Whispers Would Deafen Me Now

@Dirge

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Another day had come and gone where the woodland man tried to silence his thoughts. It seemed any time he was alone he would catch himself drifting away to...somewhere else. Fragmented memories and shadowed faces. From his maw hung the limp bodies of some plump hares he had caught earlier. They weren't much, but surely it would feed someone all the same.

He had come from the lower reaches, where the rock flattened out to the rolling forests. Climbing mountains was still something he struggled to adjust to. He felt top-heavy on the narrow slopes and where he had once been sure of his footing, rocks now tumbled beneath him. His paw slipped along the ledge snapping him out of his thoughts with a muffled gasp before he quickly found his balance again.

He should have come back sooner. He was too easily distracted and West knew it. Now with the final rays of the sun, he would have to be careful that the mountain's shadows would not swallow him whole. For this being...home, it sure didn't feel like home. There were no plains, no bison, just trees and rock for miles.

Finding a ledge that gave his path a wide birth, the woodland man would place the hares at his feet before taking a seat to watch as the sky colored itself, a final wave goodbye before the night would take shape and litter the sky with distant lights.

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His legs properly stretched, Dirge had made it back to the slopes of the mountain by the time sunset had begun to set in. It was a slow but methodical ascent that brought him back to the cooler climes of the high reaches as the sky bled through its various colors, and he was thankful to begin to escape what had been a rather warm experience on his return trip through the foothills.

He hadn’t gone to seek out Hydra just yet, but the time would come. Whether she found him first or the other way around remained to be seen, but one way or another the pair would accost each other eventually; he had actually been mostly unfortunate thus far not to have encountered anyone in particular just yet. Not even Altair had sought him out, though he was certain that his son lingered about somewhere.

But he didn’t have a lot of time to put consideration to it—an acrid tinge on a gentle breeze turned his attention elsewhere. The footpath here was traveled enough to follow easily as the incline plateaued, and soon he was taking in the sight of found company. He couldn’t quite put a name to a face, but he was certain that he had seen the fellow around before.

Of course… there were several faces that he wasn’t too terribly acquainted with.

“Quite a view to have with a meal,” he said by way of greeting, his gaze leaving the soft, earthy tones of the wolf for what laid before them. He took in the sights beyond Empyrean’s claim, scantly picking out the first few stars that had begun to dot the darkening sky.
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Despite his plight, West was still attuned enough to the world to notice the sound of approaching paws. A quick glance over his shoulder was all that was needed to catch sight of the man who was no addressing him and at his side.

“Ah, yeah. I guess so, huh?” Had he realized this was Hydra mate he would have likely been...farrrr less casual through the interaction, but his pelt was unfamiliar. Maybe once or twice in passing had he seen him before, but the two had never properly met.

“You can have one if you want. They're for the pack anyways.” The woodland man gestured with his snout to the small pile before pawing one of the hares towards his new company. “You're uh, probably not new, huh?”

If anyone was new it was him despite technically joining moons ago. It was silly to assume anyone would be new just because he didn't recognize them. West barely knew anyone in Empyrean. “My name's West. I've been away for a while scouting so I'm afraid I don't really know too many wolves around here.”

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It was a humorous turn of events to discover that the wolf hadn’t the slightest clue who he was. Though perhaps it should have been more of a notice that he hadn’t mingled much with the general population of Empyrean—Dirge had long grown comfortable in the notion of not particularly doing so, given that by far and large most of their numbers in this place and the past had been related.

There was always work to be done, however, and the truth didn’t spear or spare him any less in making its point. It would not however relent in being amusing for him and in turn, a small smile spread itself evenly on his features briefly before being whisked away.

“I’ll share with my wife,” he said in regards to the offered hare, “though you would be correct in saying that I’m not new. Far from it, actually.” He reclined to his haunches then, drawing things out slightly. “I’m Dirge—my wife Hydra and I lead Empyrean. It’s always nice to see that we have very capable hunters, though also I admit I am curious how your scouting went. Our son Osiris is still out on his own ventures.”
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For a moment he could have sworn he saw the hint of a smile, but with a blink it was gone and there was no telling if it had been imagined or not. The other shared news that he would take the meal to his wife and for a moment he wondered just how many wolves here had families of their own. Hydra had mentioned that this pack was her family, but to what extent he had yet to see.

You can imagine though, how floored the woodland lad was to learn this was Hydra’s mate. West’s jaw practically fell off as he quickly scrambled to his feet and nudged the other hare closer. “SIR— I am—” He lowered his head, green orbs glued to the other’s paws as he quickly ran through the past few moments hoping he hadn’t embarrassed himself or offended his Alpha.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize. I don’t think I ever heard your name.” Had he been told? Hydra hadn’t really talked about her family much with him, just that she had it. Maybe Leta knew, but who’s to say. His ears flattened out of embarrassment as he recalled the last of Dirge’s words.

His scouting? Well he had only returned recently. Maybe Hydra hadn’t thought to mention it yet, though there wasn’t really much to mention. “I’m sorry sir, I didn’t really find much. I know Osiris though I didn’t run into him. Did he head south?”

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Oh, West had definitely embarrassed himself.

He had definitely not offended Dirge in any way whatsoever—it was much more the opposite. An amused huff of air escaped him as the lad fumbled through motions and words, and Dirge dispelled the formalities with a shake of his head as though to suggest it were all right.

As entertaining as the formal display may have been, he found that sort of attention to be more off putting than the embarrassment that had occurred. But he didn’t feel the need to demand such things; he and Hydra both had the ability to garner it without the need for instruction or force. To have the necessity of such, at least in Dirge’s eyes, was to lack confidence and the support of those who rallied to them—Empyrean was not in short supply of either things.

“It’s quite fine,” he assured him, “Hydra tends to take to the limelight far more than I do these days. I’ve kept myself busy hunting and scouting the area for resources.” He was only partially pleased with the division of labor, burdened only by the notion that he could not spend endless days exploring as he may have once did. Yet even before they had turned up here in this mysterious place, he had not seen all there was to see.

“Osiris went towards the southwest, if I recall. We all thought it a good direction to go to find our way about things, and hopefully continue to reunite with more of our kin,” he went on to explain, his head canting slightly in a moment of recollection. He had hoped his son to return, not realizing the advent of such would be so soon, but also knew that things took time. Finding the others, it would take time… though Dirge ultimately found himself with reservations that they would turn up anything of merit. It had been too long—chances were, if his children were still out there, they had managed on their own, their own stories to be written and told.

He believed at his core that either way, they had survived.

“But what of you, where were you off to?”
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Even as Dirge assured him that it was fine, West couldn't help but feel like a mess. His skin burned beneath his pelt, ears still tipped back though he would resist the urge to pin them against his skull as he finally lifted his eyes. His explanation made sense though, Hydra did seem to have this lone power air around her and maybe that was fine with Dirge. He could recall when his mother asked him to lead back home...that he might one day lead alone. He hadn't been ready then (or so he thought), and maybe he never would be.

Guess it didn't matter now. He would never find his way back home, and he would probably never find the calling he felt so strongly either. When the conversation stayed on Osiris, his ears would perk. So he had gone the same way as himself, but they managed to just avoid each other's trail. “I'm not sure how much he will find then. I also went southwest. I crossed a few wolves, some more friendly than others, though none knew of your family...I also met our allies...not the friendliest man I've encountered.”

He didn't dare say more. West had already shared his thoughts of the warlord to Hydra and it was clear that she had no intentions of breaking off their alliance. It wouldn't be his call to make, but that didn't mean he trusted Vengeance any more than he did before. As far as West was concerned, he was trouble. And unfortunately, that trouble was now linked directly to him.

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He was loose with his opinion, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing in Dirge’s eyes. He would have rather had the honest truth, which again in this case, wasn’t too far off from his own. He was certain that the allies West spoke of were none other than the Nightwalkers and specifically, their leader—a wolf who Dirge felt certain he had seen dead. He tried not to think of such things, but even here for the briefest flash of a moment it crossed him.

“Unpleasant as they may be,” he said gently, “they’ve proven to be stalwart allies to us in the past and present.” He didn’t let on that it may have also been tied to the adage of keep your friends close and your enemies closer either, though that may have only been the case in his own opinion. He knew their sort though, vicious sell-fangs that were oft out for their own gain and station in the world.

But he couldn’t discredit what they had done for he and his kin either.

“What else did you see? Any other packs we should know about?”
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Even if it hadn't been said, West knew he had been very forward in his opinion. They would be allies one way or another, for better or for worse...but so long as those creeps were not hurting any more of his family he could look past it for now. He still needed to get back on his feet and into the swing of things before he dug up what might have been buried pasts.

Unfortunately, he would be correct in his hunch, but that was for the woodland man to discover at a later date. He acknowledged Dirge's words with a simple flick of his ear, content with burying the conversation for now. “I didn't meet any other packs, but I did take note of some locations. There's a river south east of here with a sticky muddy bay. There may be an easier place to cross further downriver to avoid the mud. Further south from there is the Nightwalkers hunting grounds in an open pasture.

It's not terribly far from here and I doubt we would have a need to hunt there but might be good to know for others traveling to avoid. If you hug the mountain range you'll eventually find some woods with strange prey. I haven't seen them around before but there were some strange structures there too that might explain why they are there.”

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As West divulged some of what his travels revealed, Dirge found that for the most part they fell in alignment with his own. The usual standard fare, where a certain vastness encompassed all with unfamiliarity outside of what they would have considered normal… except maybe for that last little bit.

“Strange prey?” He was intrigued now, his stoicism lapsing.

There was no telling just what all that could entail, though he hoped that West could shed a little light on it. There was far too much about these strange lands that they did not know, even if they learned more day by day. But the prospect of prey, even if it were strange, was something that he could not pass up. Summer may have been at its height, but winter would come at its heels as it did time and time again.

It was always best to be informed, and prepared.
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Well if anything was going to catch his attention, West wasn't surprised that it was the weird prey. The woodland man tilted his head, his hindleg raising to scratch at the back of his ear as he took a moment to think. “Yeah, I've never seen anything like them. Lots of squat birds. Most were white or brown and they kinda ran around unless you got too close. Then they would fly. There were also these boar things but they were just pink skin, no hair or fur or tusks.” Honestly he thought it was some dead skinned creature at first until he realized the thing was still alive. Not that he would know how to dehair a hog in the first place, but hey, wouldn't be the first weird thing about this place.

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The bird description didn’t immediately strike a chord with Dirge. He couldn’t figure out what kind of bird that could have been, save maybe some weird goose, but if he had probably gotten a glimpse of it for himself he would have known. Once upon a time, his travels had shown him a lot of things, and the various prey to be chased had always ranked high on his list of things to know about—naturally, for survival purposes.

“Pigs,” he said to the second description West gave him. “I think what you saw were pigs… they’re related to the boars. Not too common where we came from before here, but what you said seems to match what I remember of them. They can be every bit as vicious as their angry, hairy kin.” How exactly they were related he couldn’t quite say, but the resemblance made it difficult to imply that they were not.

A thoughtful note left him as he considered much more than that.

“They might be worth hunting for if we can find some much closer to us. Good meat on them too, I hope, though I’d settle for a boar just as well. But it’s always nice to have a variety of things to hunt even if they are a surprise.” Not to mention the prospect of perhaps bartering with such finds down the road if they needed to; they had been fortunate enough thus far to have decent neighbors, respectful even, and he hoped to try and keep it that way.
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A pig? That sounded familiar, but he had no previous experiences to confirm or deny his words. Given that they looked close enough to a boar though, he doubted Dirge was thinking of something else and he could easily believe that the two were related. “I know what they smell like now, maybe I can do some searching around the mountain's lowlands.” It would give the woodland lad a chance to memorize some of their own lands too.

“They did look pretty big, but small enough that two or three wolves could probably take one down. I don't know if there will be more nearby, but I'll search for boars too.” He had yet to come across any but there were forests and plains nearby, even if they were different from the plains he was used to. Maybe if he had another with him they could drag a kill across the river, but the trouble may not be worth it for wolves so north in the mountains.

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He nodded with West’s description—he was certain of what they were now, enticed at the prospect that they would be worth seeking out if nothing more than to lay eyes on. Hunting them would have been the best bet but even he had his wonders too on how they could cart anything worthwhile back, but that was something he would have to think on once he had laid eyes on them for himself.

“Perhaps when you go out I could accompany you,” he offered then, letting his thoughts go. “Unless you prefer to work alone. I wouldn’t want to impose my presence upon you. No one likes a meddlesome partner if they don’t need it.” Sometimes scouting and hunting both were best done alone and needless to say, he had little reason to doubt the lad’s ability given what he had hunted already.
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The wooden man's ears perked as Dirge offered to even join him. Sure he had mentioned being well versed in travel, but for some reason he still did not expect his Alpha to offer his company. “Oh— yeah I'm alright if you wanna come. Actually, hunting alone feels off if I'm going to be honest. Where I grew up we had big bison and my mom would call everyone to take them down. Then we'd feast as a pack.”

A smile curled at the edges of his lips as he thought back to his first hunt. It hadn't been wholly successful considering one was kicked down and he nearly had his eye slashed out, but the meat was well worth it the trouble. It fed everyone with some to spare as well. He had been so young back then he thought it would be impossible to topple such a beast.

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Perfect—an opportunity to continue to assess just how skillful he was.

“We used to do similar as well, before we came here. Not bison, but with stags and the like. But you were from Easthollow, weren’t you?” He was certain that was where Leta had come from, and Dirge recalled a connection between the two one way or another. Bits and pieces of things Osiris had said, or even Leta in passing; things that had even come from Hydra that he found minor gaps in his memory of.

Someone else had come from there as well, and he struggled to recall just who when the very figure seemed to flash into his mind like a bolt of lightning. Nikai, Alya’s mate. Another missing from their proverbial flock. He wondered if that all-consuming burn that raced across his skin from time to time was the same sort that had taken them all, wondered if perhaps they really had all perished…

He couldn’t think about that, not now. Not ever, if he could have it his way.
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He would be oblivious to the man's true intentions, not that it mattered. Even had he known that he would be tested and assessed, West was confident in his abilities to be an asset to the pack. It came as little surprise that they once held similar hunts, but the woodland lad was surprised to hear his birth pack on Dirge's lips. “Uh, yeah, how'd ya know?” Well there was Hydra. Moonspear and Easthollow had been allied as long as he could remember, longer than he was alive, but it wasn't like he had a nametag clipped to his chest proudly displaying where he had been born.

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“I’ve heard bits and pieces over time,” he said, at first being deliberately vague. Though even this earned elaboration to follow swiftly: “Though Leta has spoken of it, and Hydra as well. Before we ended up here, Nikai spoke fondly of there as well and spoke of the stones and their meaning.” Beyond that, he couldn’t have claimed where he had gained information—the gaps in his memory burned often like his skin over such things. For all he knew, perhaps Osiris had told him some things in idle chats.

He couldn’t even remember if he had ever visited the place proper.

Chances were, he hadn’t; the eastern marches that he remembered were relatively uncharted and vast, though once upon time he had blazed a trail along it when he had thought to move on from that curious wilderness and all it had possessed. And to think, if he had, his life would have culminated in things very differently, even if he had not quite entertained the thought of just what those things could have been.
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Nikai— He had completely forgotten about him, though it wasn't like he saw much of the man. West had some hazy memories of him and his mate coming to stay in Easthollow for some time, but it seemed they favored the mountains of Moonspear and left shortly after. Truly the two packs were connected in more ways than he would grasp. “Oh, haha, yeah. I guess I kinda forgot. The stones were our home though. They watched over us in a way.”

West recalled the lessons of his mother, how when they watched bison together she'd point them out and explain their significance. They were guiding pillars to their family's spirits. A way to talk, though he wasn't sure if he really fully believed it, the thought was somewhat comforting. “Does, uh, Empyrean have any beliefs?” Now that he thought about it he probably should have asked a long time ago, or maybe just ask Leta. She had lived amongst these wolves longer than he had.

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He found their beliefs to be peculiar, though they had been interesting tales to listen to. His children—at least some of them—had enjoyed listening to Nikai explain the lore. Of course, they had enjoyed many tales that were passed down, even if he did not recall every facet and feature or twist and turn to whatever story or belief had come out of it.

But did they have any particular belief themselves?

“Not particularly,” he answered, “but I suppose that depends on who you ask. My wife and her siblings have many tales of the night sky, the stories that her parents gave to them, but I can’t say that there is a particular reverence attached to them. To me, they’re stories.” A humored note left him, and he added: “Some of our children bare the names of the shapes the stars make because she loves them so.”

Truth be told, most of them bore those names. Osiris, Atlas, Antares, Altair, Mintaka… those were the ones he remembered best. As much of a spearhead to the heart as it were to know only a few of them were with them presently, the majority had been named by Hydra from those tales. He couldn’t have claimed to have been an expert with names—he wasn’t exactly named something pleasant in any case.
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It almost felt strange to hear him admit so openly that they believed in...well nothing. Though with Hydra's philosophy on life he shouldn't be so surprised he supposed. Still, maybe it was just how he was raised but to not believe in anything felt empty or...wrong. But the stars, that was something! It also explained his sister's love for this family. Even as a kid she was always looking up to the sky. More often than not she had snuck out while they slumbered to sit with their father and watch the twinkling specs above. 

Leta had made a picture in the starts once. A family or wolf watching over them...or something like that. Admittedly, he didn't remember too well. “So your family named the stars too?” He had no realization that they might have actual real names. He didn't think it was possible to really track them night and night again. They all looked the same and jumbled up there so his guess was as good as a frog's if you had to ask what one might mean or be called. “And you guys stillll... keep track?”

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“Well, I don’t keep track of such things to be honest. As far as I can tell, the night sky seems the same here as it did where we came from,” he rejoined with a shrug, “but then again Hydra is the one to ask about all of that. If they were named by us, then it came from much further back than I know about.” Astronomy wasn’t his forte in the slightest—but he wasn’t completely ignorant of it. Dirge had used the night sky, specifically the moon, to guide him before even if it wasn’t exactly in a straight line.

“Actually, Jarilo may be the one to talk to,” he went on as a realization struck him. “I think I’ve known him to go stargazing more often than my wife, but he’s generally one of the nocturnal sorts around here. He may know the tales more in depth if you’re interested in that sort of thing.” At least he was pretty sure it had been Jarilo who he had seen out and about looking at the night sky… it was a surprisingly hazy area to uncover now.
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By now, the very stars they spoke of had begun to shine above, a silent signal that they had already been talking for some time now. West tipped his head back just far enough for his hind leg to scratch at the back of his ear and skull. “Jarilo? Don't think I've met him, but I guess I'll keep my eye out. They look the same to me though so his knowledge might be better spent on Leta.” Or he could just pass it on, but knowing him it would be better for her to hear it from the source instead. “Er, speaking of I should probably go find her. 'Sides meals are better when they're fresh I don't wanna keep you and Hydra from dinner.” Or from whatever he was doing before they bumped into each other.

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Ah yes, dinner—the day had gotten late, the colors long and mostly bled out of the sky to reveal those stars in full that they had only briefly discussed. It was with a nod that Dirge agreed, his gaze drifting skyward as West came to his natural conclusion.

“I won’t keep you then,” he said, reaching to pull the hare he had been offered closer. “Do reach out to me the next time you go out to hunt or scout though, I’d be happy to join you at your leisure. And I thank you for the meal,” he went on to conclude for himself. He gathered the hare then, lingering for only a moment more on the off chance West had something more to add.
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Dirge only agreed before pulling close his kill. He was happy of course to provide it as he could eat fresh any time. Something from the cache would do for tonight with Leta. As his alpha suggested accompanying him on a future endeavor he simply nodded, “Yeah, of course. Have a good night.” The woodland man would watch as he retreated after they had said their parting words before ultimately taking his own leave in search of his sister.

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