A lone wolf is a dead wolf, the words of Remi's mother repeated on a loop in her mind like a foreboding mantra. Her cropped ears shrank even further against the flat of her skull, head hunched tight between bony shoulders in an effort to hide from the strange sights, sounds and smells that lived in the swamp. She longed for the comfort of her pack and mourned for the loss of it. It hurt more than the removal of her ears and tail did. Her voice might have been lost too, but the damage to her throat had left her with a low raspy whisper.

Months had passed since she'd been attacked and cast out from her pack. The waif had wandered far, full of fear and empty of food. She scavenged what little she could and managed to survive the summer alone, but it was getting harder to bear. Her haunches collapsed beneath her in the sticky mud, exhaustion taking hold. Where would she go? How would she survive? The constant worries plagued her anxious mind and an unpleasant heaviness weighed on her thin frame.

Oh, this place was rather terrible. A burden to walk through and an annoyance to breathe in. The ground squished with every step he took. As he picked up his paws he left soggy prints, flicking muddy water up against his legs and underbelly. Displeased was an understatement. Sheer exasperation plastered his facial features downward. His brow furrowed, his lips pulled down, and his nose wrinkled. He wasn't sure exactly when he became a 'pretty boy' but at the current moment, he just knew that he was one. Mud did not suit him well. Or maybe it was the suction from the very Earth that he was willing that turned him away. He didn't agree with the way the ground tried to swallow him. The entirety of the swamp bothered him to the core. Valkorion tried to find order in the chaos. He searched for patterns, high, low, near, and far, but he was coming up fairly short. He thought if he stayed on the mossy grass he'd be fine, but that too would squish under his weight. He then turned to the roots that were also trying to escape the endless siege of water, but he found that they were either too weak to support him and also sank, or they were loose and slick. He settled for the grass. Though it may have oozed between his toes as he walked, at least it was stable-ish. The mahogany coated man continued to trudge. Up and down. Under and over. The fog rolled in and still, he marched. He'd find his way out of this mess soon enough. But not before he came across a lost soul. The brute climbed over a half decomposed log, his massive paws griping into the spongy soil as he eyed the creature lying in the muck. He turned his muzzle upwards, his eyes cast downward. Nostrils flared as he examined the pitiful brown creature before him. No tail, and hardly any ears. Who had been so cruel as to allow this dirt to go on? Valkorion was many things, but cruel he was not. He saw no point in letting someone suffer or letting someone live with a constant reminder of their self-worth, which was nothing. He saw it fit to end them. That was unless they deserved to walk with their faults on their pelts. He could name a wolf or two. "Convenient," his voice was heavy and it echoed from behind the she-wolf. "If you continue to lay there like you've given up, the Earth will reclaim your sack of bones. Is that your intent? To just sink into the mud and fade away?" He asked with genuine curiosity. Had she wanted to die, he could be of assistance, and if she wanted to live... Well, he was feeling generous today. "Let the darkness sleep"

Remi shivered violently as the early winter breeze buffeted her patchy pelt and the wet mud soaked her undersides through. She shuffled awkwardly on her rump to find a dry spot, but all she succeeded in doing was smearing more mud into her fur. The sound of someone's approach caused her stump of a tail to wag pitifully, head bowed submissively between her paws as the tall stranger's shadow loomed over her small self. Someone had come to speak to her! She was overtaken by a rush of desperate gratitude for this short interaction with someone that she couldn't control her excited pup-like whines. The stranger asked her if she'd given up and Remi shook her head in vehement denial. "N-No, sir. Please.. I want to live, she rasped in her hoarse gravelly tones, yellow eyes staring intently at the stranger's paws. Her words were a plea as if the wolf held her fate in his paws. She, without realising it, had already decided that he was the one in control and that she was at his mercy. She made no attempts to lift herself from the dirt, content in laying where she was until he gave her permission to stand.

Dark rubies cascaded to the sudden flicker at the base of the she-wolf. He watched as the stump of a tail began to quake, the movements traveling up the girl's spine, moving into her vocal cords as she whined in excitement. His brow lifted as his head tilted to the side ever so slightly. He had to wonder how attention starved was this lost girl that she was this animated by the approach of a total stranger? He never could understand why some loved the attention and affection of others. Valkorion wasn't one to find comfort in a vulnerable or tender moment. The muddy wolf's voice was rough, raspy, and full of a plea. She begged even before he had given her a threat. This intrigued him deeply. His facial featured rolled from curiosity to a devil's grin. "You choose life, but still, you sink," his tongue flashed across his muzzle as he spoke. "Get up, if you so choose to live," he spoke with authority. His chest pressed forward, his head held high and his tail standing out straight. She may have found him domineering, commanding, or even intimidating, but he was not threatening. No, he neutral in that regard. Almost as quickly as he had appeared he began to slip away from her. He turned, his voice calling over his shoulder, "Come now, let us leave this tempting grave." He paused for a brief second, his eyes shifting to the corner, casting his gaze behind him. If she did not give up and follow him, he would not return for her. Why collect this one? he pondered to himself as he waited for those few heartbeats to pass and for her to rise. I don't know, something tells me she might be of use. There was a visible roll to his shoulder as he finished the thought. Perhaps, perhaps not. The internal commentary fizzled out as he lifted his paw to ascend back over the log. "Let the darkness sleep"

Remi watched the stranger in apparent fascination without once lifting her honey hued eyes to meet his. Her gaze didn't linger on his face for more than a sneaky few seconds before darting away and retreating to its rightful place never rising above the man's neck. Her head remained tucked between her paws, belly pressed into the dirt while her body trembled with anticipation. Get up. She rose clumsily to her paws as he commanded, head drooped and tilted towards the ground as if her snout weighed more than her cranium. "T-th-" she began to speak, but her ragged tones broke off into several short throaty whines, so overcome by the generosity she had been extended. "...Thank you sir," she whimpered finally abjectly thanking him, sniffing between each word. Then her stomach lurched as he turned away from her, paws pressed into the soft earth, she wanted to follow, but would not unless he allowed it. She waited for him to leave her alone again and take her hope with him. He surprised and delighted her again by beckoning her to join him. Remi stumbled after him, desperate to keep him within her sights so that she would not be left alone. She did not know his name or anything about him, but the man had showed her something that resembled kindness in her distorted mind.

She thanked him and his ears rose. He paused in his step to turn his head and watch as she scrambled to her feet. She could barely keep her delight under control. It oozed off her shaking body as she found her legs and came to his side. He watched her with great interest. He didn't need to claim her, she was already his. With just a touch of kindness, that he did not perceive as such, had her eager for his company. For a few heartbeats, he wasn't sure what he wanted to do. Let her stay in his company or leave her in the shadows? He had already offered her the choice so he shook his head and pushed out the thought. "Tell me your story." He spoke as he began to walk again. He was careful in his step and if she started to fall behind he would pause again. He would even reach out and nudge her softly his muzzle or hip if he felt she was moving down a path that was unstable. "Step here," he whispered as to not interrupt her too much as she told her tale. He was quite interested in how she ended up tailless and with crumpled ears. Was she a slave, a runt in the litter and just constantly picked on? Or was she a criminal and now feared for further punishment? Whatever her book read he wanted the details. "Let the darkness sleep"

Where, why and whom did not matter to Remi. She was finally liberated from her despair and fear of being alone. Her crooked nub of a tail continued to wave even as her paws floundered over the slick marsh. Her legs splayed awkwardly, crossed over each other in opposing directions. She unfolded her limbs and attempted to steady herself. The sudden touch of his muzzle against her side spooked the girl and her strained tone could only release a pitifully soft whine. Teeth did not break her skin, but the memory of mouths on her flesh made her tremulous. His next words were a request for her story and she considered strongly whether a lie would appease his curiosity. She knew as soon as the sinking sensation swelled within her gut that she did not dare to decieve him. He'd be able to tell. Remi was a terrible liar. She averted her eyes from him as she began. "...I...I did a bad thing, Sir. I was punished," she confessed, bowing her so low at the shame of it that her nose was touching the ground. "I...laid with someone...sh- ah he was mated," she quickly tried to cover up her slip up, fear forcing her tongue into a poor white lie. At his prompting she stepped carefully on the path he had chosen and found herself more comfortable.

Valkorion paused in his stride as the waif dropped her snout to the earth. His brow furrowed before the left lifted. He couldn't imagine what sort of crime should could have committed to warrant this much mutilation. She was timid, shy, and frankly, she seemed too soft to have done any terrible crime. His head tilted upwards when her words skipped a beat. So she had been with a she-wolf and was either ashamed or still afraid. He huffed, his head pushing forward, muzzle nosing the air before he snorted. "And they? Did they receive the same punishment?" He asked as his tail flicked. "And why did adultery call for such punishment? There are far worse crimes." He asked out of curiosity. "And you should not be ashamed of your past with me." He turned, his body rotating to the right so that he could fully face her. He stepped closer to her and nudged her at the neck if she let him. "Pick your head up," he ordered. Valkorion didn't like sulking. He wasn't about to let her have a pity party. Vengeance was fine, but being moppy was unforgivable. "Let the darkness sleep"

Remi's muzzle remained pressed into the dirt, cowed and shamed by the visceral memory of her punishment. In part she still held a great affection for the her former alpha's wife, even though she had been denounced by the Lady as a mistake and later mauled by her lover as proof the Lady was still loyal to her true mate. She shook her head when Sir asked her if the same punishment was given to the Lady. She lifted her head as he bade her too, but her gaze remained lowered out of respect. His touch did not spook her this time because she was ready and accepting of it. "Traitors can't be wolves anymore, Sir," she answered, unable to stop a raspy whimper from following. Her maimed body and damaged vocal chords were her pack's efforts to remove the wolfness from her. It didn't stop her from feeling like a wolf, the pull she felt to be with her own kind and to follow was too strong to resist.

His eyes widened as he withdrew his head. He stared at her for a long moment before he shook his head, features softening as he scoffed. "The only traitor I find in that story is the bitch that betrayed you and her mate." He took a deep breath and released it in a huff. Her words replayed in his brain a few more times. The concept that traitors couldn't be wolves anymore was preposterous to him. He had been betrayed and he had betrayed. It didn't make him or them any less of wolves. "We're still wolves, waif." He added as his head turned towards the sky. His eyes narrowed as he looked through the trees to find the sun. He tried to pinpoint its location and distance from the horizon to determine how much more light they had. "You can stay with me, and my name is Valkorion, not sir." His deep crimson eyes returned to the brown wolf that was still sulking. Maybe one day he could install more confidence in her spirit. "Let the darkness sleep"

She wanted to defend her former lover's innocence, but instead she timidly ducked her head and acquiesced to the man's criticisms of her. It was easier to stay quiet and accept things than risk any further harm to herself either mentally or physically. Most of all Remi did not want to be abandoned again so she was determined to be on her best behaviour for him. He knew her biggest secret and accepted her as a wolf despite her maimed appearance. For these reasons alone she could forgive him for calling the Lady a bitch.

His name was Valkorion. Just the sound of his name repeating in her mind felt almost criminal and worthy of punishment. She could not address him as an equal. The thought of it filled her with tremendous anxiety. "I'm Remi. If it pleases you," she introduced herself meekly, barely able to withhold the sirs nor could she bring herself to speak his name aloud. Still the excitement of her pending rescue from solitude and the company of another wolf made the nub of her crooked tail begin to wag again.