a change had come over the mother, and her eyes once again sparkled with rage. But this time, the rage was directed at her son, for the mistake he had made in worrying the two parents nearly to death.


Standing up, all the while saying nothing, she turned her head up towards the stairwell, where she hoped her mate would be, and called out to him with only a hint of the razor-sharp edge of anger in her voice. "Jazper? He's back." Scrambling for the air that had deserted her, the mother's breath was ragged with relief and exhaustion, and the fae limped over to a chair, something to take the weight off of her leg. Ghita was limping more than Aro had ever seen her limp, that she knew, but she barely cared. All she cared about was that her son was home, and the parents would have to teach him a lesson that they had missed out on.

SO, SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG! DX
Wc: 1150

Ghita had never expected to feel such a flurry of emotion ever again after her traumatic miscarriage and Carlo’s betrayal. The fae had gone, from just over a day, from feeling as if her life was nearly perfect, with the exception of her leg which had taken over the majority of her thoughts, to the unbearable, unending worry which had consumed her after Aro’s disappearance. And then, finally, relief beyond any horizon she had experienced before once his tuxedoed frame meandered into view. But the positive emotion wouldn’t last forever, and now it was time to deal with her wayward son.


To be completely honest, Ghita wasn’t terribly surprised to see her mate leap onto her son, but couldn’t help but flinch and let her ears pin back against her head to see her son pinned under the massive male. When she stared into Jazper’s yellow optics, she could see the mate she knew and loved – the man who was only acting out of pure terror from the possibility of losing his son. Ghita hadn’t been the only one to lose family members – and now the family, in it’s own, warped way, was saying all that they wished they could say to those that had left them, if they had come back.


The hidden message surfacing in Ghita’s eyes, if it could be spotted behind her mask of anger and hurt, was one that spoke volumes. ‘We missed you. We worried about you. You frightened us so badly to the core that we thought we would never see you again. You will never know that pain until you have your own children, but we would never wish it upon you.’ She hadn’t realized it before now, but staring at her mate and son squaring off against each other, the mother hadn’t seen how much her son had grown up in comparison to Jazper – he was growing up quickly. If he wasn’t already, Aro would soon be taller than Ghita herself.

”You expected us to worry and yet you didn’t care, did you.” Ghita was playing the ice queen in this match, mixed with Jazper as the king of fire. Her anger was the more subtle, biting rage that would linger long after the incident. Her words positively dripped with ice shards that stabbed at their heart strings, her hurt tone barely audible beyond the hostility. ”You listened, and yet you felt that our rules didn’t apply to you, that you could just break them as you pleased.”


As she spoke, the fae had risen onto her own three paws, still holding her injured one away from any weight. But that didn’t detract from Ghita’s anger in the slightest, nor did it hinder her smoldering, frightening appearance. He is damned who is one to enrage a mother, or endanger her child; No more was that statement true than in this moment.


Watching her son with a turquoise gaze that could make anyone squirm if the gaze was met, she listened to his story, knowing that she could fill in some of the missing blanks herself. Although she was surprised that her son had been playing the Good Samaritan over at Dahlia de Mai of all places, that didn’t change the past twenty-four hours. And, to be completely honest, it mollified her anger slightly, knowing that at least some values had sunk in to her son’s thick skull.


Even though for now her anger and hurt would take centre stage, the mother would eventually look upon this moment with pride – knowing that her son had recognized someone who had needed his help, and had done the right thing in the end. But Ghita still hadn’t spent her anger up yet, and when Aro glared at her and snapped at his parents, this time the mother was the one to react in the more violent manner.


Propelling herself forward on her three good legs, she stopped right in front of Aro, teeth gnashing inside her ebony lips. There was a spark of madness flitting in her turquoise optics, one that shouted to Aro that he had crossed a line with her in that statement. ”Yes, Aro, you are physically fine – that should make it all better, shouldn’t it?!” She was beginning to shout now, the words she birthed positively drenched in anger and sarcasm. ”Guess what, boy – life isn’t like that. Let me tell you where he was, Jazper – in Dahlia de Mai. Yes, Aro, I tracked you there. Did you think we just sat here twiddling our thumbs while you decided that you were ‘too cool’ to hang around here? There was a pack WAR just a few months back – did you think of that? Did you think at all!? Did you think that your ‘good deed’ could be interpreted as trespassing on another wolves’ territory, and kidnapping their member?”


Breathing heavily, her statements had taken most of the more intense anger out of her, and she continued on in a low tone, intended to scare and intimidate, but just as much to inform her son what drastic consequences his actions could’ve – and still could – have. ”When I found your scent at the border of Dahlia de Mai, what did you think I thought? A hostile pack taking you across it’s borders… had they kidnapped you? Surely he couldn’t be so incredibly STUPID as to cross the border WILLINGLY! We taught you better than that! So, assuming that you had been taken over, what would’ve happened? Your aunt is the leader of this pack, Aro – we would’ve sent a full-on patrol to get you back, possibly starting another war between the packs. Did you ever think of that? If I had been a few seconds ahead of you, there would be a war.”


Now she began pacing in front of her son, everything from her posture to her tone indicating that if Aro wanted to match Ghita’s piercings, he should definitely interrupt her right about now. ”You’re probably thinking ‘phew, good thing that didn’t happen. I’m in the clear now.’ But here’s another lesson for you – what do you think Dahlia de Mai’s leaders will think once they smell your scent all over their land? They’ll probably want retribution – and I can guarantee they won’t come over to thank you. If anything comes of this – any trouble for this pack at all, it’s on your head.”


Taking a couple of steps backwards, she turned her back on Aro after one lingering, piercing glare, before moving towards her ebony mate once more. They appeared to be a unified front, a wall of angry family who were simply lashing out of pain for the perceived loss of their son. Aro had done wrong, and the way the world worked was that he’d have to pay for it. And now, this was the judgment day.

Now I feel like a horrible person. XD I am absolutely not going to lie, your post made me tear up. TT-TT We can haz make-it-all-better thread, yesyes? D: Btw Ghita's out at the end of this post to correspond with another thread I had before this one ended. ^^; Also, let me know if Ghita can actually 'ground' Aro... XD;
Wc: 864

Once Ghita began her railing on her son, she was unable to stop. All of the anxiety, anger, fury, worry, and hopelessness that had descended on her moments earlier, extending from the time that Aro went missing until now just balled up and rolled on out, her emotions in the driver's seat, Ghita unable to employ the brakes. She saw her son's shoulders slump, she saw him hurt desperately, but it was almost as if she saw it from a distance. Didn't he understand what he had done to her? To Jazper? He was an immature brat - he had proved this by going to Dahlia de Mai, disobeying his parents, and even now, but he would never understand his mother's anguish. Maybe, one day, if he ever sired pups and showed half the amount of love that Ghita felt for her own son, maybe he'd be able to understand her right now.

Maybe.


When her son - her son, her flesh and blood and one of the three wolves who meant more to her than the entire world put together began to snarl at her, a more rational Ghita would've stepped back and calmed herself down. A more rational Ghita would've stopped her rant and punished him for that, right there. But it wasn't a rational Ghita in charge right now - a blast from the past of the headstrong, fiery woman that Ghita had been before mellowing in Crimson Dreams had taken her place. She had begun panting, now, flanks heaving with both the emotional and physical exertion that she had been put through. And her panting was only made worse as Aro began to talk back at her, returning her emotions tenfold.


As much as she wished that she could deny it - Aro was right. No matter what Aro or Sophia did, from now until the mother took her last, dying breath, their actions would be firmly planted on her shortcomings. What she had or hadn't taught her children. What they did or didn't think of the world. And until now, the agouti fae had thought she was doing a good job raising her pups - even though she was a first-time mother, she wasn't all bad. But it was the tiny voice of doubt that returned, that whispered in her ears that what was unfolding in front of her now was all the mother's fault. But now his rebellion surfaced, and the fae who moments before had been panting had settled into an icy sort of calm, the one right before the wave of emotion hit. "You. Will. Not. You, Aro, are grounded, and are not to leave Crimson Dreams' territory or go beyond Tallermein's cottage for a fortnight. If you break this, so help me, your punishment will not be on my shoulders nor your father's or your aunt's, but your pack leaders'."


This statement hung in the air as Aro took a bold step towards her, the fae pinning her ears back and letting out a feral snarl towards her kin. In handing over judgement to Savina, as the pack leader, she was methodically eliminating any soft-heartedness that a Marino might have towards the rebel rule breaker, and would make sure that Aro was treated as any wayward juvenile might be.



The mother did her best to listen to her son for now, recognizing that the situation was falling - and fast - but his last glare towards him was the last straw. Rising to her paws once more, the fae glared at her son, all the while gliding towards him the best her injured leg could allow. "Even better. You don't go pick on some random girl in a pack fresh out of a war, you go after the Leader's Daughter. Do you think he'd thank you for looking after his daughter? All he'll know is that his daughter was in trouble, and for whatever reason YOU were there! I'm not being irrational, Aro - this is the world. It isn't affected by 'shoulds' and 'well, I thought he was understanding, but whoops - I guess I'm wrong!'. You were being irrational and idiotic in crossing the borders. Do rational wolves fight in wars? Do you even have an idea how the war started, or are you throwing around random garble that you have no clue about?"


Throwing her son a look that would be affective in silencing a lesser wolf, she now stood to the left side of him, her shoulder matched up with his. Glaring at him with turquoise eyes which once had been so warm and loving turned icy cold, there was only a hint of regret behind her eyes, without the slightest waver in her voice. "Jazper, you deal with him. I can't even be around you right now, Aro." Shaking her head, she let her cranium dip slightly towards the ground, in nothing mimicking a subordinate's manner, but a statue of a wolfess with the weight of the world on her shoulders. Ignoring her son now, she stalked out of the doorway, careful to let it slam just after her mate could see the tears brimming in the bottom of her saddened, broken eyes.