She hadn't really left he packlands since the puppies were born, though she knew the announcement had been made about the litter it wasn't that big of a reason to celebrate. One of the young had already passed in the span since it's birth and another was weakening daily. The woman wasn't in the best of moods when she heard the lyrical song on the winds. The call from the one Sadira she didn't believe would be looking to call on her anyday. She bared her fangs silently and pushed Zana and her brother deep within the nest of blankets before fluffing her pelt up and heading towards the bitter cold of the outside world.
The blast of cold air that hit her as she slide through the door to the cabin and pressed her weight against the frame once more to close the frigid air away from the warmth that glowed from within. The smoke from the fireplace was sharp to her nose as she moved down the trail and quickly to the borders before any of the other packmates decided to investigate just who was demanding the Matriatch on such a day. Iskata's steps drew her closer and closer to a child that seemed to reflect every darkness and bitterness that could reside in ones soul. Firefly seemed to draw the bad from another and the darker mirror of the world seemed to be her playground, none of her children worried the woman like her fierce and independant daughter.
She drew up to the border and where her daughter waited, studying the girl as she paused, "Well, Firefly?" she called, asking reason for calling her out this morning when she knew well enough the woman was busy between pack and the newest born family members. She knew the personal hell that the gold and bronze yearling had been through but she didn't seem to show any signs of the trama and abuse. Secretly the woman wondered if it even mattered to the child anymore. She'd always been so tied into the very things that Iskata hated.. and yet Iskata had asked her to walk the path she followed now, to join Dahlia de Mai. She regretted that request more than anything.. but this was only the beginning.
Firefly was lounging on the border waiting for someone or something to come along. She didn't have to wait as long as she thought she would and a smirk spread across her maw as the Matriarch appeared. The girl loved it when she got the wrong sort of attention of her mother and she could tell right away that her demanding appearance was believed that it wasn't called for or needed. Her head was high and her lids lazily covering her eyes as she waited for the woman to find her place along the border and settle in. When she called out to the gold and bronze girl Firefly's emerald eyes lifted to gaze at her mother as she nodded. She didn't show the Matriarch the respect she should have been granted as a mother or a leader. She cocked her head to the side as she mocked the greeting. "Well mother?" The simple little things she did to get under the woman's skin was more than enough for the moment.
She stretched out her long limbs as she yawned and walked past the border without being welcomed to the lands as a guest or family. Either way she didn't care, but she'd began to walk down the path leaving her mother still at the border until she paused and turned. Her eyes were on her mother as she called softly. "A little bird said to ask how Aiji was.." That wasn't what she was told to ask.. but how was Firefly to know that her aunt had died in the passing seasons..but it was getting the conversation started.
Iskata watched her daughter cooly, she knew just by how she was holding herself that she wasn't here on any sort of mission from her pack. She really didn't want to talk to the girl at the moment but she was a leader and this was her own daughter. The elder woman stepped back and sighed, allowing the girl to walk with her, she ignored the mocking reply from her daughter as step by step they moved back towards the cottage. Iskata didn't care for her daughter's attitude but she figured that if she was here she might as well see her new siblings while she was given the chance.
Half listening to the young woman suddenly she stopped in her tracks as she felt as though icy fingers had trailed down her spine. Her fangs bared slightly as she asked, "What.. did you say." her voice was cold. She narrowed her eyes at her daughter, the game she was playing at if this was another of them was already a poor choice. She didn't have the time or the patience for this. "Firefly.." she said with warning, "What are you playing at this time.." She'd advanced towards her daughter, all the manners and politeness of mother and leader missing as she took one step after another back towards the girl.
Firefly laughed softly at her mother's sudden show of spitfire. She backstepped in turn with her mother's forward process with a taunting smile upon her maw. She had been nice enough for far too long with the silver and gold Matriarch, now was time to play. She flicked her tail to the side as she leaned against one hindleg, sliding away from her mother as she asked again. "A ghost of a nightmare with crimson orbs.." Her eyes were alight as she tilted her head with that mocking tone coming back into play. "he said to ask about Aiji" It was like a game to her, when her mother became angry and fear scent mingled with her own musky tones. She flashed that smile again as she went on.
"Oh, but momma! He was.." her words drifted off as she laughed, a sickly sweet sound, like a woman leading her new toy off to play at command and conquer. Nothing had even taken place though, but she didn't know that. The emotion that seemed to have been slapped across her mother's face was too much as the girl fluttered her lashes. "he was.. such a gentleman.." Any of her siblings would have killed her for taking it this far, but truthfully she didn't care. She'd never respected her mother for more reasons than one, all learned after looking back in time upon her childhood and how the woman had allowed her own mate to run and ruin her life so. She hated her father, the words he'd written had never been read, burned and left for ashes in a fireplace, tossed out like the garbage that he was. So fitting she would be their protege, a worthless whore in the eyes of others.
