Welcome Home

The vibrant Archangel grinned as she responded to his words, making it known that she wasn’t bored with the story, his head cocking cheerfully as his heavy tail flicked to curl about his hocks, hips canting to allow his hind legs to stretch out to the side, settling more into his story as he continued.

“Alright. Well… When we got back to the Willows, mother had us – Zuriel and I – go hunt. We needed the food, especially father, and two young, strong wolves are better than one. We got an elk calf, relatively easily. Mother, meanwhile, handled Father. I’m pretty sure she gave him the riot act for trying to die when he still had a daughter present to live for… Things settled into a routine, though with Faite missing, and Grandmother being gone, it wasn’t quite the same; a lot of the family had scattered, as well. It was pretty much just mother, father, and myself and Zuriel left. I went to the Battlefield for the first time. I wanted to test myself in a real spar… I got a lot more than I bargained for. Have you ever seen a tiger? They’re twice the size of a mountain lion, and they hit like I don’t know what. That’s where the scars over the one left by the boar are from. I’m not sorry to say that I submitted as soon as I realized I was in over my ears.” He grinned sheepishly at Solveiga, before he went on.

“I did a little exploring before that, found an Island off the southern coast, and I met a girl there; her name’s Ganja. Tiny, and she was green. Black, green, with red eyes. Even her nose and paw pads were green. We got to be friends, though we didn’t get to play as much… She later joined Celestial, but I haven’t seen her in a long time…” A frown crossed his face, ears flicking back as he once again wondered where the little green woman had disappeared to. But he cleared the expression as he went on, tail tapping amiably over his hocks.
“Well, later that season, Mother went to visit my Aunt Epiphron, back when she was the leader of Fiori. Turns out that Arcanum was besieged by a pack called Ebony, and Ebony won by a landslide. Arcanum was gone, and these lands were freed again. She waited, then moved what remained of our family to where we belonged. We weren’t an official pack, mind. Still a loner group. But we patrolled the borders and reclaimed the family den like a pack.”

He ran his mind over the memories, how the time had passed, and he’d noticed his mother getting rounder and rounder. “Let’s see. We ended up settling into the Plains completely in Late Summer, and when mother called us all to the Plains, she also told us that we were going to be elder siblings. Turns out she did more than read Father the riot act.” Another grin flashed across his maw, a tongue lolling laugh panting from his jaws. “It wasn’t long after we moved back in, and mother was heavily pregnant, that the alphas of the Pack called Threar – fallen now, but we’ll get to that – called a festival in the east. Mother and I went, Zuriel too. I met Novella and Frith Destruction, the two leaders, and a couple of their children; Aslan and Luck. We have another of their children in the pack as our Master Hunter; Varda Destruction. I also won my first real spar at the spars.” He smiled reminiscently, still remembering with ease the bruises and cuts, and the rush of victory. And tripping over the little green Ganja. Literally. It always seemed like he was almost about to step on her, the first few times they met.

Luck. How was she; where was she? Had everything come out alright for her after their encounter in the moor? He came back to earth quickly, however, eyes dropping back to Solveiga. “It was a fun day, in all. Ganja was there, and I met some new wolves. Zuriel even found her own necklace along the way. It was only a few weeks later, and Tornach and Baine were born. I think I alarmed father a little; he can’t see, and he was already completely blind by then, and when I saw Baine, I let it be known that she was pink. Well, she was. Her skin was pink, and with her fur wet, you could sort of see the skin through it, and so, she was pink. But then I learned that she was just Albino.” He chuckled lightly, that trademark grin on his jaws, before he went on. “They were a pawful, but nothing to how my youngest three are. Baine loves to talk and talk… and talk some more. She can fit more words into a breath than you would imagine. Tornach was always more quiet, better at following rules, and yet… Anyway.” He shook his head, getting back to the subject at hand. “Well, when I reached a year old, I went to visit Ganja on her island. It was the last time I saw her for quite a long time; she went to find her mother and brothers; she never did, I don’t think. Maybe she went to find them again. We played all day, and then I went home. Mother picked up my training again; I was her heir, after all, once we could get the pack going. I needed to be able to have the stamina to go for hours upon hours, to be able to fight harder, and lead my pack with firm love. Then we both got sick; colds, and let me tell you, sneezing isn’t fun at all. Especially when your nose keeps hitting the ground.”

He chuckled ruefully, eyes twinkling. “Zuriel was a blessing; she kept us going toward getting better, and it felt amazing to be able to breathe again when we were better. There was no keeping either of us in the den for very long after that. Then Summer rolled around again. Y’know, I’d never really noticed how mother’s scent changed around that season. But that year, she was acting strangely around Father; she was avoiding him, sleeping in cousin Alsander’s old den. Turned out he’d come to her after running into a half sibling who had made a proposition to him. She and her wife wanted another litter, and since they couldn’t make it together, they wanted someone with as close of genes as possible to his half sibling. If it had been anyone else, because that wife is also mother’s niece through Epiphron, Father wouldn’t have been living with us anymore. Mother’s limit was really close to being breached with that. He didn’t end up doing it, though. I dunno if they found someone else, or just gave up. But when I finally got up the courage to ask mother what was going on, she told me about it… and then she gave me a refresher course on the birds and the bees…”

He trailed off, for once showing some minor embarrassment, before he coughed and plastered a grin on his face. “And, alright, maybe I missed most of the lesson she gave us when we were pups… I blame the butterfly. And I can still taste it to this day.” His head ducked slightly, a sheepish grin replacing the previous expression. However, that faded as he reached the next dark part of the story. “Everything was going great; My cousin Arian moved her pack, Sonticus, to the lands next to the Plains. She took the Moor you met me in and the lake we control now. Relatives, right next door. But after a while, we heard a challenge for a pack roll out from the Battlefield. It was for Threar. Sadly Threar fell, and that wouldn’t have been too much of an issue, except that they had just chosen to scatter one of the most peaceful packs on the continent… and then they claimed these Plains.”

A low burning fire kindled in the depths of those sapphire eyes, and a rumble entered the baritone voice as he went on. “A wolf called Sin was the one who challenged, and he set Hellstrom right on these plains. We barely had enough time to get the kids out and guide father to the Estuary to the south. Then Mother and I went to a pack in the East. Not Fiori, but another; Abaven. She’d heard that the alpha there was Bass Destruction, and if it was the same wolf, he had been in Valhalla for a short time under my Grandmother’s rule before he disappeared. Well, it was the same Bass, and he was just as upset about his Aunt and Uncle, and his family being scattered by the challenge. Mother offered our help, in any way he needed, should he decide to siege Hellstrom for their slight. Eventually, we ended up helping guard the healer camp in the Estuary as the siege took place. Abaven and a powerful Pack led by Valentine Imperialis called Imperium. Hellstrom had no chance whatsoever.”

He nodded firmly, the expression softening, the fire settling in his eyes as a smile returned. “We moved back as soon as the lands were cleared of them and the scents had been given enough time to fade. Before the siege, though, while we were living in the Estuary, Kavdaya found us, settled with us. Creed has been with us since the Summer when Mother was so upset. He’s the Right Wing, right now, my second. Good wolf, honorable and loyal. We also gained one of the former Threarans, Miksa.” He paused, letting the story absorb, before he grinned fully and continued.

“And in late winter, Mother made Celestial a reality. That was last year. It’s been pretty smooth since then, though a few have gone missing, though my Uncle Castiel returned recently, just before I was made Archangel.” He cocked his head with a grin, one ear dropping, the other perking. “And that’s pretty much how Celestial came to be, and how I became the Leader. Mother stepped down, and I took her place, as my firstborn will after me.”