Erani

She had grandchildren. Two girls and a boy; a massive red pup. She knew when she saw the pup that he was a throwback to her own grandmother, a great, great healer. She had her family around her. Well, almost all of them. Epiphron, Chrysanthe, and their children, were missing. Taurig and his family as well, save for Falk, her son in law, were abroad. She had never met his mate, nor their children. After the last time she had seen him, when he had come seeking peace with Valhalla after taking over the abandoned Tortugan lands, she had not seen him again. To say she had not worried for him and his family would be a lie. She worried. Even as she had lost Valhalla to that red Sovari, she had worried. It was another tumultuous emotion buried under the feeling that she had utterly failed her pack, even if they refused to see it. She lay at the edge of the stream, watching willow leaves rush by on a surface swollen by the end of Summer rains and storms. Deep blues held a pain, even with the satisfaction of her newest family members; her grandchildren. Snowy paws lay crossed under her chin, and her tail lay limp at her side. When she was alone, and only when she was alone, did she allow herself to droop; allow the opportunistic exterior to break. She had failed her pack. They may tell her otherwise, but she knew the truth of it. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Aside from his family and friends, there was one other wolf whom hurt him just as much as his wife did; his adopted mother Erani. He'd met the snowy woman when he'd still been under the rule of Isardis, and even then Erani had taken a liking to him. She had reminded him much of the mother he had left behind in his birth lands, which would explain why he had gravitated towards her so naturally. She had been there to support him during the beginning of his tortugan rule, but after that he never saw her again. He was lost to her and she to him during the siege, and well after when his maiming happened, along with the birth of his children. He sought to find his wife and make amends, but before he saw the golden woman, he needs to reconnect with his mother. Had she forgotten about him? Did she loathe him? Harbor resentment towards him because he had essentially disappeared? He wasn't sure how much hatred he could stand for all those he held dear to his heart, even if they no longer felt the same. He no longer knew if Valhalla stood, or even if his adopted sister Chrysanthe ruled as its queen. Did the pack still reside in the same area? He could only speculate and it was this speculation that drove him to the place where he believed the Valhallans to reside. He had no way of knowing if he was right or wrong, but it was worth a try. Besides, it wasn't like he was in a hurry; he had all the time in the world to find everyone he was looking for. That is, if they wanted to be found. Charcoal dipped limbs would pull the titan along, skull hanging between his shoulders, parallel to the ground, scared nostrils testing the air. It had been quite some time since he had seen his mother, but he still remembered her scent as if he'd just met her for the first time. He'd caught it not too far back and had been tracking it as best he could. It was getting stronger, but so was the knot in his throat. Would she receive him? The sound of trickling water told Taurig he'd found his way to a source of water. Just what kind of source he could only guess. Not that it really mattered to him, not when his mother was the one he was interested in. Her scent was strongest here and he could only assume that was close by. Massive frame was brought to a lumbering halt, crown held low to the ground, audits flat against his crown, sightless eyes looking in the direction he thought his mother to be. Would she chase him away from the Valhallans for fear of being seen with an unworthy man? Did she even recognize him as her son anymore? The familiar tightening of his throat strengthened and he knew it was only a matter of time before he came his own water source. What a way to grovel for forgiveness. "Speech"

Erani

Her head jerked up as a vaguely familiar tread caught her ears. It was almost hesitant, as though the owner was unfamiliar with the area, or tracking a hard to see trail. Rising, she looked over her shoulders, and finally found the owner, just as he stopped. She stared at the face she hadn?t seen in ages. Taurig?? But what on earth had happened to him? His eyes were milky, instead of the clear, piercing ice blue they had been. His face was scarred, and there was a strangeness to his scent, almost as if? Her eyes narrowed. ?What have they done to you?? There was the old chill in her voice that bespoke of the rage that could come from a wolf of her caliber. Who had hurt her son? She padded forward , until her nose touched his shoulder, whereupon she began a thorough documentation of each scar and injury. Whatever had happened, a lot of it had happened a long time ago. There was a pang in her heart as she realized that she had not been there to stop any of it. She leaned into the large male, butting her head into his shoulder. ?I?m sorry I wasn?t there, my son.? The chill had shattered from her voice, replaced by a faint tremor. That tremor was something he may never have heard. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think

He had been away from his loved ones for so long that he had forgotten what it felt like to be touched by someone who loved him, to feel the affection of his family. It was this prolonged absence of love that had the titan fearing that everyone he had ever considered his family would now reject him and cast him away to the life of a rogue; even his own mother. Erani wasn't his mother by birth, but she had been there for him when he had come to the new lands. She had taken the place of his birth mother and treated him as if she were really his blood son. And yet it was this gap in blood relation that had Taurig thinking the white woman would cast him away. He knew Erani was capable of such thing if they were merited. Had he merited that from his mother? He could only speculate as he stood at a distance, trying to decide whether he would approach her or if by some miracle she would approach him. And miracles did exist, he decided, as his mother called out his name, a question concerning his well being following suit. There was a chill to her voice, a chill he recognized to be the forewarning to her impending rage. The titan would tilt his crown towards himself, as if he could really see what he looked like. Knowing it was useless he would raise it to face his mother as she moved towards him, unable to answer her question. So many things had been done to him, by so many; was there really a point to recounting them all? They had all happened and there was no way of reversing them now. She approached him, her nose coming to his shoulder and the titan shuddered. There was no malice in her touch, no anger, no intention of bringing harm, just the soothing, comforting touch of a mother reuniting with her son. I?m sorry I wasn?t there, my son. He didn't miss the tremor in his mother's voice and it was that tremor that opened up the flood gates. A barrage of silent tears streaked down from his milky eyes as he curled his nape around his mother's shoulders, hugging her to him as he cried into her pelt. Taurig, the cobalt Knight, the cobalt Re, was no more. He was a shadow of his former self, his lack of control over his emotions proving as much. It is I who should apologize mother, for I was not here for you. Whatever has happened to me is of little importance in comparison to what ails you. If only I had been here for you, you wouldn't be in the state that you are now. He murmured into her ivory coat, his voice a strangled whisper, thick with the tears that now rained down on Erani's shoulders. He didn't know what had happened to her, nor why there was a tremor to her voice that had never been there before, but it clearly was enough to bring out a more...vulnerable side to his mother. And he probably had something to do with it. The titan buried his face in his mother's shoulders, wishing with all his might that he could right all the wrongs he had committed against all of his loved ones. "Speech"

Erani

His tears wet her fur, and she nuzzled his shoulder as he clung to her. His words brought a strangled sound from her throat. ?Ah, Taurig, what ails me would have come anyways. A great deal happened while you were away. Challenges? Valhalla just couldn?t catch a break. If it wasn?t one thing, it was another.? And I thought I could protect it and keep it safe? Her rump hit the ground as she sighed. First, a white female from Glaciem challenged Chrysanthe for Valhalla; she won. So? I rebuilt it and reclaimed the old territory. Things went well for a while? Then an earthquake shook up the land. I managed to secure a peace treaty with Sendoa Armada afterward, in return for healing her injured paw. There are underground lands opened up by the quake, I had been patrolling an underground lava river and encountered her there.. Not long after that? an epidemic hit Alacritia?? Her lips twisted, as though a sour taste has struck her tongue. Then continued. ?Valhalla has fallen. Viridiana Sovari challenged for it, not days after she brought us the cure for the epidemic. I was burying our dead when the challenge came. That? female? I don?t know what was going on in her head, but she wasn?t fighting as though it was a challenge. She seemed more interested in spreading my insides far and wide. She failed, in that at least. I failed to protect my pack, and keep my family?s home.? Her sighted eyes rose to regard his milky, unseeing ones. ?From what Surreal?s companion told us after Surreal dragged me off to Atlantis Island, Viridiana tossed Valhalla away to someone else like a bone, instead of staying to rule it. It?s passed through that ones paws, and to another. It?s clear she didn?t even want the pack, so why challenge for it in the first place?? Surreal had come to see her after running into Rune, and told her the relation. Erani remembered Rune; a polite, if surly male who was clearly in love with his mate, Alamea. She had seen them off when they had left to make their own way in the world. She was glad to hear they had their own pack, and regretted not going to see their daughter yet. Her eyes dropped to the ground. ?Things are looking up, these days, however. Falk and Surreal have mated; you have a Nephew and two nieces to meet. Regulus, Faite, and Zuriel. Surreal plans to rebuild the pack once more?? There was a faint note of hope in her voice. She wanted her daughter to succeed in these plans, and to succeed in keeping the pack safe and sound. Quietly, she leaned against her adoptive son. ?I?ve been worried for you. Isardis is gone from the land, by the way.? Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think

His mother didn't balk at his sudden display of emotion, perhaps the first time she had ever seen him so broken and distraught, but simply took in stride, comforting him in a way that he hadn't had in quite some time. Ah, Taurig, what ails me would have come anyways. A great deal happened while you were away. Challenges? Valhalla just couldn?t catch a break. If it wasn?t one thing, it was another. Her words, as well as her movement to sit, would bring the titan to pull away enough that he figured he was face to face with her, his own flank folding to kiss the earth beneath him, the stream of tears drying across his scared visage as he listened to his mother recount the events that had transpired. His chest tightened at the mention of Vi; the red woman. He remembered his time in Tortuga, when he and Vi hadn't been very fond of each other, but had slowly come to terms and dare he even say friends. To hear that she came to take Valhalla away from his mother and her family brought mixed feelings to the beast. He considered Vi a good friend, but it tore at him to hear that she had so carelessly taken a pack and then discarded it. He knew Vi, and he knew that she wasn't one to rule a pack. Her move to take Valhalla surely must have been for someone else, but who that someone else was was anyone's guess. But his mother didn't just have bad news for him. Surreal, his adopted sister, had started a family with his younger brother Falk and Taurig was now an uncle to three little ones; Regulus, Faite, and Zuriel. He would have to congratulate his brother on fatherhood and meet the new additions to the family. His mother trailed off and he thought she had finished, but the last bit of information she gave him left the titan with unease; Isardis had gone. One would think that the new of his absence would be welcomed, but if anything it was a warning to Taurig. The ice King was rutheless and he didn't give up his prized possessions, whether they were wolves or lands, so easily. He'll be back. was the titan's first response. Sooner or later the albino would return and with him more hell. It was only a matter of time. I've worried for you too mother. I've worried about all of my family. I've worried that I had left them behind to fend for themselves, that I had failed in my duties as a father, a husband, a brother and a son. I've failed everyone and I don't think I can be forgiven this time...Once perhaps, but not a second time... He would trail off, the tears bursting through once again, emotion tightening his throat. He had let everyone down. What was there for him to do now? Grovel for forgiveness that probably wouldn't be given to him? "Speech"