The Lost Queen
#1
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OOC This ended up much longer than originally intended but I had a lot of ground to cover. (Bwahaha pun intended.) The rest will be more manageable. 700+

.: Noonish - South of Packlands - Titania in Optime :.


Nearly a week had gone by since she had woken up with no recollection of who she was or what had happened to her. There had been evidence that she had been wandering for a while, and one of the many questions she had was if she had known who she was when she had been traveling, too, or if the whole time she couldn’t remember. But if that was the case, if she didn’t recall wandering off, then why was she remembering now? It made no sense. What had happened… why wouldn’t that wolf tell her what had happened… if he was her father then he should have given her an explanation, but all he told her were vagaries of her past and said that if she wanted to know more then she would have to come home.

Home… home… home?

Well she didn’t even know where that was. Home was a place that you returned to at the end of a long day to seek comfort and solace, but there would be no comfort and no solace in a place that she could not even remember. The thought of going back there, after knowing who she was supposed to be to those people, was terrifying. The man who said he was her father had almost convinced her to return, but at the last minute she would have none of it, and as soon as they were close enough to catch the scent of New Dawn she fled. Titania had been on her own ever since.

After fleeing Shawchert and New Dawn, she returned to the only place that was familiar to her, the Wabanaki Coast, where she had awoken as this confused, lost young wolf the same day she ‘first’ met her father. She desperately sought some kind of familiarity, but the marshes where she had come to held no love for her. Despite having woken up in this place, it was not a home, so the lone wolfess began roaming. Days passed by, and the loneliness of her isolation seeped into every fiber of her being. The only reason she even bothered to hunt was because it was one instinct that she could satisfy. If she did not have a pack, at least she could track prey, though without a group behind her she was unable to bring down any larger game.

It was hunting that she was doing today, when she skirted so close to the Nomad lands. Tired of plodding along on the forest floor to lunge after meat that scurried away just before her nose, Titania had shifted into her bipedal form and taken to the trees. She did not know how or why she knew to climb, but it second nature, and up in the pines there was a whole new type of hunting to be had. Here she could harvest nuts, which got her by whilst she stalked a nest.

Low in the branches of a sturdy tree, the snow-and-silver woman gazed with golden eyes through the leaves at a teeming nest, a fat mother pigeon warming her eggs. She licked her chops as she slowly, carefully inched forward along the branch, leaving the safety of the tree trunk to creep down a branch. She was not near the nest, but if she was quick enough…

Something triggered her to lunge, and with a great leap she soared from one tree to the next, clawed hands grasping for the bird that would soon take flight. There was a squeal from the pigeon and then an explosion of feathers, and then the rustling of leaves and branches as Titania landed on a sturdy limb… empty handed.

“Damn!” she grumbled, until she turned around and saw the unattended nest. The mother pigeon may have taken flight, but left behind in the straw bed were three glistening eggs. That could serve to stave off her appetite for a little while.

Titania grabbed the entire nest and dropped from the tree, and that was when she caught the scent that made the fur on the back of her neck prickle beneath her wildfire mane. She had come close to a pack… perhaps too close… instinct told her that it would not be good if she had crossed the border, especially not if it was while she was on a hunt. Twisting around, she jogged out of the copse and into a clearing, eyes focusing to the noonday light as she breathed a sigh of relief. Good, she thought, I don’t think I crossed…


Image courtesy of mourner@Flickr; table by the Mentors!

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#2
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ooc: Sorry for the delay dear.

The days slipped by in a blur. One seamlessly after the other upon the return of the Nomad Shepard and Lambda. Routine became the substitute for normality, but how it was before leaving would not be the same again. The dynamic had shifted causing a rift that few could see. Only the perceptive would notice the change in the Issor's demeanor when it came to her fellow Issum. The quiet rage brewing behind amber eyes each time she looked at him but brandished a smile. The hardly noticeable change in berth between them when they walked together, patrolling as they often did. Had any been aware of how she came to despise him, they would have to question if that assumption were true. The difference was subtle to the watchful eye, but it was there.

This difference had pulled her from the den early in the morning with Zeus in tow. Forgoing the patrol, she instead guided the pup to the borderlines to continue his lessons regarding the pack and their practices. There was no change in her voice. The soft, endearing octaves remained as she conducted his lessons, reciting alongside him the procedures for greeting strangers both friendly and other. She would mark the border with a fresh scent and encourage the little one to do the same, instilling in him the practice so that in time he would be able to do the same despite his impairment. More so than ever she was encouraged to work with him, if not only for his benefit, then for hers...to give her mind something else to think on before she was made to handle the situation sitting idle in the back of her mind.

The slip into her own thoughts were detoured when the little voice of her charge piped up, calling attention to the disturbance in the trees. If the screech of a frightened bird was not enough, then the creak and bend of the trees certainly caught her attention. Especially as the sound was emanating so close to the territory. Looking to her charge, she sounded softly for him to follow her steps and keep low, keeping her tail just within his reaching distance to keep him in the right direction. Her own formidable body was poised against the ground, trailing red locks accented with the black and gold vulture feathers as she prowled. Her eyes were sharp to the grounds around them and nose quivered inquisitively. She halted suddenly and felt the pup bump into her back leg and again growled for him to be still. Something had fallen...too heavy to a bird, and the scent the graced her open nostrils was too like her own to ignore. Lupine...but with a familiar scent. The kind that triggered a long preserved memory.

And as she peered cautiously above the brush and thatch, she spied the body of white just near their home... X'yrin burst from the brush. "Titania!" she exclaimed excitedly and went barreling for the woman. She did not think on why the woman was there, only that she was. And she thought of Zalen and how happy he would be to know his mate was not lost.

533 words.

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#3
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OOC And now my turn, sorry for the delay. I typically can't get on to post on the weekends. Smile 400+


Maybe she hadn’t breeched any borders but the coast wasn’t clear. Just as she was about to enjoy a sigh of relief she heard the sound of rustling brush, and her ears perked just a second before her head jerked up to see an autumn colored woman barreling her way. She was so startled that she jumped and dropped the bird’s nest, eggs smashing to bits of shell and goo at her feet. She backed up quickly, putting her hands up defensively, apologetically. She did not want to fight, and she was not even really sure if she knew how; she couldn’t remember getting into any scraps before… she also couldn’t remember climbing trees, but she seemed to be pretty good at that. Still, this was not the ideal way to discover if she had any combat skills.

“I… I’m sorry!” She blurted quickly as she glanced over her shoulder to see if there was anyone coming up from behind. She didn’t see any others there, but that didn’t mean that the coast was clear. Still, if she had to flee, she would have to go that way. “I didn’t mean to get so close.” Her golden gaze flicked down to see the pup that accompanied the woman. Oh no, not only did it seem she had threatened a pack’s borders, but it also looked like she had piqued the woman’s maternal instinct.

Her foot paw clipped a fallen branch in her haste and she fell over backwards, landing with an oof in the grass. She would have scrambled back to her feet but the woman was nearly on her now. That was when she realized she said the name… the same name that the wolf Shawchert had called her… Titania

“No, I’m not her,” she explained quickly, pushing herself up on her hands. If the woman was attacking she could have had a good hold on her by now, but for some reason she held off. Was Titania one of her friends or an enemy? Oh, how dearly she hoped she was a friend right now. But in that case, which story was better? Should she try to be Titania, or should she tell the truth? Well, it was too late now. “I only look like her! I’ve heard that name before and it’s just a mistake, it’s all a mistake. I wasn’t poaching, I just lost track of where I was. I swear that nest didn’t come from your lands. Please believe me.” One arm was held out in front of her protectively, and her amber eyes peeked out at X’yrin from behind it. The scent of fear and confusion filled the air around her, and her ears were tilted back, almost completely hidden in her mane. The red-tipped tail would be tucked had she not been sitting on it already.



Image courtesy of mourner@Flickr; table by the Mentors!

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#4
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ooc: Big Grin It's quite alright. No worries.

Her form was that of a charging beast but there was no hostile intent behind it. Only the mirth of one that had seen a familiar face that lost to the circumstances of fate. But a like glimmer was not in the pale woman’s eyes upon seeing the autumn female. There was fear in her eyes, the kind that forced the Nomad to slow and watch with apparent confusion at the odd behavior of the once known Dawn Alphess.

X’yrin did not know what she was seeing…what she was hearing coming from the frightened female. As she tumbled back gracelessly, the Issor sprang before in vain to soften the fall, then quickly backed a stepped when the defensive arm came up before her. Not Titania? Surely the Nomad wasn’t mistaken. Though she had not seen the young female in some time, the scent was still recognized to belong to her. And if that were not enough, the coloring was distinctly the same. This had to be hear…to assume something other would have been denying what was right in front of her.

“Titania…” lowering her head the golden woman whined softly. “Do you not remember me?” A gentle poke to her back leg briefly turned her gaze to the curious pup wiggling his way between her legs to stand within her protective shadow. Assuring his safety with a lick to his muzzle, she looked back to the frightened queen. “I am X’yrin, Titania….your friend. And friend to your mate. He has been worried about you, and I as well. Do you not remember my face?”

262 words.

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#5
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400+

Like a caring flash, X’yrin dashed behind her to soften the fall and ease her to the ground, keeping her from landing on delicate wrists or injuring herself, but it was all happening so fast that she still could not process that X’yrin meant no harm until she had come back around in front of her. If she wanted to punish her for the offense she would have by now, and it was finally dawning on the slow, confused girl that the sudden charging woman was not here to fight.

Her eyes flicked down when she heard a faint noise and saw the pup coming up at the woman’s feet, and she inched back just a bit more to give ample space so there would be no question about whether or not she would harm the child. Golden eyes turned back to X’yrin’s, nothing but clouded worries toiled behind those eyes. Her shoulders relaxed, the and defensive arm dropped as she put a hand to her head as though she had an ache. Slowly, she shook her head, vibrant curls bouncing around her face.

“No I… I don’t remember you,” she said softly, strangely meek for the once powerful, former alpha female. She moved her hand away from her eyes and met X’yrin’s gaze again. “I don’t remember much of anything, or anyone. I don’t know why. A few days ago I woke up in the forest south of here,” she gestured as she spoke, “and I couldn’t remember anything. I mean… I know… I know simple things, like how to talk, and how to hunt, and for some reason how to climb trees, and I keep finding out all these things I can do like I’ve been doing them my whole life, but I can’t remember my life. I don’t even know how old I am!” She was getting worked up, and the last part came out desperate. Hearing herself, she stopped abruptly, her eyes falling to the pup. She hoped she hadn’t scared him.

She took a breath and started again. “The same day I woke up I ran into this broken old wolf who claimed he was my father. He called me Titania, too, but I don’t remember that name. It feels like… like that’s another person. He told me other things, too. Things I… I just can’t believe. But he wouldn’t tell me what happened, and for that I hate him.” She slapped a flat palm on the ground.

“I can’t be this woman. I don’t even know her, I don’t remember her. I just look like her, because if I am her then none of this makes any sense.” She was starting to ramble, and she knew it, and she knew that feeling that was pooling in the pit of her stomach. If she kept talking she was going to bring on the anxiety again. She stopped, a little short of breath, and dropped her gaze.


Image courtesy of mourner@Flickr; table by the Mentors!

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#6
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ooc:

Doubt still clouded the Nomad’s eyes as she listened to the young female’s telling of her ‘awakening’. What she heard did not sound like a normal tale, too farfetched to be made-up, but still she could not wrap her mind around what had become of New Dawn’s queen.

She recalled her conversation with Zalen, how he had been broken by the news of his beloved lost, then found but only with her mind ill in some manner. X’yrin cocked her head in curiosity as she witnessed this true display of vulnerability from a female that once called herself strong-willed and able. Was this the extent of that sickness? Losing the memory of her love and even her father? An unpleasant chill coursed the length of her spine as the woman was suddenly drawn to sit nearly folding down on her lengthy tresses. Upon her face was a dumbfounded expression, but one that felt appropriate given the circumstance. Beneath her, little Zeus stared blindly out to the panicking woman, his ears folded back and tail tucked between trembling thighs as he tilted his nose up seeking his surrogate’s comfort. Feeling the boy’s distress, X’yrin addressed the fallen Alphess.

“Titania…please…” The foster mother stepped forward and placed an assuring umber paw upon a fine, pale limb. “It is alright… I assure you. Be calm. You needn’t let yourself be scared.” She could hear the voice of her Shepard, her father coming from her own with the same, soothing tones he had used on her quite often in her early weeks of life. “Young one…you will make yourself ill.” An ear perked up suddenly as she addressed their difference in age. Perhaps a start toward filling in some of the gaps?

Gently, the Nomad smiled, hoping to abate the growth of anxiety. “I do not know when you were born…but when I met you, you were very young. You had come to the borders of my prior pack with your….with your companion. You were grown as you are now, but your mind was still soft, not yet hardened by experiences. Perhaps…5..6 seasons. Great potential to explore. I saw you again…perhaps in your 7th season…before the ground turned white with snow. You had adapted rapidly to your role as Alpha. You seemed quite suited to it.” But then, her ears lowered, as from then on her telling would revolve around the misfortunes of her old home and the betrayal of whom all she held dear. “I’m afraid after that meeting I hadn’t come to see you again. But I suppose with time passed, that would make you well into your breeding age.” Perhaps not the most helpful of words…but maybe it would be something to act as a distraction to ease her frazzled mind.

460 words.

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#7
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600+

The woman was some kind of blessing, a gentle soul that knew her (or at least a part of her) and could ease her through this turbulent moment, who could remain calm even as the young wolfess panicked. When she called her Titania again she wanted to deny the name once more, but the idea was preposterous; she had seen her reflection in the pond, how could there be another wolf out there who looked like her? To press the issue would be an insult to X’yrin’s intelligence, and right now, insulting this woman was the last thing she wanted to do. Not only because this was her home turf, but because in some little way what she was saying was beginning to help. Her words aided in calming the anxiety that was percolating like magma beneath the surface, and when the paw rested gently, comfortingly on her own hand, Titania relaxed visibly.

X’yrin was right, she would make herself ill. Titania knew she was right because she had done it before, thinking on the anomaly that was herself until the ground began to spin beneath her feet. Often when she let her bewilderment twirl out of control she had to stop whatever she was doing and just sit down lest she get dizzy and stumble and fall. She could not function like that, could not live like that.

Her gaze fell upon the pup who was nestled in the safety of his… mother’s?... legs, and that was when she finally noticed the blind stare. How lost must this child feel, in a world so based on sight yet he could not see? He was braver than she was right now, even sitting there shuddering slightly between X’yrin’s paws he took on the world despite his handicap. Oh yes, he was braver than she.

Her eyes slowly moved from the pup to meet X’yrin’s countenance, and she knew in that moment that she believed everything the Issor said. Everything; from the vague corroboration of Shawchert’s story – she had once been an Alpha - to the educated guess at her age.

“So we were… are friends,” she corrected herself. “Then I should confide in you that I no longer think I could be an Alpha, like I was. I… I don’t feel it. I didn’t believe it at first because I thought there would be a calling within me or something, so I thought it was just a trick. I think that part of me died out with my memories.” Titania was so unsure of everything, but she knew she could not go back to that pack and resume her role as a leader. Perhaps if one day her memories came back to her so would the desire to lead, but for now she was just a lost little girl in a big old world that was poised to swallow her whole.

“The only call I feel is the call for fellowship, but I suppose that is not possible if I have abandoned my people. The worst part is the loneliness. I don’t have a pack now, and I don’t even have a memory to hold on to, no one to dream of during the bitter nights.”

Breeding age… the words ignited a spark within Titania, and for just a moment she looked surprised, as if the thought of puppies had brought her to the fragile edge of a memory, but almost as quickly as it had come, it was gone. “What is the pup’s name?” She asked, somewhat veering off subject as her eyes turned back to the blind child. “He faces a dark world, doesn’t he?”

Image courtesy of mourner@Flickr; table by the Mentors!

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#8
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ooc:

Seeing the young woman calm was an assuring sign that she would be well...at least in the sense of keeping herself from having an attack. Though she could not imagine the inner turmoil that vexed the fallen queen, she could imagine the terror in caused her. The sheer agony of not being able to recall what was in order to move toward the future. But she was trying, and that in itself was a positive light shining within the dark world. If her mind would not allow her to reclaim the past, at the very least instinct was guiding her into the future along the path of living despite the darkness.

Just as the little pup that calmed between her legs.

X'yrin's brows raised when her little one was acknowledged then nodded once to confirm this truth. "Indeed...his world is dark." Beneath her Zeus tilted his head toward his surrogate, stretching his nose to lick her chin. "But Zeus is able to see with sound and smell. He has been learning to better his senses...and have been doing remarkable well." She licked his muzzle proudly. "Perhaps...he could become your friend. Proof that one can prevail even when they are robbed of a part of themselves."

The Nomad lifted returned her kind eyes to the pale woman, smiling softly as she always did. "That call within you, is your instinct seeking life. It is the rebirth of potential reset and ready to be explored. Truly...Titania... I am sorry for what you have lost, but it is not in my culture to mourn for what cannot be helped. Rather, we embrace the new opportunity, learn from what has happened and assist in the betterment of ourselves and others. Perhaps this is your path to better yourself...to begin anew from the remnant of what was. If you need a guide... I would gladly offer my assistance."


313 words.

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#9
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500+

For a moment all attention was still on little Zeus, and feeling a rush of affection for the little one she leaned forward, crawling forward on her hands a bit and stretched out her muzzle toward him. If there was any sign of skepticism from X’yrin she would pull back, but she did not yet read any concern regarding her proximity to the young one. She let Zeus get a good taste of her scent, and the lack of loud sounds would probably tell the pup that she was moving carefully, not hurrying as if to attack. After a moment she gave him a lick on the forehead and then sat back.

“Hello, Zeus. I’m Ti… I’m Titania.” It sounded foreign, her own name, but nothing came to mind that felt any more natural either, and X’yrin was right, she could see no use in mourning the past, especially one you couldn’t remember.

For a moment she stared blankly at the terrain, mind gone far away as she digested the Issor’s prudent words. “If you Zeus can learn to live without his eyes, then I, with a fully working body, can surely learn to live again as well.” She muttered low, mostly speaking to the grasses, and then finally a moment later she looked to X’yrin’s honey eyes.

“You’re so wise, X’yrin,” she said the woman’s name slowly, for it was unfamiliar to her and the other only spoke it once in a moment of surprise. “But you hardly seem to be in your winter years yourself. I could learn a lot from someone like you.” She smiled softly then, a genuine and innocent expression on the mien that had been so bewildered this whole time.

She glanced towards the pack lands, gazing over the borders and into the home of the Nomads. She knew little about them, yet peering over there, knowing what was in there and at the same time hearing X’yrin’s words, and her offer, it was like some invisible creature calling to her very spirit. Her ears perked when she realized what it was X’yrin offered. “You extend your hand to me, but you are of a pack, and no way is someone like you just another wolf among a dozen faces. If I came to you when I was an alpha… and you now live here,” there had been no ‘I am X’yrin, and I am the leader’ discussion between them, but enough had transpired for Titania to put the facts together. If this one was not the leader of whatever land it was that they stood so close to now, then she certainly must be some sort of figurehead.

A hopeful gleam came to her eye, perhaps the first since that fateful day when she had first awoken as a new wolfess. “If you’re offering your guidance do you also mean to offer me a place here?” Though she had never gotten off the ground, she had righted herself much so she had been sitting whilst speaking with the Exultare woman, and the tail that had wriggled out from under her began to make a light swishing sound as it waggled ever so slightly over the grass with her pending excitement.


Image courtesy of mourner@Flickr; table by the Mentors!

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The encounters the ancestors had for the Nomad never ceased to amaze and inspire awe. She never knew what was in store for her next and despite their complications or their strangeness, she was always glad for them. Always hoping for more. And this such meeting she could not give to chance but called it the will of her forebears. To see this moment come to fruition as she played her part and acted according to her teachings and heart. Even amidst the strangeness of it, the Nomad could not help the smile that touched her face.

To be called wise flattered the she-wolf though the acknowledgement to her age even in a respectable sense made her feel a little warm around the neck. Though she did not feel old, the internal ticking was always proceeding, reminding her that her body would not hold out forever. If she were to create life, it need be soon. She hoped it would be soon and what transpired the past few days was not in vain. In recollection she lifted her gaze to Titania, glad that for her own selfish reasons the young female had forgotten her beau.

Thankfully her mind was not allowed to linger long on the past and focused in on the immediate future. The one sat before her. She nodded once in affirmation to confirm with modesty aside that she was not a faceless thing among her Family. She was their guide, their leader. Their Shepard and Issor. No other but one could grant her what the reborn young woman sought. Again as she nodded her head, the strands of her bangs fell loose from their hastily made tie. Tendrils of red adorned with black spilled from her shoulders and lightly feathered the grasses as well as the curious nose peaking from between her forelegs to reach out again for what his eyes could not see, but nose could smell. “If a place within these lands is what you want…if guidance is what you seek,” the pup’s ears flicked back as the Nomad mother spoke. “Then I can grant this to you…so long as you are willing to take this chance fully and do all you can do adopt this new life as your own without regret. Can you do this my friend? Titania?”



385 words.

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