The fallout from the night Tamsyn had been attacked had been immediate and shocking. When Resin had asked him to take over the pack if something were to ever happen to her a while back, he had assumed that it would be something like an accidental injury, a sickness, or perhaps even just deciding to retire before one of her children were ready to take the reins. But this... This was something else entirely. He had been checking on Tamsyn the same way he had Lillith while she was recovering, just to reassure himself that the dark woman was healing well and taking care of herself. He knew her daughter was quite the talented healer for her age and had been glued to her side since that night so he had no doubt that she was being forced to take care of herself if nothing else, but he still had to check for his own sake.

It had only been a couple of days since that night and he was still trying to get his feet under him, but he knew at some point he would need to address the pack. They deserved to know what was going on and he could feel the rumblings and whispers slowly beginning to spread. But first... first he needed to face Resin again. He needed to ensure that everyone would be safe and that another incident like what happened with Tamsyn wouldn't happen again. He knew Resin had already been laying the ground work for her plan of how to keep herself blocked off from everyone and he needed to make sure it was followed though. It tore at him to have to do this, but he looked at all the young wolves that called this pack home - including his own children - and he looked at Tamsyn who was now scarred and barely able to cope with what had happened and knew that it had to be done.

He made his way down into the lower portion of the castle, finding the room lined with long rows of bars that would be Resin's holding place until something else happened or could be done. He kept trying to rationalize it as punishment for breaking a law of the pack, for injuring one of their own, and for the safety of all of those that could be near her, but... Seeing this place with its cold steel bars and dark, lifeless surroundings made his heart grip with sadness. Slowly he made is way to the one that was obviously cleared out and prepared, finding Resin as a grim expression rested on his face.

Walk | "Talk" | think

She had been in the dungeon for days. Ever since she'd bitten Tamsyn in a murky moment of insanity. There was no reason to go back above ground. Ulric knew of the situation, she was sure. No doubt everyone did. Having them know didn't bother her, though she had always been very proud. The bloody, aggressive truth was evident for all to see. It was written all over Tamsyn's face. There was no clearer truth that she was a mindless savage than that.

The door had yet to be locked and yet she hadn't left the space. There was enough space in the long room for her to pace. It was the only thing that kept her from succumbing more quickly to the apparent dementia that was eating her mind. When Ulric came to find her, she would have him devise something to secure the door. Something that she couldn't work loose or break off. She needed and deserved to be locked away. Locked away and forgotten.

Soft pawsteps stopped the two-toned fae in her tracks. Curling her head to the side, her lone golden eye shone in the darkness, its gaze landing upon the very brute that she'd had in mind. "Ulric," she growled softly. They both knew what was coming and though she was ready, he might not be.


"Speech!"

TABLE & CODE © SKELLE 2020

Ulric's gaze caught hers as he stopped in front of what would be her cell and his ears flicked back against his skull. "Resin," he rumbled in return. He wasn't sure if how quickly everything had happened had been a blessing or a curse. On one hand he hadn't had to watch his mentor and friend slowly deteriorate over time, but it was all just so sudden and he felt woefully unprepared. It almost felt like there was still so much he wanted to learn from her before he took her role, but he logically knew that there wasn't much more he could learn. It was time to sink or swim and all of the work he had done was now having to be put to the test. But even beyond the concerns he had about becoming Ageis, he did genuinely care for her and her family. He often felt like they were more his family than any of the Adravendi wolves that carried the same name. She and Tamsyn had helped shape his children as much as he had. There was so much he wanted to say, but no words came to mind.

"What do you think will be strong enough?" he questioned as he glanced at the barred door, seeing a place where a latch or lock of some kind had once been. The bars were old and rusted, but were certainly stronger than anything they could possibly hope to find otherwise. He glanced around the long, closed off cell with a frown. "Can I at least get you some more furs or pillows? Anything to make it less..." He couldn't find the right word or phrase to describe the depressing dungeon around him. He wasn't sure even little comforts like that would help that situation or not, but seemed to him to be better than nothing. He finally brought his silver gaze back to her single golden orb again while he worked up the courage to do what needed to be done.

Walk | "Talk" | think

As Ulric moved forward, Resin seated herself in the center of the barred chamber. He looked uncomfortable and rightly so. She doubted that anyone who was aware of the situation was comfortable. The leader of the Hallows had lost her mind. She wasn't fit to rule. She had shredded the face of her lover. Where did that leave them?

What would be strong enough, he asked. She'd thought about it and only one solution came to mind. With her nose, she pointed to a metal bar laying on the ground outside of the door. "Put this through the handles. If you and another work to bend the bar out towards you, I won't be able to undo it." Outside of the cell was a second metal handle side by side with the one on the door. With both of the handles locked together with the pipe, the wolves of The Hallows could sleep peacefully knowing that their former alpha was sufficiently restrained.

The earthen man questioned her, offering her furs and cushions. The imprisoned woman wrinkled her nose slightly. "I don't deserve comforts." At present, she was sharp as a tack. There was no confusion, no muddled thoughts. She knew exactly where she was, who she was, and who she was with. Resin knew exactly what she had done and she knew better than anyone what she was capable of if it happened again. No... she deserved nothing less than to sit in her prison and rot.


"Speech!"

TABLE & CODE © SKELLE 2020

Ulric glanced down at the loan metal bar laying on the floor in front of him as she instructed him on what they could do to seal the door of the cell. He nodded and replied, "I can go get Indigo to help me bend it." The purple hued man was the only wolf in the pack that matched him in stature so he figured he would be as good a candidate as any to help with this task. When she denied his offer to get her something to make the cell more comfortable he frowned, his brow pulling together. "Resin..." He wanted to deny that any of this was her fault, he wanted to assure her that she hadn't done what she had done to Tamsyn on purpose. He understood the law and he understood her doing this to keep her from doing it again, but that didn't mean she had to torture himself in the mean time. However, he knew she wouldn't want to hear it. She was set in her decision and there would be no swaying her choices now.

He sighed looked away with a shake of his head. "Is there.... Is there anything I can do? Anything you want me to do or get for you? Besides sealing you into this cell?" he questioned, giving her another opportunity to have him get something for her before he locked the door to her cell, which would make it significantly more difficult to give her anything. He doubted that she would allow him to do that for her, but he had to try. He hesitated and then added, "Are you sure you don't want to see Tamsyn again while you're still... you?" Right away she had made it clear that she didn't want any of her family down here, but he didn't want to regret not offering her the chance.

Walk | "Talk" | think

Ulric suggested that Indigo help to bend the bar that would lock her prison and Resin nodded. Together they would have the strength for the task. Once the bar was twisted around the handles, she wouldn't be able to open the door in a fit of madness. She wouldn't be able to untwist metal all on her own. That was the plan. Shut her away. Let her die. Keep everyone safe.

Again the man offered her comforts and again Resin denied them. "No, but I will ask a favor." She fixed Ulric with her hard, golden gaze. "Make this level of the castle off limits. I don't wish to see anyone and I don't wish them to see me..." she trailed off, giving her head a light shake, "As I'll eventually be."

Then Ulric mentioned Tamsyn and the scarred woman visibly winced. "No." She gave her head a shake. "No, I never want to see Tamsyn again." She'd done enough for the dark woman. Enough to her as well. "Once the door is secure, I don't want to see anyone." Never again.


"Speech!"

TABLE & CODE © SKELLE 2020

Ulric listened to her request and hesitated, but he would eventually reply with a solemn nod. He didn't agree with this. Any of this. He could perhaps understand keeping her here just to ensure that it would be impossible for her to hurt anyone else, but he wished she would at least allow them to help her be more comfortable here and let them visit. Let the healers try to help. Anything to keep him from feeling like he was locking her way here to rot. Perhaps she was right, perhaps it was inevitable, but it tore him in two to do this regardless. He could at least agree that no one could be down here unsupervised or perhaps not before he had checked to see what state she was in, but if this is what she wanted then he would follow through.

His frown deepened when she so strongly insisted that she never wanted to see Tamsyn again. Of all the wolves in the pack, he felt that Tamsyn at least deserved an opportunity to see Resin one last time if she wanted. He knew that if he had the opportunity to see Azariah again, whether it was her corpse or her returning home, he would take it. He wanted the closure and he knew Tamsyn would as well. He stood there pensively for a moment, knowing he needed to leave and retrieve Indigo, but words hung on his tongue. "She wants to see you," he told her quietly, a pained expression pulling at his face. "After I left you that night I went to check on her and you were the first thing she asked about. She wanted me to bring you to her and I told her I couldn't, but she insisted."

Ulric sighed and turned away before she could respond, walking up the stairs and out into the castle once more to go fetch the violet male so his task could finally be completed.

Walk | "Talk" | think

For too long now Indigo had tried to pretend that none of this was actually happening. That it was a vile rumor and nothing more. However, the moment he saw Tamsyn’s face he knew he couldn’t deny the facts any longer. He was powerless to do or weigh in on anything, and mostly he had just stood on the sidelines, ready and willing to be there for when he was needed. Indy hadn’t gotten much training from Resin, but he would hold tightly to the lessons that she had ben able to give him. Most of all he just found it hard to accept this was the fate his grandmother would be doomed to. Disease of the mind. He learned a lot about healing in his few short years, but there was little to be done in the face of the situation they were in.

At the end of the day he hated it, and nearly refused when Ulric came to him. All of Resin’s training seemed to culminate in this moment. Be strong, do what you need to do. Hide the weakness so those weaker might have the courage to be strong too.

He slowly made his way down the stairs and tried not to think about his last few moments with the wolf he called alpha, teacher, and grandmother. The sight left him feeling as though his chest were ripped down the middle to expose the fragile pieces of his heart that still remained there. Indigo held his breath as he withheld the overwhelming emotion. He had to stand and be strong, Indy wouldn’t have her to guide him any longer. This was the final exam and he was being forced to embrace his responsibility and adulthood.

”Grandmother,” his deep voice was a soft whisper as his breath was taken, the only sign of the major distress that lingered beneath the surface. Indigo moved with a sad sort of gentle motion, like he was performing the rights of a funeral but his beloved was still present. A living ghost. He remained unmoved, but the weaving would loosen once he returned to private.

Ulric's words brought Resin's ears curling back against her skull. Of course Tamsyn wanted to see her. The woman was too forgiving. Too sweet. What had she ever seen in the one-eyed woman? It would have been easier had the pair never laid eyes upon one another. Easier if they hadn't shared that night in the tree. The night that had begun all of this. When the earthen man left to fetch Indigo, Resin sat in the shadows. There was nothing else to do. She reflected and continued to hammer in the necessity of her imprisonment. That's all she could do. The pair returned and Indigo greeted her by name. She could feel the pain in him, though he fought not to show it. Grandmother's intuition, or something along those lines. "I'm sorry that I didn't get to teach you more," she began, her rough tones soft. "Be strong for those that need you. Be open when you've found your match. Do what you feel is right." Final words of wisdom for a boy that she would never see again. Pain clenched like a fist in her stomach. She loved Indigo just as she loved her own children. Sending him out into the world to be a man... a man that she would never see... it was very hard. Giving a nod to Ulric and Indigo, she waited for them to bend the bar in place that would lock her in this prison. Once they were finished, she fixed the speckled man with her hard, golden gaze. "The Hallows is yours. Rule it well." And just like that, she was no longer the Aegis. No longer ruler, leader. She was nothing but a prisoner. "Resin"

He hated that he had to give Indigo this task. He didn't want to have to burden the young man with this, but there was no one else. Perhaps by now his own son could have been strong enough to do it - Ezra was very nearly his height already - but Indigo would have to face the task with him. He led the brightly colored male down into the dungeon and stood aside for a moment, giving Resin and her adoptive grandson a moment to share a few words, for Resin to give him some advice. His ears folded back against his head when silence fell in the dungeon again before he stepped up to the door of the cell, holding the bar of metal in place before pushing his weight into one end while Indigo pushed down on the other, eventually making the ends meet and then go past each other. He gave the door an experimental tug and it held tight, barely even a rattle to he heard from the old iron door.

It was done. For better or worse, it was done. He didn't like it, but they had followed through with her wishes and that was all he could really do. His silver gaze lifted to look at her single, hard, golden stare as she declared him officially as the Aegis. It felt wrong, like a hollow victory, but he nodded quietly in response. He had made a promise and he was nothing if not a man of his word. "I'll keep them safe for you." He wanted to make her proud, even if she would no longer be living in their day to day lives with them, he still held her at the standard he had to meet. He glanced toward Indigo before he turned to leave, letting the young man stay behind for a moment if he wished. But for now he needed to start figuring out where he would even begin.

Walk | "Talk" | think