Seeking the end

Gilgamesh notices the blatant look of surprise on Bellamy's features at his arrival. He doesn't acknowledge it at first. She deserves no answers, no explanations, none of it. Not until she speaks. First mentioning how she wasn't expecting him to appear before her. No one expected it, really. He was meant to be recovering in the den, not moving, not doing much of anything until at least his ribs healed. Yet, Gilgamesh wouldn't allow that. There was no better way to get better than to use the body one was given. Why lay stagnant and allow his already deteriorating muscles to diminish any further? Or perhaps it was the laying alone in the den that was doing it. With nothing to do, no one to be around, all he had was himself and his mind. Churning away, never shutting off.

"I am a man of resilience," Gilgamesh replies, not to interrupt, but more so to add to the conversation. They were two adults after all, capable of a mature conversation, no? And as Bellamy continues, Gilgamesh listens intently. Apathetic expression and dull stare forever on her, unmoving, with slow blinks that one might find disturbing. "There are more than a few who would not be upset if they heard of my demise," he muses, speaking more practically rather than trying to be humorous. His own lists of disliked wolves wasn't short either.

His gaze flicks down to the bag of herbs for a brief glance before they're back on Bellamy. He gives her a curt nod of his muzzle, acknowledging the good willed gesture, but continues to leave the floor open for whatever else was on her aging mind. Her apology is expected because he's heard it before. Unfortunately for the wolves involved, though Gilgamesh may have suffered from a TBI that affected his personality, his memory was as clear as ever. The words traded previously were as solid as the rocks that lined the nearby fjord.

As Bellamy goes on to explain from the beginning when he had initiated the first raid, he listens. When she mentions retribution, it is the first time his expression changes. A momentary lapse. His lips pulling ever so slightly tighter over his muzzle, a glimpse of distaste reading across his features, though it's gone the next time he blinks. What lingers is the way he clenches his jaw and swallows down the rising frustration he has for the woman before him. Had she not listened during their recent interaction? Gilgamesh questions this as she continues, offering to allow him to take her eye if need be.

Before he's given a chance to respond, which he's silently thankful for, she changes gears to continue on about the returning raid for blood. A slow exhale leaves his nostrils, sides contracting as he closes his eyes briefly. Did this pack not communicate with one another? Were they always so willing to leave each other in the dark? Was this the reason they were so quick to jump to defenses? More questions, more inquisitive than he cared to be during this interaction, but he would not stop her. The woman had clearly come with much on her mind and he would be the one to hear it.

When she moves on to their most recent encounter, Gilgamesh lifts a brow in question. So she didn't agree with her daughter...daughters? The bear was considered an offspring? His eyes narrow a moment, but doesn't linger on it. He wasn't one to question others adopting those who needed guidance for he had done so himself with pups that had been outcast by their own parents. Bellamy continues on still as he questions adoptive pups before he begins to wonder when it will end. His exhaustion is beginning to seep further into his bones, every joint achy and in need of some water and food.

That exhaustion is replaced with frustration that returns briefly in his chest. His lips quivering when she states she'll never understand why he asked for Haydee's apology instead of hers. Had his clear and direct words not been enough to burst through such an obviously thick skull? Blinking a few times to rid of the frustration as Bellamy's speech winds down to an end, Gilgamesh can only give his head a soft shake from left to right as his first response to what all she has said. With it comes another exhale, slow and steady. The exhaustion and frustration clear now around the wrinkles that line his muzzle and eyes.

"You wish to atone for sins you did not commit," Gilgamesh begins, his gaze leveling with Bellamy. "We do not accept such offers, ever. An eye for an eye truly makes the whole world blind, hm?" He questions, body ever still, only his facial muscles moving as he speaks. "One does not fight to their full potential if they are aware of an attack. One might say they could inform a leader ahead of time, requesting leaving their members in the dark. At the time, I believed Haydee not quite capable of keeping such secrets due to her youth and early tenure being a leader. So it was perhaps against my better judgment to go into a raid with Ethne blind. I know better now that I should have sent a bird because clearly, communication is not her strong suit," his tone is terse, words slightly clipped, but on he continues.

"And one might question why I brought pups to a raid. But again, with Haydee's knowledge of requesting training and us coming to Ethne's boundaries with the implication that we would match your energy, why would I believe my pups to be in serious harm's way? I do not expect anyone to understand, but as Raider's, we start training young so that our offspring can start to grasp being able to handle physical conflict against wolves they aren't familiar with," Gilgamesh pauses, taking a breath as he feels the wear of his injuries continue to weaken him. "Though you injured Siduri far greater than anticipated during that raid, it is nothing we could not have handled on our own. We are not initially vengeful wolves. We may hold grudges, sure, but unlike certain wolves I know, I do not agree with revenge raids being that raids are meant to gather resources. Not to spill the blood of thy enemies on their own land," his eyes narrow now, pointedly staring at Bellamy so she understands clearly what he is implying.

"If we are being open and honest with each other, our "feud" with Ethne would have ended with your maim to my daughter. Modesty, I, or Siduri herself may have sought you out personally, but, again, it would have ended there. If it had not been for the pup that came to our shores requesting apologies in the name of you, Haydee, and Ethne, it still would not have continued on. But Modesty, the mother that she is, worried that that boy had not been raised well. Who would think that a young wolf like that should go knocking on another pack's door right after such a tense moment? It's concerning in the same way that you find me bringing pups to a raid concerning. No harm would have come to him. Hell, we would have even let him go home if he had insisted, but as you might have noticed, I do not take lightly to purposeful harm coming unto pups," Gilgamesh's lips lift lightly, a grumble in his chest because even if his own personality had changed, his laws had not. Those who harm pups were the worst of their kind.

"Ah, but it gets better, dear, sweet Bellamy," his tone begins to change, something in him awakening as he feels the strain of his brain injury dig into his conscious. It began to twist the apathetic emotion of his tone as his eyes still continue to eerily hold onto her features. "Haydee suddenly appeared. Screaming about this and that, clearly forgetting what she had come to my doorstep requesting. What alpha leaves their wounded pack behind like that? Could she not have sent anyone else to gather up that naïve boy? Plus, we had not taken all of those stupid birds. We aren't mongrels. We take what is needed and leave the rest. That much is true and we both know this because if I were to go to your borders once more, I'm sure we find more than a few feathers on the ground. But it appears Haydee and perhaps Ethne too wished for an enemy and unfortunately for us, we were the chosen target. So on the beach that day, you're right, I did maim Haydee. And after I did, I warned her that if she were to ever come back to my borders, she would not be met in kind," Gilgamesh stands now, shaking out the tension from his fur before moving a few steps closer to Bellamy. She is nearly as tall as he is, but that's doesn't intimidate him nor stop him from holding a dominant stance. If there was any time that she needed to understand what he had to say, it was now.

"I figured," he pauses, clicking his tongue against his teeth to make a 'tsk' noise of thoughtfulness, eyes lifting to the cloudy skies above for a brief moment. Paws firmly on the ground, toes curling slightly to hold him steady with a renewed strength as emotion and adrenaline finally begin to flood him. When his gaze drops back down to Bellamy, the twist in his tone and gaze reveal something vile that not even Gilgamesh could put a paw on. "I figured that would be the last of your lot. I am a man of my word. After the first raid and scarring your daughter, one might have believed that enough to comprehend that we are not to be toyed with, but it appears Haydee was too proud? Bold?" His eyes squint, head canting slightly before giving it a shake. "No, reckless," his muzzle wrinkles again as he continues. "She thought, and from what you say was  against your better judgment, that raiding us in return was a good idea," both of his brows raise now before a quiet, disbelieving chuckle finally rolls off his tongue.

"Now, as I said Bellamy, I am a man of my word. So when Ethne appears on my borders, again, I will and did not take it lightly. And when we beat you once more, I very much believed, perhaps foolishly again, that that would be the end of whatever "feud" Haydee believed us to have," he paused, another sigh moving his sides as he takes a break. A soft shake of his head as he looks hard at Bellamy now. Was she finally beginning to get it? "After all of this, my daughter still had not began to heal. Modesty wished to seek out the Hallows for help. I did not deny them this and though I ventured into Auster with them, I decided to seek out Haydee for retribution. Not for the other unbelievably immature and idiotic behavior thrown our way, but for Siduri. Though you say you will not ever understand why I required Haydee instead of you, I do hope you understand it now. Siduri is traumatized. She wants nothing to do with seeing you or being in the same vicinity as you. So as the Alpha of Ethne, it would only make sense that Haydee go in your place to apologize for you. That way everything could be laid to rest and we could move on from what hurt us the most," his gaze and expression flicker back to something more serious, a fatherly note that revealed how he still truly felt on the inside. His family was his everything.

"But," a snort this time through his nostrils as he closed his eyes for a moment. Opening them once more, they reveal how tired and furious he is. They had taken it too far for long enough. Bellamy showing instead of Haydee was the nail in the coffin for Gilgamesh. "Haydee decided cowardice was a better option than answering to her injustice. You may have maimed Siduri and for that we understand, but everything else that has transpired is her fault," Gilgamesh's words seethe as he takes another step closer to Bellamy, muzzle coming closer to the older woman.



"We do not want your head. You are nothing but a bug beneath my paw. It is Haydee we seek and it is Haydee or Ethne, whatever it is your offspring may have disguised it as for now, that we require. We will not accept an apology, we will not accept gifts or tokens of sorrows. Haydee has clung to this veil of being a victim for far too long now. If she does not come and offer herself up, we will come to her. Your companions or yourself, I do not care, can deliver the message personally or don't. It won't matter. Nothing will stop us from obtaining what our hearts are set on, but it is up to you now to decide. Will we be taking Haydee or Ethne by force or will she come willingly?"

The Raid King, Gilgamesh