Destruction felt lost, more-so than she ever had before. It was down to just Aiden and herself now, the male the only one who could put up with her she supposed. The woman felt a deep sadness within her heart... there was next to nothing that she had left anymore. The woman moved with her noticeable limp, the cold and snow doing nothing to aid it, and she pressed on through the snow, seeking something, though what it was she hadn't a clue. Her life had gone wrong... so very wrong... and she was broken. Hurting. Those that had trusted her had gone, or she had betrayed by staying loyal to a pack that was damned as she became it's queen. She was being punished... but for how long the punishment would go on the woman didn't know. Did she even care anymore? Was there even any point left in pressing on? That was when the scent filled her nose. No, not scent, but scents. There was a sharp ache, that pain in her chest hightening to new levels as she looked in the direction of packlands. Bane. Tahlia. The children. Ears would lower, and the woman would shift her direction through the snow, pressing to approach the border. They deserved her apology, the right to say to her the words she deserved for her betrayal. She had promised to be the godmother of the children, to protect Tahlia and the pups since Bane was banished. But she had failed... allowed them to be banished as well... and upheld the laws that kept them gone. All for the sake of a friend who up and left her, dumped the pack on her shoulders. Then the others started going as well. Destruction knew she was never meant to be a leader, a queen, and her loss only proved such. Deep down, she would never be anything more than a monster. Large paws would stop as she got to the edge of the border, remaining outside the lands, but close enough... She wasn't sure if anyone else might come... a leader or high ranked wolf... but regardless she needed to speak with them. It was time. The woman would sit, throwing her head back as her howl, cracking with her emotion, calling for them. Tahlia. Bane. She wasn't sure if the children would recognize her voice and come as well... but part of her hoped not. She was certain that this would not be a happy reunion. Speech

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A part of Tahlia had never really expected to see Destruction again. True, she was the godmother of her children, a dear friend of the family, but being exiled had changed her views. Everything that had been related to Seracia had been abandoned during that time, including the relationships to the wolves that belonged there, and joining up with Ebony had given her a new home, a new future, a new life to focus her attention on. She had her children to think about and needed to do what she could to keep them all within good favor, to correct the mistake she had made in her previous home, and it had left her with little time to dwell on what had been and those they had left behind.

Hearing the call, however, the voice of a familiar friend, was enough to still the golden-eyed woman in her tracks. A moment of surprise kept her rooted to the spot, but realizing that it was real, that she really was there upon the border of Ebony, calling for the family that she had once been so close to, broke her from her inaction and sent her hurrying to find her. She went as fast as she could, accommodating her blind right eye, and did not stop until she had found her.

The woman that she remembered had been strong, sure of herself and her place in the world, and relatively happy all things considered. The woman that she saw was not that woman. She appeared downtrodden, weary, and quite unhappy. Tahlia stopped short, stared at her, and then approached more slowly, uncertainly. "Destruction." Her brow furrowed, worry beginning to rise within. "It has been so long. And we left no word of where we were going," she added, surprised further as she realized she had managed to find them here in Ebony. Was that by happenstance or had she truly sought them out? "It is so good to see you," she added, venturing a smile that she hoped might lighten the spirits of her friend.

The twice banished male shifted from where he lay at the mouth of the den where his mate and youngest offspring slept their nights. Each day the temperature was getting noticeably warmer as well as having fewer grey clouds in the sky. He let out a sigh. Another season almost come and gone. Any wiser? For Bane, no. Not really, though each member of his family was carving out their purpose into Ebony. The pale wolf shifted his cheek from where it lay on a paw and swept up more snow under his head. Much better. He would miss the cold and it's soothing effect on his worn body. A ghostly echo crossed over the mountainous terrain of Ebony.?Bane's head shot up at the howl of a she-wolf thought long forgotten and he scrambled to his paws.?"Oh gods, Des..."

That howl had been worrying, the male making a hasty break to it's location. For Tahlia, him, and their young. And it was his hope, as he hurried through the trees down the slope, that his offspring wouldn't come. Their questions and curiosities weren't need at all right now. He made haste towards the border with a lump forming in his throat. Things didn't sound good for his once-mate. And through the gaps in the trees a familiar pelt was seen of russet and black as he grew closer. Tahlia was already there. A black and red chested wolf was in front of her, Bane's pale, grey-flecked pelt standing in contrast with his mate's as he came to stand by her side. "Forbidden Destruction, I, well... I... You..." Bane was at a total loss for words at the female's sudden appearance at the border of their pack.

So much time had passed. She was no longer the woman they knew her as... Hell, pretty much none of them really knew her. During her time with the sickness Destruction was reminded of a great many things. Misdeeds and blood she had spilled. She was a monster, in the end, and nothing would change that. Single orb would focus on Tahlia as the woman approached her. ?Tahlia...? The woman would greet quietly. Oh how her soft words hurt her heart. The woman would know soon enough the cause of her grief, the reason she felt this sharp pang of regret and pain in seeing her. ?I?m... I?m glad to see that your family has made it somewhere safe.? The words were still quiet, even reserved, trying to hold back her pained emotion. Bane would arrive not long after, seeming to be at a loss for her sudden appearance at the borders of the pack. She must have looked a sight too, compared to how they knew her from before. Both adults were here though... And they were the ones she needed to speak with so desperately. The woman would lift her head slightly, yet she would not smile. Not with the guilt she held within her heart. ?I have failed you both... Your family... As a friend... As one who had sworn to protect you. Even when I held the power to change things... I was so caught up on my word to Loccian to hold the pack together while she recovered from illness that I didn?t dare try to bring you back... So many mistakes had been made... And so much time wasted... That when I finally sought you all out the territory Bane had lived in was claimed by a pack...? The woman would let out a soft sigh. ?I know not if either of you care... But... Seracia is no more... Loccian abandoned the pack, leaving me to try and hold it together as wolves left us by the day. I doubt there was even a dozen of us left by the time the alpha challenge had come... And by then I was doing all I could to locate you... Arian was having her family seek you out as well to aid me. But... In the end all my mistakes have started to catch up to me. I lost Seracia... Even caught the sickness that spread through Alacritia that should have damned my body to death...? Destruction shook her head. ?I do not expect you to forgive me. I do not expect for you to feel pity for what has happened for me. I came here for neither, but I owed you explanation... And that is what I gave.? The woman dipped her head. ?If you feel the need to punish me for my sins... I will not stop you. Do what you will.? Such broken words... From a spirit that felt she was making the wrong turn no matter which way she went. Speech

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Not even her hospitality was enough to bring about a smile on Destruction's face - if anything her appearance seemed to have worsened her look - and Tahlia knew in that moment that whatever was wrong here was truly wrong. Even despite the history the red-eyed woman shared with her husband, Tahlia had managed to accept that truth and her as the godmother of her children, even going so far as to count the woman a friend. She knew what she was like when she was content, or at least as close to happy as she had ever gotten to see her, and this was nowhere in that range. It bothered her considerably, deepened the worrisome frown settling atop her brow as her attempted smile faded and disappeared. What had happened?

Bane was quick to join them, and Tahlia immediately turned her attention his way as if seeking the answers that she could not yet get from Destruction. He was no help. He stopped at her side and stammered out a greeting, apparently flustered and confused by their company. So he had not known. Destruction's visit was entirely a surprise then. She did not know whether that should have made her feel better or worse.

Having them both there seemed enough to get her talking, and Tahlia listened silently as she tried to discern just what she had missed. Destruction felt guilty, claiming to have failed them by not bringing them back when she had had the chance to. But Destruction had only ever been a well-respected, appropriately ranked member of the pack as far as Tahlia could remember. If Loccian had gotten sick as she claimed and she had had a chance to bring them back then... But that meant...

No. No, this could not be right. Destruction was their friend, their family's protector, a godmother to their children. She had promised to watch out for them, to both Bane and her. And she had let Loccian tell her no? When it was she who held the influence, the power, to bring them home? How could she even trust her after she had banished Tahlia and the children from the pack! What sort of godmother was she to condemn the children she had been sworn to protect to a life as a rogue, fraught with dangers and challenges that they were too young to face yet?

Tahlia had hardly listened as the woman had continued, still replaying her last words within her mind and slowly piecing the truth of the matter together. Destruction was right; she had failed them. Tahlia was hurt by the news. Here she had gone out in a limb trusting one of her husband's exes, allowing her even to get close to their children, and she betrayed them with her inaction. Sadness, even disappointment, were not feelings the golden-eyed woman often portrayed well in front of people she did not trust, and now was one of those times. Her expression hardened, her body tensing angrily where she stood at Bane's side. Vaguely she wondered what he thought of all this but in the end it did not matter. She intended to have her piece be heard before he could try and smooth things over.

"You are right," she answered, her voice becoming as rigid as the rest of her felt. "You have failed us. We trusted you to look out for our family - our children - and you leave them abandoned in the wilds!" Nevermind the fact their life on the riverbank had been surprisingly comfortable up until it had been claimed. It had still been harder on them than life in Seracia would have been. But Seracia was no more, Destruction had lost the pack, and only now that Loccian and her blatant prejudice against Bane and everyone related to him were gone she had been able to see straight. A little of her hardness broke, and she asked, "How could you rule as alpha and not bring us back?" She still could not understand. "You were alpha, you need not have listened to anyone." But she had. And she had betrayed their trust.

She could feel her hardened composure beginning to break. If she stayed any longer she risked saying worse than she already had. Only out of respect for Bane did she not say more, though she could not leave without saying one final thing. "You are no longer the godmother of my children." Tahlia stared across at the dark colored wolf and then at her husband beside her, daring him to try countering her word. Somehow she thought he would try. But for now she did not want to listen. With a final glance at Destruction, her single functioning eye dark with the betrayal she felt, Tahlia turned to leave, wishing to hear no more and having nothing further that she wished to say.

-Exit Tahlia unless stopped-

Destruction's greeting of them both was downtrodden truth be told, and her appearance was far altered from what he'd last seen on the riverbank during his exile. The pelt that was once comforting in it's touch was disheveled, her left eye gone and there seemed to be a side she favored to put weight on where she sat. And her words. There were many of them for Tahlia and Bane to hear. For the most part the male listened quietly as he took it all in. Seracia was gone, cast into the breeze like many leaves as Loccian left to a wolf who he knew wasn't meant to lead. "Seracia was doomed to fail the moment that uncouth and conniving bitch left it to you and well... pack break up all the time when something such as this happens." Bane mumbled with an uncertain amount of humor. An alpha challenge as she sent out a few of her friends to look for him? The pale wolf gave a yawn and wag of his tail. That fact that she was alive was all that mattered to Bane at this point in knowing her. Right. Rather silly to ask for forgiveness in past matters. And such minor ones too. His family was safe. That's all that mattered to Bane.

"Des, I want you to know..." Bane began. Tahlia starting to speak. Now, the elder knew his mate was prideful. Wanting respect for her family and status within a group of individuals. But that was not to say that what came out of her muzzle shocked him. It was mortifying the words Tahlia whipped Destruction's ears with, a confused daze creasing his brow as his attention turned from one to the other.

"Tahlia wait, it wouldn't, have made a difference?" Bane weakly interjected with uncertainty. "Would you really have wanted to go back to the pack made up of snooty self centered nose-raising pricks that couldn't bother with the struggles a lost Blood Moon tribes-wolf dealing with culture shock amidst them?" Incredulous and out of breath, his lone sapphire looking at Tahlia and the way she now stood. Tense. Anger and loathing. At least that's what he saw. And yet the whitening male was at a loss at how unreasonable and unfair Tahlia was jumping upon Destruction. "How do you think the others would've reacted to banished wolves being brought back by a known friend? A god mother no less?" His mate's words replayed over in his head in the span of a few seconds. And Bane closed his eye with a tensed up breath when his mate stared at him in what he took was definence.

He looked at the departing she-wolf. He looked back at Destruction and gave a shaky sigh. A fire lite within his lone eye. Tahlia was leaving, but he wasn't having that. As he hurriedly went after her a few words came to mind. Assuming. Unjust. Unfair. Prideful. He felt the tip of her tail brush up against his chin, muzzle reaching forward with regret in his actions. But Tahlia had spoken unjustly, and as he grabbed ahold of her tail he knew a line was being crossed somewhere. Perhaps even more so then the tongue-lashing Tahlia gave Destruction. His paws roughly grabbed up her sides as Bane brought his full weight atop her back and drove the unprepared she-wolf into the ground.

A paw came up and stepped onto her muzzle, his belly fur mixing with hers back. He reached his head forward with a warning growl and bared a canine fang next to her one good eye. Tahlia had crossed the line with Destruction. His words came out quick, and he began with a snarl. "Do you realize what your words just did!? I may have just struck you Tahlia but what do you think you just did to her!? My paw was yours against her muzzle! A slap to the face! Don't you ever. Ever. Ever! Judge my friend again! She is like us in our sight! Her body taken by the bleeding eyes and I noticed that she's gimping on one side! Her pelt disheveled and yet, in that state she is in, she still comes to us begging to be forgiven for something she hardly had control over and that happened seasons ago. We've moved on! Seracia was gone the moment Loccian left it to her! I can't believe you even jumped to stripping her title of godparent. I gave it to her!" Bane roared, his tirade certainly audible to Destruction.

"I've been in her place! When I came to Seracia I was broken, misunderstood, asking for a second chance at life and to just be as I wandered about in a daze doing whatever I wanted to try and spur a calling to my life! To just exist. I was the only one of my kind Tahlia! You will never treat Des with such blatant contempt and bitterness for the bullshit reasons you just gave her! She looks like shit and went through the sickness alone! Has no friends with her as far as I know!" Bane tossed his head back and shifted atop his mate. He lashed his tail and pinned his ears back at the growl he gave right next to her neck. "Whatever pride and satisfaction you have about treating her this way. I will hit you again as many times as I have to until you drop the pathetic reasons for disowning her! I will take you so many times how you are I wont need you by the end of this day! I will beat the thoughts from your mind! It's not about you! It's about that sad and broken wolf that came to us for a forgotten and forgiven bygone gods damnit!" Rage. Confusion. Shock. And above all burning and confused fury as he looked down at Tahlia. "So, do all of us the favor and stop this 'hey, lets just fuck common sense attitude' and go apologize!" Bane growled through clenched fangs as he lifted his paw off Tahlia's muzzle.

There was more to it... more that Tahlia didn't know. Her position was temporary, for one. She didn't know the depression she felt at losing them. The guilt that plagued her mind. The hurt and sleepless nights where she wondered if they were all okay. How she could not bring herself to do anything. Had she known... she would not have accepted the duty. But she was torn... she wanted to try and hold things together. For everyone's sake. Dragon... Rohini... Squall... Arian... there were others she couldn't abandon them either. But in the end she failed all of them. Who was with her now? Aiden. A wolf who no one else ever knew. A wolf who cared for her, and god only knew why. She did not deserve this compassion. If there could have been sound, the wolves before her would have heard her very heart shatter from Tahlia's words. No longer the godmother of the children. It was what she deserved, but, at the same time, it was perhaps that bit of hope that the broken woman clung to. Head would lower, her single orb closing. "I understand..." They were such quiet words, full of defeat, cracking with her emotion. She did not wish to betray it, but it had. Even as Bane turned away, calling after Tahlia, the tears would form in her eyes. What life did she have now? What hope did she have left? She had no place to call home... if it wasn't for Aiden... did she have any reason even to live? But no, what would happen next would ignite a fire in the woman. Single orb would open anger flashing through her among the hurt. The woman would rise, a snarl ringing out, fangs flashing as she moved into Ebony lands. Fur was raised, ears pinned, her good eye narrowed as she strode towards her once mate. If there was a look of hellfire ever in the eye of a beast it was now. "Don't you EVER touch her like that again, Bane. Get away from her, NOW!" Her own voice was a roar. What she had seen was abuse. To see the woman she called a friend hurt by a man she had trusted... they both trusted... to be talked to that way... no... it would not sit with her. A loud growl rumbled in the female's chest, ready to jump to Tahlia, to drive Bane away if she had to. Damn her, she thought. If she had not come this would not be happening... or would it? Either way... there was no way she was going to watch this. Speech

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Hurt and hate burned in her chest, making each step she took away from her husband and the woman who had wronged her more resolute than the last. In her mind, she had been in the right; Destruction had failed to fulfill her duty as godmother to her children, regardless of the slight she had given to her friendship with Bane and Tahlia, and therefore she was hardly qualified to keep the title any longer than she already had. It would have been better suited for someone who would keep their word, someone who would ensure the safety and well being of her pups. Of course, vanity and pride played into it. The partially blind woman could never had allowed the slight to her children to go without repercussions.

It had just never occurred to her that she would have repercussions of her own to answer to. She heard Bane walking behind her, thought he might have intended to slow her down, talk her out of the judgment she had given, but stubbornness made her ignore any thought of it, to keep walking forward and not turn back. He could try to stop her, but-- But she had only expected words, her ears even primed backward to catch them. The sharp pull on her tail as he took it roughly between his jaws while she continued to walk nearly tripped her, and as he grabbed her, forcing the weight of his body over her, she did stumble, failed to catch herself, and fell under him.

She was too shocked at first to properly react - never before had he lashed out at her in anger, and honestly she never would have thought him capable of it. But for the first time, as he set his paw upon her muzzle, keeping her head pressed against the ground, and dropped his muzzle so that there was no missing the way he bared his teeth as he growled at her, Tahlia felt fear. She squirmed, tried to move enough to get her feet under her or between them, but he had her pinned. She could go nowhere, move nowhere, so long as he pressed down on her. It was a new type of vulnerability she had never experienced before, and without any idea of what Bane's anger could be like she was frightened.

He lectured her, berated her, in snarls and growls that made her body shake, each punctuation of his words eliciting flinches from the vain woman as she clenched her eyes closed. If he intended to snap at her, to lash out with more violence, then she did not want to see it coming. But the countering statements he gave to Destruction's current position, her courage in coming to face them despite everything against her, things that Tahlia had failed to take into account in her own rage, were nothing compared to the punishments, the threats, he left her with. Would he? At any other time she would have said with certainty no. Bane was always sweet, always gentle, always so loving to her. But now...

She was full of so much uncertainty, felt so humiliated, so afraid, that she could not hold back the tears that were filling her closed eyes, though just by a tenuous thread of self control did she stop herself from crying outright. But it was only made worse when another voice spoke up in her defense, the last one she would have expected. Destruction had been able to hear everything, see everything, that had transpired between herself and Bane and yet despite all the hurtful things Tahlia had said to her she was intervening on her behalf. Unbidden, Tahlia sobbed, renewing her efforts to get away with more determination and fight. It took considerable effort, and perhaps a little distraction on Bane's part courtesy of Destruction, but she managed to scramble away from him, crawling to her paws and then a distance away. Her watery eyes, sightless and seeing alike, were downcast shamefully, unable to look at either of them, as she hastily broke into a run to get as far away from everything that had happened here before her strength gave out on her and the weight of everything brought her down.

-Exit Tahlia-

Bane placed his paw next to Tahlia's muzzle, fangs just grazing over the back of her neck as he felt her fight his overbearing presence on her back. His once-mate. She had attacked his once-mate during her lowest low and thought that she was at the right end of justice in this instance. But the elder saw differently. What he was doing was shaming his mate. Causing a new level of pride to be sensed by her. A low sense. His threats had been hallow but carried malice with them, and he hoped it got his point across. Her squirming was admirable if nothing but a weak attempt to get away. Tahlia let out an audible cry, and Bane lessoned his hold. She found her paws and crawled out from underneath him with shaking steps.?

And yet, the wolf he would have never had thought would do so came to Tahlia's defence. The male bared his fangs and snarled at Des and kept his head down, muzzle twitching with his low growls and pinned ears. Why was she telling him to cease? And in that moment, Tahlia made her escape, his mate swiftly disappearing behind the bushes. And he could've sworn he heard her crying.

"Des, no! You're not criticizing my methods! Do you think I liked berating Tahlia as I did? No! She's just..." The elder scowled and looked back at where his mate had disappeared between the bushes. "Damnit." Bane spat as his attention returned to the black wolf. There were damp spots underneath the female's eye's, both seeing and unseeing. The rage that was coming off of the ebony female before him was cause for hesitation in what he was going to say. He needed to clarify his treating of Tahlia. "My once-mate... do you honestly believe I'd ever let my mate speak to you how she did? Or that I treat her like this all the time? No. But she had no right to say those things to you with how you came to us." He needed to go, paws retreating his form a few steps back to where Tahlia disappeared.

Bane couldn't look her in the eye. He knew his methods of shaming Tahlia was excessive but in the heat of the moment... "Your are still welcome to be apart of this family if that is your wish. I... I only hope you made sure he was still safe and undisturbed in Seracia before you left." He keened as he caught away the thoughts of their now lifeless son. Bane gave a blink of his one eye and tilted his head, paws antsy and wanting to seek out his mate as he listened to the words his once mate no-doubtedly spoke.?It would seem to soon for him to try and apologize to Tahlia right after he did what he did. A day or two. Then he'd go see her. For now he noted that Des was inside their borders and held his gaze at her and thenat the earth beneath her paws before heading to find a place to sleep tonight. And he could only hope that both of his mates, both current and former rested easy and somewhere close by.

-Exit Bane unless stopped-

Tahlia would manage to get away from him, though only because the elder would let her. The treatment, even if it was for her sake, was not at all acceptable. Tahlia had turned against her in her lowest moment, but she would not forget the moments that had been shared by the women prior. Destruction was a woman of her word, if nothing more now, and even in this face she still saw Tahlia as her friend. A friend who was angry, and rightfully so. She did not blame the other for her actions, or judged Bane for his own, but she would not stand by, sensing that the elder might go too far with his mate. But she would listen to him, allow him to explain himself. She would give a slow nod, praying that this was truly so. Seeing how Tahlia reacted... She would assume this was the case. She did not want to think badly of Bane, not as she once did. ?Bane...? She would allow herself to relax some, seeing that no horrible injury had been brought forth. She would not have been able to bear such a sight... At the mention she was still welcome to be part of the family she would give a nod, and at the mention of their son she would give a nod. ?The last thing I checked on...? The woman would say, her voice softening. The tears were still falling, but she felt that, perhaps, things might get better from here on out. It was a strange sense... One that told her she should not leave this area immediately. Aiden might worry for her... But she needed to stay longer... And so she would watch Bane leave, seeing his form disappear before she too turned, exiting Ebony lands for the time being. -Exit Destruction- Speech