12-04-2007, 04:10 PM
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Why did the other packs continue to tolerate Inferni after all the trouble they’d caused? Certainly, coyotes had just as much a right to claim land and live communally as wolves did if they wanted to. But how could they expect to have their rights respected when they didn’t even respect the rights of the other packs? They had driven Syemv out of their home, harbored murderers and rapists, and who knew what else. Genocide was practically unthinkable to Phoenix, but what would he ever do if Gabriel ever decided to pit the can against his pack? If it came down to a choice between the pack that had never harmed anybody or the clan that accommodated every known vice, would they help Storm? By now he was all-too familiar with the details of the Inferni-Clouded Tears war from the memories he’d gleaned from Iskata. He didn’t want that madness reoccurring with his own pack, not if he could help it. At Laruku’s character observation Phoenix merely grunted in agreement. He’d only met the leader of Inferni once but that unpleasant experience, plus his reputation and the deeds he’d done to Iskata were all the details Phoenix needed to know about him. He didn’t trust Gabriel and he never could. “A while back they nearly killed Naniko,” he told Laruku. He’d never met the girl personally but she already played a big role in his life, in more ways than one. “A member of Storm named Skoll fought t’save her life, but practically th’whole clan ganged up on him. When he injured a couple adolescents tryin’ t’get away Gabriel came lookin’ for trouble. Gibraltar banned Skoll, but it was a decision I didn’t agree with. Skoll’s back in th’lands now, an’ when I offered t’let him back into Storm Gabriel heard about it somehow an’ came t’threaten me.” He hadn’t let the threats intimidate him outwardly, but it was clear looking back on that night that Phoenix was outmatched in terms of political experience. And it didn’t help that now he had to wonder where his gamma’s loyalties lay. All Phoenix had wanted to do was help his friend… and he’d almost made a royal mess of things. |