Heart Of Iced Silver - P

[Shayla]

The trees rustled in the breeze, the whispering wind held rumours of the chill winter that was to come, already the nights were lengthening, stealing the light from the day. The great trees of the forest of GeRad were atuned to these changes, and already they were beginning to go to sleep. Slight changes in their leaves appeared - no longer were they the bright green of spring or summer, but they were slowly starting to fade. Soon they would be a myraid of yellows, oranges, reds and browns.

A silent figure sat in the midst of the trees, surrounded by their great trunks that reared up to the heavens, their branches splayed out as if to cover the stars from sight. Autumn was usually a time that the grey she-wolf loved, but the signs of it's iminent arrival did nothing to lighten her mood.

Grey eyes stared at the heavens above, the stars that were sparking into life in the early eve heavens above suddenly no longer seemed like bright jewels of hope. They were cold and distant. Glittering drops of ice set far out of reach, but always there. Shayla's attention flickered to the trees. The heart, she realised, was like a tree full of leaves of hope, and it dies a slow death - for one by one the leaves fall, as each little hope dies, until suddenly the heart is bare.

However, Shayla was way beyond being upset now. She had had so much hurt now, that it was too much to bear, and she couldn't just sit there any longer and take no action, she had to act, she had to do something. Shayla's grey eyes hardened like steel, the fleck of amber in her right iris burnt with a malice. The first thing she would do, would be to get rid of Krystal. It was evident that the bitch was trying to steal her family from her, and Shayla had so little family left now, who she had left was precious to her, and she would let no one steal them or take them away from her.

The grey she-varg raised her head to the heavens again. Her silverine pelt shimmered in the cold starlight. She looked much like Cwen, her pelt was the colour of the lightest cream under her belly, and it darkened to the colour of deep shade along her back. Only her eye had that amber flaw, and her tail was longer and bushier than Cwen's had been.

Shayla was determined to get her way, once she had her heart set on something, she would not stray from her course, and the first thing on her list was to get Krystal, that traitor, out of GeRad. That way she could stop poisoning the hearts and minds of all her packmates, her family, and then everything would be so much better. Not back to the way it was, it could never go back to the way it had once been, but, things could be slightly better again. Not that Shayla had much hope for that, it had been long since she had had any hope. Her heart, once full of the joy of living, had now become bitter and callous. Shayla would stop at nothing to get her way now, and she didn't much care for who she hurt in the process, not Ayasha, not Krystal, not anybody. In her little world, Shayla was protecting what she loved. She only wished Draeg would have listened to her. It had hurt when he had not taken her seriously, but then again, he never had. Shayla loved her father, but she was too often reminded of the times when he had appeared to have let her down, particularly when she was in her current mood.

All the more now was she idolising her mother, and for Cwen's sake, aswell as Draeg's, Shayla had become fiercely protective of GeRad. The thing she wanted, was to remove the traitor Krystal, to remove the weak link. She only did not know how, and right now, she felt so alone in her cause. She had no ally to work with - which was a concept quite alien to the silver faemme. She had always had her family, her parents, her brothers to help her out. To be there when she needed them. But Cwen was dead, Draeg was against her, and Trile and Lycaon had been gone for moons now, without a trace. Kop was a kerl somewhere in the wilderness - no, Shayla was all alone in this. She had tried to bring Draeg around to things, to see Krystal for what she really was, but he was doing no such thing. It all seemed utterly hopeless, Draeg would not listen to one voice, his own daughter's nonetheless, Shayla was at a complete loss of what to do. For unless she somehow orchestrated that Draeg caught Krystal in the act of doing something traitorous ... well, unless she was very lucky, that would never happen, and luck had not been kind to Shayla.

Grey ears twisted and Shayla stood up at the soft sounds of some approaching varg. Wrinkling her nose, Shayla tried to scent out this mystery wolf, but the breeze was working against her, and already there was the mingling scents of all of GeRad in the forest. She would find out though, soon enough.


oh it's so pish i could cry.

[Firefly]

Nose to the wind it sniffed gently at first as if testing the air for signs of anything. It connected to a slender foxlike muzzle that was more dog than wolf. But it was not a dog that roamed the changing forests that day but both...

The tan hybrid let out an inward sigh. Autumn was always such a beautiful season, though with it meant that the winter chills were just around the corner. Firefly carried on, it was her turn to scout the borders and she had picked a good day to do it. Her abnormally curly tail bent back to touch her rump and as she walked it gently bounced about. Her paws were slender and far smaller then that of a wolfs. But what was most obvious was her sinfully bright cyan orbs.

More and more now Fly found herself distancing herself from Gerad, after Cwens death the pack had done much to try and salvage itself and had done a good job in recovering until the raid from the balkar packs. And it seemed to have set Gerad back onto its hinds. But more lately she found herself at a loss at how to speak with Draeg, he seemed to be in a stressed state half the time and finding time for privacy seemed far fetched. Many times Firefly would return from a scouting trip to find Draeg sound asleep in the dens and determined to not wake her mate Firefly kept quiet to herself. Though she was generally a quiet wolf, Draeg had done much to help her regain her confidence and change Fly into much more then a wolf. But a figure that shone pride in her eyes. He helped her find her voice


Firefly paused as she scented a ge rad wolf and decided to pad toward them...
Her head buzzed again as she delved back into her thoughts. She was also afraid, she decided, yes afraid she admitted. Afraid that she would in the end disappoint Ge rad. She had seen the hardships the pack had gone through and how much they had been put through. What if Firefly had made a mistake and sent Ge rad into another tumble into despair? Fly could not afford it. Thus she stuck solely to herself, mostly thinking. Would they think she were weak? The taunts from childhood came back like flashes to her. The jeering and hatred of her "muttblood" heritage. It didn't help to feel that she had somehow lost the close bond she had forged with Draeg. Before she had found herself competing with Cwen for Draeg's affections and with Cwen bearing many a litters Fly found Draeg's attention to have revolved around the grey she wolf more than the tanned hybrid. Though Fly never resoluted to angry disputes, nor did she put a sour mark onto Cwen. True they did not get along well though most circumstances just ended up in awkward situations. Jealousy? Did fly feel that? Perhaps a bit, though guilt found her before the ugly green monster could fully rear its ugly head. Besides Cwen was dead now and Fly found it to be something unbelievable. How could the hot headed femme succumb to death's grasp? Perhaps some would have looked to Firefly, expecting some sort of jubilation, as if she would feel she had conquered Draeg's heart once and for all, no more sharing or fighting for affections, but Firefly was not like that. She felt nothing of the sort. She had tripped and fell into the black hole the rest of ge rad had done, the hole was named: Despair.

Dead vegetation crunched as a twig snapped. Fly had forgotten to control her stalking as her head had been lost in her thoughts. She would be heard now, there was no way to hide that she was coming. She moved on now and before her cyan eyes she thought she saw Cwen.... what this couldn't be! Cwen was dead? But a thought sparked. She was back, back from the dead, she could pull them out from the hole they had fell into, trapped. Fly paused her ears peeled back for a second before perking again. Firefly didn't have the strength, not the kind of strength Cwen had. She alone could lift Gerad's hearts up and place them onto the sky as brightly burning stars, yet she, Firefly found herself weak, her fire had shrunk to nothing but a flicker of a candle, blowing gently in the wind...

But reality nipped Firefly sharply in the bud. The resentment Cwen had on Firefly would stay either way and her the wolf before her would hold some of that resentment as Fly remember Cwen was in fact perished. And she found herself stuck in another of those awkward situations she had with Cwen. Though wold in front of her that she so closely resembled. The silence was freezing the ground between them, until the tan hybrid let out a gentle mutter, "Shayla..."

[Shayla]

Grey eyes met the form of the hybrid wolf, instantly recognising her as a varg that Shayla usually took pains to avoid whenever their paths looked as if they would cross. The grey faemme felt a strange twinge in her gut. This faemme, her father's other mate, was now Drappa of GeRad, a place which Shayla felt truly belonged to her mother. Then again, ever since Shayla had found out that Draeg had had two mates, she had hated Firefly as 'the other woman'. It had been worse that Shayla had found out about Firefly from Cal, a completely different varg, and upon finally meeting the faemme, had found her to be pregnant.

Shayla had been a young and impressionable varg then, and had seen both her parents through rose-tinted glasses. Though even after finding out that they were far from perfect, she had begrudingly let things slide, but she wanted nothing to do with Firefly.

Shayal turned her head away. Searching for an excuse to try and rid herself of the Drappa's company. Although a pessimistic little voice in her head joked that she would only end up bumping into Krystal, knowing her luck. That brought her thoughts whirling back to the dark and treacherous faemme. If only there was some way to get rid of her. If Draeg didn't listen to her, his own daughter, who else would he listen to?

Shayla's ears twitched and she turned her attention back to Firefly, as the Drappa muttered her name, and the silverine faemme cocked her head to the side, keeping a triumphant lgiht from entering her icy eyes. Of course! The answer was right here, right in front of her. And so what if it meant talking to Firefly, and enduring her company? She was surely the lesser of two evils.

Perhaps, in time, if Shayla had had a more normal life, if she had stayed nearer to the same varg that she had been, perhaps she would have grown and come to see Firefly for what she really was - a faemme who simply fell in love with a mann. But she hadn't, and she didn't. Right now though, she was looking at Firefly in a different light.

Shayla stood, raising herself to stand in a fluid motion and padding a little closer to the GeRad Drappa. She dipped her head in welcome, although only slightly, and the act seemed to phsyically pain her neck. Part of her still rebelled, and still saw Firefly as a faemme who had been trying to replace her mother - Shayla did not care that this had not been the case, but if it had, Fly had now succeeded, and Cwen was surely out of the competition.

"Greetings." She said, finally, cold eyes regarding the other faemme with a passionless look, but behind her stone-cold orbs Shayla's bitter mind was calculating, slowly. Even if she had got Firefly wrong about the competitive side, Shayla was damned sure that no faemme in their right mind would want to go through being one of two again. Perhaps, if she could convince Firefly that Krystal was a threat to her, and tell her that she was poisoning Draeg's mind - perhaps Shayla would gain an ally?

"It's a lovely evening." Shayla said distractedly, cold eyes glancing up to the frozen and distant stars above, before swiftly the young faemme turned her malicious attention back to the Drappa. "We haven't met in a while..." Shayla turned her head away, eyes and face downcast. "But then again, some would say that I haven't been around enough." She said, a bitter and iced tone taking over her vocals - remembering when Draeg had lashed open the carefully nutured wound deep inside Shayla's heart, the fact that Shayla had been absent when Cwen had died had been something that the grey faemme had despised herself for. Evidently Draeg hated her for it too.

Shayla fought to keep a scowl from her face. It was all Krystal's fault. She had been polluting GeRad with her lies, with her treachery. Draeg couldn't see her for what she really was. But maybe, maybe someone else could.

Attention driving back to Firefly, Shayla gave a small shrug. "I'm sorry, I've had a few things on my mind... which I should really tryto forget.. especially since Draeg has now dubbed them trivial... if only she hadn't been worming her way into his life, I guess I might have had a better chance..."

Shayla shook her head and sighed, grey eyes distant for a while. Eyes snapping back to the present, Shayla shifted her paws, and looked apologetically at Firefly. "Oh I'm sorry, I really shouldn't burden you with my worries and concerns.."