Love and Hate

[Neela Garcia]

[html]

Herp derp. Dated for ze 9th

Neela tugged gingerly on the leather armour she wore as she loped through the trees, wincing as the shifting of the tight material aggravated the wounds hidden beneath, shielded only by a thin layer of bandages.

The armour, and the accompanying pair of foot long boarding knives strapped to her waist, hadn’t been worn by Neela for years. She had acquired it long ago when there had been rumour of pirates sailing in the waters of her old home and had been left to gather dust in the Meria once the threat had passed. However being attacked out of the blue by her son, coupled with Grynn's death, had left Neela shaken and the collie had fished the old equipment out.

The armour itself was tight leather with thin plated of metal sewn into important spots and loops for throwing knives to be tucked into, covering her torso slightly and then fanning at the waist with four strips that hung somewhat like a shirt, protecting her thighs. A cloth hood, dyed a dark red to match Neela's fur, was attached to the back of the torso. Neela, who wasn't too fond of the idea of clothes beyond her hat and scarf in the first place, hated the tight armour; especially when she was wounded underneath it.

Still the armour was needed; Neela was very visibly injured, with bandages wrapped tightly across her arms and legs and a further set of cuts and some broken ribs concealed beneath the leather. Uncomfortable as the armour was, and as odd as it felt carrying actual weapons and not repurposed utility knives, Neela would need all the help she could get if she were attacked again.

And that was looking like a fairly likely prospect, especially with the scent Neela had found patrolling the border. At first smell one might mistake it for Neela's own scent but there were subtle differences, one which pointed Neela's mind towards a particular figure.

Her Mother.

Neela couldn’t quite decide if she was surprised or not to find that her mother had been hanging around Casa borders so soon after her encounter with Leon or not. On one hand the chance of different members of her family finding her at the same time was astronomical, on the other Neela wouldn’t put it beyond her mother to lead Leon to her knowing how he would react.

Either way this couldn’t be ignored or kept to herself. Leon was a guilty secret but Kaer was a threat; Neela's mother had enough of a bodycount to her name to testify that. With a tired sigh Neela lifted her head back and howled, calling for one of the alphas.

Word Count :: +447