A traveller in body and soul, the young Ermís had been far from home when his world was broken. It was almost a spectacular event, if it hadn’t cost the lives of his entire family. The air filled with ash and flames. Tones that reflected on the cloudy sky until the whole world looked like it was on fire. He and his crew alike had frozen in shock at the sight of approaching doom. Seconds that turned into minutes, as a dull and distant roar filled the air.

He remembered the desperate fight home in chaotic bits and pieces. Fighting tides and currents to get just a little closer to the landmass that once had raised them. He lost some of his wolves in the mad scrabble then, and others later when the impending volcanic tsunami had swept up their ship like a toy on the waves. Damaged and limping, they had fled everything they had known before. He lost other wolves then. To dehydration, hunger, and despair. He lost his last wolf on the day they finally found land. The damaged, sinking ship would fail them a distance from land. Forced to swim, they had taken to the waves.

His tired body gave out close to shore, and it came as something of a surprise when he woke later. Tired and bruised, with the tide lapping against his toes. He woke to the sound of Solars screeching. The dark plumage of his faithful bird was the first thing he saw as he groaned and opened his eyes. He dragged his paws under himself and pushed himself upwards. The effort left him trembling as he took his first good look at the Boreas. The cold air he sucked into his aching lungs was a mixed blessing. Food, water, shelter. Anything else could wait.

Days later:

The Ermis Prince looked at the remaining deer carcass with wry amusement. A full belly made any situation a little less bleak. But the truth was, he had lost everything. He looked up at Solar as the bird squawked at him. He tilted his head, listening for a moment, before nodding. "A market, you say?" He looked at the bracelets at his paws, and rubbed a hand against them reluctantly. Very well. He was a trader at heart. He would find a way to make this new world work.

This Armada market wasn't far from where he had been shipwrecked. He tidied his coat across his protruding ribs, and hid his limp. Showing no weakness as he strolled into the open pack lands. The scents of wolves suddenly all around him.


"Speech"

She almost could not believe her eyes. When told before that no one from her land had come to join the pirates, she expected the loss. She accepted the loss days later, tears running down her cheeks in the privacy of her den. Was she doomed to miss everyone from that also doomed realm? Had she fought for the pack in vain, from invaders down south, only for it to crash months later? She had evacuated who she could, finding nobody she had truly cared for in the wave. Her best friend had been found dead before the eruption, killed. Her alpha took his kids and run. Nobody had solved the man's murder. There had been no time. Wren, of course, blamed herself. If she hadn't fought with her friend months prior, and he hadn't left the pack to brood... Maybe. She only hoped (and wished) that the killer had been killed in the eruption. A dark desire. So she accepted that nobody else would be there in Boreas or Auster. Nobody from her previous home. That's when she saw him. "Mercury?" Working security in the Market, she spied the dark-blue form of the trader and her friend "Mercury!" She could not help the panic, the fear, and the hope all colliding inside her chest. She charged the short distance and collided with him. Wren was laughing and crying. She raised a limb and draped it over his shoulder, ignorant of his injuries. She hugged him awkwardly, though heartily. "she speaks"

He glanced across the market. Taking in the scent of the strange pack, and the strange wolves that lived here. After the mad dash across the sea, there was something very strange about the atmosphere of norm here. He felt it curling in his gut, the urge to keep running, fighting, moving. But there was nothing left to do, no one left to save.

He turned, and stopped when he realised he was about to run into another wolf - only for them to keep moving. Moving into him, grabbing him. He let out a breath of pain at the sudden movement of his injuries. He might have made a very bad move as well, if it wasn’t for Solar. Attacking a wolf in the heart of their pack lands would have been foolhardy on any day, but more so when he didn’t have the strength to hold his own.

But it was Solar's cry of surprise and joy that stilled him, and he realised then who held him. He looked at the warm coffee wolf in his arms, and let out a cry of surprise of his own. Wrapping his paws around her suddenly, headless of his hurts. “Wren! Impossible. I thought you were dead.” He admitted, and gasped softly at the pain in his ribs. “Easy, easy” he cautioned her strong grip on him. She looked… good. Strong and steady and all the tastes of home he could have asked for. He pulled back slightly to get a better look at the familiar girl. She had always been a joy when he had traded with her pack. Clever, and witty and charming. At least, he had always found her so.

"Speech"

"I thought you were dead!" She echoed his words, tears streaming down her face. The tears she had resisted long before cascaded in waves. Mercury hadn't been part of her pack, and she could not run off to find him as the eruption took place. She had a duty as a beta wolf to evacuate the non-family of the alpha. The massive storm wolf hugged her back, cautioning her grip. She relaxed it, laughing breathlessly and that's when she noticed his injuries. She reeled a bit backward, causing a keen gaze on them. "These are fresh" she pointed out, frowning "what the hell happened?" A predator? No, they didn't look like claws or bites. Wren unfurled herself from her friend and backed up to allow him space, but she kept her gaze on him. Waiting for an answer. Waiting for a chance to help. She hadn't been there for him, and she had regretted it. Assumed he had died. How many others had escaped? She figured they were scattered in the wind now... But there was hope. "she speaks"

Despite cationing her to take it easy on him, the starry wolf continued to hold her. Tightening his grip a little when he scented the salty richness of tears on her face. He understood the sentiment. He believed his entire family to be gone, wiped out in a single moment. He hadn’t even been there at the time… he would always be left wondering. Seeing a familiar face was both shocking and wonderful.

Wren however was zeroing in on his injuries, and he didn’t protest as she inspected them. “I was out to sea… it's been a long journey” He said. It was all too fresh in his thoughts to say it outloud. The lives lost had been under his protection. “What about you, Wren. What about Asteria?”


"Speech"

"We're going to get you fixed up." We? Who was we? She couldn't remember what plants to give him for pain, or anything like that. All she had was water and cloth to clean the injuries with. She was about to excuse herself to check the Market for them when the name slipped from his lips. Wren turned sharply back at Mercury, the beginnings of a growl. "Gone" No alpha, no Asteria. No alpha's family, no Asteria. The fucker abandoned them all, leaving her to pick up the pieces "my alpha took his family and left us. I had to evacuate everyone else. I don't know if anyone else made it, Mercury..." The snarl died from her lips as she looked momentarily forlorn. "You're the only one to come here" She included herself, thankful she had escaped with her life "from that place. From our home" She sighed, biting back more questions and answers. At least right now "I'm... guessing nobody else made it..." There was a spark of defiance with that hope. But she didn't count on it. "You're in Armada's Marketplace. It's a pack up north in a place called Boreas. The alpha and his kin have been good to me. Come on, let's get you cleaned up. We can talk about it properly." Wren rose to her paws, allowing the massive wolf to lean on her if he needed help walking. "she speaks"

He cast an amused expression her way as she spoke of patching him up. Taking charge already, that was the Wren he remembered. A part of him was happy to let her take the lead. The past few months had been exhausting, and he would be asking himself what he could have done differently or a long time coming. That didn’t mean he had to make it easy on her however… “I didn’t realise you took classes in healing” he teased, voice soft, and falling silent when she spoke of her pack.

He was surprised but… that little bit of hope seeing her had sparked, died again. As she mentioned her alpha taking his family and abandoning the rest, his eyes flared to hers, his ears back. That coward! The pack came first, always. He shook his head, wondering if he was thinking ill of the dead. “I couldn’t reach my pack. I assume, but I don’t…” he couldn’t go on. Too fresh, to raw. He was all too thankful for a change in topic. He glanced about the marketplace as Wren identified the place. Giving it a name. He’d never heard of the Armada pack before, but that was hardly surprising. “Lead the way” he said, releasing her fully and following after her.


"Speech"

"I didn't" she smirked his way despite the situation "so if you die of infection, that's on you because you trusted me" Wren lead him to a secluded location in the market, poking around for a spare room. She finally found one and walked in, seeing no one here but dust. Gesturing for him to sit down, she made herself busy trying to round up medical supplies "but I know how to at least clean a wound." She didn't know any of the healers in the pack. Returning to Mercury, she had a wet cloth in her jaws and began to clean the injuries. As gently as possible. She'd probably need some other things, but she'd ask Sirius about sparing a healer later. "Your pack was - is - tough" Both their emotional wounds were on display "if I could send off a few to safety in mine, I believe yours are okay" She wanted to, anyway "just because we haven't seen any... doesn't mean anything." She tried to fleetingly smile. "They could be hiding. The... eruption, it could have scared them." "she speaks"

“Then mark me as a fool” he said, and didn’t hesitate once as he followed the familiar shape of his friend through the well lit cave. She led him to a small warren to the West and seemed to be poking around. He could tell when she found what she was looking for, and she gestured him forward. He moved into the room and glanced around. It was small, and there was only a single bed. He hopped up and settled onto it as Wren busied herself grabbing what she needed.

When she returned to his side, it was to scrub at his injuries. Despite her care to be gentle, he hissed once, before clamping down on it. Stony-faced as she cleaned out sand and grit from gashes and cuts. “My parents, bless them, where-are-” he grimaced, struggling to decide on a tense, and landed on the one that hurt the least. Even if it was perhaps a foolish one. “Stubborn old fools. They would have waited before leaving their ancestral home. But perhaps you're right. If we found our way here…” He trailed off. He wasn’t sure what was worse. Holding onto a fool's hope, or having none at all. “So you’ve dug in some new roots in this Boreas land, have you? Good for you, Wren. You're looking well.” She had admired her Alpha, hadn’t she? His cowardice must have stung something awful, on top of the tragedy.


"Speech"

She flashed him an uneasy but warm grin. Wren tried to joke. "Guess I never got to the 'meet the parents' stage, huh?" She meant nothing by it "even though you traded with my pack... I never met many of yours." A sad thought if they were indeed gone. His members... Gods, she hoped they were safe. Wren didn't even know he was a prince, for goodness sake. Just a trader from his parents' pack. "And, yeah, I guess" she shrugged "I'm trying to make a bigger dent though. Probably... gonna fail" She joked again, mirth reaching her eyes "but, Armada isn't for me. Not really. I came here to repay my friend's kindness" she admitted to Mercury "and I think I have. He was good to me when I came here. Then his pack helped me." But she wanted more. "The people are kind here, Armada or not. I've not had issues with any of them. I thought, hell, maybe I could stand to do more. Give some wayward souls a place" She trailed off briefly, lowering the dirty cloth now "I'm tired of following people around. I want to lead." "she speaks"

He hadn’t really considered it that way. He knew her pack a lot better, since his trade route brought his ship to her borders often. She in turn had never seen his home. Never tasted from the cool lake that their home had surrounded, or met his severe yet fair parents. “Meet the parents stage?” he responded, raising his brow in teasing surprise. “Why Wren, I didn’t know you felt that way” he fully expected a retaliatory swipe as the two added a little bit of banter to the stark reality of what they had left behind. He found it helped, it helped a great deal. He hadn’t realised how alone he had felt until his eyes had fallen on Wren today.

Hearing her desire to lead brought his attention back to her eyes. So strange, how different they were. He had fled the responsibility all his life. Allowed to for his distance in line. To hear she wanted to take up the responsibility… he couldn’t fault her for it. She would bring a little of their home and build it here. “If you would have me, I’d join you” He didn’t know what she would build, and he didn’t need to. He trusted Wren, and she was all he had left.


"Speech"

"Pfft! Cheek!" She raised a paw to try and smack him upside the head. Try was the key word. He was much too tall now. What happened to the kid, he eats a magic mushroom and grows ten feet? She wished. He seemed so lankly and gangly before now. She realized he had grown up in their short absence. He had matured. "You assume I'm going to let you go, just when I got you back? Oh, no. You don't have a choice; you're coming with me." Her tone was joking, not serious as she lifted a brow at him. Wren stuck her tongue out at her old friend, a 'blagh!' sound coming from her lips. But it felt relief. She felt relief. At least she had him in her corner. He was coming along for the ride. "she speaks"

He ducked his head as she raised the paw, but she didn’t even try to swipe him. Perhaps deciding it was far too much effort to reach up to his head. She didn’t make any more comments on it, and the moment passed. If she had meant anything by it, he didn’t know.

He felt relief to hear she wanted him to join her. It would be a different dynamic to their friendship then they had faced before, but Merc welcomed the change. “Us Ilious wolves have to stick together after all, right?” he asked. Not at all troubled by the possessiveness in her teasing words. He did however twist his shoulder to look at her paws. “I think they’re clean enough” he said. His wounds felt raw already from the cleaning. “So, does this prospective pack of yours have a name?”


"Speech"

It was much too awkward to even tease him about caring. Not in that way, not... yet. Not yet. She was still hung up on someone else. Never again, she felt, would she be hung up on a guy who just up and left her. Mercury could change his mind. He could leave. Wren would wish him well, even if she'd feel disappointed by his absence. "Menagerie" she replied to him, tossing the rag to the side and giving a roaming eye to his wounds "we'll be sorta like Asteria was becoming. A guild." She sat up a bit straighter. "The alpha of Armada is my ally, and his grandson is my friend. I'll introduce you someday to Basilisk and Sirius" Wren promised Mercury "for now, you should rest a bit. I'll stand guard, and make sure nobody bursts into the room. Accusing you of trespassing" She quirked an amused brow at him "you're big now, but imagine being smaller again. This place has giant wolves all wrapped in one pack, it seems." She could not help but huff laughter. "So imagine what I'd do, if someone attacked you and they were huge" Wren added "I'd likely die. You'd feel bad. I'd definitely feel bad." "she speaks"

“Menagerie” he said slowly, letting the name roll off his tongue. It fit them well. They were a mismatch collection, just the two of them and who knew who else Wren was bringing to the table? “A good name” he said out loud. She mentioned the pack becoming guild-like in nature, and he wondered if his experience in trade would serve them well.

It seemed Wren had been busy making alliances, and already had an Alpha backing her. “just let me know what you need from me” He said in regards to her pack. She would have a stout supporter in him, she just didn’t know it yet.

“You're right. I would feel bad…” He said dryly. “I can leave the territory if you think my presence where will be an issue” He added. He needed to collect Solar as well, who was waiting outside for him.


"Speech"

"I'm shocked you have such hope in me, Merc." It was true; they had only traded before. He knew she had been beta of Asteria when they did transactions but besides that? Not much. She was keen to learn more about him, hell any of the members she had recruited. Especially Mercury though, if she was being honest. He was her last tether to Asteria, to Illious... To anything she had before now. Maybe that was selfish, to hold onto him so tight. She'd made sure not to let him down. "I don't just want a body; I want opinions. Room to grow. If you have any ideas, I'm all ears. It isn't just me going through this" Wren pointed out "I want to hear your thoughts on a Bazaar. Trading is big for a Guild. But this can wait. You're still recovering" She refused to get ahead of herself! "as for sticking to Armada... I think you'll be safer here while you recover. I'll talk to the alpha." Sirius was reasonable. "she speaks"

The Ermís gave her a small, sad smile. “Look at everything you’ve done in just a short amount of time. You could have wallowed in the horror of what happened. Instead, you’ve built alliances, and plans. No, I don’t think I’m wrong to put my faith in you” He said. Then cleared his throat, finding the topic a little too serious.

“You’d like a little silly covered in ears - but I’ll give you my opinions as I have them” He promised. She said sticking around the Armada should be good, and he took her for her word. He didn’t plan to be in bed recovering for long, however. “Thanks, Wren. it’s really good to see you. Do you mind letting Solar in, as well? I left her just outside the cavern.”


"Speech"

She cleared her throat, also finding it a serious topic. A little smile graced her lips despite her reluctance, quite happy someone from her past supported her. She had too many disappointments there. "You're my friend first, pack member second" Wren told Mercury "so don't hesitate to knock some sense into me when you feel like it. Especially if I need it." A joke and a vow. She eyed him before giving a start, moving to let his familiar inside. With the bird now circling them, she added. "We can talk about Menagerie later" she sighed, settling down near Mercury but keeping watch like she said "and all the other stuff" No doubt they had more to say to each other "just rest, so I don't have a fit." Wren reached over to place a paw on his leg, a reassuring gesture to a friend. She was here. She wasn't going anywhere, but it was hard to think... that anyone would stick around. She'd been abandoned too many times. "she speaks"

He nodded, face serious. “I promise to ring your head like a bell if you ever need it” he kept up the serious facade for a moment longer, before his eyes twinkled, and she would see it for a friend's teasing. She got up then to lead Solar into the den she had picked out, and the cormorant glided through the door and landed on the bed beside him.

Wren settled on his other side, and placed a paw over one of his long limbs. He sighed, feeling content and secure for the first time in months. Knowing now that everything would be okay. “I’m glad you're here, Wren” He said softly, and curled up into as much of a ball as a dire could manage, and rested his nose near her fur. Breathing in the scent of Alpha, and all the comfort that brought with it.


"Speech"