Chapter Three
Scouter was sleeping in his den when he first heard the groaning warning that someone was moving just outside. He patiently waited for whoever it was to enter and state their business so he could get back to sleep, but after a few moments, he caught the sound of something wet plopping to the ground. Sighing through his nose, Scouter decided he should check on his reluctant visitor. Slipping out of his sleeping furs and throwing on his pants, he exited his nice warm den, leaving his lifemates to their sleep, and looked over the quivering mass of pain and fear sitting at his den's opening.
Merlo was dirty, wet, sniffling, and shaking like a leaf as he wrung his makeshift wooden spear in his hands tight enough to make his knuckles go white. There were a few gashes on his bare chest and legs and handfuls of his long, thick black hair was sticking out of the ties he used to hold the mass out of his way. His loin cloth was torn at the edges, making the cloth fall only a little passed his knees and his every present circlet was slightly askew upon his brow. Over all, Merlo was a certified mess.
With a sigh, Scouter sat beside the forlorn Sun Villager, not quite sure exactly how he was supposed to approach him. A few heartbeats passed before he opened the conversation with, "Weren't you suppose to be on a hunting trip with Teir this morning?"
Merlo sniffled and nodded stiffly, burying his face against his arms, which he wrapped around his knees. A morning hunt had been chosen because of the Sun Villager's lack of keen night vision and Merlo had been positively beaming when he'd set off with Teir. Scouter couldn't help but wonder what could have happened to upset the eager elf so badly. Still he tried to ease his questioning to avoid upsetting him further.
"Did Teir come back with you?"
His head shook, rattling his beads and earrings.
"He sent you back ahead of him?"
"I ran," he muttered thickly.
"What?"
"It was too hard! I tried and tried, but I just couldn't do it!" Merlo angrily tossed his spear to the ground and clapped his hands over his head. "The birds were just too fast when I used the bow and I missed by eights every time I tried to hit something throwing my spear. So, Teir decided we needed to try for something else, something I could handle easier. So we went to the open plains where the herd was, and he found the perfect catch. The, the cuphorn had separated from the herd and was standing right there, right in front of me." Merlo looked up at Scouter with haunted violet eyes. "I could see it looking at me, Scouter, right at me. By the Palace, how could I could I kill it like that?"
"Merlo..."
"Then Teir did it, because I couldn't and...and..." Tears choked his next words until he took a heaving breath. "There was blood everywhere and Teir, he just...he didn't even...all the blood!" Merlo broke down sobbing so hard he couldn't speak anymore.
Scouter bit his lip, then reached out to the Sun Villager, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "The hunt wasn't born in you, Merlo. It's all right. It's nothing to be ashamed of."
"I wanted to be a Wolfrider so badly," the younger elf hiccupped. "Since I was a kitling. That's why I came here in the first place. But now, after that...I can't. I can't kill anything like that, Scouter. It-It wasn't---"
"---What you were expecting," the Wolfrider scout completed Merlo's thought. "You never got the chance to watch Cutter's clan and how they survived, did you, Merlo?"
"I wasn't allowed to go anywhere near the Wolfrider's hunt. Mother barely allowed me to eat the meat of their kill."
Scouter winced at the very thought of such deprivation. He found it hard to believe that Merlo's parents could have been so overprotective, but then again, the Sun Folk tended to coddle their young. He remembered how they'd reacted to simply having the wolves living outside their borders when the Wolfriders had first joined them. Most of them had been terrified of the creatures, especially when it came to their young getting close. Still, the Wolfrider couldn't help but think that Merlo had been much more than coddled.
"I never thought---when Cutter and everyone spoke of the hunt...is it always like that?" The Sun Villager up looked at Scouter with his innocent eyes quaking with terror. "Is that what it's really like living out here, so cold and brutal?"
Scouter pondered over Merlo's question, partly wishing that he'd woken up Tyleet to handle the newcomer, or maybe even Dewshine. Both of his lifemates were much better at setting others at ease than he was. Despite his fiercely protective nature, Scouter wasn't very good at making new connections with people, especially when they were so different than himself (aka not Wolfriders). However, it was him that Merlo was looking to for guidance at the moment and, while he'd proven that he wasn't the best of leaders, he knew that he had to do some thing for the broken hearted Sun Villager. But it was best to stay off the subject, at least for a little while, until he knew just what he'd do.
"How did you get yourself so wet?"
"I got sick in the river afterwards, then fell off the bank."
Scouter didn't know how to respond to that honest admission. He'd grown up a Wolfrider where the ferocity of the hunt was just a normal part of life and even his time spent in the Sun Village hadn't changed his view of the world very much. "The Way" was important to him, a part of who he was, yet he did understand that to other elves, those not of Wolfrider blood, it could be horrifying. Even those who considered the Wolfriders good friends or near-idols could be frightened away once they were exposed to the harshness of it. It was really a special Sun Villager who could handle the Wolfrider life without flinching and, as much as he liked Merlo, Scouter wasn't sure the gentle elf had it in him. To react so violently over a simple hunt...
"I'm a coward," Merlo whispered as he curled in on himself. "A fool and a coward."
"Merlo..."
"Mender!"
The two elves shot up at the sound of Ember's shout and without wasting time for words, they both ran to the source. Kini was with Ember who called again for the Wolfrider healer. Startled out of his sleep, Mender stumbled only half-dressed out of his den, being careful not to step on anything with his bare feet. Yun's sleepy head poked out of the same den as she stirred to see what the commotion was about.
"High Ones Above, what's the matter?" she grumbled.
"There's been an accident," Ember answered brusquely. Pulled by the shouts, the other members of the Wild Hunt began to gather. Pike and Krim looked as crumbled as they typically did in the early morning, but were curious to see what had their Chieftess yelling. Sust and Pool, seeing that it was Kini who was injured, rushed over to take her from Ember, both trying to ask how she was at the same time.
"Ember!" Scouter and Merlo came to a halt in front of the Sun Villager trying to split her attention between the young males and the siblings' eyes grew wide at the sight of each other.
"What happened to you?" Kini and Merlo asked each other in unison.
"She fell straight into a sticker bush," Ember explained for Kini. "I told you it was a mistake to climb that tree. You were just lucky you didn't make it too high, or it could have been much worse."
"I could have gotten higher. I just didn't know those branches were rotten inside," Kini protested weakly. "They all looked healthy enough."
"Rotten wood smells different. If you'd taken the time---"
"I can't smell the difference in wood. That's impossible---OW!" Kini's pout instantly changed into a grimace as Mender stretched out the arm she'd been cradling to her chest in order to examine it. "Ow!" she repeated as his healer fingers probed the limb.
"It's broken, but not too hard to mend. It'll be some work getting all of those stickers out of you, though." Experimentally, Mender gripped a thorny bramble and yanked it off of Kini's dark skin.
"YEOWCH!" Kini shouted, trying to yank her arm away. "Stop it, Mender! That really hurts."
Mender placed his hands on his hips like he was addressing a stubborn cub. "I'm going to have to remove all of the stickers before I can heal you, Kini. If I just heal you now, the skin will just close over the stickers."
"But removing them will hurt," Merlo gasped, worried over how his sister had reacted to Mender tearing off just one of the stickers.
"Don't worry, Butterfly." Yun somehow managed to snatch Kini away from the boys, playing crutch much better than they would, as she addressed the male Sun Villager. "Mender's hands ease pain just as quickly as they can cause it. Kini will be fine."
Merlo blushed at the pet name Yun had insisted on giving him since they'd told them what had happened when the first time they'd been sent to gather berries with Tyleet. She loved to tease him about how easily distracted he was, especially when it came to butterflies and shimmering things. It was an ongoing joke that he had to be constantly watched or else he'd find some trouble to wander into. Not on purpose, of course, but still.
Kini sighed wearily, deciding that if she was going to have to go through with this, it was best to just get it out with. "Will this give me the proper excuse to collapse for a few hours?" she asked with a smile.
"Not quite," Mender chuckled. "Taking out the stickers and repairing the damage shouldn't take very long at all."
Kini pouted at the missed opportunity to get in a little more sleep. Even living with the Wolfrider tribe for over three weeks, she wasn't quite used to the alternating sleep patterns of the Wild Hunt and was pretty much tired out most of the time. Mender squeezed Kini's shoulder reassuringly before nodding his head to the side, indicating his den. Throwing Merlo a last wink, Yun led Kini after Mender back to his den. Merlo winced at the soft, pained whimpers his sister made as they moved.
"We'll keep Kini company while Mender works," Sust reassured Merlo and he and Pool shot off.
Pike shook his head at his son. "Those two are going to turn that girl into a cornered longtooth if they don't slow down."
"More like a cornered mouse. She's more likely to dash than lash out," Krim laughed, tugging her lifemate back to their den.
"You weren't expected back for awhile, Merlo." Ember approached the Sun Villager much more relaxed now that she'd gotten Kini to Mender. She was confident that Mender would have Kini back on her feet in no time. However, Merlo's disheveled appearance was worrisome on its own, especially since he didn't appear to be physically injured.
Looking very uncertain as to how he was going to answer her question, Merlo turned to Scouter, face pleading the other elf to speak in his stead to Ember. Scouter felt the weight behind Merlo's gaze, understood that the Sun Villager wasn't afraid of the consequences of his desertion, but of how weak he would appear to be in his Chieftess' eyes because he had run away from the hunt. That was something Scouter could sympathize with, so he decided that Merlo needed someone to explain the situation for him--- he was too emotionally close to it to make much sense ---and opened his mouth. However, a sharp Sending cut him off before he could begin.
Merlo! Just behind them, opposite of the direction Ember and Kini had come from, Teir appeared with his wolves closely following him. The Plains elf was visibly angry and his frustration vibrated in his Sending. You were supposed to stay with me until the hunt was over. I had to abandon a majority of the meat to go looking for you.
"Teir, what..." Ember's eyes trailed off like her voice from her lifemate to the blushing Sun Villager. Merlo lowered his head shamefully, avoiding looking at Ember as he explained what had happened on his hunt with Teir and throwing apology after apology to the other elf.
"I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have just run off, I know. I'm---"
"Merlo, stop apologizing," Ember ordered sternly.
Merlo bit his bottom lip to stifle his next words and Scouter had to cut off the automatic chuckle that came from watching how thoroughly the Sun Villager tried to follow Ember's orders. Teir was less than amused, rather annoyed by the waste of his hunt actually, but Merlo's hapless apologies had eased his anger to the point where he was willing to forgive the awkward man-cub. It was obvious that Merlo hadn't meant to cause him grief.
"There might still be something worth bringing back of your kill, Teir," Ember mentioned off handedly. "If the scavengers haven't found it yet. We'll take some of the wolves and have them help carry it back to the holt."
Merlo definitely looked a green as he inquired weakly, "Ember, should I come along to help? Teir wouldn't have---"
"No, Merlo," the Wolfrider Chieftess cut him off. Although it was commendable of Merlo to volunteer, it was obvious that the Sun Villager wouldn't actually be any help in his current condition. Ember hadn't expected Merlo to be so sensitive about hunting. After all, he had come asking to join the Wild Hunt. Surely he must have known about their lifestyle, their day to day workings, and, of course, about "the Way."
"Why don't we get you cleaned up, huh?" Scouter tugged on a cluster of hair that fell between the Sun Villager's eyes and smiled warmly. "Dewshine and Tyleet would love the chance to play with all this hair."
Merlo laughed nervously, feeling slightly better, and nodded, following Scouter back to his own den to retrieve the things he'd need to fix himself back into proper order while Ember and Teir took the wolves back to where Teir had left his kill.
---------------------------------------------------
"Ow!" Kini sucked on her injured finger, then waved it to help alleviate the stinging. Tyleet was at her side the next instant, inspecting the tiny trickle of blood that seeped from the prickly husk. "Not again," Kini groaned angrily.
"You have to be careful with these spike balls, Kini. The nut meat is good to eat, but the outer coating"--- Tyleet grabbed one of the thorny nuts, placing her fingers in between the sharp defensive spikes ---"are dangerous. That's why you have to cut off the points before shelling it. Like this." Carefully, catching the Sun Villager's eyes to make sure she was watching, Tyleet used her knife to clip off several sharp points, then spun the nut around to do away with the rest of them.
"You're so good at that," Kini said with obvious admiration for the red head. With embarrassed giggles, she presented her hands to Tyleet; they're covered scratches and cuts, a few even still bled. "I might be able to use a dagger to stab fish, but apparently knives are beyond me."
Tyleet examined Kini's wounds, wondering why the Sun Villager hadn't gone to Mender to get healed up by now. She felt a small swell of pride over the fact that Kini hadn't gone running to the healer at the first sign of pain, but this was a little ridiculous. "Why don't you have Mender fix those hands of yours? Then we can find Merlo and go search for some safe, soft berries."
"More berries?" Kini sighed.
"I like berries," Merlo announced as he came upon the pair, making Kini jump slightly in surprise. Since his first failed hunt, he'd had to crop his loin cloth to knee length because of the earlier damage, which result in an improvement in the stealth of his movement that actually allowed him to sneak up on his sister from time to time.
"I've gotten used to meat," Kini grumbled with a pout. "I like meat."
Merlo turned a little green and his lips pulled into a tight line. He hadn't eaten any meat since his failed hunting trip with Teir, other than some fish Scouter caught and gave him. "Encouragement" the Wolfrider scout had called the gifts, trying to get the Sun Villager used to eating fish enough to get him interested in doing some fishing on his own. It had almost made Merlo laugh at the time; the last three times he'd tried his hand at fishing, he'd nearly drowned.
"Have you tried hunting yet?" Tyleet inquired of Kini curiously. Although she was usually left to care for the two Sun Villagers, there were days when they wandered off with the other members of the tribe.
"Yes." Kini couldn't help but add smugly, "I caught a rabbit."
"Pool and Sust caught the rabbit," Merlo corrected her, not liking the high and mighty tone of his sister's voice. "They just used you to scare it out."
Kini entertained the thought of throwing the spike nut she had in her hand at her brother, but decided against it and instead stuck her tongue at him. She was just glad that Merlo hadn't heard of how she'd nearly gotten sick when Pool had attempted to share a piece of the still bloody kill with her right after their hunt.
At least I'm willing to help, Butterfly.
Although he normally felt embarrassment when someone referred to him by that name, this time a small flame of rage burned in the Sun Villager's heart. He and Kini teased each other quite a bit, but her taunting tone and obvious condensation was really starting to bother him.
"I'm no good at hunting," he stated plainly, hiding the bud of bitterness that rose as he spoke. "Why should I try to stick my nose in where it doesn't belong pretending to be an expert of something I know nothing about and get someone hurt for my own pride?"
This time it was Kini's turn to flush at Merlo's subtle reminder of what had happened the previous week when she'd tried to help Pike pick dreamberries for the coming full moon howl. She still wasn't very good with plants, but had insisted that she knew enough to be of help. However, every single berry she'd picked had turned out to be so overripe that not even the Howlskeeper could stomach them. In fact, Pike had needed Mender to help with the few that he had gulped down. Krim forbidden Kini from helping her lifemate with anything else ever again, and Kini had felt so bad that she'd agreed. If it weren't for Tyleet always insisting that they do so, she would have stayed away from plant gathering all together.
"It's a good thing too," Kini replied after she regained her composure, looking at Merlo from down her button nose. "High Ones know, you're too clumsy to be trusted with a sharp object in any situation. How many times have you fallen into that stream, brother dear?"
"About as many times as you've fallen out of a tree, sister," Merlo shot back with venom. "For an elf, you do lack a certain grace."
"And for a male, you lack---"
"All right, you two," Tyleet scolded softly, stepping between the siblings before they could get too out of hand and wrapping an arm around their shoulders to help calm them. "If we aren't berry hunting, then we can finish weaving those baskets we left undone last night."
The pair groaned in complaint as Tyleet led them to the empty den where they stored the dried grasses. They continued to lock-send insults, until Tyleet scolded them again for it. Reaching the holding den, they each took an armful of dried grass and sulked as they wove. Quite some time passed in silence, until Kini looked up to check her brother's progress. She couldn't help but laugh at how her brother struggled to bend the plants into the correct shape, usually breaking the fragile grasses as he tried to force it.
"Softer, Merlo," Tyleet advised him, taking the basket he was working on to demonstrate how to weave again.
"I'm trying," the Sun Villager growled between clenched teeth, almost sounding like he was ready to just shreg the stubborn plants. When he ruined his fourth basket, he threw his project on the ground and cursed it vividly. "To the desert's waste with this! I'm going to see what Scouter's doing." Merlo's sandles slapped hard against his feet as he stormed away.
Kini chuckled at her brother's departure, admiring the perfection of her newly woven basket. "I swear, he spends so much time hanging on Scouter, you'd think they were lovemates."
"Merlo just needs time," Tyleet said automatically, ignoring Kini's words concerning her lifemate. She knew that Merlo's relationship with Scouter was a pure, innocent one and even if it weren't, Tyleet wouldn't have cared. At the moment, Kini was simply angry and wanted to dig up whatever dirt she could about her brother to complain about. Although she didn't approve of that particular sort of venting, she knew that the female's bad mood would pass soon enough.
"Time, time, time," Kini growled under her breath, grabbing a new basket. "It's always more time." Although immortal and, thus not sensitive to the passing of time, Kini felt something biting at her heels like a wolf chasing down a deer who'd strayed from the herd.
---------------------------------------------------
Ember laid resting in her den with Teir, tired but not quite able to go to sleep just yet. Outside the other Wolfriders were heading for their own furs. Teir ran his fingers through her red mane, perfectly quiet, waiting for Ember to choose when they would talk about what was bothering her. He didn't have too long of a wait.
This isn't working out, Teir.
Teir looked down at his lifemate, raising a single eyebrow. What isn't?
Kini
and Merlo. Ember sat up in her furs, placing her chin on her fist
thoughtfully. They just aren't...
They're
not Wolfriders, beloved. And we should always remember that before
passing any sort of judgment up them. Teir scooted behind his
lifemate, holding her tenderly.
Yes, I know. I can't fault them for not being born one of us. Knowing that she wouldn't be going to sleep until she got this off her chest, Ember got out of the furs and started to dress. I would have thought they'd at least be happier here, but those two...
Still fighting? Teir also got out of bed to slip into his clothes. It wouldn't be the first time he would have stayed awake talking to Ember about the tribe; he was just happy that his Fire Hair was so willing to involve him in the running of the pack, especially at times like these when she seemed to be at a loss of what to do.
It's getting worse. That time, when they first arrived, it was fun and games like wolf cubs pouncing on each other. But now there's teeth in their arguments; their insults have a true bite.
They're getting frustrated. Like you, they thought they'd fit into the pack easier, sooner, but they still can't find their feet.
It's been a whole moon cycle.
Yes, and it'll probably be another one before they're ready to truly be part of the pack.
Ember bit her bottom lip at that. Another moon cycle of those two arguing, fighting, getting into all sort of trouble. How many times had she rushed Kini to Mender for healing? How many times had Merlo broken down crying or gotten sick after watching the hunt? Too many for Ember to properly count. It was difficult for the Chieftess, but she brought voice to the one solution to their problem that had been nagging her for the pass eight and four days. Maybe...maybe we should contact my father, bring the Palace back.
Teir stared at his lifemate. Is that what you really want to do?
Ember sighed wearily and chewed on her thumb. I don't know.
Beloved. Teir took Ember's hand and led her out of their den to the top of Howling Rock. The fresh night air would help clear their heads and, Teir hoped, keep Ember from making any hasty decisions. When she chose a place to sit, Teir sat right behind her, practically holding her in his lap. It would be easy to give up, wouldn't it? To say that this situation is too hard, isn't working out, and send those grown cubs home.
Ember sighed, not liking her thoughts so bluntly put into such harsh sounding words. But Teir was right; it was exactly what she'd been thinking. We've been lucky that they haven't been insisting on being part of the hunt. If they tried to prove something...
Although the consequences following such an action were gruesome, Teir couldn't help but laugh. "No, they certainly haven't been pushing to be warriors."
"Or gatherers," Ember couldn't help but chuckle as she spoke. Kini was had started making her distaste for plant gathering known to the entire tribe in a very...vivid manner. "And what else do we need in this tribe? How do we get them to be part of us?"
"A tribe's strength isn't only in it's warriors and gatherers. There are other jobs a tribe can fill and stay functioning. Maybe we should open them to Kini and Merlo, see if they bite."
Ember felt slightly stunned by Teir's soft words of advice; she really hadn't thought about actively trying to find a place for the Sun Villagers. Not all Wolfrider's were much for the hunt, but they hadn't been banished because of it. By forcing the Sun Villagers to conform to their idea of what it meant to be a Wolfrider, they were only helping stagnation settle in. What they really needed some variation in more than just the origin of their tribesmates; they needed in the way their tribe lived.
to be continued...
