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The passing rain had left the air feeling cool and a spell of calm had fallen over the land. The quiet was welcoming as the creatures within prepared themselves for the coming night, leaving the woman sat atop the mountains façade alone with her numerous thoughts and busied paws. Well worn and weathered, her digits remained as dexterous as ever, seamlessly weaving feather and fur together; threading glass and bone as though they were as malleable as blades of grass or dried twigs. She had gotten quite better with her craft over time, motivated by the kind encounter had in winter with the decorated Alpha of a southern pack, so kind and grateful for the assistance the Nomad offered. Had the beads not come as part of the trade, it was doubtful she would have been as enthralled with crafting as she had come to be now. No wonder the Marecks were such calm beings; working with one’s paws was very soothing and there was pride that came with exhibiting one’s work or seeing it worn for its intended purpose. It was an activity to be glad for and never failed to surface a smile on her calm face.

Resting along the wall of a rocky path, she sat with her craft in lap as she continued to fashion a kind of twine through bone. She did not know what to make of it yet, but trusted her mind to lead her to something new. Just enough of the setting sun remained to provide her with the light to reach a ceasing point in her work. While a small fire would have done just as well to supply the necessarily light, she had not thought ahead to bring the supplies. But it was all well and good. The forced pause granted her the time to collect her things and enjoy a leisurely bound down the south face of the mountain.

Her legs had become well adept to the odd footholds and slopes for climbing, making it less of a challenge and more of an enjoyment to play along the rugged face. But still she could not deny the ease that would come when equipped with four limbs instead of two, especially when she missed a step once, then twice til she reached a smoothed part of the path and was able to walk with no trouble. She smiled to herself with no other reason than to do so as she continued her descent to the common place beneath the mountain’s shadow. She held no thought other than the anticipations of the following day. But the simplistic mindset was terribly short-lived as she was greeted by her beloved’s scent and was made aware of his presence…

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Expectations for how she hoped to be received went unnoticed til his scent grew stronger and still she was not acknowledged by her friend. A small sound would have been nice, something to contradict the growing feeling of being ignored...avoided. It was silly to assume there would be a reason that he would turn his back to her... but she could not escape that fear so easily now that it had been abruptly surfaced by the whispers of a skilled tongue. No. The woman had none but herself to convince. He was devoted to his task at hand was all... nothing more, nothing less.

From the encompassing darkness she could see only a hint of movement, illuminated against the stray unmarred traces of fur while the rest was spoiled by earth. An ear twitched thoughtfully as she remained still and observed. Working this late in the day? Were there not enough dens already made? Or...was it something other that compelled him to work tirelessly when it was due time to rest? It had become common knowledge that the number of Family had dwindled by two. There was no word mentioned to herself regarding the sudden leave of the dark woman and child, but truth be told, she could not find a reason to be sadden by their leave. A kind of disappointment yes, that they had chosen to continue the Endless Path rather than keep a place to settle, but a sadness for their departure...no. It was held in the same regard as guests coming to stay upon their land; not for long... but for a time to make an impression.

However she knew for her dear friend, that this disassociation was never something he could achieve. And for this, she felt sadness. He had loved the woman dearly... but to what extent, she dared not ask. She wanted to remain ignorant to their intimacies, to whatever hopes they had, the love they shared. She rather be blind to it than face it and keep that selfish desire as long as she was able. Even if it turned her bitter toward a person of circumstance.

"Jaden... my friend..." she called quietly to the darkness, clutching the hide of her possessions closer to her chest. "Aren't you tired?"

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True silence was deafening. Not even the soft songs of the nightly creatures were heard as she stood waiting with bated breath for her cherished friend to speak. A sound of acknowledgement, perhaps the glimmer of his eyes as they were set upon her would have done instead of the chilling black of his hide melding so perfectly into the darkness, offering little sense of warmth in receiving her. Her proud ears fell against her crown as she took a tentative step back preparing to give the space he might have needed in this troubling time.

But then there was a pause as he drew himself from the shadows as she was able to properly see his dirt laden form. What gaze they shared was fleeting, and though she waved her tail in mirth to hold his attention, still it broken as his sullen gaze lingered on the ground. And his voice… she placed another step back as a chill coursed the length of her spine, stilling her tail completely and causing its smoothed end to bristle. This tone, it was not of the warm, loving male she knew. It was something distant entirely… something cold and diseased. Even as he made to look at her with a forced smile upon his muzzle, she could not shake the discomfort that had now settled on her. She felt like an intruder in the private weeping realm of her friend and could offer no condolences to soothe him.

“I am…alright,” she offered in turn, retracing a step bravely forward but let her gaze fall with uncertainty toward the ground. Those were the very words she should have asked him. He was the one grieving… not her. “I was…going to rest for the night,” she continued with finely trembling vocals. “It is growing late, my friend. Perhaps you care…to accompany me?”

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A quiet panic had nested in her heart with the creeping tendrils of worry spreading through her constricting veins. What worry was there other than rejection? With placid gaze centered upon her dark companion, she called the words of her childhood friend... his outrageous claims of the knives prepped to dig into her at any given moment. As she waited... standing calmly, quietly, such claims did not seem as strange as she was met first with silence then the thoughts of her troubled friend.

Her possessive hold slackened as she heard, but could not believe that left his maw. Then just as quickly her grasp returned full force as if coveting a precious article in fear it would be taken. But such an act was no more than to keep the protective barrier of her bundle in place to ensure in some manner than her heart would not be damaged. As if the physical could protect the intangible... Her calm facade gave way to alarm, and then disbelief as she stared at him. Twice her mouth opened to contest his claim, and twice she said nothing. Simply stared, mouth slightly ajar, still in the process of believing.

"...of course not." An endless span of silence seemed to pass between them before she could conjure the words to capture his attention. Yet as the words left her mouth, she couldn't be certain if she wanted to continue speaking. Truly, he believed she would leave him like this? After what they had accomplished together? Up and abandoned those she had come to care for and felt responsible for... "Jaden..." his name no longer held the speak tones of longing when spoken, but an overbearing weight of disappointment as she looked to him... disdain leaking into her eyes as she stared hard. "You should know me better than that..."

After the like had been down to her in the past... why would she dare condone him to the same ache of loss? Why would she dare abandon him as she had been...?

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She was not one to remain upset with another person... especially one she loved dearly. But she could feel hurt... she could experience that fleeting sense of betrayal before it was masked by understanding. She could see what her companion feared, what he assumed would become of them after the emergence of her long time friend. But to think he would truly believe she would do that to him after they had come so far with their Family. After she promised to stay with him.

The scowl staining her brow gradually ebbed as a sense of calm became her, a practiced trait of the Nomads that always served her well. For had this exercise not been taught to her as a pup, undoubtedly she would have yelled and screamed and cried unmerciful indignities here and now as an adult. But instead she breathed and smoothed the crease of her brows and looked into the searching blue within blue eyes of her companion. As always, offering what she could make of a smile.

"X'ies knows me well..." this was a truth that could not be contested. "And he knows my resilience. He would seek to use his words to convince me of something other, but I know him well enough to combat his words the best that I know how. I have a determination that cannot be shaken... this of all things you should know." Again, she breathed, this time relinquishing the deathly hold of her collected items bundled within the elk hide. "My heart will always belong to the Nomads, it is something that cannot be changed. But as they are a part of me, so is our family. And I will not leave them to return to another... I would not leave you when we have only just begun to make a better life..."

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Her words reached his ears, but she could not tell for certain just how much of them he absorbed. How well he understood how far her determination, her sense of loyalty, her will extended when it came to their family. They were but words when actions were better made to display what sound could not. Despite the conflict that had befallen them only a few days before, the complication that came with the whirlwind of grey… he should have known her stance would not change. Would she stand before him now if it had…?

But she was understanding; a part of her person that would not change regardless of how the train of thinking might have hurt her. She could not blame him for his thoughts or worries… for she could see how they manifested though it upset her that he would assume the worst of her. But she could not blame him, and did not resist as he took her into his arms and whispered his apologies in her ears. Though receptive, they fell within the crown of red burying deep to mute the sorrowful tones of his voice.

Silence surrounded them for a time. Even the nightly creatures beyond the dens had fallen silent, waiting too with bated breath for the she-wolf’s reply to his heartfelt words. But the silence lingered on as her mind reeled, the cogs of thought turning hoping to conjure a means to abate his fears and stifle her present hurt. Yet in her efforts… nothing was made and she remained standing still. Her bundled work hung limp by her side whilst her head lingered on his shoulder, unfeeling but there.

“You should know me better…” her soft words repeated the lingering thought. “But perhaps it is my fault for not confiding in you my past. Perhaps if you knew the way I was then… then you would believe how I am now. Or at least…come to understand me as I wish you would.” Gently, the lifted a hand to his shoulder and applied subtle pressure to part shadowed black from gold. “But perhaps…” she smiled meekly. “Perhaps that is best set for another time…”

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She wished for internal peace. The ease that came when complications were a figment and the balance within one’s world was indeed set and stable. She longed to look into the eyes of her beloved friend and not see the worry or the hurt that came with the past day’s events. But it was not without time that this would be made possible. And a patience she was sure would drive her to tears in the end. Life was not as a simple as a childlike mind would perceive. It was gritty and complicated, but at times could bring about a serenity that could be felt as a heaven upon the wretched earth. But it was not without trial, without pain, that this could come to pass. She had basked in the ethereal glow only briefly and wanted to feel its warmth again.

Yet an obstacle kept her from it, and it voiced itself none too subtly by a question regarding the fate of her Nomad brethren. She would have sighed then had the air not already been thick with tension. Of course he was concerned with the mouthy Lambda. An impression like the one so rudely placed by his sharp tongue was not easily forgotten…

“No…” she answered softly, fixing her amber gaze to his glacier blue. “He has asked to remain here and I have allowed it conditionally.” There was an explanation to follow along with an assurance the male would do no wrong among his new family. But before she weighed her companions ears with her reasons and talk of Family loyalty, she had to be certain… she had to at least see that even a part of him could understand why she would allow him here. She needed know him that he could trust her judgment…

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Fanciful thought was lost when she desired for it be achieved again. And above all else, no complication. But it seemed far now... a dream when set against the face of consequence to her actions. Though her mind would defend she was within her rights to permit her Nomad brethren, her heart retained its vice-like grip, punishing her for this decision made without the opinion of her beloved in mind. She had not been wrong as an Alpha.... but as a friend, she had been cruel.

The disdain growing upon his face was punishment enough for her decision and her conflicting heart clenched harder in her chest, just as she held harder to her craft as a means to channel her hurt. "I have," she meekly affirmed, assuming not the role of an Alpha, but as a wolf that had committed a wrong. But in defense of her decision, she continued. "He did not wish to return to our family, but remain here and aid us. Though his words are harsh and he is terribly brash, he is not wrong in assuming we need a mind like his. To have a Lambda..a...barterer...a-" had she known of a better word she would have used it without hesitation- "a merchant of words is valuable to us. But more than this... he is my friend. With all his unpleasantness, he was... and still is my childhood friend. And such bonds between the Nomad are not easily broken. And I felt no reason to do so now..." Regardless of what outcome that would come from it.

It was a heavily obligation to place upon the male's shoulders, she knew. But she had faith that it could be looked passed in order to see the benefits that would come from this. And selfishly, she hoped he would not deny her this gifted thread that tethered her to home.

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Undeniably, his concerns were valid, especially when he had been dealt the lash of the Lambda’s tongue. It was an unfortunate beginning, one that would have cost any other all chance of coming into the family without considerable compensation to soothe the roughed ego. Had it not been the childhood friend she had come to care for, such disrespect would have been dealt with as it should have been; with fangs and vicious force. Past relation was X’ies’ only saving grace, an aspect that her beloved did not appear to like.

And so she looked to him openly, parting the heavily hide bound pages of her soul and offered him deservingly the legible pages no longer concealed. If there were a lie in the making it would have been seen before uttered. It doubt dared show itself upon the pages, it would have been foreshadowed by the undertones of her expressions.

“It will not be ignored,” she replied ever softly, loosening her protective hold and again letting her arms fall relaxed by her sides. “As I said…he was permitted a home here but conditionally. And I know he will hold true to it so long as I breathe. He is not the type to simply lash out at another because he is bored. His mind works to assess everything, unravel the hides we veil ourselves in and see what truly lies beneath. It is terribly unsettling, but he was raised to be this way. But I have faith in his control not to let it disrupt the harmony of our family. And I am asking you, my dear friend, to have that same faith with me.”

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As her companion lost his defensive demeanor, she began to feel at ease once again. Her tension melted away from her limbs leaving them loose and comfortable again. She hadn't thought herself to be so knotted until the weight was lifted from her shoulders and she was truly able to relax. She sighed softly, smiling with relief to her dearest friend.

"It is alright," she voiced sincerely as she took a step forward and gently placed her hand upon his arm. "I know my decisions of late have not warranted full faith. But it means a great deal that you would place your faith in me now. You have my word that you will not regret this decision." And she would try her damn hardest to make sure this was so. She only hoped that her childhood friend would not force her to eat those words. But then, she had to have some kind of faith in him as well to insure her promise would be upheld.

But she was tired of these complicated thoughts. And tired of talking about the Lambda in general. She cared for him as much as the Nomad were allowed to care for the brethren without trespassing into realms of live, but she did not want her night to revolve around him. She had wanted rest first and foremost; a restful night with whom she held dear, and awake in the morning to see him there.

From his arm, her palm glided down the length of his forearm to rest within his calloused grip. She looked down at the static limbs, hoping for the intertwine of umber and obsidian paw to lead him back to their own private abode.