Have you the heart to forgive? Toiro

[seadragoness]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=width,430,true]

[bg=000000][atrb=background,http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff153/Lumarinam/kastiel-background.png] Kastiel "...Have they the heart to forgive thee..." All it had taken was the hint of a scent, possibly even a lie, a façade of hope to drive him to insanity. But he had been so sure, even if the wind had changed and taken the scent with it. He would never forget the smell of his sister, the touch of pine and warmth and familiarity. He was driven by a fear that even a moments delay and there would be no home of recovering that astounding scent. He had been sure that his sister was dead, but surely this, this was the evidence that she still lived. He had left the pack lands in a gallop, a stride that shook his bones and jarred his paws with every step. It was the kind of pace that drove one to sweat in moments, that wearied his body. But once he fell into this insane, mad-man’s stride he kept it, and he kept going. He movement until another step would cause him faint, and then he slowed, his sides heaving and his eyes hollow with an unbearable sadness. Somehow, somehow the scent had been lost to the wind. He didn’t give up, his sister was his entire life, she was everything. He kept going, but his pace was a stumbled walk and his head hung low. This had been weeks ago, it took him weeks to come to terms with the fact that she was still lost. That maybe, just maybe, he had imagined that damn smell. Time did that to a wolf, it drove doubts into their hearts and made them question something that in the moment had been so very real. Now, he was returning to pack lands with an empty heart and the knowledge that what he had done had been wrong. He was beta, but that had not stopped or slowed him, he had left the pack in a heartbeat, left it to what fate he did not know. He hesitated at the scent-line, one paw lifted as if to cross, but then he re-thought himself at let the paw fall on the side opposite to the pack. He took a moment to re-asses himself, the way his skin hung on his sides and stretched across his ribs like there was not an ounce of meat left on him. He had barely had time to hunt, in his mad race to find his sister. barely had the will to divert from his course for even the length of a hunt. So he had taken kill only when he would die if he did not, or the animal strayed upon the path he walked. He looked terrible, and even though he could not see his eyes he knew the lifelessness that stood there. Would he be shunned now, for leaving with no warning? He took a shaky, uncertain breath, and lifted his head to howl to his alpha. His voice begged for forgiveness, but in his heart he felt himself undeserving.

image {c} [e-mail]
Manip {c} Haptic to Sea <3

[Toiro]

Toiro crept through the trees, keeping his body low to the ground as the stalked the deer. It had somehow managed to get itself separated from the rest of its herd, leaving it vulnerable to predators like him. Still, if he alerted it to his presence before he was close enough, it would outrun him. Every paw step was careful and calculated, slowly bringing him closer to his prey.

Toiro’s ears swivelled as they caught the sound of a wolf’s howl. It was strange for a border call – an almost sad pleading tone. But then he recognised the voice as that of his beta. Kastiel!
Toiro immediately abandoned the hunt and turned to race towards where the sound had come from. He hadn’t seen his friend in ages! He missed Kastiel’s solid companionship, and helpful advice. His beta had been there for him since he’d taken leadership of the pack, and Toiro didn’t know how far he would have gotten without his support. He’d begun to think that something terrible had happened to him.

And it seemed that he wasn’t far off. When he arrived at the border, he scarcely even recognised the wolf standing before him. It was like looking at a shadow of the wolf he knew; the life seemed to have drained right out of him and an air of defeat and hopelessness hung around him like a mist. How had his friend managed to get himself into such a state?

“Kastiel! Where- Where have you been?” Although he was very happy to see his friend again, he couldn’t help but let the tinge of hurt into his voice. Every wolf in his pack should know that they couldn’t leave the territory without telling someone – and Kastiel was the beta. Toiro knew that he would never want to neglect his duties. So why had he abandoned them?



.

[seadragoness]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=width,430,true]

[bg=000000][atrb=background,http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff153/Lumarinam/kastiel-background.png] Kastiel The young wolf who had befriended him unconditionally, welcomed him to his pack and made him beta, that was the wolf that moved towards him with the assured steps of a leader. The wayward beta could not meet the eyes of his alpha, could not bear to look into those friendly eyes and see the betrayal that must surely be found there. He could not bear it, if his friend no longer looked at him in the same light. He had lost so much, but if he lost Toiro as well... his heart ached at the thought, and he knew that he had failed him. He had chosen his sister over the pack, surely that could not be forgiven. The voice of his friend broke out across the silence, and for one stunned moment he realised he had almost forgotten it. Silently, he vowed that he would never leave like that again. Despite the need to find his sister, he could not do that to his friend or his friends pack again. “Torio... I thought I found her, my sister, I thought... if I ran hard, and fast enough... but I was wrong. I’m so sorry” His voice was soft, husky, and he hung his head low in shame. He was afraid to take those few steps to cross the border line of Airila because in all honesty he did not if he was still welcome here. Had the pack written him off as a loose cannon, unreliable and gone. Had he been replaced? But even if he had to come back as an Omega he would take it, anything to return to the one place he considered home.

image {c} [e-mail]
Manip {c} Haptic to Sea <3

[Toiro]

He hated to see his friend like this. He seemed so… defeated. Toiro’s heart ached for the wolf that stood there on the other side of the border as if he were unworthy of entering the lands; as if he thought he would be shunned by his pack.

That would never happen but he hoped that, if there was a next time, Kastiel would tell Toiro before he left so that Toiro wouldn’t have to worry if his friend had been hurt, or if he’d abandoned them forever. It was not unbelievable that wolves would drift away, especially considering how quiet it had been around here lately, although he had hoped that his friend wouldn’t do it.

But as he listened to Kastiel’s explanation, it began to make sense. Obviously, this wolf was very special to him. He remembered that when Kastiel had first joined Airila, he had made Toiro promise that his sister would be welcomed into the pack if he ever found her.

“It’s okay…” he murmured gently “I understand.” And he did. When he was young, there was a wolf called Nikia, who had been his friend since the day they met. When he had lost her to the river, he had searched for her in vain until he was far away from his homelands. Even when he had realised that it was no use, he had not been brave enough to return to his pack, afraid of being met with the accusations. If anything, this proved Kastiel’s strength – that he could return, despite being deeply ashamed, to the pack he loved.

Toiro moved forwards and nuzzled his beta. “Welcome home, Kastiel. We missed you”



.