[html] Private. Territory #7
The sun was bright in the morning sky, which was dotted with sparse, small clouds. It was oddly warm for what the weather had been, though not to the point that it would make the day uncomfortable, a true sign that Spring was underway. Rachias, who had risen from her sleep much earlier that morning, had closed in on the borders of Inferni's new lands, dragging her paws along as she walked. The young hybrid had decided the previous night that, if her family wasn't going to help her search for Arkham, then she would do it all on her own. Her plan was to start with the territories closest to Inferni and spreading out from there, hoping that she would find him faster on the off chance that he had settled in somewhere.
The sandy colored girl passed the border without hesitation, heading southeast, straight into the first territory that lined their borders. Soon enough rocky terrain turned to light grass and the area surrounding went from bare to forested. Unlike her lethargic state on previous days, Rachias was alert and attentive, keeping blue eyes wide and large ears lifted forward. She was searching for any little piece of evidence of him, anything that might even make her think that he was around. Of course there was a change that she might not find any trace of him at all, but the girl forced herself not to think about it, kicking along a rock with one front paw as she continued along slowly.
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He found himself sleeping a lot. The nightmares had become more frequent and the laughter was almost constant, but at some point, he had come to realize that they were only dreams and couldn't hurt him any more than everything else already had. The memories were just memories and he had accepted them; throwing the truth around and rubbing it in his face only worked for so long. And so he slept because despite the monsters, it was still an escape -- it was still better than wandering aimlessly around the lonely and unfamiliar forest and thinking about everything he wasn't doing with his so-called life. It was better than thinking about Ahren. Or Tsunami. Or how he should have died in the stupid fire.
It could have been the footsteps that roused him, but it still took him a while to separate himself from his daze and focus on it. Someone was coming in his direction and it was familiar. Laruku half had hoped that no one would ever find him, that they all just went on with their lives believing that he had burned on the other side of the mountain, but it was too much effort to hide and he didn't see the point in trying that much. His daughter appeared from between the trees and the hybrid found himself mildly surprised. Maybe he had forgotten about them. Out of sight, out of mind. He was a horrible father. Rachias?
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[html] Not knowing if Arkham was alright or not wasn't the only thing that had been keeping the hybrid down. He had been the only one that had been on her mind when the fire had started. In her own worry and madness over where he was, Rachias had completely forgotten about the rest of them. Her father, Ahren, they hadn't even been a thought in her mind until the moment Gabriel had told them to treat all wolves as hostile. It was then that she thought about them, wondered if they made it out alive, and then felt bad for not trying to find them sooner. She could have lost them all and just not known it yet. It would have been her luck, really, that she would lose the ones that she cared about and that Andre would end up alive somewhere.
Frowning at the thought, the sandy hybrid continued on her way, weaving in and out through the trees. It wasn't until the faint scent hit her nose that she slowed herself, not until the moment that her name was spoken that she turned her head. Blue eyes searched quickly, seeing him there, just ahead and off to the side a bit. "Dad?" She asked then, quiet, as if waiting for him to confirm that he was really there and not just some image come to haunt her. The girl shuffled forward a few steps, stopped, and adjusted herself so that she was turned toward him. It was him for certain, but he didn't look well and Rachias didn't feel comfortable enough to approach and give him the greeting that she really wanted to.
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He had already forgotten his thoughts during the fire. He could recall exactly what had happened, exactly what he had said and done, but he couldn't remember any of the whys or the exact flow of anything. But he doubted he had really thought about anyone's safety. It was negligence passed off as confidence in everyone else's abilities. He had always, and still did, believe that other people were much more capable than himself and most of the time, they proved him right. They were fine -- they were all fine. Conri and Naniko and Melisande, he had heard all of their cries ring out in the days following the fire; he knew they were already rebuilding. They didn't need him. And neither did Rachias. Gabriel was probably just as crazy as the rest of them, but that didn't stop him from functioning and being able to take care of things and people.
Laruku nodded slightly, Yeah, he confirmed quietly, You're okay. Of course she was. In fact, he wouldn't have been surprised if the coyotes had been the first to leave, to regroup, and to reestablish themselves in this new world. He also wouldn't have been surprised if he had been told that strong and able Gabriel had been the one to start the fire in the first place. How's Inferni? Part of him was genuinely curious, part of him just wanted the conversation. Part of him was laughing his head off.
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[html] Indeed, she was fine. In all actuality though, she felt as if she should have burned to death in that fire searching for Arkham. It was because of Gabriel that she wasn't. Even now she felt that it was Gabriel's fault that Arkham wasn't there and that was without the knowledge that he had started the fire in the first place. Rachias watched him a moment or two more before shuffling forward once again, dragging her paws as she drifted closer to him. The girl stopped only a foot or two away from him and promptly seated herself, wrapping her tail around her body. Even if she didn't look like it or really make an attempt to show it, she was happy that at least he was alive.
"Okay I guess." She answered, sounding less than enthused about it all. "Gabriel found a place to settle everyone in. He told us that all wolves are to be treated as hostile." Her ears laid back at her own words, frowning even more than before. It was something that she didn't like, something that she wouldn't abide by. "I haven't really paid much more attention than that." The girl paused again, eyes on his face before she turned her head away from him, gazing off in the opposite direction. "Arkham isn't with us. I couldn't find him after the fire started and Gabriel drug me off when I tried to go back for him." Her voice cracked, though only a bit, she'd cried so much for her brother that she found she wasn't able to any longer.
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Laruku did not pretend to know his daughter as well as he should, but it was easy to pick up on her lack of enthusiasm and general unhappiness. After all, except for their little spat, the hybrid had only known Rachias as a cheerful, energetic child -- not that she was really a child anymore. They had grown up faster that he could have imagined and... well, it hurt him to wonder how they might all end up. There was an innocence associated with children, even Andrezej, that was being gradually shed now as they entered their adulthood. He mourned the loss of their childhood even if they couldn't mourn for themselves yet. Laruku was a pessimist and a nihilist, but somehow, he felt like he knew they were all set for misery or evil things. It was in their blood.
The tired father picked himself up from where he lay though and approached his daughter to gently nuzzle against her face. He felt cumbersome and awkward with the displays of affection, but they felt necessary and he tried his best (failure, failure, failure). If Arkham is alive, he'll find you. If he isn't, he wouldn't want you to have gotten hurt or died looking for him. He'll be glad you're okay. I'm glad you're okay. And it was true. Maybe some part of him had secretly and subconsciously wished for their demise -- it would have been an erasure of a mistake he then wouldn't have to remember, but. But standing there beside Rachias, none of that really seemed to matter. Still, no one really knew anyway. And he was glad that she was there.
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[html] Ignorance, at least to some extent, seemed to be one of her biggest traits. There were things that she had done, things that she might do, that she simply didn't understand were wrong. If she had stayed with her father perhaps things wouldn't have been that way. There was very little, to her current knowledge, that she could do that would be considered wrong, at least in Inferni. "Kill the wolves." they told her. She'd been lucky to understand on her own that it would be wrong, though she would always credit that to her father and Ahren. Rachias was the young girl stuck in limbo, unwilling to abandon her coyote family but also unwilling to stand for their cause. Where would that lead her? Probably to death eventually, she'd understood that over the past few days. Where was her bond strongest? Despite everything, it was strongest with her father. If they tried to touch him, she would kill them. They'd always considered Laruku one of them after all.
When he stood and neared her she suspected that he might be leaving. Knowing she was alive was good enough, she supposed, and that was all he needed. When he stopped though, Rachias lifted her head, only to be met by a very faint nuzzle. The girl returned the affection, perhaps with more vigor than he had, pressing her face against him with more pressure. She liked the affection, a sparse thing that came on rare occasion, and she wasn't afraid to show it. Whether he liked it or not, Rachias would always be fond of him. "Why is it taking so long for him to come then?" She asked, brows furrowed with concern. Maybe he was hurt and couldn't make it to them yet, which meant that she might be doing the right thing by looking for him. "And Ahren? Is he..? Did he make it?"
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Give him time, was all he could tell her. Maybe someone else would find him; maybe he would find a paradise on the way and forget a while about the troubles at home. Waiting and not knowing were some of the hardest things anyone had to face. His thoughts circled in his head and he knew who he immediately thought of. He didn't fight the memories, vague and faint as they had become; they would always be there, and everything would always remind him of it, so why bother anymore? Ahren is fine. He's the one that brought me here, actually. I would have died otherwise. Should have died, should have, should have a thousand times over. The fire would have been the perfect way to go. He didn't know what he was doing here.
His son Jasper is here with us too. The rest of Clouded Tears made it further west, I think, and are rebuilding a new pack. A better one too, because better people were leading it now. Did everyone else from Inferni make it out okay? Did Andrezej...? Laruku did not recall ever having really spoken about his other son with his daughter and thus did not know of their conflicts, but any animosity wouldn't have been surprising anyway, considering how different they were.
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