Cryptis moved somewhat cautiously through the woods. Trying to get a feel for the new territory. There was a light mist in the morning air that added a dampness to her breath. She could feel it each time she sucked air past her crystals. It tickled at the back of her throat, and left her paws slow and cautious as she explored. The maze-like territory was large, with many twists and turns. It was going to take her time to get a proper feel for it. In fact, she’d gotten the thought of crafting a map and had put together what she needed to make it work. She paused often in her steps to scribble down a notation and add a mark to her budding map. "Speech"

As the last of the stars faded into the morning sky, Stolas breathed a wistful sigh and carefully closed his grimoire. Another night spent in quiet solitude studying his star charts. It was the simple things that kept the fallen prince content. He did have to admit, the night skies of Auster were a new and interesting puzzle for him to solve, but that was fine by him. It just gave him more purpose to his studies! Rising to his paws in the middle of the quiet clearing, Stolas gathered up his book and began to make his way back into the labyrinth of gnarled branches and upturned roots. Songbirds were just beginning to sing their songs as the morning sun lit up the woods.

As a creature of the night, Stolas was less keen on being up past sunrise and was already thinking of how good it would feel to sink into his bed. But first, he had to find his way back to bed. Though he considered himself a decent enough navigator, even he got turned around in the thickest part of the woods, especially with the morning mist that had begun to flood the forest like a fog. Maybe someday he'd learn his way around—but it was not this day. Instead, Stolas found himself wandering randomly through the trees, looking for any familiar landmarks to get his bearing. He'd been so distracted surveying his surroundings that he didn't notice another wolf rounding a tree he was passing until he was almost colliding with her!

"Whoa! Look out!" Stolas stumbled to the side to avoid crashing into her, but ended up getting his paw caught beneath a root and tumbling head over paw until he came to land on his back on the forest floor with an oof! The world spun for a moment, the brute's perception of up and down all topsy-turvy. He hadn't even seen who he was about to run into. "My apologies! Are you all right?" he called out to the other wolf, still on the flat of his back and staring up into the canopy of treetops.

"Stolas"

A wolf appearing out of the mist was so unexpected that Triss dropped her map supplies and sucked in a breath just wrong her crystal born asthma kicked in and she struggled to draw in another breath. Her throat, suddenly in agony forced her to cough. She struggled not to panic, concentrating on breathing as tears poured down her cheeks. Until, at last, her breath dragged through her lungs and filled them. Sweet, sweet oxygen. She coughed and breathed, wiping tears from her eyes as she finally looked at the wolf who had startled her so. A black and red stranger flat on his back, and seemingly also badly affected from their run in. “I’m fine” She wheezed, stepped forward and looking down at a wolf that would normally tower over her - but not at the moment. “Are you okay?” she caught a stray bogger before it could fall on him. She was a right mess, but trying to hide it. "Speech"

From the flat of his back, the only response Stolas received from the other wolf was a series of breathless coughs. Oh boy, that wasn't a good sound! In a bit of a panic, Stolas scrambled to right himself to offer what limited aid he could to the stranger, but it didn't take more than a moment before the small girl had gotten her coughing fit under control. She looked a bit of a sight with tears running down her face and her chest heaving with every labored breath. From his back, Stolas could easily look up at the girl. She was black as a midnight shadow with accents of silvery undertones in her coat. Her face and body were adorned with golden yellow markings—markings Stolas realized he recognized from a certain woman from his past. This must have been one of Widow's children.

The young woman asked if he was okay and Stolas simply nodded at first, waving a paw as if to dismiss her concerns. "Yes, yes I'm fine, thank you. Are you okay? That cough sounded rough." The ebony and scarlet brute stared up into the pale blue eyes of the girl, rolling over onto his belly so he could be more eye level with her. She was so small in stature, so delicate looking. "Here, have a seat. Catch your breath. You, um... have a little something here." Stolas gestured on his own face to her nose, which was running a fair bit from her sudden asthma attack. What had that all been about? "My apologies for almost knocking you over. I got a bit turned around and wasn't looking where I was going." A sheepish smile was offered, apologetic eyes and ears flattening back to his skull and all. "Do you need me to call somebody or bring you to a healer?" Widow surely had healers on her roster, right?

"Stolas"

“It’s fine, it’s fine. I was born with it, it’s just.. It’s nothing” Triss said, though her raspy voice contrasted with her words. She knew she sounded like a mess, and she hated it. But the red marked wolf was kind however, telling her to take a seat. She did so with some reluctance. She didn’t want to be branded as weak so early on in Hellborn’s creation. She gave her nose a furious rub at her words, still breathing as slowly and carefully as she could. Thinking of some of the breathing techniques Crux had helped her with. Slowly in, hold, and out. “I get it, these woods are weird, and the mist doesn't help.” She agreed, clearing her throat a few times. Trying to rid that scratch from her voice. “No, really, it’s fine” he said again as he suggested a healer. She wouldn’t mind Crux showing up, but she couldn’t lean on him every five minutes just because he was in the pack now. ‘It’s…” She flushed a little “It’s crystals in my throat, it's from the Long Night… so.. Uhh.. how did you hear about Hellborn?” She said a little lamely as she tried to turn the conversation around. "Speech"

Despite her courageous and strong words, the girl was clearly struggling to recover from her affliction. Stolas' lips pursed, not wanting to push the matter and seem overbearing to someone he'd literally just met—and another fully grown wolf at that. He'd always cared too much; that had always been his problem. "As you wish," he would simply reply when she insisted she didn't need a healer or any assistance. She blamed her asthma on the humidity in the wood and in Auster in general, and yeah, that made sense. Auster was known for its moist environments and wet weather, especially during its winter season. How was she going to do once the rains came in half a year's time?

The fae started to explain her affliction a little more to him. Crystals in her throat from the Long Night. Stolas' graphite eyes widened at the mention of the Long Night, memories of the nightmares that had come with it flashing back in his memory like a horror film. "You got sick during the Long Night..." Stolas asked, more a deductive assumption than a question. He'd seen wolves that had gotten ill during that horrific time and never recovered. She must've been one of them as well... Before he could delve deeper down that train of thought though, she was asking him a question now, and the question she asked made his face go hot beneath his fur. "Oh! Uh, well... believe it or not, I kind of stumbled upon it by chance. That, and I... know Widow from a long time ago." That seemed like the more conversationally appropriate way to say she had been the crush he'd slept with and then lost. But the young wolf didn't need to know the sordid details of his love life.

"My name is Stolas Goetia Klein-Destruction," he introduced himself to the girl, allowing her to introduce herself in turn. Upon hearing her name, Stolas' suspicions were confirmed. "Ah, so you are one of Widow's children! I thought so! You look very much like your mother." A gentle smile touched the fallen prince's lips. Whatever happened to her father though? Widow had not taken a mate in the time he'd lost touch with her as far as he could tell. So where had all her children come from?

"Stolas"

She shook her head at his question and assumption “My mother did, and I guess that affected me after I was born” She continued to explain, grateful when he took her change of topic and let them move to something else. Actually, what they moved to was more interesting than she expected. “You knew my mother? But I’ve never seen you before…” She said, almost accusingly “And I’m two, so… wait, did you know her when you guys were kids?” her eyes widened in surprise at that. She knew Widow wasn’t close with her family, Medusa had become her family. “Cryptis Nightwing… so what can you tell me about my mum?” She asked, eyes twinkling as she looked at the red wolf. She’d been an only child for a long time, and Widow had been fairly separate from her family all of Triss’ life. There was so much she didn’t know. "Speech"

The mysteries continued to unravel and multiply the longer Stolas spent talking with this young woman. So she hadn't even been alive during the Long Night, but she'd somehow inherited her affliction from Widow when she was born. Was that the sickness Widow had been quarantined with just before she'd disappeared? More memories played in Stolas' head—going to Habari to try and see her, only to be turned away at the border by Recluse claiming she was too sick for visitors. Had that illness been responsible for her crystalline affliction? There was still so much wolfkind didn't know about the Long Night, but it seemed like its lasting side effects were still felt years later. The mention of her age had him briefly doing some mental math in the background and coming to the conclusion that Widow must have gotten pregnant shortly after falling ill and around the time of her disappearance, resulting in the wolf before him.

Those mental calculations were interrupted swiftly at the mention of him knowing Widow, however, and the wolf took a keen interest in him, almost startlingly so! She began grilling him like this was an interrogation, asking if he and Widow had been childhood friends. She introduced herself as Cryptis and went right back to hunting for answers from him. Well, far be it from Stolas to deny the desire for knowledge in a curious young mind! "Yes, I knew your mother when she was a pup, back when she was still Widow Klein. Both of us were children when we met. We grew up together—myself in Ashen, and her in Habari. Our packs were sister packs, so we often intermingled." Part of Stolas wondered if he should be sharing all of this information with Cryptis. Sure, she had a right to know, but how much of this was a past Widow wanted to keep buried? Deciding that Triss' right to know who she was outweighed any potential punishment from his Queen, Stolas continued to answer whatever she asked of him. "What are you looking to learn, Cryptis? Ask, and I will answer if I can."

"Stolas"

Triss’s thin tail swished lightly behind her, the distraction from this line of questioning all but fully chased away the embarrassment of her affliction. He told her a little about the packs they had grown up in, Ashen and Habari. The names were vaguely familiar to her. Ashen more so, as a pack that had only recently vanished. “Do you know why Widow didn’t keep in contact with her family? Do you know… what family I might have out there?” She asked, Widow hated to talk about her family and Triss had managed to keep her curiosity mostly under control around her mother. If they were childhood friends like he said, then he must have been there at the beginning. There must be so much in that soot coloured head of his. She picked up her scattered map supplies, storing them away as a project to continue another day. Right now, Stolas proved to be far more interesting. "Speech"

Stolas clenched his jaw to do his best to stifle a yawn, not out of boredom with the conversation with Triss, but because as a nocturnal creature, the morning was actually his evening, and he'd been up all night studying the celestial heavens. But for the sake of the girl's enthusiasm and knowledge, he was prepared to delay sleep for a while longer. It had been a while since he'd shared such a deep conversation about himself with anyone. Triss asked why Widow hadn't kept in touch with her family and what family she might have out in the world. That was both an easy and difficult question to answer for her.

"Well, I assume your sire is still somewhere, though that would be a better question for your mother." Besides the unnamed brute, Widow was the only wolf who knew who was responsible for creating Triss. "Your extended family still goes by Klein. Or Abraxas, depending on which sects of the family you talk to. We don't really talk about the Abraxases though. I know your mother has several siblings too, though I'm unsure where they ended up." Stolas took a deep breath as he considered her former question. "I'm afraid I don't know why Widow fell out of touch with her family. The last time I saw her was during the Long Night. After the Long Night ended, I attempted to visit her, but Recluse, her mother and the alpha of Habari, refused to let me see her, saying she was gravely sick. Shortly after, Habari was destroyed by Medusa, who took the pack from Recluse and made Insomnia from its ashes. I never saw her again... until we found each other in these very woods by chance." Stolas could only offer Triss a shrug. "Perhaps your mother was taken with the rest of Habari when Medusa claimed the pack. I couldn't truly say."

"Stolas"

Triss gave a small, frustrated shrug of her shoulders “I don’t know who he is.” She said as Stolas mentioned her father. Another thing her mother didn’t like to talk about, or possibly… wasn’t sure of the answer to. Her attention was wholly on the red wolf, clearly hungry for any knowledge he had to give. If she gave it a moment's thought, she would realise it was actually rather rude to be grilling this wolf that she had just met in the way she was. But her curiosity was too big for such a trivial thought to trickle through. “Wait… wait… Medusa destroyed Habari? But Widow is her best friend, why would she do that?” She asked, startled and clearly completely invested in this story. ’ I love Medusa she’s my Godmother, why would she…” she tilted her head, trying to fit all these new pieces into the puzzle already sitting in her brain. She… perhaps needed to take some of these questions to her mother. She leaned forward, placing her head on her paws as she digested what Stolas had told her. “I wish I knew who my dad was. Maybe I just don’t have one… my older siblings don’t.” "Speech"

Stolas found himself sympathizing for Triss' predicament. He was very privileged to not only know both of his parents, but to have grown up with three loving parents in his mother and both his fathers. His heart went out for Triss. "Well, I hope one day you'll find the answers you seek there," he spoke gently, offering her all the well wishes of luck he could give her. He didn't know what the odds were that she'd ever find her father, but if Widow was being as secretive about her lineage as she was about her past with her daughter, the odds didn't look too good in Triss' favor.

At the mention of Medusa taking Habari from Recluse, Stolas found himself stopped by an emphatic Triss who looked absolutely shocked by the bombshell he had just dropped. Stolas' expression fell into one of dread. Oh no, had he just revealed something he shouldn't have...? Hearing that Medusa was Triss' godmother made the situation even more complicated, and Stolas had to decide whether to tell Triss the truth as he knew it or pull the ripcord and abort. "I don't know. All I know is that Medusa challenged Recluse for Habari, and she won. She dissolved Habari into Insomnia and took the pack out west—along with all of Recluse's family as hostages. That was the last I ever heard of any of them." That was probably the most diplomatic way he could phrase the facts. He would not assume to know anyone's motives or reasons in the story—just a blunt relaying of the facts as they happened.

Triss looked so dejected as she mulled on the thoughts of her absentee father. Stolas frowned and sighed, reaching a large paw forward to gently pat the young woman's forehead reassuringly. "Everybody has a father, Triss. We can't exist without one," he explained, trying to reassure her with a little bit of logic. "Whether we know them or not, we all come from someone else. I'm sure that you'll find the answers you want if you keep persisting after them. After all, you learned so much today already and you never even knew I existed before ten minutes ago!" A flash of teeth in a smile, a light chuckle, and Stolas hoped he was giving the girl at least a little bit of faith. "But even if you never get to meet your sire, you still have your whole life ahead of you to decide who you are and who you want to be."

"Stolas"

Triss gave him a small smile of acknowledgement at his words. She too hoped she would get those answers someday. But if she didn’t, she knew that chances were she would get a chance to make her own family in the years to come. Now… where did that thought come from? She settled her head back down as Stolas continued his history lesson, telling her about Habari and Insomnia. Medusa was rather a long way from her now, and Widow didn;t like to talk about the past… but she knew that her next questions had to be to them. Stolas sounded as if he was mostly an outside observer to these events. He didn’t really know the why of it. Right now, what she was hearing didn’t make a lot of sense to her. “Thanks Stolas, I really appreciate all this. You’ve given me a lot to think about.” She said, glad that he had joined the pack, and that he was staying. She had a feeling it wouldn’t be the last time she picked his brain. "Speech"

Stolas tipped his head to Triss's gratitude for letting her pick his brain and illuminating any of her curiosities. Knowledge and learning was a huge passion to the Klein prince, and to get to share his wealth of insight and knowledge gave the brute purpose. He didn't know how his future would fare in Hellborn, but this was as good a start to his uncertain future as he could have hoped for. "You're quite welcome, Cryptis. If you have any other curiosities you'd like satisfied, I would be happy to answer any of your questions." Stolas slowly got to his paws with a tired yawn and a stretch, giving his dark fur a tousle to fluff it back out after the tumble he had taken. "Although maybe next time, not quite so early in the day. I rather prefer the comfort of the night." He shot Triss a little teasing smirk. He didn't mind the delay on his trip to bed, but he didn't think he'd be making a habit of early morning lessons.

Gathering up his dropped grimoire, Stolas stashed the book in his satchel and dipped his head in farewell to the petite woman. "I have a den near to your mother's. If you ever need me for anything, you can seek me out there during the day." By night, he could be just about anywhere he could get a clear view of the nighttime sky for his studies. "Have a splendid day, Miss Cryptis." Stolas then turned and began to make his way back to where he hoped his den was. He was so ready for sleep.

- exit Stolas -

"Stolas"