[Kastra]

The pack had been quiet, but so had he. Kastra found himself spending half the days on the border, and the rest wandering aimlessly. He had ‘found’ locations around the pack lands, probably already known to others, but not to him. Even if they were interesting to look at, he found all of it empty. He knew it would be his own downfall if he fell into another bout of depression, but it wasn’t something he could easily stop. It came and went, and he could feel it pressing down once again. There had to be something to stop this from constantly happening. But he was simply a jovian wind, a border guard. He hadn’t learned how to care for illness, or if there was a way to care for mental illnesses.

The boy found himself by a stream, gently lapping up water. There was more he could do for the pack, more than be a border guard. It would be handy and vastly more important one day, but that day was not today. He sighed, lifting his head up and eyes catching onto another creature not too far. Kastra had heard of her plenty, but it was still overwhelming to see her. Kastra almost walked towards who he knew had to be Mercury, draw forward almost mindlessly. They had been right, she did look so much like Alana. As he drew closer, he tried to find his words. He knew his family; he knew his parents, and he knew his siblings. This was something new. He had yet to meet anyone outside his immediate family before.

“You’re Mercury. Right?” It was obvious, but he still had to confirm. “I’m Kastra. My parents are Alana and Julek.” He felt he was suppose to have some kind of connection with her, like how he feels closer to the others that shared his blood. But instead of finding comfort in the presence of family, there was anxiety. “You’re my aunt, right? My mom’s sister?” Her father’s brothers had and were apart of the pack, but he hadn’t truly met them. Had Terebellum or Becrux met Mercury yet? One of them probably had, with Kastra being late to the party. “It’s nice to finally meet you.” She had ruled with Alana before, if he knew correctly. The two sisters were co alphas, before Mercury went missing and Julek became a king. Kastra had admired the idea of ruling alongside siblings. It had been a nice fantasy.

[Mercury]

The Dark Moon of Nardir                    ☿ "Being brave means to know something is scary, difficult, and dangerous, and doing it anyway, because the possibility of winning the fight is worth the chance of losing it. - Emilie Autumn

Patrolling wasn't so much a duty as a habit for Mercury.  She knew no better way of spending her time than running the trails, searching for game and checking for scents that did not belong.  When she had lived as a dog, her life had been lived mostly on a tether. She had been limited in how long and far she could run, had only been able to be free for short amounts of time. Now she relished in the ability to go anywhere whenever she pleased. She had kept the collar firmly clasped around her neck, a reminder of how fragile freedom could be.

Her morning run had brought her to the far bank of the stream, around the bend at first from where Kastra had bent for his drink.  Raising her head from the stream, cream ears flicked towards the sound.  The Dark Moon trotted a few paces, then leaped to the other side of the bank with retaliative ease, coming into view as she landed.  Kastra spotted Mercury about the same time she spotted him, although she was upwind, so he caught her scent before she caught his.  He began to walk towards her, and she waited politely as he began to speak.

"You’re Mercury. Right?"

"I am."  She confirmed.

"I’m Kastra. My parents are Alana and Julek. You’re my aunt, right? My mom’s sister? It’s nice to finally meet you."

The Dark Moon cocked her head and looked him over.  His patterning must came from Julek, she noted, he didn't look much like Alana. It was the color of his coat that actually made her believe him, despite the fact that she had no reason to doubt his words.  He was golden, like her brother Alexander had been, and the blaze of cream was the same color as Alana's, the same as her own markings. Shenandoah's coloring.  She felt a stab deep in her chest as she recognized the piece, as she felt another thread wind around her and knot itself around her heart.  Family.  She gave him a genuine smile, full of warmth, and idly wondered what type of wolf her nephew was.  Was he brash like Kokutan, like she had been in her youth?  Or perhaps he was more gentle like Shenandoah and Alana?  Had he gotten Shaman's cool head?  Rain's Bravery?  Or was he more like his father's side?  She wanted him to be like her family, she quietly admitted to herself, and would be a little disappointed if he had inherited the personality of a stranger on Julek's side.

"It is an honor to meet you, Kastra."  She said, inclining her head in a regal nod.  Only years of practice allowed her to subdue her own curiosity.

☿

[Kastra]

    It was weird seeing one of the people his mother had mentioned in stories before him. They all felt like characters. Like they were some kind of lore that he might live up to. He wasn’t sure if it was crushing for one of those characters to be real. There was the excitement of family, and that his mother had finally found her sister once again. But Kastra had bad anxiety, and wasn’t sure where he fit in yet. It almost made him feel like he was meeting Mercury too soon. If he was going to know his family better, then he should have a standing point in his life. He was a jovian wind, but he still didn’t feel like he was placed yet. Maybe a fight would be what made him realize he was where he belonged. But that didn’t matter now, as he smiled to his aunt, who confirmed she was who he knew she was.

    Mercury looked him over, and he wondered what he was thinking. Was she comparing him to people he didn’t know? He almost puffed his chest out, trying to look tougher than he was. But he held back, instead standing more firmly. "It is an honor to meet you, Kastra." His tail wagged some, as he felt the smile becoming truly genuine. “Mom told me about you when I was a puppy. You were alpha with her at one point, right?” Some of the memories of her storytelling were fuzzy from age. He was an adult now, although he guessed he didn’t truly act like one. He had taken alliance missions but when in front of another pack, it felt like an act of maturity.

    “It’s so great your back. Mom really missed you. They tried to find you, a while back. I think mom has always been wanting you to come back one day.” The longing had spread to him, or at least he thought it had. As a pup he just assumed that it would be like if he lost Becrux or Terebellum. He would long for their return for years. His mom obviously missed her, although they never actually talked about who they missed. He was sure in his mother’s life there were many people she missed. Nardir had been through a lot, after all. But maybe the pieces were finally going back into place.

[Mercury]

The Dark Moon of Nardir                    ☿ "Being brave means to know something is scary, difficult, and dangerous, and doing it anyway, because the possibility of winning the fight is worth the chance of losing it. - Emilie Autumn

They studied each other, cautious and wary.  The fact that he seemed to be taking her in with equal measure during her own assessment pleased the Dark Moon.  There was intelligence to this boy, which meant that someone was teaching him. She wondered who, for Alana had never been a tactician.  Julek himself?  Or had he been mentored as she had been, by the pack itself?  She had not seen much of the dynamic of this new Nardir, and it was unclear how the youth were taught these days.  It made Mercury feel like a relic from the past, a character in a story, as Kastra had mused.  She was out of sync with her home.

"Mom told me about you when I was a puppy. You were alpha with her at one point, right?"

"Yes. We ruled together, as our father and uncle had. The Oracle foretold that your mother was not to rule alone, so I was entrusted to see that she did not."

"It’s so great your back. Mom really missed you. They tried to find you, a while back. I think mom has always been wanting you to come back one day."

Mercury's smile wilted slightly.  She could not escape her absence, and it had been clear in every conversation that the pack had felt it.  It was clear she had failed them, and there was nothing she could do or say to fix it.  While her elders greeted her with warmth and relief, those who only knew her by proxy simply reinforced the assessment of the damage she had caused.  Without knowing her place in this new society, she was struggling to come up with a way to make amends.  If she had managed to escape before, if she could have gotten back sooner, would it have made a difference?  It was impossible to say.  But Mercury regretted it all the same.

"I am repentant to have caused such pain. I regret that I was detained for so long."

Long enough for her sister to fall in love, mate and have children now grown.  Mercury had not taken a lover, and the humans had never attempted to force her to breed.  So she stood apart, a minor branch on a family tree that had continued to rise.  Little more than a twig of growth by comparison to her sister.  Mercury felt stunted, little more than a youth like Kastra.  Unsure of her place, and what she could become.  The difference was she had seen how much sand was already in the bottom of her hourglass.  She would have far less time to figure it out.

☿

[Kastra]

    Kasta felt a longing for his siblings. Becrux was somewhere close, he bet, but Terebellum had been missing for some time now. Well, it might not have been missing, just not seen. He hoped it was just not seen. They both would probably love to meet Mercury, and the younger little probably would, too. In this world there were considered lucky to know their family, that any of it is still alive. Nardir seemed to host families the best, with Alana’s long lineage and the X-Clan. Maybe he knew too little of other packs, but it felt like the moon had blessed them with always having family. They had doubted Mercury would return, and here she was.

    "Yes. We ruled together, as our father and uncle had. The Oracle foretold that your mother was not to rule alone, so I was entrusted to see that she did not." It was almost as if siblings were meant to rule Nardir. Kastra had dreamt of running Nardir alongside Becrux and Terebellum, but he had doubts of it happening. Alana had possibly ruined such a tradition, but not on purpose. Destiny had decided to change it. Maybe it wouldn’t remain that way, though. If anything, Kas and Becrux could rule as his grandfather and great uncle had ruled. But that would be long from now, he knew. There was much to learn. "I am repentant to have caused such pain. I regret that I was detained for so long." Kastra frowned some, shaking his head in a ‘no’ way.

    “It’s not your fault you were gone, you shouldn’t be sorry. I mean, yeah, it sucks and sucked, but you couldn’t help it, right? We’re just happy you’re back.” He wasn’t sure if his words were reassuring, but he tried to be. He thought that Mercury shouldn’t harbor any guilt about being absent. From what she said, it sounded like she had no choice. Besides, he thought, the pack had moved plenty of times it would probably be hard to track down. “I’ve heard of the Oracle before, like, spiritual advisor? Or some special connection with the moon? Can...You explain more to me?” He wasn’t sure where he was going with this, but he had some curious thoughts about the Oracle rank that he had heard of. Mercury probably had it more fresh in her mind than anyone else.

[Mercury]

The Dark Moon of Nardir                    ☿ "Being brave means to know something is scary, difficult, and dangerous, and doing it anyway, because the possibility of winning the fight is worth the chance of losing it. - Emilie Autumn

"It’s not your fault you were gone, you shouldn’t be sorry. I mean, yeah, it sucks and sucked, but you couldn’t help it, right? We’re just happy you’re back."

Mercury gave him a sad smile. While logically, she knew that he was right, she had been captures and held by humans.  But she still felt a twinge to know that she could have tried harder to escape, she could have been more standoffish, more wild.  But at first she had been so tired.  Fights and exile and more fights. The human who caught her pitted her in the ring, and Mercury had drown in blood and pain.  She thought she was going to die in that ring, alone and away from anyone and everyone she had ever loved, used by the monsters known as man.  Had she not been rescued from there, she didn't know if she ever could have gotten out.  By the time she met the Sled Master, she was too beaten to fight anymore.  Where she always had the strength to defend those she loved, she lacked the strength to defend herself.  Mercury's failing was the disregard for herself, and her inability to justify her own self-preservation.

"I am glad to have returned as well, although much remains new to me."

At the moment, she was only partially lying. She had a lot of time to consider what had happened on her way to find her family.  She had a lot of time to wonder if she was even doing the right thing, rising up from the "dead".  Just happy she was back?  Were they really?  Or was she now an inconvenience? An attachment to a ruler who no longer needed her, to a pack where most faces held no recognition for her.  She had been wondering if she shouldn't have just stayed with the team. But Alana had been glad to see her, and Kastra was testament that she still had family here.  She simply wished it felt like it.

"I’ve heard of the Oracle before, like, spiritual advisor? Or some special connection with the moon? Can...You explain more to me?"

"Yes, a guide. The Oracle was our connection to Mother Moon, and her Star Children, our departed ancestors."

There was nor Oracle in Nardir?  Even now?  Mercury remembered the last Oracle, a long-furred white female named Thaleia.  She had prognosticated that Alana could not rule alone. So long ago... Had the ash ever stopped?  Or was it not the physical phenomena from a fire, but a feeling that lay within them?  The voice of Mother Moon was unheard to her, and she had no idea what the will of the Mother was without it.  How had Alana been coping?  Mercury's brow furrowed in concern.  What had happened in her absence?

"There is no Oracle here?"

☿

[Kastra]

    Thinking of the captivity that Mercury had been apart of, he looked at the scar that dragged raggedly across her throat. A collar seemed to cover it depending on how she was standing, but his eyes hadn’t missed it. His mother was free of scars that he could tell, and he felt that if his aunt had been here, she wouldn’t have the scar. Kastra guessed she had gotten it during his capture, but didn’t dare bring it up for fear of bringing up bad memories. Kastra had never faced anything like it before, but he could take a guess that it really sucked. "I am glad to have returned as well, although much remains new to me." Once Julek had came, things had changed from the main focus on the queens to a dual leading of Queen and King. Even while Kastra was alive the ranks had changed, fluid as ever. If it had changed in his life, it probably changed many more time in his aunt’s.

    "Yes, a guide. The Oracle was our connection to Mother Moon, and her Star Children, our departed ancestors." The term ‘Star Children’ felt like a new term to him. Maybe his mother had said it before, but he must not have heard it as much. Not many had passed away in Kastra’s life time. The only one he knew of was Bulan. Sure, plenty had disappeared, his own sister being one of them, but that was not the same as dying. There was a chance the missing were still alive and might return one day. "There is no Oracle here?" He shook his head, no. So many outsiders had joined their ranks, they must not have felt the need to have a rank for religion. Although, there were not many outsiders now. Those born with Nardir blood took up most of the ranks.

    “I guess we haven’t had a need for one.” Even having the rank explained, he had never experienced it before, so he could not truly understand the importance to such a rank. “We haven’t had one in a long time I think. Not since I was born, at least, and that was back in the marshes.” Wasn’t that when Mercury had gone missing? Had she not helped set up the ranks? All the stories were vague, put into his mind as stories and not history. Now he had to recall it all, and felt a struggle to do so. “If you’re lost with the new ways, I could help you, if you want?” Kastra had been born into this pack, so who else was best to tell the ways of this Nardir that was new to Mercury? Of course, he didn’t know at this time that it probably wouldn’t matter, as time was ticking down and soon everything would change.

[Mercury]

The Dark Moon Queen of Nardir                 ☿ "Being brave means to know something is scary, difficult, and dangerous, and doing it anyway, because the possibility of winning the fight is worth the chance of losing it. - Emilie Autumn

Kastra was incorrect on how Mercury had gotten the scar on her chest.  It had not been the humans that gave her the scar, but rather the scar that gave her the humans.  She had struggled to carve out a place for the pack to rest in the Marshes.  While the others recovered and regrouped, she had fought and fought.  Her chest ached when she moved. The muscles and skin shredded by Loath's jaws still red and angry.  So she had trained, pushing her already wounded body as she trained, and then defended Nardir.  Loath's mark had fought her long after he had cast her out.  It still ached sometimes, and she had lost some of her flexibility because of it.  But he didn't ask, so she didn't realize he didn't know.  Alana had never told him?  The realization would cut her deep.

"I guess we haven’t had a need for one. back in the marshes.  If you’re lost with the new ways, I could help you, if you want?"

Mercury's brows were furrowed.  Didn't need one?  What a heinous idea.  They had closed their ears to the Mother?  More differences from the land she had left, more disjointedness.  Mercury didn't know this place, these people.  Where was the Nardir she knew?  Did it even exist?  Alana was different, the land was different, the faces were strangers...  She stood stock still, but inside her head she was spinning.  What was she supposed to do?  Who was she supposed to be?  Mercury had always thought she had known her place, and yet, she now found herself adrift.  It was eating at her.

"I would appreciate assistance." She managed.

☿

[Kastra]

    There seemed to be so much Kastra didn’t know, but he guessed Mercury was in the same position. No one ever truly knew everything, but there was more about Nardir and his family he could learn, and he could teach her what had happened since her absence. There wasn’t any voicing of the confusion and loss they both shared in life, but something in the prince’s gut just told him that they had at least felt the same way. When Kastra had gone through his worse depression episode, felt like he didn’t belong in Nardir, that he didn’t belong in his body; was that possibly close to how his aunt felt? There was no way he was going to let someone else feel the same way he had, not if he could help it.

    "I would appreciate assistance." A gentle smile tugged at Kas’s lips, and the boy seemed to perk up. This was something he knew well. This was something he could easily share. “Ma told me you were the fighter, the tougher one, so I’ll tell you about the more ‘fighty’ ranks, first.” It was a compliment, he felt, to call her the tougher one. Alana was gentle, loving, and could hold her ground, but Mercury had the vibe that she would throw down sooner than his mother. “I’m a Jovian Wind, which are the border guards. We’re lead by Maelstorm, who is Akutan currently.” It was actually very simple to talk about the ranks. “The Mantle, or Mantlepieces, are the general army, lead by the Centaurus, and Anika leads that rank. We use to have an overall fighty leader, the Regolith, but after Bulan - the previous Regolith - died, we got rid of the rank.” He was starting to smile, obviously happy that he simply knew something.

    “The Parallax are like our ambassadors, but when they are home they tend to be more like royal guards, and work with the Mantle or Jovian Winds. My sister, Terebellum is the leader of them.” He beamed proudly. “Halos are the healers, with Kestrel being the leader of them. The Artisans are crafters, but they don’t have a leader right now.” Kestrel was mates with Puffin, and Kas thought of her as really nice and resourceful, having seen the crystal the Halos used to carry herbs around in. “Buckshot is Groundskeeper. He just generally watches over the land. I think he has an apprentice, some cat.” He didn’t know either of them that well. With the ranks generally spoken of - was it worth going over the lead ranks? - he got to his own thoughts. “I think Parallax would be good for you, but if you don’t want to leave the pack, then I think that Mantle would be good too. You just kinda feel like a natural born fighter or something. Which is a good thing!” He didn’t want to offend his aunt. This pack was peaceful, but someone needed to have the fighting spirit. Mercury seemed to balance out peace and war well within her being, or at least he felt so.

[Mercury]

The Dark Moon Queen of Nardir                 ☿ "Being brave means to know something is scary, difficult, and dangerous, and doing it anyway, because the possibility of winning the fight is worth the chance of losing it. - Emilie Autumn

Mercury remained silent while Kastra explained the ranks, nodding here and there to show she was still listening.  All the names were foreign to her.  Had Alana renamed them?  Or was it Kastra's father, this Julek, who had done so?  She thought of asking, but wasn't sure if Kastra would know, since he didn't know what an Oracle was.  A couple of the names she recognized: Akutan, Buckshot... others she did not: Anika, Bulan, Kestrel...  Merc did perk up at the mention of Kas's sister.  She had more family?

"How many siblings do you have?" Mercury asked politely, not showing her enthusiasm.

"I think Parallax would be good for you, but if you don’t want to leave the pack, then I think that Mantle would be good too. You just kinda feel like a natural born fighter or something. Which is a good thing!

Mercury chuckled self-consciously. "I am not sure about natural born, but I was taught to defend and protect from a very young age."

How long ago that was... She only had snippets left in her mind.  Natural born?  No... Mercury had been taught.  First by Byakko and the other warriors of the pack, then by the White Demon, then by the seemingly endless battles in the marshes... then by the humans.  Mercury had been nothing but taught.

☿

[Kastra]

    It felt weird explaining everything to Mercury, but eventually she would learn, and he could be the one to help. Plus, it felt like some weird family bonding experience. The aunt he never got to meet, and now he gets to tell her about the pack she went missing from. Not exactly a normal bonding experience, but it was something. "How many siblings do you have?" He thought off the names in his head, for now there were more. “In my litter there’s just me, Terebellum, and Becrux. In the second litter, there is Zaniah, Kolade, Mercedes, Alois, Konrad, and Scorpious.” He should be a better brother. He barely even knew his younger siblings, barely even saw them. While he felt some sadness about it, he tried to not let it show.

    "I am not sure about natural born, but I was taught to defend and protect from a very young age." He gave a grin, somewhat shrugging his shoulders. “Then you think you’d also be a good teacher?” There was something in him telling him that sooner or later, there would be new life in Nardir, life that could be taught many things. Mercury could mentor or teach them, and maybe she even learned some new things in her ‘travels’. But he didn’t want to really push it, use it more as a conversation piece than planning anything possible for the pack, at least at the moment.