Tithe

She turned her head and Tithe’s head tilted slightly. His heart clenched and he struggled to bury the feelings the memories brought up. He saw the life coming from her red eyes, healed scars over bare skin shining from her white fur. The young wolf struggled to bury the triggered memory of his mother’s lifeless face staring at him from the blood soaked mud. Instead he breathed and let his instinctual armor protect him. Not from what he saw in front of her, but from what had started to attack him from within.

Steel grey eyes looked at her with otherwise open honesty, only hiding his personal pain, never his intentions. “It does. It seems to give you a golden glow. It softens edges and brings out the shine of your fur.”

His question seemed to aggravate her, judging by the intensity with which she studied him. Easy-going, he stretched his head and neck, his body completely relaxed. It was obvious he meant no harm to the woman. He was here merely to talk, and to learn. He let her take her time in her investigation. Even if she had not revealed that she had been severely wounded he would have understood a thorough study of someone who would have asked such a question. The wolves he was curious about were an enigma.

When she spoke he could not help but release a single, quiet, chuckle. Her mistrust was evident and well deserved. “I was in their lands very briefly, only caught your scent on the wind. I left in a hurry when I was stolen away.” Ears quirked to her and her words. He did not trust the plains wolves, but did not go so far as to swear vengeance against them. The boy inside him leapt to the assumption it was Tobias who had ravaged the fem’s body. It did not seem out of the unpredictable character of the wolf. Brash, this voice howled to join her in her vows and avenge that living face that so resembled the dead. His youth quickly giving way to maturity, the young man hushed his impulses, knowing better than to jump to assumptions, hearsay and rumor.

A soft smile drew on his face and he settled his body comfortable, hopefully inviting Faimmetta into a posture of ease. “My name is Tithe, and I have recently come to call Spirane my home.” His words paused for a moment, treasuring the feeling of belonging he felt when he accepted a place in his pack. He compared the feeling he had felt when he stepped foot in the plains of Asteria. “I would give my life for those who live there, and the lives that grow there. I fear my understanding of Asteria is limited at best, fractured and a lie at worst.” Words had not matched with tones, and actions had seemed mindless. He shifted and looked back at the female, visibly solid in his convictions now that he had ground to stand on. “I want to know what I should be aware of in protecting my pack.” He hesitated for a moment, unsure if he should continue. The boy urged one way, the man another, with curiosity the scale. “I also want to know what exactly I avoided when I declined the opportunity to join the plainland pack.”