[Nyxia]

It had been eleven years since she'd entered this forest, a long enough time that she thought the memories might stay buried in her mind. Late fall the forest smelled of pines and fallen damp leaves to her nose, but that wasn't the pleasant scent it had been so long ago to her. Instead it brought a pang of sadness to her, reminded her of the things she didn't dare to think of as she stood just inside the tree line. She knew she shouldn't have come here, more importantly she knew the risk it was for her to wander into this place no longer her home. Closing her eyes she breathed deep the smells of the forest, and let the memories return.

Eleven years ago

Summer had just begun to give way to fall, the leaves were beginning to turn their brilliant yellows, oranges, and reds. The pack was milling about in a restless fashion, waiting for their alpha to begin to hunts that would hold them over winter this year. Emilija was still to young to hunt with them, she was still considered a pup and being the alpha's only child so far she was to be protected at all cost. Still she had gone to her mother's den to try and convince the older wolf to allow her to go. Stepping inside she did not see her mother at all, it was odd but she dreamed up some excuse for it before turning away. Exiting the den into the fresh night air she saw the pack up and moving, and odder still her mother stood beside her father as they readied to leave. "Mum!" She called to the she wolf with a puzzled expression. "Where are you going?" Her mother had never, in all the time Emilija could remember, gone on a hunt with the rest of the pack.

Her father did not look happy, in fact he wouldn't even look at her. Her mother wore a sad expression as she nuzzled her pup, "I am going with the pack, with your father." It wasn't a great explanation, not when her father snorted a response and began to trod off after the others. "It will be okay, Emilija. We will be home before you know it." Her mother had always tried to sooth her worries, always made things look sunnier than they were. "I have a present for you." Her mother whispered quietly, "Its in my den, just inside of it. This gift has a price though, Emilija. If you take it, then you must be prepared to leave and go on your own." An underline sense crossed her mind, there was some kind of danger coming. Emilija didn't know then how she was aware of it, but she knew it was coming and her life was the one at risk here.

Opening her eyes again Emily toyed with the pendant around her neck, hidden by her shirt and thought about it all once more. Just as it had been in the hospital Emily tried to see what she couldn't have seen then, if her mother had known what was going to happen. Now here in the forest Emily stood silently with her memories, not sure what she planned to do now that she had returned. Again she felt the prickle of danger like lightning across her skin, but this time she refused to run from it. She had promised to never run again, not when her mother's gift protected her by masking her aura and altering her smell. This time she would meet the danger head on, her lips peeled back in a slight snarl as she waited.

(1)

[Nyxia]

It had been a long journey, she had forgotten how far Medicai was from the forest where she'd grown up. Still the whole forest reeked of danger, but when it failed to materialize out of the tree Emily allowed herself to relax a bit. She'd forgotten in three years that this entire place reeked with the smell of fear and danger, cold comfort as she rested there on that warm day. She'd come here with a reason, and Emily wasn't going to be scared away easily after all this time. With that thought she began to try and remember how to be a wolf, though she was horribly out of practice on that front. All she could smell was the sap and leaves, but those she knew were just the surface smells. She should have been able to pick out the small birds and rodents rushing about the forest, but she couldn't seem to. It wasn't a great start to searching out her old pack, but there was really no point standing here whining about it either. She'd just have to wander about the forest until she ran into one of the scouts, or thought of something better.

[2]

[Nyxia]

Emily couldn't even remember which side of the forest the pack had called home, she realized as she began to walk further into the woods. It wasn't like Roraldi was a small forest either, a snag she hadn't foreseen in returning. She didn't recognize anything in this area, and the more she look the less she knew where she was. Not a promising sign, but Emily ignored it in favor of pushing on. She'd gone far enough from the edge of the forest by then that she thought a small stream should have been near by, it was just like her to do all this and forget essential things likes food and water. If she was still in practice of hunting it might not have been such a problem, but as it stood Emily was likely in over her head. That had yet to stop her either, she reflected with a quiet chuckle to herself as she walked. Maybe she was as crazy as the doctors had said, but she doubted it. She'd yet to fail to figure some means of survival out, her odd skill would serve her once more. She could feel the gold chain of her mother's necklace tightening as she went further, trying to warn her that this might end badly. It did little good though, "I can't run again." She whispered like someone was there. "I came back, I want answers now. You have to let me get them, mum. You owe me that much." She was grumbling more to herself, but it didn't seem to matter. The chain stayed tight at her throat, but it didn't get tighter.

[Nyxia]

The Roraldi forest wasn't as bad as the Whisper forest at least, few people ever got lost as badly here as they did there. The danger wasn't in the many paths of the forest, but in those who called this place home. Emily had no misgivings that her former pack would welcome her back, there wasn't going to be some big family reunion in her returning here. Instead this had been about putting the past to rest for her, and she knew it would be her very last act on this earth in doing so. Still she continued walking along the trails carved out of the ground by rain water, she had yet to have a better idea than simply being found by a scout. As she went on though she was having her doubts about this being such a great idea, as it stood she was at a disadvantage compared to them. She still was having difficulty with picking up the scent of anything beyond what her human side knew, which meant if a scout simply avoided her she wouldn't have known. Besides Koaner wasn't an alpha known for caution, nor would he have fear the pup he once treated as a daughter. "If I just keep going, their bound to find me." She muttered as she climbed up onto a large rock in order to look the forest over.

[Nyxia]

Emily had only been here for thirty or so minutes, but already she was disoriented by the tree trunks all looking about the same. Really tracking a wolf pack should have been simple business, even if one had forgotten how to be a wolf. Yet here she stood, preached on a rock wondering where in the hell she was exactly. Frustrated Emily almost beat her fist against the stone, but held back as she didn't want to fall off her preach and look like a fool. Growling a sigh, she slipped down to the ground and let her eyes scan the green space in front of her. This was a whole lot harder than she'd thought it should have been, which did nothing to sooth her. "Damn wolves, don't even have enough consideration to show up when a girl's looking for them." This time her voice was no hushed murmur, it was just the same level as if she were speaking to someone. Which was odd when nothing but the birds answered her with songs, nothing else stirred out there under the afternoon sun.

[Nyxia]

"They might be more accommodating, if they were still in this area. I believe so at least." A voice called from behind her, causing Emily's blood to run with ice through her veins. Still unwilling to appear weak she swung around to face the very male voice, and crossed her arms in front of herself. What she saw set her back slightly, the wolf who'd spoken was in fact standing there watching her. She tried not to be alarmed that it could speak so well, but that seemed like a waste of time to her. Still it seemed the creature was more curious that dangerous, especially when the pulled tight chain around her neck slacked a little. "I can't imagine why in the world, anyone would want to find the pack who use to occupy this territory." He continued on slowly making his way over to her. He seemed not to notice her reaction to his drawing nearer to her, as he simply sniffed at her to catch her scent from the distance.

[Nyxia]

Continuing to hold her ground despite the sudden shock his face morphed into as he smelled her, Emily shrugged her shoulders at the beast. "That really is my business." She informed the beast who'd sat down and was now staring at her with wide gold eyes. Unaware of what had shocked the beast Emily continued on, "I have my own reasons for looking for them, and if you know where they went then tell me. Otherwise your not really any help, and thus you can leave." She was abrupt, but then Emily had never been known for her social skills to begin with. As it was, she'd managed not to name call; or worse tell him to mind his own business with a ruder tongue. When the beast made no move to speak or act towards her words, Emily leveled him with the best glare she could. It wasn't hard to do either considering she was steadily moving from annoyed to angry at this point, "What are you staring at? Useless damn mutt brain." She growled, doing her best to not simply lash out.

[Nyxia]

When she snapped at the beast he seemed to blink a couple of times slowly, then look around the forest. "I never thought you would come back here." He told her softly, lowering his head to her. It was strange to see another of her kind act with respect like this, not since the truth had come out about her at least. "Roya would be upset that you did something so reckless, Emilija." His words shocked her, someone to mention her mother by name instead of the insult commonly used. Suddenly Emily felt bad at letting her temper go at the poor beast, especially if he was some kind of friend. He shook out his body to loosen the leaves and dirt in his coat before settling into a sitting position to look at her. "Still, what do you think you'll gain from Koaner? If you want a quick death, then you're soiling Roya's sacrifice." Now Emily could tell he was angry, his gold colored eyes looked straight into hers.

[Nyxia]

Letting her breath out Emily let her glare falter, he was some friend to her mother. She couldn't be angry with someone who had likely treated her mother with kindness before her death, still he didn't have a right to tell her what to do. "I want answers. If that means a quick death, and destroying what my mother did for me." His eyes hardened to her, he clearly would have tried to stop her if they were here. "Who the hell are you anyway? What makes you think you know so much?" Her fur had been ruffled a bit by his attitude, and that normally meant Emily had no more interest in playing nice. "I don't take orders, not from some screwing waste of space useless flea bag." She snarled at him, and was mildly surprised when he didn't take the bait for a fight. Instead he kept looking at her with a cold kind of gaze, miserable sort of determination flickering in his eyes.

[Nyxia]

The beast continued to stare at her with that unruffled expression, but he did answer her. "I'm Zadoc, I was your mother's personal guard." Emily suddenly did remember him, then in that moment. He'd always been right beside her mother, even in the last minutes of her life he'd tried to defend the alpha he'd sworn to protect while Emily had run away. She could see the scars across his face and body then for what they were, they were the battle scars from that horrible night eleven years ago. For a moment Emily couldn't speak, her mouth opened and closed several times as she tried to reassess what was happening. "After Roya was killed, I was exiled from the pack for defending her." He'd spoken for her, not just to her. "She wanted me to catch up to you, protect you. But I couldn't just leave her to die, I was young and thought I could save her myself." It wasn't the story she'd thought she'd known her whole life. Emily had always believed that the other pack members had just stood back and let Koaner kill his mate, now she realized someone had tried.

[Nyxia]

Emily stood there for a moment before she could speak, all the fight she'd had for this wolf was gone in an instant. "I...thank you." She meant it, knowing Roya hadn't been alone at the very end brought some kind of peace to her. She still wanted to know what had happened, she needed to know why Koaner had killed her mother. "Maybe you do have answer, if you wouldn't mind sharing them." It was new for her not to just snarl and growl at someone and get what she wanted. Carefully she set down on a fallen tree trunk still fairly solid, and watched Zadoc with a calm not known to their kind. It seemed knowing she might not go after Koaner relaxed the other wolf enough that his eyes softened a bit towards her. "I remember that night." Emily began when he had settled close enough to her that she could have reached out to touch his fur. "It was strange, seeing mother go out on the hunt with the others. She didn't seem herself, I don't know why but she seemed worried." Hopeful to at least that he would tell her what had happened, she still didn't understand what had caused her father to hate her.

[Nyxia]

Zadoc was glad to that she saw reason, and as Emily asked her questions he laid down. Since that night he hadn't been able to keep himself up for very long, his left front leg had been destroyed in the fight. "Yes, Roya was terribly worried that night. I think she knew what was going to happen to her, I believe she did at least." He sighed through his nose making a tired sounding snort. His mind clouded slightly as he looked back on the events of that night, he had done everything not to for all these years. He'd gone silent as he replayed those events for himself, piecing together what he knew now with the memories.

Eleven Years Ago

The lunar hunt was just as it had always been, Zadoc watched the pack hunters gathering near the rock upon which Koaner usually announced where in the territory they would hunt. Beside him Roya rested with her head on her paws, watching the spectacle her mate loved to put on. "I never thought a day like this would come." She told him softly, startling Zadoc who'd thought she was asleep. Stunned and confused he turned to look down at his alpha, unsure of what she meant. "Can't you feel it in the night, Zadoc?" She'd raised her head to look at him as she spoke. It was a perplexing thing to hear her say, it was nearly evening, night was several hours away. That was when he noticed the look in her clear blue eyes, a sad look so deep he couldn't begin to fathom what she was talking about. "Our lives are about to change, tonight." She wasn't looking at him anymore, she was watching her mate as he passed them. The deep contempt and hatred in Koaner's eyes shocked Zadoc, it was like nothing he'd ever seen in the alpha's eyes before. "Would you think less of me, Zadoc? If you knew I was carrying a dark secret?" Her words chilled him, and Zadoc shivered.