Tithe

Occasionally the large soldier liked to leave his new found home and roam about the land. His paws had found peace from their years of roaming in the sky reaching peaks of the mountains. That did not mean he was completely at rest, even within the comforting walls of Spirane. His soul still twisted at the thought of her. The woman who had captured his attention so thoroughly and so instantly. Just as he had been rebuilding his life around himself, she caught his eye and everything had changed.

Black paws stepped carefully along the paths that meandered through the caves of the grotto. It was one of the few places he knew his roaming friend seldom came to explore. Therefore, it was the perfect place for him to walk and gather this thoughts. Guilt had become an unwelcome companion, yet another weight on his armored shoulders. From birth he, as a bastard, had been raised to a promise he had never made. As a pup he had formed a loyalty to his spirit sister, swearing to protect her from those who desired to break her innocence. ‘I will only give birth to kings.’ When he had stepped into Moladion he had very nearly sold his conscience to fulfill that wish to the spirit that haunted him, but he had turned away and give his loyalty to a different queen. His uncertainty about his own ambition haunted him as much as the whispers of his mother’s ghost. It was only after he found his place in his pack that the woman who completed him appeared in his life. He remembered her eyes staring out at him from a shimmering white and gold face. It had not been her beauty that captivated him, but it had been her. The promises he had made to Taika were forgotten in the instant he laid eyes on Pandora. The solidity he felt with his paws on the stones of Spirane cracked the moment she had asked if he would betray them.

It was the second time in two seasons he had watched his life change in an instant. Now he gazed into a shallow pool, his own face staring back at him.

Years of training embedded in him the instinct to shield himself from the world around him. His black body and undercoat was covered by steel gray over his face, shoulders, and back, armor that covered his body just as the steel of his eyes hid his mind. Studying the blank expression that studied him right back, the young man tried desperately to see into himself to find the standing he had momentarily thought had been so firm. All he saw looking back at him was the clear guarded face that would not even give him insight to who he was.

Tithe sat and continued to look into the pool, not even seeing his reflection anymore. He used the quiet of the caves to mute the world around him. The flow of the water calmed his thoughts to where he could focus on one at a time, contemplating it deeply before letting it wash away with the steady streams. Bit by bit, he pieced what he could together. Plate by plate he reforged who he was, quenching the heat of confusion in the soft harmonies of the water.

There was a click of paws against the stony floor of the grotto and one ear flicked to the sound as the man came out of his thoughts. Iron grey eyes locked onto the russet hued youth that approached and caught the blue gaze that stared back. Tithe inhaled, catching no scent from the opposing wind, and therefore no further information.

“Greetings.” He hailed the smaller wolf calmly. His voice was deep and strong, but was just as guarded as his composure. Nothing betrayed his disappointment in being drawn from his solitude. In fact, his body sat in a pose of relaxed military attention. No threat, but still a solid form of readiness.