((Language warning, Recluse is pretty upset.))

Recluse had known her aunt was in a bad way, the woman had been depressive ever since her litter had been born fatherless. And yet she had thought things were starting to look up, they had been raising Hari's son in tandem and the woman had returned from trips beyond the border once or twice with seemingly lifted spirits. And then... She'd fucking disappeared. At first the pale alpha had been worried, her cousins had not seen their mother and Recluse wondered if the woman had met misfortune while beyond the borders... Or worse had fallen further into her depression and done something irreversible.   So when she'd left to find the woman it had been at first with a sense of urgency and unease and yes, genuine worry. The pale light of the moon casting everything in a ghostly silver, something she should have been used to but that somehow felt off. But worry soon transformed into frustration and quietly simmering rage as she realized the path she was following. The ghostly woman paced outside the Armada border, trying to collect he thoughts. The warlord had once called on her seeking to bring a young wolf or two into his fold for training and at the time Recluse had been unable to give him a name, her own pack had only just started waking up around her and she had wanted to give them time before uprooting them... But if he'd decided to take her aunt instead, without even consulting her? Well she would be pretty pissed. Recluse had been trying, she'd even been the one to suggest more regular meetings between the empire to facilitate better interpack relationships. And yet! Yet she faced the possibility that the warlord was poaching members out from under her. If her aunt wanted to leave so be it but the former imperial guard dog had to know there was an order to things, that he'd openly disrespected her and her authority. She had always known neither her cousin nor the warlord actually respected her... Finally the woman called for him, not caring if he was as nocturnal as he was, not caring who she woke with her call. She would get answers, and if he'd conspired to undermine her he would answer to her. speech think action

Art by Akage-Kitsu

The Warlord had just made his way home from the long journey to the Hallows when a call rang out at his borders. Already feeling old, heartsick, and very much done with all the dramas in his life, he turned in the direction of the howl. He sighed, recognising the caller. He picked up his tired feet again, and fell into a trott towards Recluse.

He saw the white marked woman not too long after that, and nodded his head towards her. “Recluse, I know why you're here.” He said, and not one to beat around the bush, he gave her the answers she was looking for. “Deathbelle, in a fit of depression, came to my borders and asked me to either take her life then and there, or take her on as a slave. I believed that in making that decision, she had broken away from you. If I was wrong, I will show you where she is, if you please. If I was not wrong, I can still show you where she is, you must be worried. I sent her to an old friend hoping a change of scenery might help her ailing mind.” he raised a paw, and tiredly rubbed his head. “If I’d been thinking more clearly, I would have called for you. But it was shell shocking to hear her say it.”

Recluse's anger remained steady even as she saw the Warlord, the weight of whatever was sitting on him so visibly did nothing to diminish the rage that pulsed through her. And she would have stayed like that, bristling and alive with her fury, if not for the words the man would speak. Where she expected something confrontational or even groveling he was simply tired, and the words he spoke punched right through her anger, the armor she'd donned to hide the pain, a pain that was dragged kicking and screaming to the forefront of her mind. Reclus visibly deflated, though there was a level of resentment still in her eyes, behind the clear confusion and pain and the tension that remained in her limbs. "You were wrong." She informed him, an edge to her voice. But then she sighed, ducking her head slightly. "Just tell me where she went, go take care of your family and I'll take care of mine." It wasn't dismissive or meant to brush him off or undermine his complicated relationship with her aunt but an acknowledgement that he was tired. And had his own issues to deal with, Deathbelle was her members and it was supposed to be her responsibility to take care of her. But she couldn't help feeling like her aunt had abandoned her. And for all the adults in her life that had done that, her mother's sudden disappearance, her father's inability to focus for more than a few days on his own children... Somehow those hurt less than Deathbelle's rejection of her. When Recluse hadn't known where she'd belonged she'd turned to her aunt, had felt lifted up by her and had hoped that by offering her a place in Habari that the woman would find her stride again. And when she'd fallen so far she was willing to abandon her own children, yet another generation of Klein children thrown to the wayside, she hadn't even tried to come to her alpha. That stung worse than the loss of her parents. speech think action

Art by Akage-Kitsu