Stormrunner, Agarian, & Lakona

Stormrunner was stretched idly on his side, slumbering lightly in a patch of filtered, midday sun. Now and then, a plucky little wren would flit down and tug a tuft of winter fur from the alpha, though this hardly bothered the lupine. His coat was getting a little bedraggled anyway, and with warmer days already upon them, Storm was ready to shed this excess coat.

Some distance away, Agarian was nosing about at a cluster of dainty white flowers that had braved the cold nights to come into bloom. "Lakona, come here! Come smell this!" He woofed to his sister, while pawing gently at the flower that was hardly any bigger than one of his claws.

A gray ear turned to her brother's words, but not her dark eyes. Lakona was busy staring off into the trees, her gaze fixated to the east.

"Lakona!" When she didn't respond, Agarian looked up to see what his sibling was doing, and why should couldn't be bothered to answer him. His stomach dropped a little when he saw what she was doing; this wasn't the first time she'd gotten lost staring in the direction of the Sonnet Forest pack. The adolescent sighed, "Don't be getting any ideas, 'Kona."

Iopa, Icara, Firelight, & Waterlily

Iopa was curled loosely a few feet from her mate, resting on a soft patch of grass and fallen leaves. Every now and then, her whiskers or lip would twitch as the alphess dreamed.

Waterlily was up and alert, currently grooming her fur and paying special attention to her scarred forelimb, and the patches of grayed skin where her glossy fur had never grown back. Every now and then, she'd glanced up from this routine to take account of the adolescents, mentally marking where each one was.

Icara was laying near the pupsitter and chewing happily on a stick. Her eyes darted to Agarian, then to Lakona when her name came up, but the little wolf couldn't be bothered to get up or join in the conversation.

It was Firelight who padded over to Kona, ears slightly back with apprehension, "Are you thinking about the bad wolves again?" 'The ones that murdered Darling.' The thought echoed in her head.

Stormrunner, Agarian, & Lakona

Lakona shot a scowl back at Agarian that made the brother stop in his tracks. This look was transferred next to Firelight, and followed with a growl, "I seem to be the only one thinking about them." She turned away from her siblings and again let her hardened gaze wander to the east, "They murdered our aunt, and they threatened Black and Lily, and dad. And Dad didn't have the fangs to do anything about it!"

Agarian felt a twinge of anger rise in him, but it was quickly subdued by concern. He'd never seen Lakona this riled up before. He put the flowers out of his mind and padded towards his sisters, standing at Firelight's side as he addressed Lakona, "Mom and Dad are doing their best to protect us, and Black's been patrolling a lot. You can't blame-"

"I can and I will blame them!" Lakona whirled around again, this time with bared fangs. Again, Agarian stopped cold, surprised by the escalation in Kona's anger. "We should be hunting them down!"

Iopa, Icara, Firelight, & Waterlily

"Agarian is right, Kona." Firelight edged carefully, "All the adults are keeping a close lookout, to make sure those wolves don't hurt us again."

The stick had dropped from Icara's mouth as her attention was fully wrapped up in what her siblings were talking about.

Waterlily gave a soft yip to catch the attention of the adolescent wolves, "I know you're upset Lakona, but going after those wolves could get more of our family injured." Her words were soft, hiding the fear that came to mind when she recalled the bloodied face of Lepiota. The pure rage and desperation she'd seen in the stranger's eyes left no doubt that she had the capacity to kill any one of them without hesitation, and with little provocation.

Stormrunner, Agarian, & Lakona

"So what, we're just hiding away in our territory, always looking over our shoulders for when they'll attack next? Pathetic!" Lakona's unbridled anger continue to spill forth. Waterlily was caught up in her baneful glare next, and Kona held little back as she sized up her former pupsitter, "It's mostly your fault they're angry at us! You couldn't even handle a simple-"

"Kona!" Agarian barked sharply and stepped directly in front of his sister, "Enough of this! There were humans in the territory, Waterlily had no choice but to run from them-"

Fangs flew at Agarian's face as Lakona struck for her brother, so quickly that he didn't have time to scramble back or defend himself. The resulting bite left a set of punctures just above his nose, where a welling of red began to blossom through the gray fur. "You're just as bad as her! You all are!" Lakona accused with a growing snarl, before suddenly turning tail and bolting away.

Agarian's eyes watered, but he held back any tears. He wanted to snap back at her, but she was already bounding away through the forest, leaving he and others behind in shock. After a few belated moments, the young wolf turned away and stalked in the opposite direction.

"What's all the ruckus about?" The sound of raised voices had finally stirred the alpha from his sleep. He'd opened his eyes just in time to see Agarian walking stiff-legged into the forest, clearly upset.

Blackout

Blackout had yet to find a new mate and he knew time was running out to get an heir. Perhaps he would have to travel away from the pack to find one worthy. But his instinct to want to protect his pack kept him from doing that. As he was patrolling he heard the arguing his ears went back. Part of him had wanted to go and find the wolves who did what they did however, he also knew they were driven on anger and grief and weren't thinking right either and he wouldn't become them and do the same thing. He saw lakona and moved to follow at a distance.

Iopa, Icara, Firelight, & Waterlily

Iopa had woken at the sound of her children fighting, but like her mate, didn't know what had transpired. All she saw as her eyes fluttered open was the tail end of Agarian disappearing one way, and the distant crunch of leaves as Lakona vanished in the opposite direction. With concern etched in her face, the wolfess stood and approached her mate, "Everything okay?"

"It was Lakona." Waterlily answered pensively, feeling the weight of guilt begin to press on her. "...she's upset about the Sonnet pack, still." Her slender ears were already pasted back, and the heavy look that Iopa directed her way did little to make feel Lily any better. Hesitantly, Lily continued, "..I could follow her?"

"No." The alphess ruled with a shake of her head. "Let her calm down first, she'll come back in her own time." What Iopa didn't know was that Lakona was running fast, and heading out of the territory to lands she was no familiar with. She also didn't know that Blackout was already on it, following their wayward daughter as she struck out on her own.

Firelight was left dumbfounded by the assault, with little time to try and sway her sister's mind. Deciding it was safer not to follow Lakona, Fire headed in the direction that Agarian had gone, which was thankfully deeper into the territory rather than out of it.