Trelstar & Kandire
A few miles out from the heart of the Temple, Trelstar would intermittently stop and drop his nose to the ground, or raise it to the trunk of a tree or edge of a rock, investigating a scent that caught his attention. Though only a yearling, the dark-silver wolfdog took his duties with the utmost dedication, and put a highly-rational mind to work as he checked even the most mundane of forest messages. The one he was carefully analyzing now was the mark of a tree martin, advertising his claim to this little patch of land, which sat next to a small brook some ways down the mountain.
Kandire padded up beside her larger brother, joining him with a nose lifted to the bark of the cedar tree, even if she hardly gave the mark a second sniff, and didn't bother to register the information in her memory. This was perhaps the thirtieth stoop they'd made in the last two hours of patrol, and her dedication was beginning to flag. "Trel, that's just a pine martin. Do we really need to..." The grizzled wolfdog's lament trailed off into a sigh as her brother raised a leg and added his own declaration to the trunk, reminding the martin - and all other animals who passed by the area - that this was also Shadow Haunter domain. "...is that really necessary?"
Trel turned missmatched eyes to his sister as he finished marking and started on again, crunching through a layer of freshly fallen snow. "Of course. You need to take this more seriously, Kandire. We're in a time of peace right now, but there is no telling when the next war might break out."
Trelstar & Kandire
Kandire plodded on beside her sibling, at first holding his bi-colored gaze with her darker brown one, then sweeping it away to the snow-powdered forest floor as she found his intensity to be too much. "We always hear talk about 'war', but with who?" She murmured a bit dismissively, "No one ever really bothers us, and I've never even seen the Makucha or any of the other 'bad ones' that Tophee and the others carry on about."
Trelstar's gaze lingered on the other, and though Kandire all but felt it, she didn't acknowledge it. "Do you think that they lie to us?"
The accusation in his voice made her ears fold back a few degrees, "No... it's not that." When she finally side-glanced to Trel, Kandire found his attention had drifted to the path ahead of them, a well-worn deer trail that they'd been on for the past quarter mile. A quick study of his face found an expression that was predictably hard to read, giving the wolfess little to go on as far as how serious he was taking this. Erring on the side of caution, Kandire tried to explain herself a little better, "It's just, don't you think they're playing things up a bit much? I get that the big cats can be dangerous, but the rest of the Valley has no formidable packs. And the 'monsters' they speak of, those are just tales to frighten pups into good behavior."
Trelstar & Kandire
There was no immediate response from Trelstar, only the deft crinkled of frozen leaves and the swish of thick fur to fill the silence as they carried on down the narrow trail. Kandire's ears remained pivoted back as she wondered whether she should have said anything at all, or at least held her tongue until she was with Moonfall or Phiron. Trel always gave straight answers, but his level of stoicism sometimes made him an uncomfortable talking companion. When he finally did speak, this voice was just as even as before, "So you think they lie in order to keep pups in line?"
"Just forget I said anything." Kandire muttered back. She allowed herself to fall a few steps behind her brother, to drop out of his immediate line of sight, as if hoping that would dissuade him from carrying on. It didn't.
"The Makucha have killed our own." He pointed out, "The Aspen Grove is one of the strongest and most resilient packs in the Valley, and they have reason to be our enemies." He steps never slowed, and his attention was rapt on their surroundings as he started his lecture, "And the Shadow Lurkers have denied a very gracious olive branch."
Kandire stifled an anxious whine, and when it was clear that Trel was not going to abandon the subject she brought up, the wolfess reluctantly continued, "Yeah, I know the history, but... it just seems everyone's content to live their own lives. And I do believe that the adults are hyping things up. Maybe not lying persay... but, embellishing?"
Trelstar & Kandire
A quiet 'Hmmm.' came from Trelstar, and Kandire frowned. What was that noise suppose to mean? Her attention fell away from the snowy landscape as her thoughts turned inward, having given up on trying to read into her brother's subtle mannerisms. "I think embellishing is the better word. They-"
"What are your thoughts on Lady Risen?" Trelstar had slowed to bring his nose down to a patch of disturbed snow, while asking a question in such a mundane manner that it caught Kandire off guard.
She nearly bumped into her brother, and only managed to sidestep his larger former as he stopped altogether to paw at whatever had caught his interest. "Risen? I-"
"Lady Risen." Trelstar corrected without missing a beat.
Kandire would have rolled her eyes at this, if not for how uncomfortable she was getting at his line of questioning. "
"And our Guardian Ederelus?" One of his tall, silvered ears had turned back as Kandire once more fell behind him.
Trelstar & Kandire
The smokey-gray ears that had been tilted back now began to edge to the sides as annoyance mixed with the discomfort brought on by Trelstar's questioning. She huffed a little in exasperation, torn between saying something to appease him, and being just irritated enough to want to speak her mind. After another moment or two of thought, it was the latter that won out, "Oh Imre, I don't know... she's basically just a River Monster that lives under leaves in the bog, and gets free food from us. It's not like she actually does anything to protect us." Another huff of noise punctuated her answer, and when Trelstar didn't immediately have a response to that, Kandire frowned and added on, "You know I'm right. She's just a big lizard that tricked Quili into getting the pack to feed her."
Ahead of her, Trel carried on with one sharp ears pointed back, and the other, tuned ahead. "I see."
Kandire's expression wrinkled with increasing irritation. The apprehension she'd felt took more of a backseat as she felt driven to defend herself now, "What's that suppose to mean? 'I see.' Like you really believe everything they tell us." Her auds were now fully planed to the sides and her steps a bit heavier than they ought to be, "Want to know what I really think? Ederelus is a big dumb lizard, and 'Shadow Valley' is a dumb idea that'll never really happen."
Trelstar & Kandire
Crunch, crunch, crunch...
In the silence that followed her outburst, the only noise that came from Trelstar was the thump of his paws against the brittle layer of icy-snow they trampled over, and the autumn leaves that lay beneath them. And that was nearly drowned out by Kandire's own heavy steps, as she lost sight of the patrol they were on and had focused entirely on the conversation at hand. The young wolfdog was feeling another wave of regret stir in her, but at the same time, it did feel somewhat refreshing to get that opinion off her chest.
The continued lack of response was the catalyst that finally flipped the last of her anxieties into irritation, and drove Kandire to snort, "Are you going to say anything?"
In front of her, Trelstar's dark, silver tail swayed lightly from side to side with the beat of his steps, showing no stiffness, no slight quirk of irritation, or bristling of anger. It was utterly neutral, and that only angered Kandire more. But at last, the giant brute spoke, "You really believe that?"
Kandire's muzzle wrinkled. A faint pulse of uncertainty rippled through her, but her annoyance had grown strong enough to override it and bring about a defiant response, "Yeah, I do. And I bet if I spoke with Phiron and Blackmist, they'd agree with me."
Trelstar & Kandire
Yet again, another span of silence followed her remarks, wherein Trelstar seemed more focused on his surroundings than anything his sister was saying. But with one of his ears turned back, Kandire could see that he was paying attention to her, even if he was frustratingly short on his responses, if he decided to give any. The silence did give her a bit of time to mull over her words at least, and with with a rumble of a sigh, she remarked, "Trel, you're impossible to talk to."
The big wolfdog didn't respond to this rhetorical utterance, and instead had his nose to the ground and his other ear pressed forward attentively. His steps had slowed, and then stopped as his keen nares brought him to an odd collection of shapes beneath the blanket of white that covered the forest floor. A frowning Kandire watched as her brother used surprisingly delicate swipes of his paw and nose to sweep the snowy from the top of what she now realized was a skull. It took the she-wolf another second or two to realize the significance of this particular bone, and when she did, her auds went back. This was Senka's final resting place.
Trelstar sat back on his haunches and dipped his head so that the tip of his glistening nose hovered a few inches above the ivory dome of their former leader, a renowned feline that they had never gotten to meet, but which Blackmist and Quilikahm had told them plenty about. Awkwardly, Kandire lingered in the backdrop of this scene, having never wrapped her head around the rituals and reverence that so many in her pack expressed towards their late packmates. It was another aspect of the Haunters that she quietly questioned, but was wise enough in this moment not to speak against.
Kandire gave her sibling a minute or two before she cleared her throat, "...it's almost midday, so... that's the end of our patrol. I'm going to head back to the Temple." She took a few steps in the direction of their home, then stopped to look back over her shoulder. Trelstar had one ear pointed at her still, having swiveled to the side to follow her steps, but he hadn't moved from where he sat before Senka's remains. Kandire lingered a few seconds longer before starting again, and moving quickly to put Trel and their uncomfortable conversation out of sight and mind.