Rhyme has thought about it for a long time, especially after he has bitten through a rib of the scavenged deer he'd found. He wanted a sharp implement. A knife of sorts. Though he hadn't decided how to go about creating his tool. Just having a sharp bone fragment seemed useful, but was there a way to make it even sharper? He thought about grinding it against the skull of the animal, or the shoulder blade. Big almost flat pieces, he'd heard beavers and rabbits grinding their teeth together to file them down and sharpen then could he do the same? However he tried to take it one step further and decided to try it on stone. He had a few rib pieces in his mouth, and he'd decided to bring the creatures antlers with him as well. If he could file the points even sharper what kind of damage might he be able to do with those?

With his tail held high as well as his prizes Rhyme made his way to the rapids in search of a big flat rock. The day was a bit nippy, but he was comfortable under the mid day sun. A slight breeze tousled his fur, and Imperia watched him from a distance. She seemed quite dubious of his eventual success.

""

There was always one sure-fire way to know where Rhyme was, one just needed to look to the sky and see the dark, sleek shades of black. Wherever Imperia was, Rhyme was likely to be below. Curious at what the man was up to, she would depart from her border patrol and head further into their pack.

It had been a quiet day, with no change at the borders and the Alpha could do with a little friendly banter between herself and her cousin. Heading in the direction of the Raven, she would so come across the rapids, and would see Rhyme there, hunting through the stones along the shore. She squinted at him, noting something in his mouth. What was he doing. Glancing up at the bird, she mimicked silence and gave her a wink. Would she let Shaye sneaked past her? She hadn’t interacted with the bird enough to know.

Trying it anyway, she would slick down into the grass and creep closer. He was hunting for something, she could tell that, but it clearly wasn’t crabs. He was picking up the rock types of rocks, and once she even saw a crab scurry away from him. It made no other sense. If he was hunting for salamanders, there was a trick to it that he wasn’t implementing right.

She crept closer as he worked, deeply involved in his task. She got as close at her grass cover allowed, coiled her muscles, and pounced she just needed to get him good on his side, and it would knock him directly into the stream. She aimed to get her upper body onto his back like a push and then land on all fours without falling in herself.

Rhyme was indeed quite engrossed in his task. Shaye was lucky that it wasn’t anything more important than a personal experiment. Imperia didn’t usually have a great sense of humor, but this time she followed Shaye’s instruction with a particular interest. She didn’t flinch as the Alpha continued closer to her companion, but kept a keen eye on the following moments. Rhyme was none the wiser, and wouldn’t pay a particular attention to his surroundings as the raven was supposed to be looking out.

The slate marked alpha discarded another rock, turning to look around him instinctively. His timing was perfect, if he had really wanted to go swimming. His eyes widened as he watched Shaye collide with the side of his body. She replaced where he had been standing herself and Rhyme was displaced into the river bank beside said airspace. He felt the cold water saturate his fur and he devolved into two thoughts. It’s really cold and he hoped he splashed with accuracy.

Thankfully he was lingering by a shallow bank and was able to stand up in water that was only mid-leg. He shook himself, hoping to aid in wetting his cousin. "Watch yourself!" He exclaimed as he rid himself of most of the cold water. "I’m doing important things here." He puffed his chest, and sought her gaze. Hopefully his bones hadn’t been thrown into the river. "I’m playing with an idea."

""

It was perfect she collided appropriately into Rhyme’s coat, the man's own training of her had helped hone her body into a weapon, and increase the accuracy of her attack. Funny, how his own help was being used against him now. He flew into the water with a splash and the Alpha, acting more like a child, gave a pleased chuff and grinned at the bird. “I’m going to collect the juicy bits and put them aside for you.” she promised, in thanks for the birds help. No doubt, Rhyme had entrusted in the birds watch, and her allowing Shaye through unchallenged aided greatly.

He shook out his coat, and even though she took a step back, she got a small shower herself. She narrowed her eyes to protect them from the droplets, and flicked her ear playfully at Rhyme. He puffed his chest up and tried to look important, claiming that he was playing with an important idea. “Alright, i’ll bite. Why are you hunting around the stones here?” she wanted to know, no doubt this would play into the supposed idea he had. “-and I was watching myself, very carefully.” she grinned at him as she shuffled to the side, making room for him on the bank. “Besides, if you get cold, you’ve a wolf to warm yourself against these days, don’t you?” she asked him, partly teasing, partly seeking information.

Rhyme had managed to at least shower Shaye with the water he shook from himself. He waded back to dry land as Shaye offered an acceptance to his idea. He perked an ear and lifted an eyebrow as he walked past her to where the rib bones and set of antlers lingered. He flicked his tail towards her, feeling a rather large drop form there. As he squinted at her when she mentioned watching herself carefully. Was that her throwing her training back in his face? She was lucky he was feeling forgiving this morning. He looked back down to his fragments and plopped down next to them. She wouldn’t be able to shove him as easily in this pose, plus he’d get a lot better weight leverage. The rock he’d laid them all on actually looked perfect.

He was caught a little off guard at Shaye’s final question. Was she talking about Tana? Rhyme wasn’t sure how to feel about the statement. To be completely honest with himself the last thing he’d thought about Tana was to “warm himself against” her. She was fragile for one, mentally and physically. The last time she’d tried to touch him he was pretty sure he’d scared her out of her wits. He hadn’t noticed but even as he thought about that night his mood would darken.

Rhyme tried to keep himself upbeat for Shaye, after sleeping on it he hadn’t been sure he was ready to tell Shaye. He didn’t want to lose control of his emotions in front of the other alpha. Though it seemed more like the longer he waited the more passionately he felt. None of those feelings were able to be shared with Tana though. The rage ate at all of him and he hadn’t even considered the tiny she wolf in that way. He tried not to show she had effected him with her teasing.

"I want to sharpen these bones and antlers." He told her as he flipped some of the ribs around and over as he contemplated their angles. "There could be multiple uses in healing, cutting herbs or dead skin away. Also fighting, like these antlers might be useful against coyotes or other small predators."

He looked back towards her, clearing his head of the tumult Shaye had placed here. "And you’re not talking about Tana, are you?" Shaye didn’t know about his other chance encounters did she? "Shaye, she’s half my age." Not that he would have really given that excuse much weight in his more intimate interactions, but it was easier than trying to explain everything else at that moment.

""

She followed Rhyme as he walked towards a rock, and inspected what was there. She moved closer, seeing the antlers and ribs. She raised an eyebrow as she sniffed them curiously. “leftovers from lunch?” she teased, already understanding that he was using these for something. What was the man getting creative with here? He was going to make something, she was certain of it, and now she wanted to know what.

As she mentioned Tana, she would notice something about him darken, and she would pause, inspecting him carefully. He really had it bad for her, didn't he? He was feeling an anger about the way she was treated, one he didn’t show even for Spider, though she knew the feeling was there. This was personal to him, in a way that didn’t entirely link back to his own time as a slave.

She felt a touch of something in her breast, and she needed to pause and examine it carefully. Was she… jealous. that couldn’t be it. She was proud of the way Rhyme had stepped up - becoming an Alpha, looking out for others, taking Tana under his wing. So what if he fell for her, it didn’t make him any less hers. He was still her Alpha partner, and what they shared together, the burden of responsibility was unique. She scuffed a paw in the dirt, trying to push down the emotion. It was illogical, and wrong to ever wish they weren’t related. She slammed a lid on her emotions and looked up at Rhyme impassively.

He didn’t say anything about her question, or the emotion she had seen in his eyes, and she fell quiet as he explained what he had been planning. She knew she had taken her teasing a step to far, and mutely nodded as flipped over the ribs. “No, it was just a jumble of words.” she told him, her voice soft as she nudged an antler herself, changing the subject. “You were looking for a stone to sharpen them against?’ she clarified

He didn’t expect her to look so neutral, usually she echoed her teasing in her facial features. He must have expressed too much of his inner thoughts as Shaye swiftly hurried him back to his task. The mood seemed much more mellow now, and he felt sobered from his original excitement of discovery. He tried to shake the feeling from himself physically as Shaye prompted him to continue, he had been readying himself to sharpen his weapons.

He nodded seriously, "Yes." He continued to explain before he demonstrated what he’d thought up. "Sharpening the antlers might be easier because we can get a better grip with our jaws. The rib bones will be more challenging. It’s a shame we don’t have paws like a primate." He felt the excitement return to him each word they got farther away from Tana. He took one of the antlers about half way down the shaft and touched as many tines as he was able to the stone. With swift sure movements he began to rub down the points.

""

She was still keeping her emotions tightly under wraps, and it did make her more neutral, more blank as she regarded him. She didn’t like herself as a jealous person, and it was a state she strived never to enter, for any reason. Things like an over abundance of pride and jealousy had no place in the hearts of leaders.

As he spoke, she let her eyes follow his movements, and he explained what he was doing. “Perhaps it would be faster if I held it in my mouth, turning it as you worked with a stone, to sharpen it to a point?” she would offer to him, allowing herself a smile as she saw the excitement in his grow again. It was clear he enjoyed the work, and it reminded her that they would have a crafter turning up fro Branch’s pack at some point. She had been thinking of sending Rhyme as the warrior, but perhaps he would benefit from remaining her, and she could send perhaps Acere to train Branch’s warriors.

He let the antlers lay on the rock as he looked up to Shaye as she added her own idea. The two of them worked well together, her idea seemed more efficient at least. He looked at the antler, thinking about the pointed tips. What if the hunters used them when they tracked large prey. With sharpened tips they could cause critical damage if they were used correctly. Like the buck they had come from, slain by a pair of antlers.

He found his gaze return to Shaye, "We should try, your idea sounds more efficient." Rhyme stood to get better leverage on their new weapon. He had a piece of sandstone that was more easily manipulated, it had a natural groove down the center that he placed over one of the face down tines. He placed a paw over the stone and started seesawing the rock over the tine. Shaye would slowly turn the antler he assumed, and hoped each tine would be easy to sharpen.

""

She followed Rhyme as he walked towards a rock, and inspected what was there. She moved closer, seeing the antlers Rhyme was quick to agree, their earlier thoughts pushed aside to face this newest challenge. Besides, it was hard to say something with your mouth full. She held the antlers gently yet firmly within her grasp, waiting until Rhyme had run the sandstone over the surface a few times before she carefully rotated it to a small degree, waited a few moments more, then repeated the process. As they worked steadily over the horns, it was clear that a firm, distinct shape was forming at the tip.

She rotated the full length of the antlers multiple times until a cleanly shaped tip had formed, and then released her hold, giving a yawn as she stretched out gums and smacked her lips together a few times, getting the feel of the bone out from around her teeth. “Not bad, just.. How many to go?” she said getting back into teasings. “so your not into girls half your age, you say. So where do you draw the line? Is half your age plus one day, acceptable?” she wanted to know, feeling she wasn’t exactly speaking about Tana, just finding a new means to tease him for his words. She was already picking up the next antler and holding it into place.

A sense of accomplishment blossomed in Rhyme as the pointed tip became more real. Already he had switched paws twice. Not so easy to acquire, but surely the effort would be worth it. He smiled as they finished the first tine, but he could guess Shaye’s lips were asleep by now. She let go of the antler and he did a few steps in place as she returned to her joking demeanor. The focused energy release had done them both well. "Only three more tines." He offered amusedly as she continued an a slightly different tangent than earlier. Rhyme sighed heavily, blaming only himself for getting her to ask a question like that. He got back to work as he did on the next tine, not as easily preoccupying his mouth. "Shaye you don’t really want to know the answer to that question." Was all he was going to say as he remained not looking at her eyes. Rhyme continued the pattern from earlier. "Tana told me about her scars."He told her, but his voice lost the easygoing tone it held moments before. "Visible and invisible." He added on, almost a whisper as he felt the caress of that fiery anger. He was glad to have an object to focus most of his attention on. ""

Three more wasn’t too bad, right? But her lip and jaw was going to be aching by the end of this. Grief, what had she agreed to? But of course, she had offered to do this, and she would do it well. She snorted a laugh, almost upsetting the precision of the sharpening as her mouth moved with the sound. She couldn’t speak for the moment, only listen, as he claimed she didn’t want the answer, and about Tana’s scars. She grew more somber as that was mentioned.

She already knew in her heart of hearts that the ills of others affected her terribly. It seemed to be a trait she shared with Rhyme. She still couldn’t speak, and turned the antler a few more times, before giving up and setting it down, half done. “Tell me” she instructed, but her voice was soft, and it was clear she wasn’t giving him any orders. For that matter, she never gave him orders, only advise him on the best way he could progress the pack.

She considered him too much her equal, even if the pack had fallen on her shoulders first. He had agreed to share that load, and that meant she respected him, as an Alpha, a cousin, and a friend. So no, no orders where given, and he knew it.

He did manage to make Shaye laugh before their conversation grew more serious, thankfully she didn’t press the intimate details of his life as he decided if he’d made a mistake in confessing what he’d learned about Tana. Rhyme tried to understand why he’d been given these secrets of two of the most vulnerable wolves in his pack. Why hadn’t they trusted Shaye with their most deeply held secrets? Shaye didn’t order his words, but as she let go of the antler once again and brought her gaze back up to him he didn’t feel like he had a choice. How could he recite what she’d told him when he didn’t even find thinking about it comfortable. She had suffered so much. Rhyme remained quiet for a long moment, staring down at the still antler going over those words in his head. He sighed heavily again, and when he finally spoke his words were whispered through his clenched jaws. "The physical were punishments mostly," What most scars on a slave were from. "What.. I can’t handle." Rhyme admitted his weakness, something he tried to avoid even with Shaye. "They made her an incubator, and moment after the pups were born…" He had to stop, the thought and the images the words brought up into his mind brought about that familiar rage. Rhyme’s tail began to lash out behind him, wanting nothing more than for Shaye to pick the antler back up. "They killed them as sacrifice and made sure it was the last thing Tana saw." ""

There was a silence between them both for the longest time, and Shaye sat, keeping herself still and patient, giving Rhyme the chance to find his words. It wasn’t the first time Rhyme had struggled with this, and she was able to draw parallels between this conversation and the one about Spider. Of course, then was more a dilemma of a weighted secret, this time she could see true anger in his eyes, and if she hadn’t known him well she might have feared the large, dark brute in that moment. She could see murder in the pools of his blue gaze. When he finally did speak, it was through a sigh, and with teeth clenched, his words whistling through the cracks. She nodded, not daring to speak and dash the courage it had taken to speak of something that affected him so completely. What he first said was to be expected, the second was the hardest part. He admitted how they had used her body, given her something a wolf could love, then killed them in from of her. Killed them, and taken her eyes. Her last true sight the pools of blood from little lives. No wonder he was so angered. Surprisingly, her own anger did not rise. Perhaps it would have, hearing it from Tana, but she was hearing it from Rhyme, and seeing how it pained him so. No, she would no let her anger take her. She crept closer to him, sitting beside him, her tail wrapped around his toes. If he allowed her to, she would hold him, forgetting all of her own emotions past her desire to care for someone she loved. “If we ever get the chance, we will kill them.” she said, her voice soft, and her words bloody. “We will rip them asunder and the only blood they will ever spill again will be their own. They will not go quietly into that good night, they will go screaming, weeping, and afraid..” "Talk" "You" Think

Rhyme’s specifically avoided Shaye’s gaze as he recounted the tragic tale. Seeing her reaction, or how she would react to his reaction, wouldn’t help him to tell her like she had asked. Behind him his dark tail continued to lash behind as Shaye absorbed his tainted words. There was not commentary until after he had finished, and even then was after Shaye tried to scoot closer.

He loved his cousin, he did truly, but as she touched him he felt flames leap from where they came together. His whole body was hot and he couldn’t continue to sit still. Rhyme managed not to leap up immediately, but more tactfully shrugged her off as he feinted interest in the antler still lingering at their paws. He tilted his ears back to hear her reply then. He hadn’t expected it or her even tone. He felt foolish, unable to keep himself under complete control while she easily laid out her plan. Rhyme couldn’t deny how such an end might release his errant emotions with glee. The images humoring the darkest parts of the Imperialis.

"That we will," he promised, his voice gruff with hints of his forbidden thoughts. Though what wasn’t apparent was if he was agreeing with Shaye or making a vow to himself.

Shaking himself again Rhyme attempted to clear his head and really think about the object in front of him. "Come on, we’re almost done. We’ll trade places." He offered, still keeping his gaze low and away from Shaye’s. "What about you Shaye? Are you looking for one to ‘warm yourself against?" He asked, getting his mind into brighter places before grabbing the half sharpened antler.

""

Not reacting became one of the most difficult things she had ever done. Holding herself still, and keeping emotion off her face as Rhyme pulled away from her. She had treated him like he was Vail or Rhythm, holding them close for comfort, but of course, until this day she hadn't ever done so with him. He had teased him, nudged him, pushed him off a bank, but she had never drawn him close and offered him her comfort.

She tried not to take the side of her emotions, tried not to take it as a sign of rejection, or an indication that she had crossed a line. Or perhaps she had, not respecting his boundaries. She breathed in, slow and soft. The urge to walk away, and let her have her thoughts was strong. But of course, she was Alpha. She had to keep then united, a single force to uphold their pack. She would not break apart at rejection, she was stronger than that.

He moved back to the antlers, and she followed him with her eyes after a moment. His agreement sounded like a promise, reminding her of the very ideals that Abaven wanted to uphold. To stand up for others. They would have taken down those that had hurt Tana even if they had not had this conversation today. She was theirs now, and she would be loved and protected. Rhyme and Shaye would stand up for her, a shield against the blows of others, fangs raised in her defence.

She let those thoughts bolster her, pushing them onwards, imagining Abaven exactly as she wanted it to be, because to do otherwise would have let her doubts and insecurities creep in, would have pushed her ears to her skull, and her expression, once turned to Rhyme, would have reflected too much of her soul within. Instead, she let them be a righteous fire for what they stood for, and allowed Rhyme to move on, to draw the conversation and tasks back to the antlers.

Only, he had a question of his own for her, one that poked a small hole through her defenses, and her smile was sad. She could not keep that sadness completely at bay. “No.” she said simply, and hoped that Rhyme would let things lie at that. She picked up the sandstone, and got to work. Letting the physical exertion drive her emotions away.

His attempt at lightening the mood was unsuccessful as the two of them fell into silence as they worked. Rhyme was unable to elaborate on his question and even if he had he wasn’t sure he wanted to. He didn’t look at his cousin, but he could guess at her emotions through the one worded answer she had given him. He sighed softly through his teeth clasped around the antler as he twisted the thing as Shaye sharpened.

The pair of them remained there quietly until the second to last tine was sharp, Rhyme let the thing loose from his lips as he finally looked back to Shaye, some of his hot anger had dissipated as he focused on the task at hand. Rhyme wasn’t sure where to go on, he wasn’t good at the emotional stuff. He hadn’t meant to cause the silent rift between them, though he didn’t regret not keeping secrets with her. They were on the same team if not always on the same page. He motioned back to the antlers, willing to keep talking if she wanted, but he didn’t know how to initiate more conversation.

""

Ok, so that had been a bit of a mood killer, but even at six years old the woman hadn’t had much experience with love. The one wolf she had known she had fallen for, the boy of the storms, was long gone from her life now. Since then, she had been a hermit, seeing little of new wolves. Now, she was an Alpha, and felt she had no time for love. She raised a brow as she looked over at Rhyme, understanding that his imprisonment had driven him to a different response. He wanted the freedom to explore, and see, to experience. She was already pretty sure she knew exactly why he had reacted when she spoke of making pups a rule.

It brought back a faint smile to her face, even amongst her emotions and the silence she had brought. She accepted her lot in life with a grateful sigh, never knowing if she would find the sort of love he spoke of, but that of those already in her life was more than enough. “I couldn’t give a love like that between Vail and Solor enough of my time and appreciation. I wouldn’t mind a child to raise, but, who knows.” she said, offering him an apologetic smile, and lifting the antler, she helped him finish the last of the sharpening.