Her bravery slowly trickled back to her, Poem and Theory had boosted her up until she didn’t have to hide behind her own shadow any more. She knew her scars would be there for a long time, she wouldn’t forget any time soon what had happened to her, or her loses. They would be a part of her, she could be better for them, rather than worse.

With that in mind, she would finally take the plunge, and return to the Ashen Empire where it had all started to go wrong for her. She had left behind a little feather, something of Shaye’s, and her heart ached for it to be returned to her. She needed it, and she was strong enough to get it back.

She had heard the pack had moved, and she was a little lost looking for it, until she finally found the territory where she recognized a scent. She would know Sirius anywhere. Not realising he had split from Ashen, she would shuffle her feet, and decide how to proceed. She hoped someone had picked up her feather in the move, and that it wasn’t lost to the wind now.

Azure was in the woods teaching his leopard how to properly stalk. The thing was still just a cub and had little knowledge in the way of the world. Perhaps that was why his mother had stolen it so young, so that he could have the full experience on raising a helpless animal. The murderer in him sighed and rolled it's eyes, though he could agree that in the future perhaps the creature could be useful to him as Bast was to his father. "Lower." He told her, lifting a paw and placing it hard down upon the cat's shoulders. "Make yourself useful, stalk that squirrel and bring it to me." The boy watched quietly as Lilith sunk lower, moving forward into the trees in the direction he'd pointed. While scenting for said squirrel that may or may not have existed, a new smell reached him. He narrowed his eyes, crouching low and forgetting entirely about the leopard he was teaching to stalk towards the new smell. Through the grasses he saw the wolf, not quite grown though much more so than he was. His lips pulled back in a snarl, and he raised himself to his full un-impressive height so the stranger would know he was not attempting to hide. The boy aimed to emulate his father's proud stance as he strode out of the treeline, brandishing his elongated canines in a silent threat. "You're getting close to the territory of the Armada." He warned. The bat upon his shoulders flared out his wings, squeaking angrily. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

She heard the sound of someone speaking, their voice was light like a child, but his tone was surprisingly mean. He instantly reminded him of scary Sirius, through she wasn’t certain what about him did so. Or maybe Venom, who had picked on her so mercilessly.

She tried to ignore the sound and skirt around it, but they must have gotten closer, because before she knew it, he was before her. He pulled himself to his full height, and snarled at her. He wasn’t that much shorter then she was, despite how young he was. She saw the scar markings on his eyes, and instantly knew his parentage. He looked just as mean and unforgiving as his father.

She lost some of that confidence she had wrapped around herself. “I...I know” she said, trying to sound more sure of herself. Seeing this pup reminded her of how scared and weak and helpless she had been. Utterly at the mercy of the Ashen pack. No, wait, he said Armada, wasn’t the pack called Ashen? That was weird. Maybe they changed their name. Her thoughts were a little bit muddled, and she didn’t put any more thought to the name. “I knew your father, Sirius, I left behind a blue macaw feather back when this pack was in the West. I was hoping I could get it back…” she explained softly.

The soft, unsure tone in the girl's voice fueled Az and he puffed out his chest further. One arched brow raised and he made a show of considering her words. After a brief moment, his head turned to gesture to the bat. Diablo lifted off his shoulders, headed back towards pack territory. Once he was gone, Azure's lips broke apart with a loud 'tsk, tsk, tsk.' "So say that I've seen it, what does it matter to you?" He asked, settling into a seated position. Azure had been taught about confidence and how to appear more frightening than you truly were, he knew that the more relaxed he could appear the less threatened he'd look by the potential intruder. His head cocked to the side as he regarded her. It didn't take very long for the bat to return and in his tiny fingers he held a long blue feather. Diablo returned to his perch upon Az's shoulder, and gently slid the feather in behind the boy's ear. "I think it suits me well, don't you?" Azure told the girl. "I might keep it." "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

“It’s mine” Motif said, realising this boy was going to be some sort of obstacle to her. She was starting to realise that the entirety of Ashen (or was it the Armada?) was full of bad apples. Still, she had come this far, she didn’t want to go home without her prize. She was just trying to consider how to shake him… when his bat returned, and her anger would only grow. She couldn’t get past him now to get her feather. He had it, he had it in his horrible, mean fur! “That’s mine!” she said again, more angrily this time. “My mother gave me that, get your grubby hands off it! all she could see was Shaye’s grave, the spot on the ground where her mother lay. The reminder she had never gotten to say goodbye. She hadn’t the chance to see her put to rest. Angry tears streamed down her face, and she launched herself at the bully. She had to have that feather, she must. Trying not to be blinded by her tears, the young girl aimed to swipe at his ear. She wanted to knock her feather free, and she wasn’t going to be gentle about it. Motif Destruction vs Azure for minor maim (ear notch) Round 1/? Size: Extra large Build: Medium Companion 1: Caracal, Male - Battle Companion 1: Raven, Female - Battle Skills: Beginner Fighter & Beginner Healer Specialty: N/A "Speech"

Azure laughed, the sound cold and cruel as she swiped towards his ear for the feather. It was a pitiful attempt and he tore his head backwards to dodge it. Did this girl even know how to fight? She'd made no attempt to close the distance between them, and he was pretty sure she was crying. Generally he made it a rule not to fight wolves that were older than him, it just wasn't fair and after getting his butt handed to him by Resin he did not want another humiliating one-sided defeat. Her lack of finesse encouraged him however, because how could a skilled fighter possibly be that lame? As her paw swiped past the air in front of his face, Azure shot forward. He aimed to wrap his thick forelegs around her neck - ignoring how much shorter he was than her - and try to land a bite upon her cheek. His bear paws flexed, his claws if they were to land upon her neck aiming to dig in hard into the flesh. If he had any say in the matter, he'd keep the damn feather and give her a pretty scar to remember his family by. "Say please." He taunted. Azure Keres Fatalis vs Motif Destruction for Minor Maim (scarring upon neck) Round 1/2 Age: Under 6 months Size: Dire wolf Build: Medium Defensive Battle Accessory: Condor body armor Companion 1: Large flying fox, Male - Battle Companion 2: Clouded leopard, Female - Battle Mutation 1: Saber fangs - Offensive Mutation 2: Bear paws - Offensive Mutation 3: Bone spurs - Offensive Skills: Advanced Fighter & Advanced Hunter Specialty: N/A "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

[ “Never, you Tyrant!” She hissed angrily, her missed attack pushing her over from upset to just plain angry as she fought him. Their fight felt more like a brawl then any of the spars she had been in. they had always felt more controlled, and almost beautiful. There was nothing beautiful about this scrap. She wanted to win, she had to! To teach this runt some manners, and to get back what was hers. She would be happy to see him crying, he deserved it. He came closer, wrapping his heavy paws around her. She decided to try and shove her weight forward then, running into him sort of, to mess with his balances and his attacks. As she moved, his attack missed her cheek, but his claws hooked into her flesh. Now that he was close to her, she tried again to free the feather. She just needed his damn head to stay still. She aimed for a bite against his own neck, near his cheek, and her paw moved up, going again for his left ear as she tried to pry her feather free. She would do this by trying to get a hook into his ear to hold it still. Motif Destruction vs Azure for minor maim (ear notch) Round 2/2 Size: Extra large Build: Medium Companion 1: Caracal, Male - Battle Companion 1: Raven, Female - Battle Skills: Beginner Fighter & Beginner Healer Specialty: N/A "Speech"

The girl continued to fight, though it seemed she was way more set upon retrieving her stolen feather then actually hurting him. That was something he could use to his advantage, which was good because now that she was shoving back he realized how much stronger she was than him. He growled sharply, a signal for his companions to come to his assistance. The bat flew in, intent upon flapping in front of her face to distract her and sacrifice her vision of the precious feather. The baby leopard dropped it's squirrel and ran in to try and nibble at the girl's back foot. Azure felt the pain in his ear and instinctively grasped tighter, his curved and elongated claws ready to tear down her flesh if they stayed locked together. Azure Keres Fatalis vs Motif Destruction for Minor Maim (scarring upon neck) Round 2/2 Age: Under 6 months Size: Dire wolf Build: Medium Defensive Battle Accessory: Condor body armor Companion 1: Large flying fox, Male - Battle Companion 2: Clouded leopard, Female - Battle Mutation 1: Saber fangs - Offensive Mutation 2: Bear paws - Offensive Mutation 3: Bone spurs - Offensive Skills: Advanced Fighter & Advanced Hunter Specialty: N/A "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

And the winner is...

MOTIF

AZURE must give up by submitting, fleeing or passing out. Motif's maim is successful. Totals: Adjusted rolls: 53.75 48.3 88 29 MOTIF'S total is.. 219.05 Adjusted rolls: 3.4 97.9 38 30 AZURE'S total is.. 143.91

Her claw sliced through his ear with more ease then she had been expecting, shocking her even as her feather fell to the ground. She shoved him out of the way and grabbed the feather, before retreating a few steps to watch him, wondering what he would do. His ear must hurt. “I know a little about healing, I trained with my Mother… if you want me to take a look at it” she offered him. She had her feather back, so she saw no reason to have bad blood. In all honesty, it surprised her that she had gotten his ear so well, she had only meant to knock her feather free.

It all happened so fast, he felt the wind of her paws the slice of his flesh and saw the feather float down to the ground. He stared dumbfounded at it for a moment, watching stunned as the girl ran forward to collect it. She looked apologetic, but Azure could barely notice it through the sting that was beginning to swiftly build. He knew what was next to come, the adrenaline would leave him and the pain would swell faster and harder until he probably ended up crying. Azure couldn't let this girl see his tears, and so when she offered her services he merely bared his teeth at her and snarled. "Get out of here before I tear out your throat." He threatened, fighting to keep his voice firm although he wanted nothing more then to sob. Jaws parted and snapped shut at the open air between him, and his growling grew louder as he did so. If she didn't leave he knew he was not capable of fighting her once more, but he could sure as hell find a pack member who would fight her for him. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

She huffed softly at his response, and knew this would not do at all. “I come from a pack of healers, I can make the pain go away” she offered. It was the least she could do, after she had just about split his ear open. He tried to send her away, with pain of violence - but she had already kicked his ass in battle, abided accidentally. She didn’t think he would want another round quiet so quickly, especially well he was in pain.

Instead she ignored his grumbling and snarling and went about harvesting some Meadowsweet - it was already pretty common, and she found a patch growing beneath the trees. She had barely needed to look. It had been commonly used back home, and it reminded of her mother so strongly it almost toppled her. Trying to hide the pain of her loss, she turned back to the boy. “This will get rid of the pain, do you want that?”

The boy's head twitched, resisting the urge to press the injury against something to try and dull some of the agony. The nerves ran down behind his eye, bothering it too as the pain began to radiate. "Just leave!" He responded, louder this time as his desperation swelled with the ache. Finally it was too much to handle, and he turned away from her and lifted his paw to his ear heavily as if pressing on the wound would make it better. He knew from his experience with Indigo that it would hurt no matter what he did, but eventually the bleeding would stop and the pain would slow with it. His lips pulled back as he continued to growl at the girl, though his eyes stung with tears. The bat upon his shoulder looked from one wolf to another, eyeing the herb she held. He flew over to her and landed upon the ground at her feet, reaching out his wing so that she might hand it over. Perhaps he'd take it if he didn't know it was Motif who collected it, and be more willing to accept further help when the pain was lessened. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."