Honor Bound | (On-going)

Initiates | 1.2

"No, not now!" Roland imagined himself standing before his wolf. It was an old trick, from his early after-Bond days, but it was one he didn't enjoy. The sensation left him split down the middle as if the two minds were compartmentalized rather than blended.

"Roland," Fey hissed, shaking his shoulder gently, "Ya need ta come back ta us, hear?"

Inside his mind, Roland locked eyes with his wolf. Their conflicting thoughts flowed over each other in a jumble of sensations, ideas, images, and emotions. A tug-of-war over his body and mind continued for several more minutes. Finally, Roland pulled up the image of Fey's distraught face and ground it into the wolf's mind.

There is danger. When has Fey, strange as she is, been wrong about danger?!

The wolf stopped fighting and just stared at Roland. Agreement. Fey was rarely wrong about any serious danger. The wolf pushed again, the need to protect Jake grew. Another sensation washed over Roland, pack. Jake was pack to his wolf.

He's not pack, he's my cousin. Family. Roland objected, pushing back.

So, he's pack... The wolf's instance was tinged with confusion. Roland snapped his eyes shut and snarled, fingers digging into the dirt as well as his own hair. Stupid, stupid... No, wait. Not stupid - confused. Wolf packs were families. The wolf agreed with those inner thoughts. Yes, family and thus pack.

"Remember we are more than wolf and man. We are Ulf'el," Roland coaxed his wolf to understand. If he could get him to listen, they could face the ensuing fight together.

Yet again, the wolf pushed. Roland sent soothing thoughts towards the wolf, wrapping it in a blanket of calm detachment. Jake was emotional and often got into scrapes from time to time, just like any whelp. Roland dredged up the memory of when Tara chased him out of their home with a frying pan. The wolf hesitated, amused by the memory.

A pang of sadness welled up at the memory of his older sister. Would she come back home for Affirmation? Would he see her in the crowd? Distracted now, the wolf sent a blanket of soothing reassurance. Mark sent the message on, but how he knew where to find her was still a mystery. The wolf huffed.

"Of course, he knows. He is a good tracker, knows the lands outside of the ghbor, knows her." The he-wolf insisted. "His heart is bound to her, he could find her anywhere." The wolf snorted, now amused at Roland. The he-wolf's tail wagged and his ears relaxed.

"How does that work exactly? She's MY sister after all." Jealous anger rose and the wolf growled an annoyed response. It was a different kind of bond, sure. But, they weren't soul-bound the way Fey and Skold were. Roland growled and added, "it's not like they are mates either. Not that it would matter if they were."

The wolf huffed, "No, but knows her tricks as well as you do, and knows the lands outside better than you. If anyone could track her, it'd be him."

That, Roland conceded, was true. Mark's familiarity with the scents and signs between the ghbor and the nearby cities gave him an edge. Still, it rankled deep into his core. Something about it was not quite right. If he knew where to send messages, why couldn't he convince her to come back?

"Maybe she doesn't want to come back? Maybe she's dispersed?" The wolf offered with a soft empathy. Roland rejected the idea. Tara loved this town too much. Her heart was here, in the soil and the woods around them. The he-wolf relented then, finally in harmony with Roland's soul. "She did love to hunt with us."

He glanced up, once more aware of his surroundings. Beyond the fire were the woods, and a group of figures rolling around on the ground, fighting. Not good.