Part Two
Murky thoughts invaded the glaceon's mind. They swirled in patterns unidentifiable and not yet ready to be sculpted. Ideas and very hazy visions tried to intermingle and form something coherent, but the amount of effort it was going to take to discern any of these things was not going to be small.
A paw twitched and an ear shuddered, eyelids heavy and reluctant to move. A weight seemed to lift as Kairack's vision began to clear and a more solid state of awareness flowed back into his mind. There was little to stop it, and soon it was swelling. Swell, too, did the state of his head. The thick beating hammered inside his skull, shaking the brain hidden between the walls of his cranium. Laboured breaths seeped in through his nose, and with a groan, the ice type managed to drag his front leg up, feeling his paw press into the ground afterward. His other legs followed, and soon, with a shake of his beating head and another groan, he was standing. He inhaled deeply, observing his usual white surroundings with a pleasant eye. A smile began to trickle across his face until suddenly a sense of foreboding overcame him. His body felt hot with dread and suddenly he was full to the brim with horror. Without a second thought, he glanced around, eying the smaller things that pieced together the scene composing his most recent memory.
His eyes expanded in an instant, all that he had momentarily forgotten swarming back into his mind. Terror overtook him as he span around, whipping his head in several directions as his facial appendages tapped his cheeks with each movement. Hardly paying attention to this, he tensed every muscle in his body and raced forward to sniff the ground.
"No..." he grunted to himself, feeling suspended in a state of panic. The memories rushing back into his mind were not anything he wanted to remember, nor would he want to forget them. There was a fighting pokémon who attacked him...for a human. That human had targeted his sister.
Tora had been taken.
"No!" he shrieked louder, shaking his head uncontrollably. He lifted his maw, trying to see something – anything – that might give him a clue as to where that human had gone. He clenched his jaws together. There was no indication of whether the creature had continued in the same way it had been travelling, or if it had turned back to return to the place it had come. Kairack had never been trained in the art of tracking, so he was less than capable of uncovering what was not already obvious to the unpractised eye.
Curling his muzzle into a snarl, the glaceon ploughed through the snow with his head down, attempting to find his sister's scent. Maybe, if he could find even just a single fibre of fur from her body, he might be able to follow it.
He grew more frantic as he raided the area, kicking snow aside in search of clues, but simultaneously afraid that he was masking tracks that he would be covering with each reckless move. He accidently bit his lip as he clamped down his jaws again, instantly tasting the bitterness of blood. He may have paid it the slightest bit of attention if he didn't have such pressing matters at paw, but in his current situation, nothingoutweighed the importance of his sister.
As much as he wished otherwise, there was nothing that he could use to follow her scent. He knew what she smelled like from memory, but everything around him was soaked with the subtle but blanketing scent of snow. He had noticed after waking that the sky was lighter than it had been when he was last conscious, but it was only then that he considered what that meant: they were long gone.
His breathing grew more scattered, his paws twisting with frustration and fear. On occasion he breathed out frost that immediately froze into tiny shards which littered the snow, and his eyes felt as if they were bulging from his head. He had skirted the area and found nothing; the combination of snow and wind had blown anything away that may have been of any use to him, and as it whistled around his head, he could almost hear it mocking him. He scowled with such fury that he felt more ice fizz from his mouth until he screamed with both fright and ire, projecting a powerful beam of ice. It struck a tree several metres away, gouging out a chunk from its side and freezing all that it touched. He didn't care what it touched.
A roar ripped from his maw and he snorted out a cloud of frost once more, tearing away from the site of his sister's abduction and racing in the direction of his clan. His paws pounded the packed snow, some of it differing in softness as he went, flicking it aside and at one stage, even beginning to sink into it. He resented those patches most of all, even more so now that he was in a heightened state of distress, and tried to burrow his way through. When his efforts to increase his speed through those parts failed, he targeted the upcoming soft snow with a blanket of ice, hardening its surface and allowing it to become easier to run along. He felt his pawpads meet with uneven spikes that his reckless aiming had caused along the paths, but paid them no mind.
Thoughts of all sorts whizzed through his mind; terror invaded every scenario he formed in his mind and cruelty tainted the rest, many outcomes springing into his mind. Tora was only small, and although she was nearly fully grown for her species, the probability of her being able to fend for herself was dreadfully low. She could hardly stand up to the other eevee in the clan, and she had only ever been able to win two practice battles out of countless with other clan members.
That human could do anything to her. She may be helplessly tortured, or her body stripped of her skin in a sick attempt to craft it into some sort of warm garment; she could be forced to evolve and then put on display, or tested in a series of terrible fights...
Trying to shake the awful possibilities from his mind, the glaceon forced his legs to carry him further, his tiredness beginning to get the better of him. There was little he could do to speed up his travel time and decrease the amount of energy he was spending aside from constantly replay Tora's capture in his mind. It did not grant him supernatural speed, but it did help somewhat.
Finally he saw the clan's land in the distance, and felt something of another dose of motivation zip through his system. He saw a small pawful of glaceon and eevee roaming around and shouted to them, gaining their attention instantly.
"HELP! In the name of Articuno, Tora needs help!"
Immediately the creatures lifted their heads to him, their brows furrowing and their interest clearly piqued. Concern rose into the air as Kairack neared, his ears back and his movements still somehow rapid. He felt tears tug at his eyes as others began to approach him, some in a wary trot.
"Kairack, what are you talking about?" a female questioned with hard concern. He didn't know this pokémon very well, but had begun to converse with her more in recent weeks. Not two moons ago, she had taken care of Tora when Kairack had to fill in for a pokémon in the hunting party and needed someone to look after her.
He shook his head. "She's gone... She was taken! She was taken by a human who came through the mountain."
The female gasped sharply, clearly shocked by this revelation. "When did this—"
"I have to tell my family," he insisted, a glare upon his face as he tried with might to fight back tears. Despite his stern demeanour, he was still prone to the effects of intense emotion, especially when his baby sister was involved.
His thoughts thickly clouded with despair, he barrelled past the glaceon willing to help him and headed towards his family's home. His paws crunched softly into the packed snow, and occasionally he felt a sharp spike from where a solid piece of ice or a stray stick invited itself into his pawpad.
Along the way to his destination, several glaceon were disturbed by the shouting that came from the female glaceon who had greeted Kairack at the entrance to the clan's living grounds. As she continued to chase him, she spouted questions at him regarding the incident he had spoken of. A few clan members turned to one another in concern upon gathering that something was amiss, while others exited their homes without a single clue as to what was going on. Kairack acknowledged the number of bystanders that he (and the female) attracted and wondered somewhat keenly if it was an indication that his plight would receive the attention that he desperately hoped for. The more who got involved, the higher his chances of conducting a search party for Tora. That was part of the reason he had returned to the clan rather than chasing her alone. Additionally, that human likely had more pokémon under his rule, and facing them all by himself would only result in one outcome.
The frantic glaceon weaved between ice huts before coming near the edge of the living boundaries, spotting his family's home. Angrily he realised that none of them were awake yet, which caused his jaws to clench. With a furious bark, the impatient pokémon demanded the presence of his parents, and any other family members whose attention he could gain.
No sooner than a few seconds later, his father emerged from the back, groggily angling his glare at his son in the painfully early hours of the morning. Without a beat, he stood tall to allow his body to stretch while frowning, clearly restraining his irritation. "Son, what is the meaning—"
"Tora is missing," he growled, a throaty rumble to his claim. A snarl hijacked his muzzle and caused it to twitch. With hesitation, he decided on a phrase that he would never normally throw around lightly, and handled it with a dark tone. "It's your fault."
The wide gasp which had been present on his father's face had only acquired disgust and subdued rage at the remark, and it was clear that the older ice type was not used to tolerating attitude from his son. Even whilst his son's steps were shaky, his exposed teeth and infuriated eyes did not speak of fear. "Dare you repeat that?"
A ripple of silence slithered between the two, having to edge slowly around the tension. Kairack could see a few other glaceon from the corner of his eye looking on, as if interested to see where the situation would head. The ice type clenched his teeth harder and felt the breath he drew through his nose catch several snotty boundaries due to his tears before he parted his jaws and spoke, "It's your... f—"
Immediately his father sprang on him with a vicious bark, which Kairack replicated as the two wrestled for a moment, their claws suddenly useful for more than just gripping ice.
The rumbling vocals each were emitting drew more onlookers, causing many to protest in an attempt to persuade them to part, but father and son were too engrossed in the idea of preserving their honour. More of Kairack's family began to pour from the igloo, his mother seeing exactly what the ruckus was first and screeching at them to stop. Helplessly she neared them, only to be pushed back when Kairack made a powerful push toward her, he and his father tangling again after a moment of separation.
"Dart, stop!" she shouted at her mate, firing a pointless icy wind which, although aimed well, did nothing but freeze on their pelts and then crumble to the ground after a few moments.
Her mother, who also lived with them, stumbled upon them after her daughter. Seeing the commotion, she brewed an attack which made her mouth bubble before blasting it forward in watery rings and drenching daughter's mate and her grandson as the former landed a powerful bite on his son's neck. The force of the blast caused both to suffer a secondary effect which neither were used to.
Both pokémon came apart, stumbling over their paws and toppling one after the other. Kairack's vision was fuzzy as he witnessed someone come to his side and try to speak to him. Nothing would come into focus, however, and the only thing he heard himself speak was jibberish. His father was in the same state, trying again and again to hoist himself up with little success.
Kairack's mother, having glared a little at her mother – who merely shrugged at her blame – shook her head. "Mother, you could have at least made it weaker."
"Well, that mightn't've separated them," she claimed somewhat nonchalantly. Seeing her daughter's doubt, she rolled her eyes. "Sharli, they'll be fine in a few minutes."
"Dn...hff... mss," mumbled Kairack, his eyes coming open before his eyelids fluttered and closed again. The glaceon was clearly trying to seek himself out, his breathing becoming fragmented as even his lungs seemed confused.
Sharli neared her son's face while leading with her ear, inquiring, "What was that, sweetie?"
The response she wanted was far from the few moments of shaking that she got instead, and sighed again. She glanced around at all of the surrounding clan members and frowned at them, annoyed that they were intruding without proper reason. "What?" she growled, squinting at them in frustration. "Don't you have someplace—"
"Miss Sharli!" called a voice from nearby, causing the mother to rotate her head.
Once she laid eyes on the approaching glaceon, she smiled a little. "Oh, hello—"
"Tora's missing," she breathed, wondering if Kairack had managed to tell her before he was confused to the point of spilling indecipherable words.
All thoughts ceased as Sharli's heart skipped a beat. "E...excuse me?"
The glaceon who had just appeared took a step back, staring in shock that, even though she had prepared for it, the older ice type was only now hearing the news for the first time. She averted her eyes to Kairack, who indeed seemed to be somewhat unable to respond. "He...he told me and then ran straight off. I can't...tell you what he knows."
Sharli abandoned her son without a second thought and scampered closer to the newcomer, her eyes wide and her motions rapid. "What happened to my daughter?!"
The surprised glaceon only blinked multiple times, her voice in fragments as she stuttered back a reply devoid of information. Dissatisfied with the response, Tora's mother stressed her voice to the point where the other female might have predicted its breaking point.
"Sharli," snapped the riled ice type's mother, authority to her voice. "The girl doesn't know."
Sharli's eyes remained on the female and her rapid breathing did not reduce in intensity, her breath nearly powerful enough to cause harm. At her mother's words, her rigid body remained the same for only a short time before her head lowered slowly and she accepted it. Her jaws came together and she whirled around. "Kairack!" she whined, her eyes wet with fear. Her entire demeanour had changed within a few seconds, now cradling a lust for hope and direction. "Kai? Kai, sweetie? Can you please wake up?" she ordered, nearing her son with tentative steps. She urgently glanced to the crowd of glaceon around her, knowing that she commanded all eyes except the two which she desired most. "Kai, please! Tell us...tell me where your sister is. What happened to Tora?!" she shouted, becoming increasingly agitated with each breath. "Kairack!"
Her son's body lolled about, his brow furrowing and his eyes continuously opening and closing, as if he was attempting to wake himself from his state of confusion with blinks.
"It's not...our...f..." began a voice, and Sharli's head instantly whipped to its source. With compassionate eyes, she rushed to her mate, lowering her head as he tried to speak. She slowly coaxed more words from him, finally hearing, "It's not our fault."
She stood with a furrowed brow, trying to come up with a conclusion for his odd wording. "I know it's not..." she began, her mind turning as she considered the reason for his statement. As curiosity seeped into her mind, she flicked her head to the family igloo and examined its exterior, noticing that below one of its walls, snow had been shuffled aside. She pushed aside some of the debris from her mate's and son's skirmish and discovered what was obviously a small hole.
Tora had broken out of the igloo during the night.
Dart was slowly coming to his paws, groaning at the after-effects of the water pulse, and glanced at his mate, whose face was contorting further and further with a volatile combination of fear and desperation. He tried to fight back a number of emotions as he approached her. His mate's mother looked on with an uncertainty in her eyes which he knew all too well, as did a few of the other nearby glaceon whose keen gazes had been pressed into their pack mates' troubles. Dart approached her and slipped his neck behind his mate's, pulling her closer with a small nudge. Sharli took solace in her mate's embrace before she let tears slip from her eyes.
Slowly Kairack began to stir, his foggy vision and clouded hearing separating into what he could define as sense. The first thing he could properly make out was the embrace shared by his parents which he deemed currently inappropriate. His brow came together with dissatisfaction and he shakily steadied himself with his paws, frustrated that they were not taking a useful course of action. The young glaceon who had run after him darted to his side and allowed him to lean on her for a moment before he hoisted himself up.
"Mother!" he shouted once he felt as though he could untangle his tongue. He was met with immediate eye contact. "Tora escaped during the night," he reaffirmed, reiterating what she already learned. He noticed this by her reaction, and followed up with, "I tried to follow her, but..."
"But what?" questioned a new voice to the scenario, causing Kairack to rotate his head. Approaching the group was a greener-tinted male glaceon, a small smirk on his face the clear indicator of his self-assumed authority.
Kairack sneered at his arrival. He had never liked Cyfur. He glanced to his mother's worried face before returning his gaze with a reluctant sigh. "My sister Tora was taken by a human."
The mention of the word 'human' drew countless gasps from the crowd gathered around and sent his mother into a deeper state of despondency as she wept loudly.
Cyfur raised a brow, his expression now serious, and glanced to the confident form of Kairack's grandmother before he uttered, "Come with me." He turned around without waiting to see if he was being followed, and Kairack nodded to his grandmother. She padded over to her daughter to comfort her while Kairack, summoned alone, took his leave.
He turned before he left and met eyes with the female who had helped spread the word. "Thank you, Bolt." Their eyes were locked on one another for a few more steps before the male turned his head and hurried his pace to catch up to Cyfur.
ooo
Two male glaceon sat in the chamber which the elder called home, only one awaiting judgement. Kairack was alone as he watched the elder and the glaceon who had summoned him converse. Cyfur was the elder's right-paw pokémon—his advisor. The elder himself was still mulling over the details when he asked his clan-mate to repeat certain details of the event. Kairack was growing more impatient by the minute; this verdict was taking too long, and he needed to gather a party and set out in pursuit of his sister and her band of captors.
Finally the elder, after trading words with Cyfur, cleared his voice atop the outcrop of rock which sat halfway up the earthy wall. Cyfur jumped down a level, sitting while watching Kairack with a hawklike glare. Although there was no trace of a smirk on his face, something about his demeanour always annoyed Kairack.
"I will not grant you a tracking party," the elder croaked. "Nor may you pursue your sister." Kairack's gasp was ignored as he added, "Good day."
Cyfur zigzagged down the platforms until he hit the cavern floor, all the while hearing confused protesting from the glaceon in question. When he tried to near him, Kairack backed away, his eyes flicking between him and the elder.
"Stop. Cyfur, stay your legs!" he demanded, but the glaceon merely raised one side of his brow and let out a low rumble. Kairack's response was only that of the latter, his lifted hackles stiffening.
"Enough." The elder's words echoed through the empty cavern, successfully achieving what it meant to and stopping the commotion between his two subjects. "Violence is not permitted in this chamber."
"Yes, Elder Yorrand," Cyfur responded, keeping his eyes on Kairack.
Kairack merely snarled again and faced his attention back to the elder, a little aghast. "Why will you not let me lead a group to find her?"
Yorrand cleared his old, wrinkled throat as he sat wearily on his haunches and carefully brushed aside his damaged facial dangle. "You know the boundaries of this territory, Kairack. Leaving the mountains pertaining to matters of self-interest is an insult to your forefathers. Abandonment of your clan is strict cause for banishment. This is an incident involving one eevee, which does not warrant multiple members to leave the clan." Before Kairack could ask for the details of his response, he continued, "The clan's structure is too fragile and the risks are too great for too little of a reward."
Kairack's anger flared at the last part of Yorrand's sentence, but Kairack was less than interested in reducing his chances of obtaining a ruling in his favour by insulting his elder. He held his tongue until he found words which neither degraded him, nor the importance of his dilemma. "Elder, forgive my insolence, but she's my sister! The human may not even be off the mountain yet."
"And if it is?" questioned the old glaceon, his furred brow raised.
"I don't think you heard me," he growled, disregarding the obvious disrespect he was emitting. "She's my blood. She's part of your clan. It's not self-interest; it's looking out for my family. For the clan." He gave another snarl, accepting that the elder was not going to grant his request for a party. Perhaps if he offered a change to his request, the verdict would be different. He sighed heavily, eying a patch of the cavern's floor. "Then I will go alone."
The elder's chest expanded as he summoned a deep breath before exhaling in one second, clearly not surprised. "Are you proposing self-banishment?" he confirmed, his quiet voice devoid of emotion.
Kairack felt his legs shake as he gave a firm nod. "If that is what it takes to save my sister, then—"
"Very well," boomed the elder, traces of disgust in his response, "you have three days, including the remainder of this one. If you do not return by the third day's sundown, you shall be outcast if you are not within the mountain's boundaries. If you recover your sister off the perimeter of these mountains after the allowed time, you and she shall never again be permitted to return."
Before he could protest, the glaceon was ushered out by Yorrand's advisor. Kairack, in his shock, shouted with spurts profanity, all of which the elder disregarded as he remained atop his outcrop. He sighed and lowered himself, spreading his back legs out to the side as he looked out across the expanse of his cavern. Being the clan leader was exhausting.
ooo
"Leave me be!" shouted Kairack as soon as he emerged from the elder's cave, greeted by a large circle of his pack mates. He recognised all the faces gathered around him but shook his head, clenching his teeth as he shouldered past them before taking off toward his family's igloo. Those sharing an audience with the elder were not permitted to have family accompany them, so his relatives had remained at the igloo, awaiting the verdict.
Before he reached his home, the female glaceon who had spoken to his mother prior watched as Kairack went by, yelping, "Kairack!"
He tried to ignore her, but she was a faster runner than he was, and caught up to him after a short few leaps. She was silent for a while as they ran, and just when she was about to ask him what had happened, they arrived in the presence of Kairack's family. Each member was huddled outside their igloo together, looking on with keen eyes and thumping hearts. Kairack tossed a glare to the female before returning to his family.
"If I pursue Tora and we fail to return to the mountain's boundary for longer than three days...I'll be banished," he concluded simply.
His mother gasped in horror as his father's eyes grew wide in disbelief. His grandparents were saddened by this news as well, their heads hanging with dejection. His grandmother spoke up, inquiring, "What of Tora?"
Kairack shook his head slowly, his dull, drained words absent all hope. "She will also be banished."
Shock rippled through the family as if billowing flames had just engulfed them all, driving daggers into their hearts and twisting their stomach with fear and murdered hope. "That's barbaric!" she screeched, her attention suddenly drawn to an approaching figure.
"Do you find the judgement of the elder unfair?" a voice questioned. The older female merely sneered.
"Was that not made clear?" she began, nearing him with purposefully-timed steps. There was a large dose of condescension in her voice which had most certainly harmed his pride.
"Froch," began her mate in his gravelly voice, clearly not approving of the way she spoke.
The elder's right-paw clan member only looked upon the two as if they were inferior, then presented his reason for making himself apparent. "I have come to finalise any details with the tracker in case he did not understand the parameters of the mission given to him by the elder."
Kairack's nose twitched with derision, trying to ignore the implied insult. "Please do."
He puffed up his chest. "Your three-day time restriction to retrieve your sister begins today. As stated by the elder, if you do not return with her before the third day's sundown, well...you remember the consequences." He added a smug smirk. "If you make it to the mountain before the sun falls behind the mountains on day three, a crew of scouts will meet with you at the edge of the mountain's borders. They will only stay until sundown, so arriving after they have left their post will render you unfit for return to the mountain." He spoke with factual accuracy, barely a trace of emotion within his tone and certainly no sympathy. "They will wait from dusk of the second day until dusk of the third, assuming you will not return before then."
Kairack pressed his eyelids together. He had less time than he had originally thought. Finding Tora was top priority, and he was rushed to leave as soon as he could. "So be it."
"Also," the elder's adviser insisted, "anyone who tries to follow you will be immediately banished. The elder did not permit you to lead a search party. Anyone who disagrees with that will have their name permanently erased from our clan's order. Of course, you will still be allowed back in. Just not your followers."
Without hesitation, Froch cut in with grating disbelief. "Those are the parameters given by our leader?" She scoffed in a mocking laugh, shaking her head with something close to disgust. "A clan mate is missing, and he's in the biggest hurry to expel her and my only other grandkit."
Cyfur raised his brow. "You should be perfectly aware of the ramifications attached to employing loose rules. Everything is set in stone to protect the clan."
"Peh! He's just got a shard on his shoulder," she insisted with loathing.
Cyfur's patience was visibly beginning to wear thin. "Are you questioning him?" he hissed with a hint of newfound amusement, looking keen to gain an offensive response which could warrant punishment.
"I'm questioning him, you and everything about this shady arrangement!" she grumbled. "He follows your counsel. That's proof enough that there's something wrong with him."
Kairack would have laughed at her brave establishment of authority had he not been in a heightened state of anxiety, especially as Cyfur was taken aback at the comment. He glared at her with contempt and shock; he would have fought her on the spot if he thought he might have a chance of winning. He had learned before not to mess with the old-timer; she was one of the most powerful glaceon in the clan, second only to the elder.
"I'll have you up in front of Yorrand for that!" he threatened, but the glare he received compiled by multiple family members influenced second thoughts.
"Please spare me your authoritative nonsense," Froch huffed, unable to see his viewpoint as anything more than the ramblings of a lackey. "You know why you serve at the elder's side. There's no other reason for it."
"Froch," her mate cut in once more. She looked briefly at him and rolled her eyes with a snort.
Froch stared Cyrfur down as he seemed to drink in the enormous insult. He knew she was right, but that didn't mean he could accept her affront with good grace. Pointing a defeated glare her way, the disgruntled ice type tore from the family and began to stalk back to where his presence was needed.
Kairack's grandfather turned to his mate with a disapproving scowl and squinted his eyes slightly. "There was no need to go that far," he insisted, but his mate was clearly not as remorseful as he would have liked her to be.
Instead she shrugged. "It was his own doing." Immediately after, she twirled around and met the eyes of a few family members, Kairack included. She seemed to notice with obvious disapproval that the female who had initially told her daughter of Tora's disappearance was with them, and continued to project her unwelcome gaze until the glaceon felt uncomfortable enough to leave.
"Don't leave without saying goodbye, Kai," the female requested on a sour note, her ears drooping and her neck lowered.
Kairack gave a few small nods which were hardly visible, then repeated a line he had spoken only a short time ago. "Thank you, Bolt." His eyes followed the ice type until a voice drew his attention.
"Son," began his father, "you should stay here. There's no better cause for a parent to finally leave his clan than to save his own daughter."
"What?!" exploded Sharli, immediate betrayal foaming on her face. Her bottom jaw trembled as it remained ajar, her eyes wide with fear. "N-no, no, no, Errit, you are not leaving me."
The male's fur seemed to grow instantaneously dense as he turned to her with flecks of aggression. "Would you rather Kairack go?"
Sharli's unchanging eyes moved from her mate to her son, blinking a few times as if it would help her.
"Father, stop. I'm going," Kairack growled, almost a little offended to see his decision being challenged.
Errit moved his eyes to his son, shaking his head as if his say was absolute. "No. She's my daughter—"
"And she's my sister!" he growled, his face becoming more contorted with anger. This was a common routine for his father to go through; he never seemed to have the trust in Kairack that he longed for. Before he could rebut, Kairack interjected again. "Father, you have an important place—"
"Kairack, I am your father and you will listen to me!" Errit captured a few paces in his son's direction as an intimidation technique. Kairack only retaliated with a reflection of his movements.
"No! YOU listen!" boomed the glaceon, leaping forward and closing the space between the two. He towered over his father as his eyes burned with fury and his jagged teeth interlocked perfectly. "Tora is missing and it's my responsibility to find her and bring her back. I was with her at the time and I failed to protect her, so now it falls upon me to undo my incompetence." The response to his confession that he was with the eevee at the time of her abduction was what he expected: a murmur amongst his family which was accompanied with a realisation that he had to have been, due to the fact that he knew she was taken in the first place. He focused back on his father. "You have an important place in this colony, and you have Mother. Getting banished would be foolish."
"Your role is important, Kairack, and you know that."
"My role as a hunter can simply be fulfilled by one of the apprentices. I don't even know how to track. I only make the kills. Becoming a healer and understanding differences between species takes years to perfect; it could cripple the colony greatly if you left, not to mention many outsiders who may pass through who you have learned how to treat." His father tried to interrupt, but Kairack added, "I heard that you helped that bellsprout who stayed here last night. If it hadn't been for your knowledge, that pokémon would have died." He turned his hard glare to his mother once he knew that his argument had been strong enough to silence his father. "Take care of him, okay?"
"Kairack!" his mother bleated, taking a few steps toward him. Kairack felt his nose twitch with agitation and a hint of sadness. "You're my only pup left..." she began, her painfully obvious implication that she assumed Tora would not return even if Kairack chose to pursue her hanging in the air. Her sobs twisted with her words. "If...if you leave now, neither of you will return and both of my offspring will be lost!"
"Mother, I'm not going out there to die. I'm going to save Tora, and I will return before the third day's sundown. And if...if not, I'll send word, Mother. I promise." He neared his mother, whose weeping was one of the only audible sounds, and pressed his forehead against hers. Their noses touched while their eyes closed and they remained so for a few moments before Kairack came apart and shifted to his father. "Do not follow me. It would be a waste for anyone else to be banished."
His father, having finally relented, gave a slow nod. "I don't agree with this, son."
Kairack tried to offer a smile. "Father, I've always wanted to see the world beyond these mountains anyway. If I find Tora and we can't return in time, I'm going to set out with her to find a new life somewhere. Don't worry about us."
"Tora," Sharli shrieked, collapsing into the snow and burying her head between her paws. "My baby... She's so young..."
As Errit made a move to comfort his mate, Kairack watched his grandmother approach with a wicked scowl. She closed her eyes briefly to inhale silently. "I think we are all very aware of the possible outcome—"
"It will not come to that," Kairack grunted. Although he did not believe his own words with certainty, he could not bear to imagine that there was even an outcome that could result in never seeing his family again. Froch was very aware of his feelings, even if he did not voice them aloud.
She gave him a particular look of knowledge and understanding, then placed her head around his neck in a soft embrace. Kairack felt warmth even near the top of an icy mountain that moment, feeling privileged to have such a caring family. Just as he was about to pull from the hug, his grandmother whispered, "Whoever took my dear granddaughter... Make them pay."
Kairack's eyes remained open as he stared at his grandmother's back, mulling over her words. As they slipped apart, he felt her old, stiff neck fur grate against his. He gave a single nod which was accompanied by briefly closed eyelids. "I will. Oh, and, Grandmother?" he began, gaining a look from her. "...Tell Mother that it's okay to have more kits."
ooo
"Sorry, Bolt," murmured the male glaceon as he raced through the snow. He had left without bidding her goodbye, but his concerns lay not with fulfilling the meaningless request of an acquaintance. He was finally on Tora's trail, descending the hill at a frightful speed. Regretfully he felt as if he had not gone such a speed whilst chasing his sister hours ago; maybe it was the renewed confidence bestowed upon him by his family which fuelled his tired legs. Whatever it was, he was grateful to have speed. There was a possibility that his younger sibling was still on the mountain, and if she was, he had to catch her in time.
Darting between logs of fallen trees, Kairack began to come into the thicker part of the mountain's vegetation. He was quite familiar with this part, as it was not far from his clan. He had only been travelling for a short while so far and he knew that it would take him all day to surpass his point of recognition and reach the border of the mountain. Maybe the human had taken twice as long in its journey away from the snow and ice, and Kairack had a hope of catching it on time. If not, then he would need to traverse beyond the point of the mountain's border. As much as it saddened him to think, there was a land without a frozen surface which he knew he might have to cross through.
"Kairack!"
The glaceon's thoughts were shaken as he dug his paws into the snow and skidded for a few paces. Flecks of shaven ice pattered his pelt from the side as he slid to a halt, his eyes wide from shock and his brow pressing firmly down. He managed to take a single step before tumbling over a hidden root whose ends must have reached for paces in either direction. His chest and face hit the snow first, a particularly solid part slapping his neck and causing him to groan. However, his disorientation was short lived as he rolled over his side once and then stood, having had years of practice with snow beneath his paws.
A rustle from over his left shoulder caused him to whip his head diagonally through the forest, viewing its ascent up the mountain. He lowered his head, feeling his body ache in multiple places as he panted heavily. Now was not a good time to engage in a fight.
"I'm here," the voice echoed, but its origin was still eerily unclear. He flicked his head about in the hopes of finding something, but peculiarly, there was a single way he could deduce where the voice was coming from. In fact, it was almost as if it was coming from inside his body.
"Reveal yourself," he demanded, speaking almost as if to reassure himself that sounds did have a definitive direction.
A rustle from behind him caught his attention, and after spinning around, he was able to spot something: a small black and white body was clinging to a branch, just having come out of hiding. With relief and simultaneous confusion, the glaceon identified this creature as Mindi, the gothita he had helped escape an angry beartic not even a day ago. He took a step closer, allowing his eyes to focus on her properly before affirming to himself that this was, in fact, the pokémon he suspected.
"How did you..." he began, trailing off as the voices suddenly made sense. She was a psychic type, and that enabled her to practice all sorts of psychic abilities which he couldn't even begin to imagine. He figured that she must have spoken to him through his mind, similarly to how espeon communicated sometimes.
"I saw your sister," she blurted, her face fraught with worry. Kairack's gaze became intense as he stared at her, wasting no time in rushing over to allow her to jump down and onto his back. She did so immediately, grunting a little as she landed. "Well, not saw," she continued, her eyes dancing about as she adjusted her phrasing.
His eyes met with hers as he led the reunion and lowered himself to the ground, intending for her to hop off. She had not expected to end up standing on the snow, but figured he wanted her where he could meet eyes with her properly. "Mindi, please, I beg of you; tell me what you know about my sister's capture."
The gothita tiptoed from the glaceon's paws to the tree she had just been resting in and climbed up its protruding roots. Her feet were still not used to the snow, so she was not intent on standing in it. "I...I'm so sorry, Kairack." She met his eyes with sincerity before taking a breath and allowing it to flow slowly out between her pursed lips. "Last night, I was sitting in the little hollow in that tree you let me sleep in for the night, when suddenly I heard these sounds. I wasn't sure what it was, but I was too afraid to look in case it may have been those predators you were talking about. So I sat still and, well...there's this thing that psychic types can do called meditating. It's a technique actually originating in the meditite family which allows us to extend our consciousness. If we focus hard enough, we can read thoughts of living beings who aren't actually within our view." She swallowed a lump of saliva, regaining her footing on the slippery roots. "I did that to see if anything out there was hunting, but instead...I found a mind like no other." The gothita's voice became smooth and contemplative, as if she was fascinated.
"Tora?" Kairack pressed, only interested in details concerning his sister.
The psychic type blinked a few times. "This mind...was not of a pokémon. It was human."
The glaceon felt his muzzle twitch with the deeply seeded aggression he felt, and blew a puff of condensation from his nose. His voice became low. "What was it thinking?"
"He...was thinking about what he had just seen: a glaceon that had tried to save its sister, who he had captured. He wanted an eevee from these mountains, but he didn't want a glaceon," she explained, directing her eyes to the ice type after moving them away for a moment. "Anyway, his...thoughts were convoluted. He had a psychic pokémon with him who had relayed what his hitmontop had heard when he was battling you. Apparently he heard your sister call out your name, and shortly after that is when you told the hitmontop that she was your blood-sister."
The scene replayed in Kairack's head and he began to relive every detail over again. It was as if he could simply leap into his own mind and rectify his past mistakes by taking a different approach. However, simply remembering what had happened did not reproduce the memories as reality.
"Did the human say where it was going?" Kairack questioned, his voice monotonous as he felt hopelessness take a slow grip on him.
"He...was looking forward to getting off the mountain and into something which was going to take him away from here. I don't remember what it was called in his thoughts...but it was some human invention that was going to get him far away and back to the place he was at before he came here—a human settlement."
Kairack recoiled in surprise. He wasn't even aware that there was a human territory nearby. However, if this thing the human was looking forward to using to get back to its territory needed to take him a long distance, maybe it was too far from his clan's territory for them to normally be concerned. Humans rarely, if at all, showed themselves in the dangerous mountains his clan was home to.
Snapping out of his thoughts, he inquired, "Do you know where this settlement is, or how far it is?"
Mindi shook her head, keeping eye contact the whole time. He narrowed his eyes before she spoke. "Are you going to be able to track the human?"
The glaceon stared at her for a moment longer and then snarled, almost feeling like he was being mocked. "I do not know how," he admitted. "The only direction I have is straight down and off the mountain. I have no knowledge of the land beyond this mountain. Once I reach the border, I have no way of knowing which path the human took, or where any of those paths lead. I will be blind!" The glaceon bound his eyes closed and sank to the ground, hiding his head in his paws as he tried feebly to form some sort of plan.
"...I could come with you and help you," offered the psychic type. When Kairack looked up after sighing, he met her eyes, challenging her to convince him. She shifted her footing, forehead knotted with worry. "I can try to find out...what happened." The glaceon frowned, prompting her to go on. "If I find a clue...or you find a clue, then I can try to use my psychic powers to see the past...or maybe even the future."
"A clue?" he questioned.
She seemed to reason with herself. "Something related to your sister. Maybe something of hers."
"Like her fur?"
Mindi nodded. "Yes, like her fur."
Kairack blinked a few times and shook his head, turning away. "Finding hairs from Tora's body is going to be the most difficult scavenge that I've ever been on."
Mindi remained silent, enabling the glaceon to make his own decision. When he spoke up and asked her what she was going to gain from helping him, she murmured, "Safe passage off the mountains."
With thoughts buzzing through his mind but no other route to take, he relented with a sigh. "Very well." He gave her a once-over. "We may have to take more frequent rests if your weight becomes a problem."
The gothita's brows were overcome with a mixture of mild outrage and shock, and she quickly placed a hand on her belly. "My weight?"
The glaceon almost felt himself smile at her amusing response. "Because I will need to carry you," he explained, looking away into the distance. "If you saw the human not long ago..." He looked back to her. "Could it still be on the mountain?"
"Yes," she answered immediately, trying to regain her composure from his accusation. She cleared her throat.
"Then we must hurry," he prompted, allowing her to climb onto his shoulders. "We've wasted enough time here. Tora's safety is my priority."
Mindi gave an affirmative nod before the two sped through the snowy forest, hoping for any signs of Kairack's lost sister.
ooo
Night had once again fallen by the time Kairack and his companion had neared the end of the mountain, just as he had predicted, and they had taken shelter in preparation for the night. An unfamiliar sensation continuously washed over Kairack as he considered the elder's words regarding the land's boundaries. Pushing those boundaries were dangerous as it was when one of the members planned to return immediately afterwards, but venturing out on a journey with no real knowledge of when he could return, if he did at all, was almost suicidal. His chances of succeeding, even with Mindi helping him, looked slim.
What if he and Tora didn't make it back by the deadline? They would be banished, forced to live a life outside the mountain's bounds and somewhere neither of them had even been before. A new life would be forced upon them, and the two would have to live side by side in a new environment—hopefully someplace where freezing winds still touched the land. What happened to Mindi wasn't so much his concern, but wherever she was headed, he wished her safe travels.
With this surfacing in his mind, he turned to her as they lay in the clutches of a small bush whose branches acted as a ballooning shield surrounding them. Looking down at her awkward collection of brittle leaves which she had placed underneath her body, he raised his lips in a small smile. "What is your destination?"
The psychic type patted her makeshift bed down with care, trying with small movements not to crush any of the leaves. However, the moment she stepped onto the blanket of flaky foliage, several crunches could be heard. Her face fell and she plopped herself down regardless, sighing with a huff. "I...just...want to get off the mountain. I'll decide what to do after that," she muttered, not meeting his gaze.
The entire time Kairack had been in Mindi's presence, she had not given away any specifics about her home or reasons for coming to the mountain in the first place. The absence of a reason did not particularly bother him, but he did wonder if she was intentionally hiding information for her protection, or if she was just a private creature. Neither situation would surprise him. He had no business sticking his nose where it didn't belong anyway.
Instead, he took another approach. "Are you hungry?"
The psychic type gave a little nod. "Quite." She took a moment before angling her large head up at the ice type, whose eyes were betraying agreement. "I'm not sure if there's anything around here that I can consume."
Kairack tilted his head a fraction. "Do you have specific dietary requirements?"
"No, no," Mindi began, motioning to the frozen world outside of their makeshift hut. "It's just...there's not much around."
"Hunting at night is not ideal," the glaceon affirmed, peeking between two leaves failing to hide the frost beyond their position. "Most prey—"
"Hunting?!" squeaked the gothita with such astonishment that Kairack flinched. The expression pressed onto her face left no room for debate. "Gods, no. I'm not a savage."
The glaceon stared at her with a growing frown. "...Savage?"
Mindi, suddenly aware of their differences in morals and requirements, held her face where it was before blinking a few times in succession and slowly closing her mouth, which had previously been agape. She ran her tongue over her bottom lip as she turned away, slightly embarrassed by her outburst. She had just offended the pokémon who had saved her life. Both were silent until she muttered, "I apologise."
Kairack tried to invite a smile to visit his maw, but the lure failed. "None required." He took a tentative breath. "If you like, we can search for food at dawn."
His guest, still keeping her eyes averted, bobbed her head once in understanding. From then, the duo sat wordlessly while their small enclosure swayed as a chilly breeze pushed its way through the area, running an intangible hand up Kairack's spine. His shiver was minimal, but still apparent. The night was crisp even for him.
Mindi broke the absence of communication between the two as she shuffled once again, pulling a few more leaves off the bush's dense sections and laying them down on top of her already-established mess of a bed, trying to interlock them in an attempt to weave lasting comfort for herself. Again her feet simply crushed the delicate leaves upon the application of her weight, resulting in an inward groan. Unable to keep his attention off it, Kairack faced her frustrated attempts to create something soft to lie on and snorted through his nose. He could tell she wanted to throw him a glare, but she was simply too polite.
"Here," he began, outstretching his paw and shuffling the leaves aside. They tumbled toward the edges of the bush until they were swept underneath and out into the snowy open.
"N-no! I..." She sighed, gaping at her undone efforts, before turning to him with a rather wounded expression pasted upon her features.
Kairack dragged himself closer to her, bringing a small mound of snow with him. The psychic type grimaced at the sight and remained standing a few paces from him. "Come on," he insisted, and despite the cold climate, he emanated a warm smile.
Mindi guessed he was only so agreeable because he had been travelling with her for the entire day, and his tiredness and willingness to find some sort of mental relief from his constant worrying was overcoming his previous mindset. She had no doubt that the second the sun rose, he would be more than ready to focus only on speedy travel. It was already hours after sundown, so there was a good chance that there were only a pawful of hours until the sun was scheduled to make its daily appearance anyway. Regardless, she took a hesitant step toward his body and then sat against it.
At first she remained, feeling slightly awkward, before she noticed one of his long teal head appendages from her peripherals. She held her breath as she debated whether or not she should use it before quietly asking, and the glaceon agreed without thought. Slowly she stood up and positioned the end of the flap-like dangle, which was the widest part, on the ground. She then stepped onto it, feeling the slight warmth coursing through it. She rested her body against Kairack's short powder blue coat and nestled in until she could feel her body heat begin to take residence in the tips of her limbs again.
The glaceon, his head on the ground to enable Mindi to use his facial dangles, took comfort in the dirty snow and started to feel his eyelids slowly fall over his vision. Soon enough, they encapsulated all that he could see, and sleep began to cradle his mind in its soothing embrace.
ooo
"Kairack!"
A jolt of shock jerked the male glaceon instantly awake, his full-body motion causing the small psychic type resting against him to fling from his side and through the bush's boundaries. Kairack leapt to his feet instantly and heard both a cry and a separate yell, trying to gather himself as he, too, burst from the brush and wildly flung his head in all directions. His search for a source met an end once he laid his bloodshot eyes upon a female of his own kind, her expression both guilty and surprised.
"Sorry!" she blurted.
Kairack's teeth were bared and his eyes remained wide as he glared at her. His legs twitched, wanting to move him forward with both a fight and flight response. However, the sudden alarm still tingling within his limbs began to subside, and his breath slowed. His face turned from frightened to puzzled. "...Bolt?"
"Oh, dear," she groaned without a response for him, dashing away from her pack mate without a second look and scuttling to where the gothita had emerged unwillingly from her shelter. Her paws brought her to a halt where the psychic type was leaning against a tree in fear, her defences fading once she realised that she was not under attack. In fact, the new glaceon looked wholly apologetic. She dipped the front half of her body in a bow. "I'm so, so sorry!"
Mindi glanced in Kairack's direction, only able to see him once he rounded the bush. "Who is this?!" she peeped.
"I'm Bolt," the female cut in, her eyes firmly set on the gothita as she continued to convey her sincere apologies. She whirled around to meet gazes with Kairack.
"So named for her hasty actions," he added with traces of gruffness in his tone. "Worry not; she is a part of my clan."
The gothita's shoulders dropped slightly as she drank in the situation, looking relieved that her life was no longer in danger. She was only half the size of each glaceon, which, in her mind, made her a perfect target.
"I didn't mean to give anyone a scare," Bolt admitted, her brows furrowed with concern. "I promise. I'm just here to..." She span around and met eyes with Kairack. "To help you find Tora."
"Get back to the clan grounds at once," the male glaceon instructed, leaving no room for argument.
His immediate dismissal caught Bolt off guard. She blinked and kept her jaws parted for a moment longer. "But—"
"Do not argue with me." The glaceon stalked past his pack mate with his ears tucked back and his fur beginning to bristle. He arrived by Mindi's side and bent his front legs, lowering his front half for her to climb aboard. The gothita did as he expected and sat between his shoulder blades. The duo focused their stares on Bolt, who looked utterly baffled.
"You need all the help you can get, Kai," she protested softly, trying to appeal to his sense of logic.
He clenched his teeth and turned to face her properly, a scowl shaping his brow. He took a step towards her. "You heard Cyfur. The elder will banish you for following me."
"Kai—"
"This is not your concern," he pressed, his voice becoming more rigid. "I will not have you banished on my behalf!" The other glaceon simply shook off her acquaintance's expanding aggression, clearly adamant about her decision.
"Yorrand can kiss my tail end." Her words were so chiselled with certainty that Kairack was almost surprised to hear them. There was such conviction behind her statement that he believed she truly did not respect the elder's judgement. The snort she guided through her nose was further proof of her unimpressed attitude which bled with contempt. "He has screwed my family over more than once. His heartless and careless response to Tora's plight only magnified my disgust for his so-called 'just' rulings. I find myself losing faith in him by larger increments with each passing day. This cause is worth far more to me than any he has ever offered."
Kairack watched as his female counterpart paced back and forth, anger brewing within her which was evidently not new. He eyed her closely, accepting how serious she was. "It is my assumption that you are okay with the consequences of this decision...yes?" he queried, watching as the glaceon lowered her head in something close to shame. She did not seem to want to confirm his words, so he repeated absent pride, "Banishment."
Bolt notably tensed at the word but followed up with apparent relaxation of her muscles as she looked to find a mental equilibrium within herself. "Like I said before, Yorrand is no friend of mine."
A few more seconds passed before the male glaceon relented. She was surprised to hear him sigh and then respond with, "I cannot stop you." Her ears perked up as his slowly did the same. "And I do welcome the help."
Bolt nodded once and produced a smile, but unfortunately for her, Kairack could not seem to do the same. She glanced to the bush they had previously been taking shelter within, and wondered if there was room for her. It looked as if it would be a squishy fit with three of them, but still possible. "Sorry for disturbing your sleep," she reiterated, stretching the skin around her lips in an awkward smile. "Shall we worm back in there until sunup? I'm pretty tired mys—"
"No," Kairack snapped, unintentionally crafting more hostility than intended. However, he made no effort to rectify his overreaction. "We've rested long enough. It's time to leave."
The glaceon gave the newcomer no time to make an attempt at changing his mind and he tore away, secretly longing for the embrace of the shrub. He refused to admit to himself that he was in need of both mental and physical repair, but the appearance of Bolt had done two things. The mention of Tora made her fresh in his mind. The more time they invested into actual travel and tracking, the higher the chance was of finding her in time. Every precious second they wasted sleeping when they could have been on his sister's trail was another second he was awarding to his potential failure. That, no matter the cost, could not happen.
As the glaceon raced through the hardened snow under the judgemental glare of the moon, Kairack tried to ignore the calls directed at him coming from Bolt's lips (which she seemed to have a talent for). As well as renewing his fire for finding Tora, Bolt's appearance had implanted newfound pressure in him for unintentionally inciting rebellion in her, resulting in her abandoning the clan for a single family's cause. Although he appreciated her dedication, it was nothing that should have been of such concern to her. Knowing that she had been wronged by the clan leader long before this incident gave him a flicker of hope, however, as it made him consider that perhaps she would have left regardless. This particular escapade only gave her permanent departure more weight. It painted her as a martyr, which he thought she may have expected to affect clan members whose disheartened thoughts on the matter may then have been passed onto the elder—especially those of her family.
Bolt finally gave up her endeavour to change his mind when she caught up with him, and the two – with Mindi attached firmly to Kairack's back – raced on down the mountainside. It was not long before they happened upon the edge of the mountain, which was lined with snow-dusted thickets as far as the eye could see. Before they neared the edge properly, the angle of the heightened position gave them a clear view of what lay beyond: although it wasn't entirely frost-covered, the forest stretching into the distance looked frigid and highly influenced by the mountain's harsh conditions. It was greener than Kairack and Bolt were used to, which the two knew would feel odd.
As they approached, Kairack began to slow. Multiple thoughts cycled through his cluttered mind, and he found himself panting at his exertion. Descending a mountain whilst clouded thoughts absorbed one's focus made it difficult to discern when tiredness suddenly became a factor. Bolt took a few paces back towards him as she nearly crossed over the border, glad she hadn't made the mistake without realising it. She knew just by looking at her fellow ice type that he greatly valued the boundaries of the clan's territory. Growing up, eevee of their clan were taught that venturing outside of it was something of a taboo.
As the three looked out on what was, to two of them, unfamiliar land, the uneasiness in the air felt heavier than ever. "This is it," began Bolt to break the silence, wholly uncomfortable but marginally excited.
Kairack only stared, fear consuming parts of his mind while other portions of it strove relentlessly to fight it off. He had a duty. He was not going to let nature have its way with his destiny once again.
He took one defined step closer to the border, followed by a sudden collection of more. Unswayed determination found its way into his bones and pushed him forward, finally allowing the glaceon to cross over the mountain's perimeter with Bolt in his wake. He expected more of a rush, and attributed some of its absence to the tiredness that began to creep into his mind and soak his limbs with ever-so-slight fatigue. With a sneer, he hissed with distaste for his need for sleep. His body may have been tired, but his mind refused to give in.
Knowing there was no turning back, Kairack mustered the courage to spit, "I'm coming for you, Tora."