To the little bells soft as a psalm

The smell of Elkshire was everywhere, he had to go further North. Away from everyone so he didn't have to bump into any of them and have them bring him back against his will. The mountains were tough, and he hated them. Very little deer roamed here and what he saw instead were disgusting-looking dwarf-like creatures in comparison (goats).

Shaking off his coat from the dust that gathered there while tracking through the mountainous terrain, a little orange-bellied bird found its perch on a nearby branch. The prince watched it for a second before walking off, paying it little mind as it hopped from branch to branch following in his wake. Whatever it wanted, it would go ignored as he had no business with the likes of a finch (oriole but okay).

A familiar pain dug itself into his belly, reminding him that perhaps sometime soon he should find something to eat before wasting away.

the staff team luvs u

Very rarely, Maral would venture beyond the borders of Elkshire territory. She'd always been very much a homebody despite feeling like she didn't particularly belong; the forest was all she'd ever known. Anything beyond was foreign, which in itself was intimidating enough to root her to the lands of her birth.

Since the arrival of new siblings, however, things had felt a little awkward for Maral. The shadow began to set her own boundaries - small ones, like pushing herself to linger for longer periods of time among the woods beyond their claim. When she felt brave enough to extend them, she dared to roam as far as the Jawbone Crag.

What she found there was most unexpected.

Maral paused to observe the movements of an ashen figure as he picked his way through foliage. He was oddly familiar to her from a distance, enough to make her think of the wayward Aldritch, but it couldn't possibly be him. Curious, the young Déorwine began to pursue his trail.


the staff team luvs u

The bird followed as he moved. Darkened ears tilted back to listen to its little movements as branches rustles with its landings... but one sound, in particular, stuck out more than the others. It wasn't the sound of a small bird in the branches, but of feet following behind him. For a moment his heart thudded strongly in his chest, wondering what could this individual want with him?

Were they here to hurt him? It made his mouth dry to think of... no, they couldn't. Not with the High Elk watching over him, he had to put his faith into their lord.

“What do you want?” He coated his fear with annoyance. Eyes flickering to the space behind him as if he could bee behind his head without turning to face the stalker.

the staff team luvs u

She maintained a distance, enough that she thought she might avoid being noticed, but it seemed the ashen rogue's perception was better than she anticipated. When he barked a question her way, Maral halted abruptly and lifted her ears, finding familiarity in his tone.

“Aldritch?” Maral asked at once, dark eyes sweeping over his frame which looked leaner than how she recalled, “is it really you?”


the staff team luvs u

His name was spoken. Did they know him, or know of him, he wondered. Then again, there was a familiar in their tone just as they had with his. Still his heart beat wildly, and all he could do was hide it under a mask of disinterst. He wasn't weak. Not anymore. He wasn't afraid because he was with the High Elk and learning off the land, there was nothing to be afraid of so long as he did what the High Elk wanted him to do.

“Yeah.” He spoke as soon as his voice found its place. Orange eyes piecing together that this was definitely someone familiar, Maral. “What do you want?” Did she miss him? Did anyone? It was impossible to not fear the answer of his question, of his desires and needs to be wanted, loved, squashed in a moment he tried to avoid.

the staff team luvs u

Despite having been whelped of the same womb, Maral and Aldritch were so fiercely different. She'd been conscious of it from the start, to some extent - as had several of their siblings. She'd been of lesser value since the beginning, since before the tales of ow those bearing unholy porcelain markings were destined to bring shame to their name. How many of the Déorwine brood had made her feel so small and insignificant back then?

Had Aldritch been one of them?

She took in the sight of her wayward brother, confusion in the mahogany of her eyes as he repeated his initial question. Maral didn't really have an answer for it; she swallowed. “Nothing. Everyone's looking for you,” the girl deflected, keen to draw attentionaway from herself, “where did you go?”


the staff team luvs u

They were growing fast he noted. Even now he seemed to be looking Maral in the eyes rather than slightly up - maybe now he was even tilting his head slightly down. Was he growing taller than her? It didn't matter. It meant nothing with his colours. With the dreary grey that draped him.

“You're a liar.” He couldn't believe it. Wouldn't believe her words. Even if it was what he wanted to hear, she just said it to be nice. “I went everywhere, and still am.” He fought back the childish tears that stung his eyes. He was better than that. They never did anything for him anyway.

“Did mom wind up finding Edith?” After all, that was who she really cared about. Warwick, Edith and Calhoun. Her precious children.

Never once did he think how the pale markings upon his other siblings made them feel. Only ever thinking of his own grey tones that stuck him out from the litter like a wound.

the staff team luvs u

At his biting remark, Maral flicked her ears back. Her brow pinched and a frown tugged at her muzzle; he was not tainted as she was, so what was it that so wounded Aldritch that she had failed to witness? Feeling anxiety begin to spike at her brother's accusation, the shadow's tongue traced a canine.

She did not bark back. Maral had never been one to argue, and maintained a cool exterior.

“No. And Calhoun is gone, too,” she included, both to remind her sibling that his rebellious decisionto depart did not make him special.


the staff team luvs u

Calhoun is gone too. It cracked the boy's exterior, just for a moment. Brows lightening up as his expression twisted to an almost smile at the news. He didn't need to feel special to leave, that was not his desire after all. He knew no one missed him, he didn't matter after all. “Serves her right.” He tossed callously.

She pampered them anyway. Her clear favourites among the siblings and now two of the three had gone. Where? It didn't matter. Aldritch already knew Calhoun had planned something with his disinterest in mother's teachings, perhaps Edith did too and she was the first to go.

“And what are you doing? Helping her look for the favourites?”

the staff team luvs u

She had never been close to any of her siblings, though she had perhaps been fondest of Vermillion. It was with the other white-kissed child that Maral felt she shared most in common with - especially after the suggestion that they were most likely to sin. The shadow remembered her own determination on hearing the tales, and she wondered then if her sister felt the same desire to be someone their mother might someday be proud of.

A wolf meant to prove her prophecy false.

Aldritch's response was cold, and Maral shifted in ger place as she bit back the desire to defend. Her relationship with the Queen was a complicated one. She yearned for love and acceptance, something she wanted to believe she received in fleeting moments - enough to acknowledge how protective she felt over her. Célnes was a deeply complicated mother, but Maral didn't believe she deserved to suffer.

“I-” his questioncaught her off guard, and she didn't feel much like being transparent with him. Maral averted her dark eyes and huffed a sigh, considering her words. “No. I just wanted some space, I guess.” She paused, and dared to seek Aldritch's eyes again, “we have new siblings, Aldritch.”

They are as doomed as I am.


the staff team luvs u

Some space she said. The wound in her eyes wasn't unnoticed, but he simply didn't care. He wasn't close to any of his siblings, perhaps Calhoun the most, but that wasn't all too special either. They had mended a bridge between them upon their last meeting a while ago, but that was all. And that was okay. It was lonely, but he had his own self-given mission and the companions he had were the bucks and does he'd find every now and then.

New siblings? He kept he smile on his face, a mask to hide anything else that bubbled up from underneath. “So, we're already replaced.” Because it was just that easy for her. “She couldn't fix her mess and so she just makes new ones. Figures.” Through the lies, the favouritism, the little games she played with Remus. He wondered if she would do the same to them as she did to him and his siblings - or were they just the test litter for the new ones that came after?

“You gonna help her raise them or something?” Be mom's little slave to help a new generation be loved more than they ever could have been? Darkened ears curled back as he was ready to judge her answer.

the staff team luvs u

He was hardened, made bitter by months of hardship and neglect. Maral observed how his expression made those subtle changes, how he pretended not to care by expressing sharp words and infuriating smirks.

It was a shame they had made no effort to rely on one another when all they'd needed affection as babes, and as they stared at one another she wondered if it was too late to build those bridges. His next snipe confirmed that, indeed, there was no chance of mending a bond that'd never been present to begin with.

She'd never felt any desire to wound him - not even when their mother and Remus putted them against each other as infants, starved and squabbling over scraps of meat. Aldritch did not share her passive nature, clearly, as he sought to spear her right where it hurt. “We never asked to be born,” she lifted her chin, “neither did they.”

It was difficult for her, but after all they'd been through she felt the will to be present for the littlest Déorwines - enough to provide a shred of kindness that she and her own kin had been deprived of as babes.


the staff team luvs u

And her answer was what he expected. Disgusting. A lip lifted as he twisted his head slightly away to the side. Eyeing her with a wayward revulsion at her decision. “Then you're supporting this.” It was all he could see. If she wasn't against it, but helping then she was supporting.

He wasn't even gone that long and as far as he knew... it took a while for women to birth youth. So when did she start brewing them? Did she meet a man who would help her this time or were they also bastards to her desires? “I bet she still doesn't have a husband to help.” A whore with a throne with no desires to create a family.

“You gonna raise her next bastards too? She will never learn.” He was certain of it now. He was not going to be treated like a throwaway child any longer - he wouldn't return to empty arms open for all but him. “You know... you can always come with us. With me. The lost.” Like he, Edith and Calhoun. It was his only offer. The only time he would extend a paw out to any of them. Just once.

“We can find our own path. Mother has the others in the pack, she, they aren't our responsibility.”

the staff team luvs u

She was just a girl. Young, wounded by a life that had been unkind to her, but not weakened enough by it that she'd break. Unwilling to walk away, to admit defeat. Maral felt it, the weight of her burden, each day that she breathed - but it was all she'd ever known.

There was safety and comfort in the familiar.

Aldritch was giving her whiplash. He toyed with her emotions, provoking fear and frustration and longing alike with his bitter tongue followed swiftly by encouragement. Maral blinked, uncertain. The teenage rebellion in her that she'd kept on a tight leash throughout her young life screamed to be free, but she reminded herself of the promise she recently made just as quickly.

She had made her decision long ago, even if it wasn't necessarily the one she wished for herself.

“I know my path,” her voice wavered just a little, and she cleared her throat, “and I will pray to the High Elk that you find yours safely.”

She was just a girl, desperate to be something she could never amount to.

To be more than the alabaster she bore over her heart.


the staff team luvs u

Her decision was made, and he wouldn't let her change it now. Nor ever. She would lay with this decision until the very end. “A slave to mother. So be it.” And his disgust in her grew.

He turned his back on the sister he, briefly, thought he could get to know. Tossing her aside just as he was through his youth. They weren't searching for him, he knew she was a liar. Mother was too occupied raising their replacements, too busy searching for her favourites to be bothered with the likes of him.

“Save your prayers.” He spat, a vile venom as he tossed an eye over his shoulder. Tail sweeping to one side of his hocks. “I follow the high Elk, not her lies. I will be praying for you.” With regained self-confidence, the fallen prince moved away from his so-called-sister and back to the path she drew him away from. From the branches the bird followed again, something he had almost forgotten about until the sound of wings flapping caught his attention.

At least... he wasn't completely alone. The High Elk, and this thing would keep him company.

the staff team luvs u

A slave to mother, he said, and the words cut deep - enough for emotion to threaten, to bring about a burning sensation in her eyes. Maral stiffened her pisture again, trying her best to stay afloat with her head held high; she would not give Aldritch the satisfaction of knowing he was responsible for her tears.

Maral knew she could never be anything more than mediocre. She was a simple creature, one who yearned for acceptance and never asked for anything. As she stared after her brother who turned away with poison on his tongue, the shadow held hers; he'd been vicious to her, but it wasn't his fault.

He was damaged, as each of Célnes' imperfect children were. Some, unfortunately, more than the others.

Silence soon enveloped her again, and Maral became aware of the fading evening light. She lifted her gaze and brirfly studied the unforgiving mountain faces, then veered away to begin her return to Elkshire with a lead weight within her breast.


the staff team luvs u