Northern Frost


A semi realistic wolf rpg
 
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Awesome!
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Stalking - Pretty good
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Stalking - Not that good
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Eh...
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It's horrible
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AuthorMessage
Keet

Keet


Posts : 9
Flakes : 28
Join date : 2015-10-31

Character sheet
Strength :
тнε ωαя σғ тнε gяεεяαηs Left_bar_bleue1/50тнε ωαя σғ тнε gяεεяαηs Empty_bar_bleue  (1/50)
Speed:
тнε ωαя σғ тнε gяεεяαηs Left_bar_bleue10/50тнε ωαя σғ тнε gяεεяαηs Empty_bar_bleue  (10/50)
Stamina:
тнε ωαя σғ тнε gяεεяαηs Left_bar_bleue9/50тнε ωαя σғ тнε gяεεяαηs Empty_bar_bleue  (9/50)

тнε ωαя σғ тнε gяεεяαηs Empty
PostSubject: тнε ωαя σғ тнε gяεεяαηs   тнε ωαя σғ тнε gяεεяαηs EmptyWed Nov 25, 2015 12:45 pm

Soooo, this is my book that I've been writing for a while now. It's not done, but the pack that I've been posting it on is inactive, so I thought I'd post it here for all of you lovely people to read. Let me know what you think. If there's something confusing about the dialogue, if there are horrible spelling and grammar mistakes that bother you, or you have constructive criticism, please leave such things in the comments below! Thankies, and I hope you enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 1

A wolf figure traveled through the darkness of space. A female; alone, but headstrong, sure of where she was going. The wolf floated for a while, until she came upon another planet. She entered the atmosphere easily, floating down until her paws touched the harsh ground. She looked around, noticing that the ground was rocky, dry, and cracked. The air was dry, and a slight breeze swept through. She began walking, sprouts of plants peaking through the ground as she went forward. But as she looked behind her, the sprouts shriveled up into nothing. She looked ahead, and began to tread forward.  

Her fur bounced playfully as she began to trot, her pale yellow pelt standing out against the darkness around her. Her chest and belly were still white despite the travel, and her violet eyes were still bright and hopeful. She was excited to finally leave her home planet of Akaishi, there was too much drama there. Just because she was unique and had passions for space travelling, her parents went crazy, and so did the rest of the pack, or as they called it, the community. The pack was so large that it could have been called such a thing officially. But she was still young,  only 3 years old. She was still only a young adult according to the Akaishian lifespan of 18 years.


Her thoughts were interrupted as a harsh wind blew through the air. It was moist and cold, something unexpected. The weather system was so different from what she was used to. She found it rather confusing. She lifted her head slightly and sniffed the air, a faint scent of rain filling her nose, but it was so subtle that she could hardly smell it.

Suddenly, her front paw slipped and went downwards, and as she lunged backwards to see what it was that she had slipped into, she saw a large trench, rather bumpy and full of small caves. It was dry and cracked,  like the rest of the terrain. It was 100 ft deep, and 50 ft vertically wide. As she looked left to right, she saw that it was miles long, stretching on for miles and miles, disappearing into the foggy horizon. She looked down, and began to step out, a lillypad-like plant catching her paw, vines grabbing the sides of the trench as it came up from the bottom of it. She lowered the plant until she safely reached the bottom, letting the plant reduce to a sprout, and watched as it died within seconds. She moved quietly into one of the small caves, walking towards the back of it,  curling up and closing her eyes abruptly. As she dozed off, subtle sounds of small raindrops echoed through her ears. She listened carefully until she fell asleep.


The rain stayed at a steady drizzle, not shifting to a lighter or heavier pace. The wind calmed to a soft breeze,  soft enough to let the rain fall straight down without interruption.

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<

The sound of heavier rain sounded throughout the land. The female slept soundly for a few hours, but the sky did not change. No lighter, no darker. A sudden shift in sound pattern awoke her. She perked her ears, and slowly opened her eyes. She could have sworn she heard a flap of wings, but as she looked out the entrance to the cave, she saw no shadows. She rose to her feet, stretching out her limbs quickly before walking up to the entrance of the small cave. An eerie silence fell upon her surroundings and she listened closely, anticipating what was to happen next. She knew she was life here, she was sure of it. A sudden flash of black swept before her eyes, and she crouched low and to the side, her heart beat picking up quickly, her adrenaline beginning to pump, and her eyes widening. As she looked back to the outside of the entrance, she saw something she had never seen before; a black male wolf with a silver diamond upon his forehead, stunning green eyes, and, most unique of all, two large dark gray wings that resembled a bat's. He stood tall, staring at her for a second, his expression blank and his posture stiff. The female stood up as tall as she could, but she was still a good 2 inches shorter than him. His muscles were well built throughout his body, but he wasn't bulky, and his body was longer than her's. She expected to look different from the life here, but she didn't expect to look so... small.


A moment of silence fell upon them, but neither changed their postures. She opened her mouth slightly, and said softly,
"Uhm... Hi."

His eyes softened, his expression became somewhat surprised.

"Hi."
He responded. His voice was strong, but it wasn't as deep as the female had expected it to be.

Another moment of silence fell upon them, and the female had expected a question, but she did not receive one.

"So... who are you?"
She asked, somewhat irritated at the male's lack of words. But the male gave off a relaxed vibe, so she brushed her irritation off.

He perked his ears, and flinched slightly in realizing that he had not been quite kind to her, instead he thought of himself as creepy in the moment. He dipped his head, his wings lowering and folding inwards slightly, all seemingly signs of respect.

"My apologies. I am Alibi of the Western Pack. You are obviously not from around here. So, let me be the first to welcome you to the planet Greer. But I must ask, since you don't have wings like the rest of us, how did you get down here without injuring yourself?"
He asked, lifting his head back up, but folding his wings all the way in.

The female smirked slightly, taking in all of the information. She was slightly concerned at the meaning of his name, but this was a different culture, and perhaps "alibi" meant something else here. Instead of answering his final question with words, she grew vines from the ground and wrapped them around her legs, and lifted herself upwards slightly, moving herself above him by a few inches. She allowed purple berries to grow on her vines, and at the same time wrapped vines around Alibi's legs, lifting him up until they met eye-to-eye in height. She left his vines without fruit or flowers, avoiding taking his masculinity away from him. But as she did all of this, Alibi's eyes widened. His mouth began to water at the sight of plants; he seemed... hungry. The female tilted her head, and let the two wolves slowly fall back to the ground, but left herself in control of the sprouts to keep them from dying. To her surprised, Alibi lowered his head to the ground and wrapped his teeth around the sprouts,  tearing them out of the ground and swallowing them quickly.  The female stepped back, wincing in shock.


"You're an herbivore? How? There aren't any plants around here."
She asked, confused as the male continued to eat at the small plants.

Alibi's eyes widened and sparkled as he looked up at her. At that moment, the female became treasure to him. He hadn't eaten fresh plants in years. Instead of answering her, he said rather bluntly,
"You're an earth wolf! You've come just in time!"
He ate the last of the sprouts, and then rose to his feet, spreading his wings and holding his head high, a large smile coming across his face.

"Well... Akaishian wolf. I can only control plants. Akaishi is a few planets over... How are you still alive? The only plants I've seen here are my own."
She asked, changing subjects in the middle of her sentence.

"There's still some plants left at our camp site. They're years old and are dying quite quickly, but there's still enough to get us through for a few more years. But now you're here, you can save us!"
Alibi's smile only grew, and his eyes grew brighter, and the more he spoke, the happier his tone of voice got.

"Hold on now. I'm not a savior. I just got here. I don't know anything about where I am or who you wolves are."
The female said, the hesitation in her voice obvious. She then added,
"And you still don't even know my name."

"Well I can tell you everything you want to know on our way to our camp."
Alibi spread his wings and began to flap them, but he stayed near the female.
"I only don't know what your name is because you haven't told me."

The female scoffed, smiling slightly. Was this wolf joking? But as he waited on her to answer, she became more serious.
"Arazi."

"Well, Arazi, welcome to Greer. Now come on."
Alibi said as he flew in a flash up to the top of the trench.

The female, Arazi, shook her head, but followed after him on her lillypad-like plant. She reached the top, and hopped off of her plant, standing next to her new acquaintance. They began walking, Alibi leading the way.

As they walked along, Arazi looked behind her, squinting to see through the rain. On the other side of the trench, there was an empty land, the same terrain as the one they were walking on. But she got a sense of life from that direction, and she wondered what was over on the other side. More wolves? A different pack? Why hadn't Alibi mentioned them? She looked back up at the male, sighing, taking a deep breath, as she had many questions.

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<

Chapter 2

The two wolves walked along, both silent for a few moments. Arazi had many questions, but she wasn't sure which ones she wanted to ask first. She looked up at Alibi, noticing that his expression was blank again. He seemed focused on where he was going. Arazi looked in the direction that he was staring, but all she saw was land, sky, and rain.
"How can you tell where you're going? It all looks the same out here."

"The camp is in the same spot it's always been in. It's in my blood. Even if I can't smell it or see it, I know where it is."
Alibi responded, his expression staying the same.

"So generations of your kind has inherited this land. What generation is this?"
Arazi asked.

Alibi was hesitant to answer. His eyebrows lowered slightly, and his eyes scanned around for a moment, searching through his memories to find the correct answer.
"Technically, the 28th. But it's a bit more complicated than that. Define "generation.""

Arazi tilted her head, narrowing her eyes in confusion.
What does he mean "define" it?
She thought.
"Well... How long have wolves roamed here?"

"Then this is the 28th generation."
He answered rather quickly.

Arazi nodded, thinking about what question she wanted to ask next.
"Uhm... so how old are you?"
Arazi rolled her eyes at her own question. Of all the things she wanted to ask, she chose a stupid question.

"I'm 7. Only a year past the adult year."
Alibi said with a smirk and a short laugh. He found Arazi quite funny, the way she tried to be blunt but was actually awkward and a bit shy.

But Arazi didn't find anything funny; she was surprised at his answer.
They must have longer lifespans here.
"Well alright then. Next question. Uh... How many are in your community?"

Alibi's expression changed to one of confusion. He looked at her, raising an eyebrow.
"If by "community" you mean pack, there's 15 of us."
He shook his head after speaking, confused at her choice of words. That was the first time someone referred to a pack as a community.

"Oh, yeah, sorry. That's just what we call our packs on Akaishi. Moving on. Uhm... Ok, here's a good one. Why aren't there any plants here?"
Arazi asked.

Alibi's expression changed back to a blank one, his eyebrows lowered slightly. His ear flicked backwards, and he kept his mouth shut.

Arazi looked behind her, glancing at the land that she had noticed before, the one on the other side of the trench. Something wasn't quite right; judging by Alibi's reaction to her question, she could tell that she had struck one of his nerves.
"There's another pack back there, isn't there?"

Alibi smirked, nodding slightly.
"You're pretty intelligent for a cave dweller."

Arazi frowned. She didn't find his little joke as funny as he did.
"Thank you, but I know that you're only trying to insult me because you're getting defensive."

"I'm not defensive.... Yes, there's another pack. The Easterns."
He replied, rolling his eyes subtly at her remark.

"Clever names."
She scoffed. Her violet eyes scanned around as she sensed plants nearby. But she still had many questions.
"Ok, last one for now. That trench back there. What was it before? It obviously used to be something else."

Alibi's smirk disappeared, and once again, his expression turned back to his blank slate.
"It used to to be a river,"
He paused, and as he did so, his eyes sparkled slightly. The tone of his voice softened as he recalled,
"The Anulamba River. It had the clearest waters, sweet to the taste, refreshing to the touch. It smelled of berries and rain. It used to flow just 5 years ago. I played in it all the time as a pup, back before the lands were divided."
His eyes suddenly lost their nostalgic sparkle, and instead he looked down slightly, his eyes dull and almost lifeless.

"Divided? So that's why you call the territories Eastern and Western."
Arazi said, nodding slightly as she began to understand. But she didn't know why the lands divided. But it seemed she had asked too much.

"Look at the ground, Arazi."
Alibi said abruptly, slowing his pace so that she could look.

Arazi slowed her pace and looked at the ground. She shook her head.
"What about it?"

"What do you see when you look at it?"
Alibi asked.

Arazi looked closely, but she did not see anything interesting.
"Just dried dark gray cracks and ash. It's rather depressing. Is that what you're referring to?"
She said rather sarcastically.

"But it's raining. Why do you think it still looks that way? Surely you, a wolf who controls plants, knows why."

"It was poisoned?"
Arazi answered. As she looked, she saw what he was talking about. Despite the rain, the ground was still rather dry and cracked.

"Right. With what?"
Alibi asked. His voice was harsh, as if he was daring her to answer.

"Being a wolf who controls plants, I would say a poisonous plant. But that's all I've got, and frankly I have no idea where you're going with this."
Arazi said bluntly, looking him straight in the eyes.

Alibi stared right back into her violet eyes, holding a stern glare. He shook his head slightly, and looked back in front of him, a small frown occupying his expression. Arazi looked away as well, feeling somewhat guilty of her questions. She stared at the ground, contemplating what Alibi had said.

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<

An eerie silence was broken as Alibi stopped in his tracks and let out a quiet howl. Wolves were very near, and as Arazi looked around, she saw bushes and plush strands of grass peaking through the harsh ground. The soil changed from dark gray to dark brown, and it looked rather rich. She smiled, staring as the soil soaked up the rainwater that was falling. It was good to see green again.


"Alibi!  Where have you been?"
A feminine voice sounded. A white female with a black diamond upon her forehead and dark gray bat-like wings appeared, her focus completely on Alibi. As she approached,  she lowered her ears, wagging her slightly tucked tail, her light green eyes looking up at him. The female then glanced over at Arazi, looking her over. She was confused, and it was obvious that she was wondering who Arazi was and why she looked so different.

As Arazi stood up tall, she noticed that she was still about an inch and a half shorter than the female, and had a smaller body. The white female was also more muscular than Arazi was, but not as muscular as Alibi was.
Perhaps she's his mate.

"Jenae, this is Arazi. She's an Akaishian wolf and she likes caves and being a smart alek."
Alibi said was a playful smirk.


The white wolf named Jenae widened her eyes in surprise at his remark, smiling politely at Arazi.
"Hello, Arazi. Welcome to Greer... and Alibi's personality."

Both females looked at Alibi, shaking their heads at him.

Suddenly, Jenae flinched as she looked over to her side, yelling,
"Vince, no!"

By the time Arazi looked over to see what it was she was yelling at, a set of paws were in her face. She closed her eyes as she was thrown to the ground, her head flying backwards until it hit the ground. She slowly opened her eyes to see yet another stranger. It was a male green wolf with a white diamond upon his forehead, a white belly, deep blue eyes, and a set of dark gray bat-like wings. He was baring his large, sharp canines as a loud snarl came from his throat. His paws and his body trapped her under him, and his wings were spread out, making him appear even larger than he already was. She was lost for words, and it felt like she was trapped in silence for much longer than she actually was.

"Vince! Let her up!"
Alibi growled as he nipped at the green male's left wing in warning.

The male looked over at him, growling slightly as he stepped off of Arazi, allowing her to get up. As she rose to her paws, she noticed that the green male was shorter than Alibi, standing equal to Jenae's height. The green male, apparently named Vince,  stood tall as he looked Alibi in the eye.

"Who is she, and why is she here?"
Vince asked, his teeth still bared.

Alibi stayed calm, narrowing his eyes slightly and standing taller, spreading his wings to appear larger.
"Calm down, Vince. She's from the planet Akaishi. Her name is Arazi, and I expect you to treat her as an equal."

"Why should I?"
Vince growled.

Alibi whispered something, and Vince calmed quickly. He glanced back at Arazi, looking her over for a moment, and then back at Alibi as he continued to whisper.

Arazi shook her head in confusion.
How could Alibi take that much disrespect? Vince is obviously lower in rank to him, he's smaller and hasn't made a single command.
"Is Vince always this temperamental?"
She asked, looking over at Jenae.

Jenae chuckled softly, shaking her head slightly.
"Long story short, he's just very protective. Alibi understands, they're like brothers. They've known each other since they were pups."

"And you?"
Arazi asked, glancing back at them, noticing that Vince's expression had calmed as Alibi kept on whispering.

"Oh."
Vince said quietly, nodding as he looked back over at Arazi.

"Me? Well we've all known each other since we were young, we're all one generation here. But I guess he hasn't told you the whole story yet."
Jenae said, answering Arazi's question.

Arazi shook her head no, but stayed quiet as Alibi stopped whispering, standing tall, Vince doing the same.

"Vince will introduce you to everyone. I expect you both to stay respectful to each other."
Alibi commanded, nodding to Jenae and walking off, Jenae following him.

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<

Vince looked Arazi over, flicking his tail, many questions running through his head.
"So Alibi says that you can control plants."

Arazi nodded in response, hesitant to speak.

Vince waited for her to say something, but the eerie silence proved that she was not going to build on what he had said. He sighed, folding his wings inwards, but still standing tall.
"I'm Vince. But you probably already knew that. I'm second in command to Alibi. I'll show you around."
He started walking, his expression blank, but his tail flicking in slight annoyance.

The two wolves walked until they came upon a slight dip in the ground. As Arazi looked around, she noticed that the camp site was rather large, holding all 14 of the other wolves with plenty of space. The grass was thick, and the bushes and plants separated the rough terrain from the green terrain. The small dip in the ground was a large circle, as was the path that the bushes and plants followed, circling the camp site. But one odd thing she noticed; there were no dens.

"Do you just sleep wherever? No shelter?"
She asked, shifting her focus from her surroundings over to Vince.

He shook his head, answering,
"We don't need shelter. The rain doesn't sit enough to flood, the soil soaks it all up to preserve itself for the dry season. And maybe on Akaishi there are storms, but not here. It hasn't stormed since last generation. It's safe enough to just sleep wherever."

"Wait, what do you mean by "dry season"?"
Arazi asked, confused.

Vince chuckled, rolling his eyes slightly.
"You really have no idea what it's like here. For 6 months, it rains nonstop. Then for another 6 months, it stays dry. The sun may come out every now and then, but mostly at the beginning of the dry season. Catching glimpses of the sun after the first month of the dry season, that's rare."

"Interesting. Well anyways, who are all of these wolves?"
Arazi asked, changing the subject.

Vince listed off the rest of the wolves and their names, but Arazi hardly remembered any of them. She was tired and even a bit uninterested. She didn't understand why she was even listening. It's not like she planned on joining the pack. She was a traveller, and had only come to explore the place. She was already much more involved than she wanted to be. She lived in her imagination for a moment, wondering what other planets were around here.


Her thoughts were interrupted as Alibi came up to them, glancing at Vince, relieving him of duty. As Vince walked away, Alibi looked at Arazi with his classic blank stare with slightly lowered eyebrows, but this time he narrowed his eyes.
"You looked like you were in a different world the whole time Vince talked. What's going on?"

Arazi sighed, shrugging her shoulders.
"I don't know, I guess I'm still curious about the Easterns."
She meant it as a joke, but Alibi didn't find it funny.

"Nothing is really different over there. All Greerans have diamonds on their foreheads and dark gray wings. There's 15 of them too."
Alibi remarked.

"Hm. Is the equality in numbers a coincidence?"
Arazi asked, also attempting to be light and humorous.

A short eerie silence fell upon them, before Alibi answered sharply,
"No."

Arazi's eyes widened slightly, and she perked her ears in shock.
"Oh..."

Things became more clear; it was obvious that the Westerns and the Easterns were enemies, but she still had a lot to learn as to why. But one thing had shocked Arazi; both packs were killing each other slowly.
As Arazi looked out towards the gray, cracked ground, she began to wonder. Was the poison that they had talked about earlier... blood?

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<

Chapter 3

Arazi sighed deeply, sitting at the edge of the camp boundaries where the green terrain and gray terrain met, staring at the wolves. They all had two things in common; bat-like wings and diamond markings on their heads. They were simple colored, not too many weird markings or different colors. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. She wanted to leave this place before she learned too much. But something in the bottom of her heart told her to stay just a while longer, for she was still curious about the history and customs of this place. But at the same time, she felt like she was in constant fatal danger.

"Hey cave dweller."
Vince said darkly as he walked up, sitting next to her rather quietly.

Arazi's eyes peeked open, a bit surprised at his sudden approach. She rolled her eyes at the nickname, saying irritably,
"That name isn't going to stick as much as you want it to."

"It stuck with me. Anywho, what are you over here thinking so deeply about?"
Vince asked.

"For one, I'm wondering why you're suddenly nice to me. It's not everyday that I'm almost mauled one moment and then treated nicely the next. And on a more serious note, I'm just trying to figure out this custom. It's so different."
Arazi said with a sigh. She opened her eyes fully, but kept her eyebrows lowered. She was suspicious of Vince; he seemed so unstable, with many anger issues.

"Alibi explained a lot, and I'm also being nice because I was commanded to. And what do you mean different?"
Vince asked with a flick of the tail.
She's so annoying. She won't get to the point of anything. She's so difficult. She's so different.
He thought, flicking his tail in annoyance. He really didn't care too much for the female, but he was mature enough to know that he was being prejudiced, and that wasn't a good thing. They needed more wolves to join them, especially if they knew how to control plants - their food source.

"I mean... like you for instance. If anyone had spoken to their leader - like you did to Alibi - on my planet, they would've received a physical punishment."
Arazi paused to glance over towards Alibi's direction, noticing that he was talking to Jenae.
"And Jenae is so different from Alibi; it's kind of weird that they're mates. She's not very commanding or dominant either."

Vince rolled his eyes as she compared him to the wolves on her planet.
We're not on your planet, genius.
His expression changed completely as Arazi called Jenae Alibi's mate. He looked directly at her, shaking his head and scoffing.
"They're not mates. Alibi is the leader, I'm his second command, and everyone else has an equal role of pack members."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know mates were offensive here."
Arazi said quietly, lowering her ears sincerely as she watched him look directly at her. He gave off a dominant vibe and tone, the strength in his voice clear.

Vince sighed, relaxing his posture.
"It's not offensive. I guess the way mates work on Akaishi is different from how they work here. Well, wolves aren't really ever mates here. The mating season used to come every 2 years, and everybody who wanted to have pups chose a mate. After the pups were born, it's usually up to the parents if they stay bonded or not. Either way, both parents and the rest of the pack take care of the pups. This way, the chance of the pups' survival is largely increased."
He explained.


"But I don't see any pups here. It seems that everyone is about the same age - 6 or 7 years old. Where are all the pups?"
Arazi asked.

"Don't you see, Arazi? First of all we don't have enough food to support pups. We're barely getting by on our own. Plus, the mating season hasn't come for about 8 years. It's kind of hard to explain. The females became fertile by the scent of a certain flower that only blooms once a year. As you can see, the flower has stopped blooming. But back when it did, the females were sensitive to the scent of the flower, so sensitive that it caused their fertility. When the flowers bloomed, the females would either look for a suitable male or vice versa. Fights didn't break out often, the only times they did was if two or more wolves picked the same wolf of the opposite gender. Usually this happened to males, and they would fight to prove their worth to the female. Basically, females ran the show during that season. If it wasn't mating season, mates didn't usually exist unless there was a special emotional bond. And that mostly happened right after mating season. Emotional bonds don't really happen here."
Vince explained, narrowing his eyes slightly at his last sentence.

Arazi listened carefully, but all she could say was,
"I see."

A moment of silence fell upon them, but thoughts ran through their heads rapidly.

Perhaps she's not that bad. She's only confused.
Vince thought, but kept his expression the same.

There's still something about this place that doesn't make sense. I'm missing a large part of the story.
Arazi thought, running all of the information through her head.

As if on cue, Alibi walked up, his stunning green eyes glancing between the two of them.
"I see that you haven't killed each other yet. That's good."
He snickered, raising his head and flinching his wings, signaling that he was just being playful.


Vince smirked, shaking his head.
"I wouldn't kill her. She's just a little delicate flower."
He joked, fluttering his eyes mockingly.


Arazi would've laughed, but all she could manage was a smirk. She looked down, still contemplating what questions she should ask to get all of the information she needed.


"What's wrong?"
Alibi asked. Vince got up to let Alibi sit next to her, but he stood a few feet away to listen.

"Something is still bothering me. But I just don't know what it is."
Arazi paused to look into Alibi's green eyes.
"You're not telling me something. I can sense it."

Alibi kept his classic blank expression, glancing back at Vince.


Vince shook his head slightly.
"We can't keep it from her any longer."

Arazi narrowed her eyes, watching Alibi stare at Vince for a moment. Vince nodded, and both wolves looked back at Arazi.
"Keep what from me?"
She asked, her voice quiet and soft, afraid that whatever they kept from her was a big deal, something she hated causing.


"Arazi, I'm going to get straight to the point."
Alibi said, sighing. He paused for a moment, then continued,
"We're in the middle of a war."

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<

Arazi tilted her head, a confused expression on her face.
"Well, you're going to have to elaborate. Otherwise, I'm leaving this planet. I have no point in being here."

"Wait! Please don't leave. We need you! You can help stop the war!"
Alibi said, his voice a bit louder and firmer. But he seemed to be afraid of her leaving, the surprised look on his face proved so.

But Arazi shook her head, standing up to speak.
"No, I can't. I don't have the kind of power to do anything but make plants. I didn't come all of this way just to get murdered."

"Please hear us out, Arazi. You don't realize just how powerful you are here."
Vince said, his voice softer than usual.

Arazi glanced at him, taking a deep breath. She was surprised to see Vince trying to convince her to listen. She stared Alibi in the face, her violet eyes locking onto his green eyes.
"Well?"

"When I was a pup, my generation grew up in a peaceful time when there were no sides. There was one big pack with one leader and his mate. The land was plush, plentiful in plants, flowers, bushes, and even trees. The Anulamba River flowed, and it attracted my generation. It was a good play spot, what can I say. But when I was a year old, one of the pups on my generation turned into a rebel because he became greedy, jealous when he wasn't selected for the role of the next leader. He found the rules unfair and stupid. So he began to make his own, all for himself. He was shunned by the pack, but that didn't stop him. He would call the new leader all sorts of names, insulting him at every chance he got. He hated every single rule he made. And after a while, others began to join him. Our leader felt that it was safe to separate the rebel and his followers from the rest of us. I lost a good friend... but thankfully I had Vince and others by my side. But the rebel was furious. He felt that the leader shouldn't get away with what he was doing. So, he and his followers attempted to take us over. But they were far outnumbered, and the numbers of his followers went from 30 to 20 in a matter of an hour. However, he did manage to kill one of our females. The leader was furious, and we drove the rebels over to the other side of the Anulamba River. Since the river technically runs vertically across the planet, we called the territories Eastern and Western. Ever since then, we've been fighting so many times, so brutally, that the amount of blood, bones and rotted dead bodies poisoned the land. Over the years, the plants have disappeared. And the numbers of our packs are even because, well, every time a wolf dies, one of the wolves from the other side will be killed to keep things "fair". We're trying all we can to keep our food alive, but nature isn't in our control here... But it's in yours."
Alibi explained. His eyes began to sparkle as he paused, then continued,
"If you help us cleanse the ground and allow plants to grow, we can stay alive. And perhaps if we present your power to the Easterns, they will no longer see a reason to continue killing us over food. We may never become one pack ever again, but at least food won't be a problem anymore. Please, Arazi, we need your help. Or else, we'll all die and this planet will become nothing more than a floating rock."

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<

Arazi stood silently, lost for words. All she could do was stare. She glanced down at her paws. She never knew she could have such power, such importance. Her uniqueness could save a whole planet; she never would've known. She looked back up into his eyes, still a bit stern.
"So, perhaps I can stop a war... But what if I can't? If the Easterns rebel further, you'll still have a war and a high chance of the plants being further poisoned by the fighting. Then what?"

Vince stepped up slightly.
"It's our best option. If it doesn't work... we'll figure something out."
He said, his eyes sparkling with hope.

Arazi sighed deeply. She was now unable to leave. But maybe that was a good thing. She finally felt like she had a purpose, like her unique personality paid off. It was a wonderful feeling, but she still had the feeling that she was about to be killed.
"I understand. I'll do what I can."
She said, her voice tinted with hesitation.

Alibi's face lit up with a big smile. He glanced at Vince, who had a smaller smile on his face.
"This is fantastic! I'll let everyone know right away."
Alibi said before hopping up to his feet and prancing over to the others.

Arazi looked at Vince, who looked back at her.
"You've gotta promise not to tackle me again."
She said, smirking.

Vince snickered, shaking his head.
"I'd be lying to you if I did."
He smirked at her, walking away briskly.

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<

Chapter 4

Arazi sat quietly as Alibi spoke to the pack. He seemed to excited, so happy, so relieved. But if only he knew how afraid Arazi was...

This had better be worth it. I'm not going to be murdered like this.
She thought, holding back an eye roll.

Alibi finished explaining things to the pack, and walked over to Arazi, boasting a bright smile as he flinched his wings all giddy like.

"We leave tomorrow to meet the Easterns."
He said, his smile reducing to a smirk as he spat the Easterns' name. It always left a weird taste in his mouth when he said their name.

"Who's going to notify them?"
Arazi asked.

"Jenae and Eren."
He answered.

Arazi's heart sank in concern. She knew that Eren was a male, that's all she recalled about him, but still, the thought of Jenae being killed upset her.
Don't get too close to her, it'll tear you apart if you get close to her and then watch them kill her. Then if that happens, there's no telling what stupid thing you'll try to do for revenge, and then you'll get killed, and then everyone else will die.
She thought, running the worst scenario through her head.
"Alright."
She sighed.

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<

As Arazi lay silently on the ground, she listened to the sound of the sleeping wolves. She glanced over as she hear the flapping of wings, perking her head up to see what it was. As she saw Alibi and Vince wake up to greet two other wolves, Arazi sighed in relief. It was Jenae and Eren, returning safely. The four wolves greeted each other, and Jenae and Eren walked into the camp, finding a spot to sleep in, while Alibi and Vince lay down at the entrance of the camp. Arazi set her chin on the top of her paws, almost unable to close her eyes. She was so uneasy, so afraid, and she felt like she was being held hostage. She just wanted to leave. But as she looked around at the sleeping Greerans, her eyes filled with tears. They needed her help. But she just couldn't understand how she could stand in front of two armies and have the power to create peace and eliminate war. Everything was happening so quickly, she had only came here that morning, and now she was stuck in a war whilst being held as the single savior of the planet.
I'm no hero. I'm just a little different.
She thought, letting the tears roll down her cheeks silently. She forced her eyes to close, and she waited for morning to come.

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<

Arazi's eyes opened slowly as she heard the rustling of wolves roaming about. The rain had completely soaked her pelt, for she had not moved in hours. She stood up, stretching out her limbs and shaking her pelt, shaking off as much water as she could.

"Good morning, cave dweller."
Vince said as he trotted by her, padding towards Alibi, turning to stand by his side.

Arazi rolled her eyes, walking closer to the two dominant wolves. Both males had their wings spread open and their tails held high. Alibi's head was stretched as tall as he could make it, while Vince slightly lowered his head, baring his teeth slightly. Arazi tilted her head, noticing their odd positions, and how it effected the pack members, who tucked their wings and tails in, folding their ears forward to listen closely to the words that they were about to speak. Arazi looked around at them, imitating their body language in respect.


"We're going to the border today. All of the Easterns will be meeting us there. We will be presenting Arazi to them, and once they see her powers, we will try to negotiate a peaceful medium with them. But be prepared for the worst. Because we have an extra wolf on our side... there's no telling how they'll react."
Alibi said, swallowing harshly at has last sentence.

"In the case of a fight, I expect all of you to make an effort of protecting Arazi. Of course, if any packmate is in need of help, I still expect all of you to have each others' backs. Are we clear?"
Vince commanded, raising his tail high.

The pack members nodded, as did Arazi. They all looked at each other, swishing their tails, as if saying "I agree."

Alibi nodded, and Vince relaxed his posture. And with that, they led the way out of the camp, and the pack members followed.

Vince glanced at Arazi and flicked his tail, signaling her to come up to the front with them. Arazi trotted silently up the front, looking down to avoid all eye contact. As she came up to walk in between the two dominant males, she kept her head and tail low. She felt safe being surrounded by huge, muscular, aggressive winged warriors, but she knew that the other side had the same kind of wolves.

I don't want to die yet...
Was all she could think. She was an expert at giving off a blunt and aggressive vibe, hiding her fear and sensitivity. But today, her vibes fell flat to nothing, all of her fear clearly shown, her masks seen straight through.

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<

Alibi and Vince came to a sudden stop, and Arazi halted accordingly. They had reached the dried up Anulamba River. A dead silence came upon them, and all that was left to do was wait.

The wait seemed to last forever, the air tense and almost hard to be breathe. As the rain poured, fog clogged up the horizon. She couldn't see but a mile or so clearly, but she began to question the worth of the visibility as she heard flaps of wings echo through the quiet air. She looked up, but all she saw was rain and fog. She listened closely to the sounds of the wing flaps, watching carefully for signs of wolves. She sniffed the air,  but she couldn't smell anything unfamiliar.

Suddenly, 14 wolves touched the ground of the Eastern territory, their teeth bared, their wings spread and muscles tensed. Finally, the last wolf, the leader, flew down slowly, a smirk on his face standing out in contrast to his followers' aggressive vibe.

The male wolf was white pelted, a silver diamond upon his head, large dark gray bat-like wings, and light grey eyes that seemed to stab into the souls of others. As he touched the ground,  his wings folded in, and his tail stayed in a normal position. He stood in front of his followers,  and as they saw his demeanor, they relaxed, but kept their eyes locked firmly on the Westerns.

"Why hello Alibi. It's good to see you again."
The white male said. His words were kind, but his tone of voice was heavily tinted with sarcasm. He nodded to Vince, and then looked straight into Arazi's eyes.

Arazi had always thought that her eyes were stunning and unique, Alibi's eyes tying in first place. But that tie was broken, shattered to pieces as she felt his eyes stare into her's. His stare burned, stinging harshly every second he held the stare. She could see all of the hate, anger, and wrath that resided in the look in his eyes. It left her speechless.

"This is Arazi. She is an Akaishian wolf and controls plants. Arazi... meet Rojan."
Alibi said, his voice loud and firm.

The white male named Rojan glanced at Alibi as he spoke, but stared right back at Arazi when he had finished speaking.

Arazi stepped forward, clearing her throat before she said loud and clear,
"Rojan. I'm here to present an offer to you."

Rojan's eyes narrowed slightly, and he flinched his wings, opening them slightly. He flicked his tail, sending a signal of some sort to his followers, and as he did, they sat down abruptly.

Clearing her throat again, Arazi continued,
"I have the ability to provide food for all Greerans on this planet, and because of this, there should be an elimination of fighting over food, for it will be plentiful and overflowing, just was it was years ago. With no reason to fight over food or numbers, we are prepared to offer a peaceful medium. We don't ask your submission, but we do ask your cooperation."

Nobody responded immediately. An eerie silence fell, and Rojan's stare became harsher and colder.

Suddenly, Rojan flapped his wings and flew over the dried riverbed with speed and strength, landing loudly and harshly on the Western side, keeping his wings spread wide as he walked quickly towards Arazi, not stopping until he was an inch away from her face.

Vince growled, stepping closer, but as Alibi saw that the rest of the Easterns stayed seated on their side, he spread his wings straight out, halting Vince and the others, whispering,
"Wait."

Rojan stared right into Arazi's eyes, and Arazi forced herself to stand as tall she could, stretching her neck as far as she could, looking up, staring back into his eyes. His eyes were fierce, and could only be compared to a horrible nightmare in one's face. Both stayed silent and still, and both kept their tails straight out. Arazi was 2 inches shorter than him, shorter in length, and smaller in build, but she stood her ground. Rojan kept staring, refusing to move.

Rojan's jaws suddenly opened, and time seemed to slow down as Arazi saw his massive canines, noticing that her whole face could fit inside of his mouth. With a quick swift of her tail and a slight step of her right front paw, a large tree root shot from the ground and up and around Rojan's throat, Arazi flinching in fear, feeling almost out of control of her powers. She had acted solely on instinct, but as she regained herself, she saw that her root was holding the male by the neck, pushing him backwards slightly. He growled loudly, his eyes narrowed harshly, clawing and snapping at the root, but with no result.

Vince and Alibi had lunged forward, but they stopped as soon as they saw the root around Rojan's neck. All wolves stopped and stared in awe, amazed at Arazi's power.

But Arazi stared in horror;  she had no idea what she was doing, and as she looked back into Rojan's eyes, she saw wrath, anger, hatred, and a thirst for revenge. His eyes narrowed, and that was the moment that Arazi fully felt the danger of the situation. She gotten herself into a mess. Another quick swish of her tail removed the root from his throat, retracting back into the ground. Rojan stumbled backwards, growling lowly, his wings spread out.

All was silent.

"You mistake. We won't accept your peace. You will pay for your actions."
Rojan snarled to Arazi. His harsh stare shifted from her over to Alibi, and added coldly,
"All of them."
He bolted upwards, an echo of a flap of his wings sounding through the air. He disappeared in the fog, and seconds later, his followers joined him.

The sounds of their wings flapping gradually got quieter and quieter, indicating that they had left to return to their camp.

Arazi let out a breath that she had been holding, breathing a bit heavily, her eyes wide with shock. She turned around to face Alibi, and it was as if he was frozen in place.
"What just happened?"
She asked quietly, crouching slightly in fear.

Alibi's face was blank, but his eyebrows were lowered, and his eyes sparkled with disappointment and hopelessness.
"Remember the rebel I told you about yesterday?"
He asked blankly.

Arazi nodded in response.

"You just met him."
He said darkly, glancing towards the direction of the Easterns.

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<

Chapter 5

Arazi flicked her ear in irritation.
Now what are we supposed to do?
She thought, growling. She walked briskly as Alibi and Vince began to lead the way towards the camp site.

"What is it, Arazi?"
Alibi asked, his voice tinted with irritation.

Arazi shook her head slowly, her anger building every second. She ran ahead and stopped, turning to face Alibi, staring right into his eyes.
"Why am I even still here? Your little plan didn't work, and now there's nothing left to do."
She growled.

Alibi flicked his ear, agitated at her bluntness.
"Arazi, we'll figure something out. Calm down."

"I will not calm down! I'm already risking my life to save yours, and now that your plan hasn't worked, we're all going to die here because you were too arrogant!"
Arazi barked.

Alibi's eyes narrowed as she finished her sentence.

Vince tackled Arazi, pinning her to the ground quickly, growling in her face.
"Do not speak to Alibi with that tone! If you have something helpful to add, you may suggest something. Calling him out won't solve anything."
He said loudly.

Arazi squirmed violently under him, trying to get away.
"Get off!"
She yelled, clawing at his face. Her claws were not sharp enough to break his skin, for his skin was too thick.

After struggling for a bit, Arazi realized that she wasn't going to get anywhere. She stopped struggling, and instead began to cry, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Vince relaxed his posture, sighing as he stepped off of her to let her up. He looked at her, somewhat annoyed at her emotions.

As she stood, she continued to let her tears flow down her face, shaking her head.
"I don't want to be here anymore. I never wanted to stay."

"Then why did you?"
Alibi asked calmly.

Arazi looked up at him, narrowing her eyes in anger. She stayed quiet, catching her breath and holding back her tears.
"I wanted to help. I didn't want any of you to die..."
She said, her voice softening.
"But I've only made things worse. I'm worthless here. I'm worthless at home. And I don't know what to do about it, because I refused to change who I am to please anyone."
She looked around, quietly adding,
"And look what my stubbornness has caused."

The pack stayed silent. No one truly knew how to answer her.

Alibi stared at her, thoughts running through his head.
What have I done?

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<

As the pack headed to the camp, not another word was spoken. Arazi dragged along behind the pack, feeling like a loner. She didn't look up the whole time.

As they reached the camp, Arazi veered off on her own, staying just outside the borders. She hid behind the bushes, sitting down quietly and watching as she made a feathery shrub grow. She made beautiful indigo flowers twist up the shrub, blooming into a small flowerbed. Even though this made her feel better, she kept a small frown on her face, her eyes still swollen and watery.

I don't understand. I was supposed to make a difference here. I don't see the point in living any longer if I don't have a purpose.
She thought, holding back tears. She let red flowers bloom just outside of the shrub, thorns choking the stems that they grew on.

My community is still wrong... I'm not insane like they say I am. But I have no value. I shouldn't have been brought to this universe in the first place. It has no place for me.
She shook her head in disappointment and sorrow.

Why is everyone doing this to me? I just need someone to prove me wrong.
As she sat there for another minute, she heard paws padding against the ground near her. But she didn't even look to see who approached her.

Vince walked in front of her, looking in her eyes. Arazi looked down to avoid looking directly at him.

Vince sighed, looking at the indigo flowers. He took in a deep breath through his nose, taking in the scents of the plants. He took a bite out of the feathery shrub, enjoying the sweet taste of a fresh plant. He boasted a small smile, warm and genuine. Arazi looked up at him, lowering her eyebrows in confusion. She had never seen him smile before. She wondered what it was that made him smile so warmly.

He looked at her after he finished swallowing the plant. He said clearly and firmly,
"You are not worthless."
And with that, he walked away.

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<

That night, Arazi opened her eyes slightly as she heard the quiet flapping of wings and footsteps. She lifted her head, and taking in the scents, noticed that Jenae had flown off. Arazi narrowed her eyes in confusion, but she set her head down, closing her eyes to sleep.

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<

"Arazi! Wake up!"
Alibi shouted.

Arazi jumped to her feet, eyes open wide. The pack was in a panic, talking loudly to each other, some sobbing and crying.
"What happened?"
She asked, raising her voice so that Alibi could hear her.

"They killed Jenae!"

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<


Last edited by Keet on Wed Nov 25, 2015 1:11 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Keet

Keet


Posts : 9
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Join date : 2015-10-31

Character sheet
Strength :
тнε ωαя σғ тнε gяεεяαηs Left_bar_bleue1/50тнε ωαя σғ тнε gяεεяαηs Empty_bar_bleue  (1/50)
Speed:
тнε ωαя σғ тнε gяεεяαηs Left_bar_bleue10/50тнε ωαя σғ тнε gяεεяαηs Empty_bar_bleue  (10/50)
Stamina:
тнε ωαя σғ тнε gяεεяαηs Left_bar_bleue9/50тнε ωαя σғ тнε gяεεяαηs Empty_bar_bleue  (9/50)

тнε ωαя σғ тнε gяεεяαηs Empty
PostSubject: Re: тнε ωαя σғ тнε gяεεяαηs   тнε ωαя σғ тнε gяεεяαηs EmptyWed Nov 25, 2015 12:48 pm

(First post got too long, starting second post.)

Chapter 6


Arazi paused, shocked at Alibi's announcement. For a moment, she just stared at him, her mouth held slightly open. Her shocked expression gradually shifted into an angry one, her teeth bared viscously. She pushed past Alibi, and ran at full speed out of the camp site.

"Arazi! Where are you going?"
Alibi yelled after her.

"Come back!"
Vince yelled.

Arazi heard the barks and yelps of the other pack members, but she ignored them, running as fast as she possibly could. Anger, sorrow, and wrath filled her eyes as she narrowed them tightly. Her legs carried her quickly towards the Anulamba River, leaving a trail of thorns behind her, before they shriveled into nothing.

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<


Alibi and Vince flew after her, catching up to her within a few minutes. The Westerns followed closely behind them, the sound of their flapping wings loud and thunderous.


As Alibi reached Arazi, he flew over her, yelling,
"Arazi, stop! You don't understand yet!"

But Arazi stayed silent, her teeth still bared and her eyes still narrowed. She ignored Alibi's commands to stop, instead keeping her fast pace. She knew that her speed was nothing compared to the others, but she didn't care. She was in a rage of fury, and all she cared about was confronting Rojan.


As she approached the river, she refused to slow down, running across her lillypad-like plants that vines clung to the side. She cleared the river, her lillypad-like plants disappearing as soon as she stepped onto solid ground. As she ran, the ground became somewhat softer, the cracks less numerous and the dryness lesser than the Western ground. As she sniffed the air, she could smell Rojan nearby. Through the fog and the rain, she could see a faint wolf figure. She slowed down, growling loudly. The Westerns landed behind her, all trying to catch their breath.

Arazi stormed forward, yelling loudly,
"You bastard!!"

The wolf figure whirled around, showing its face. Sure enough, it was Rojan. He trotted out of the fog, approaching Arazi quickly. His harsh silver eyes were narrowed, cutting into her violet eyes with his stare. His wings were spread, and his tail was held up. All the fur from the top of his scruff all the down to the tip of his tail was standing straight up, all making him seem extremely intimidating.

But Arazi stood her ground, actually coming closer until she was just an inch away from his face. She opened her mouth to speak, but she was interrupted.


"Arazi, stop this now. You don't know what you're doing."
Alibi said, his voice low and deep, serious in his tone.

"We could all flee from you right now and you'd still be twice the coward that anyone else is!"
Arazi growled, staring right back into Rojan's angry eyes.

Rojan stared for a moment, and then his expression changed into a smug smirk.
"You really need to learn how to control her, Alibi."
He paused to glance at Alibi, then added,
"She's pretty rude for a food source."

"Shut up!"
Alibi and Arazi yelled simultaneously.

Rojan glanced back into Arazi's eyes.
"Child, you are very foolish and arrogant. You really think you can look me in the eye and criticize me for following a rule? Do you even know what that rule is?"

Arazi's expression changed to one of surprise and confusion. She was silent, and did not answer him.

"You listen to me, you little douche bag. Before you come in an risk making a terrible mistake like you just did, I'm going to suggest for future reference that you get your facts straight before throwing another tantrum."
Rojan growled.

He snapped at her face, and in response Arazi threw a root at his throat again. Rojan opened his jaws and snapped the root, using his powerful paws to rip it away from around his throat. Arazi threw another root, this time holding his paws down with more roots, and wrapping his muzzle with a vine.

When she got him locked down, Alibi got up in his face.
"Now you listen to me."
He growled, snapping at his face.
"She knows of the equality rule. But she doesn't know the code. So before you go on making judgments, perhaps you should listen and get your facts straight."
Alibi then changed to a very serious, almost hurt expression as he added,
"I won't have you take everything away again."

Rojan growled, opening his jaws harshly to break the vine. He howled loudly, and within seconds the Easterns came running from behind him. Two of them broke the roots, and the rest went in for an attack. At the same time, Rojan flew at Alibi, claws reaching and jaws wide open.

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<

Alibi hit the ground, Rojan pinning him. They both growled loudly, and Alibi used his hind paws to kick Rojan in the chest. Rojan flew backwards, but began flapping his wings to avoid hitting the ground. Alibi complied, flapping his wings to fly up as well. The two males flew at each other, each one filling their jaws with each other's necks. They swirled around, battling for an upper hand on who was going down first.

Arazi took her attention off of them, and looked around her. The Easterns and Westerns were fighting each other, some flying, others staying on the ground. She froze, completely lost as to what to say or do. She had never really fought anyone before, but her anger was building as she thought about Jenae.

What code was Alibi talking about? Whatever it was, it doesn't justify them killing Jenae.

Her thoughts were interrupted as she hit the ground, her head falling backwards and almost knocking her unconscious. She opened her eyes to see a female Eastern snarling loudly at her, her jaws open and going in for a bite. Her canines wrapped around Arazi's neck, crushing the skin with great force. She froze again, waiting and hoping for instinct to kick in. Arazi had no choice but to use her teeth, for it appeared that her plants were no longer useful in fighting. She extended her neck as far as she could, and grabbed the skin of the female's head, pulling away quickly to tear some of the skin off. The female loosened her grip, pulling away slightly to get out of Arazi's reach. Arazi used the female's pulling away to her advantage, pressing her chin against her chest so that Arazi could bite the female's muzzle. Her left top and bottom canines aimed incorrectly, wrapping either sides of the female's eyes. Her right top and and bottom canines held on to the female's muzzle, and she bit down as hard as she could. The female pulled completely away, and as soon as she did, Vince pounced on her, tackling her and pinning her to the ground. Arazi got up, dazed as blood dripped from her neck. She looked to find Alibi, and she saw him grabbing Rojan's leg in midair and throwing Rojan onto the ground harshly. She heard the loud thud as soon as he hit, and she cringed at the sound.

She was suddenly tackled again, feeling jaws wrap around her skull. She pulled away as quickly as she could, the canines of the opposing wolf ripping the top layer of skin from the base of her left ear to her eyebrow, leaving a longer scratch on the bottom row of rips that went to her muzzle. She rolled onto her feet, jumping away, and turning to face her enemy. It was a large male, his wings spread open and beginning to flap as he flew at her. He grabbed her hind left hip and flew up, turning downwards and diving to the harsh floor. Arazi blacked out, feeling pain in both her hips and her lower back. She groaned in pain, but suddenly she heard a howl from Rojan. She looked over to see, raising her head slightly to look.

Alibi had ripped open Rojan's cheek and scratched a deep wound into his rib cages. Alibi stumbled backwards, panting heavily. Blood dripped from his hind right ankle, the base of his ear, and his right elbow. Arazi cringed again. She didn't like fighting like this, and she was glad that Rojan had howled, stopping everyone in their tracks.

An eerie silence fell upon them, only hearing the heavy breaths, the rain, and the slight breeze. For a moment, not a word was spoken. Everyone awaited instructions, but both leaders were wounded and tired.

Finally, Rojan began trotting back to their camp site, all of the Easterns following him at once. Alibi began to turn as well, but he caught sight of Arazi; she was still lying on the ground, her neck dripping with blood, the scratches on her skull beginning to turn red and blot blood. She rolled over onto her belly, pausing to catch her breath.

What just happened?

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<

Back at the camp, the Westerns rested, still breathing heavy and wounds still bleeding. Arazi sat, watching over all of them. Her hips and neck were still in pain, but her skull felt better.

Vince came over to her, a deep rip going across his jaw, and scratches on his neck and chest. He flicked his ear, looking her in the eyes, as if he was watching for a lie when he said,
"Are you alright?"

Arazi took a deep breath, hesitating to answer. She shook her head no, but she lit up as she said,
"I think I can help."

Vince perked his ears, tilting his head slightly.
"How so?"

Arazi smiled a small smile as she made a bright green plant grow up from the ground, touching the wound on Vince's jaw. He flinched, unused to the feel of something soft touching him. He opened his mouth to say something, but all that came out was a sigh of relief. The plant withered back into the ground, a flick of Arazi's tail making it disappear. The wound was almost completely gone. She smiled brightly, happy that it worked. Vince smirked happily as he saw her smile genuinely, but he let it fade back into a blank expression.

"We should tell Alibi about your healing powers, cave dweller."
Vince said, turning to walk towards Alibi.
Why were you so happy when she smiled? Stop being so childish.
He thought to himself, straightening his posture and keeping his expression blank.

Arazi smiled softly. She was now used to the nickname, but she found it funny that only Alibi and Vince called her that. She nodded, following to talk to Alibi, a slight bounce in her step.

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<

Chapter 7

Arazi and Vince approached Alibi, Arazi cheerful and excited, while Vince kept a straight face and posture. Alibi looked between the two of them, his eyes dull and giving off a disinterested vibe.

"Yes?"
Alibi asked, his tone of voice rather irritated.

Arazi smiled cheerfully, wagging her tail.
"When I was on Akaishi, my mother began to teach me how to heal with certain plants-"

"Arazi, I'm quite tired. I'm sure what you have to say is important, but I'm really not in the mood. I'm tired and in pain, and need some rest. We all do. Tomorrow you can tell me the rest of what you have to say, and I also have some things to tell you. Alright?"
Alibi said, cutting Arazi off.

She stood there, somewhat surprised. But as he looked at her with dull eyes, she nodded her head silently. She turned to walk off, blankly looking around at the others who were wounded. They were all resting, licking each other's wounds to clean them, allowing the rain wash the blood stains off. She sighed, slowing to a stop near the back of the camp, laying down silently.

Vince watched her, staying with Alibi as he did so. He wondered why she always separated herself from the others, and was uncomfortable being in the middle of the pack.

"Vince, we need a new plan."
Alibi said.

Vince snapped out of his thoughts. His eyes darted over to Alibi as he spoke. He nodded, looking down slightly.
What are we going to do? Nothing is working.
He thought. He wanted badly to speak his thoughts to Alibi, but he knew that he was tired and hurt. He didn't want to make it harder for him.

"Vince... I don't know what to do."
Alibi admitted, sighing in disappointment.
Pathetic...
He thought, narrowing his eyes.

"Neither do I. But we'll get through this. Arazi can help us."
Vince said, keeping his tone of voice positive.

But Alibi kept his eyes narrowed.
I offer a food source and a peaceful medium that doesn't upset any rules. And those Easterns are arrogant enough to throw that away.
He looked over towards Arazi, his eyes still narrowed. He looked down, finally softening his expression.
How could I be so lost?
"What kind of leader am I? Vince, I've caused so much trouble here, and I didn't even have the backup plan to fix my trouble."

Vince shook his head in disagreement.
"You know it's Rojan's fault. He's the one killing his own pack because he was too proud to stop and listen to a better option. He's caused the trouble, and you know that."

Alibi smiled at Vince's reply. Vince knew exactly what to say, always. He was the best friend that he could have. Still, his conscience bothered him, taunting every mistake he's made. He laid his chin on top of his paws, sighing.

With that, Vince walked off, finding a place to lay down as well.

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<

As the night fell, the pack slept silently, deeply. There was a depressing vibe among them, and as Arazi woke for a moment, she could feel that vibe. Although Arazi was feeling the loss of Jenae, she wasn't quite sure if the others were feeling the same way. She was never quite good at reading vibes and facial expressions, but this time she could feel the tense, dark, sorrowful air. It constricted her. She closed her eyes again as she noticed that everyone was still asleep, dozing off quickly.


>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<


Arazi awoke again, now seeing that other wolves were beginning to wake up. She rolled onto her belly, stretching out her limbs and yawning. She had slept well, surprisingly. Today felt like a calm day, but she lit up as she realized that she still had to finish her conversation with Alibi. She rose to her paws, trotting over to one of the plants that she didn't create, taking a bite out of it. She paused, unsure of how she felt about the taste. The plant was old and lost some of its freshness, and the flavor was rather different. But she swallowed, and continued on towards Alibi. She approached him, smiling slightly.


"Hello there."
She said.

"Hi."
He replied, a light chuckle escaping his throat.

"So as I was saying yesterday. I learned about plants that had the ability to heal wounds almost completely in a matter of seconds. And I tried it on Vince, and it worked! Now I'd like to know if I can do the same to everyone else."
She said, ending her sentence with a smile.

Alibi sighed, faking a smile. He didn't doubt her, but Arazi had hinted that she wasn't fully trained in healing, and he wondered if she really knew what she was doing. He also had the things that he wanted to tell her on his mind.
"You have my permission to do so. But we have to talk about yesterday. There's a rule I haven't fully explained."


Arazi's smile faded as he spoke, feeling a bit of remorse of her actions the day before. She had caused another fight to break out, and she found out the hard way just how weak she is compared to the Greerans. She cringed at the thought of that day. But she nodded in response, perking her ears to listen to him speak.


"I told you that it's intentional that we keep the numbers of members equal in both packs. If one wolf on one side goes down, a wolf on the other side must go down as well. And if one gains a member on one side, the other side must either gain a member quickly, but if they don't, they will take one of the members from the side who gained one to even the numbers. Basically, both packs have to keep the numbers equal."
He explained.

But Arazi shook her head in confusion.
"That doesn't mean that the Easterns murdering Jenae was the right thing to do."

Alibi sighed.
"I know it's not."

"How did you even find out they killed her? And if that's the rules, why was everyone so surprised?"
Arazi asked curiously.

"One of the Easterns came to Vince to announce it to him. I don't know how they got her without us knowing, but they said they buried her in the Anulamba, so they must have killed her far away from here. And secondly, although it's the rules, we didn't expect it to happen so fast. We usually give them time to gain another member. Although that's not really possible right now for them to gain, we didn't expect them to kill one of ours the day after they found out we had one extra. It's like they didn't want to waste any time that we politely gave them. I don't understand that either."
He explained, shaking his head as he finished his last sentence.

Arazi shook her head again.
"Why would there be such a horrible rule?"

Alibi's expression went blank again, but he puffed out his chest slightly.
"Greerans are a race of warriors. It's been that way for generations and generations on. We all have a code that's encrypted in us; a code of honor. And that code has been encrypted long before the war started, so it's carried on even after the war. Because of this, out of respect for our generations, both sides followed the code of honor. In this code, equality is one of the biggest deals. Females had the right to be just as strong and as skilled as males, all wolves under the leader of a pack were equal to each other and had no special authority over each other, and because our packs split, it was correct for there to be equality present too. The two leaders have no special authority over each other, neither did the wolves below the leaders have authority over each other. Females and males fight equally, and to keep the fighting even, the numbers must be equal."
He explained.

Arazi thought on this, but she still couldn't understand why it had to be that way.
"It's still cruel."
She sighed.

"It's our way of living. The same reason you learned how to heal. It's just a part of you."
Alibi then walked away abruptly, for he had said all that he wanted to say and he had pack members to attend to.

Arazi watched him walk away, still trying to wrap her head around his words. His comparison to her healing skills helped her understand, but something was so different about this war and the codes and rules.
At least my healing doesn't involve destroying others to keep numbers equal.
She thought, rolling her eyes, following after him.

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<

Chapter 8

Alibi walked around the camp, scanning the pack members and their wounds. Some had major cuts, others only nicks and scratches.
We were fortunate this time.
He thought, a bit concerned.
It could've been so much worse... Arazi could have been killed. What am I even doing? We've got to find another way to stop this madness.
Thoughts and ideas ran through his head all at once, and he could've sworn that he was beginning to go insane.

"I can show you how I can help."
Arazi said.

Alibi snapped out of his insanity, glancing over at Arazi as she spoke. She was following behind him. He didn't think she had been speaking to him this entire time, but he wasn't quite sure, what she said was rather random.
"What can you do again? I'm sorry, my mind kinda broke for a second there."
He said, smiling slightly.

Arazi didn't answer, she simply walked off away from him and to one of the females. The female had harsh open cut along her side, and it was still slowly dripping blood. Arazi swished her tail slightly, and she made a beautiful light green plant with black flower buds grow from the ground, and she wrapped it around the female's sides until her wounds were covered. Alibi walked over, watching intently. The black flower buds looked delicious, but he could tell that now wasn't the time for eating. He watched as the green part of the plant split and spread out across the female's wound, until the wound was invisible. Arazi swished her tail again as the plant unwrapped, revealing a healed wound that was almost completely gone, and simply looked like a small scratch along her side. The female was impressed, smiling as her pain disappeared. Arazi looked at Alibi, smirking and raising an eyebrow. Alibi chuckled softly.

"Amazing."
He said cheerfully.

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<

Arazi went around, attending to the pack's wounds. Alibi had insisted on being treated last, and Arazi did so. She healed everyone else first, then she finished healing Vince's wounds, and then she walked over to Alibi again.

"That's everyone. Are you ready?"
She asked.

Alibi nodded silently, standing up so that she could go to work.

Arazi wrapped feathery light green plants around his wounds, carefully placing one of the plants upon his ripped cheek.

"Are all of the healing plants this color?"
Alibi asked, initiating conversation.

Arazi couldn't help but chuckle as she answered,
"No."
She paused to remove the plant from his cheek, moving on to the next wound.
"But most of them are a light green. However, they can be pretty much any color."

Alibi nodded to acknowledge that he was listening. He watched as he could read all of the focus on her face and in her eyes, smiling slightly.
"You enjoy healing. Why did you even leave Akaishi?"
He asked.

Her expression went blank.
"They found me strange. I didn't fit their mold, because I was different than them."

"How so?"
He asked.

"Well, everyone else had this idea firmly fixed in their mind that following the rules and customs and stuff like that was far more important than being creative. They were all about being open and sweet to everyone and always so happy about everything. And I just... wasn't. I was the realistic one. I found tradition to be boring, and creativity to be exciting. I was the one who was afraid of getting hurt and being taken for granted. I was the one who didn't find joy in the same things everyone else did. I was the loner. And they couldn't stand that I was my own wolf. So I left."
She explained rather blandly.

Alibi just looked at her for a moment.  He didn't really want to say anything. He didn't know all of this about her. She did mention that she felt worthless on Akaishi, but he didn't quite understand until now. He simply nodded, for he couldn't find the right words to say. He had been feeling quite worthless himself, his efforts becoming failures and causes for trouble. But he wasn't sure about opening up to Arazi yet, even though it was only the fair thing to do.

Arazi glanced up at Alibi, a smile slowly forming across her face.
"It's nice when someone simply listens. Thank you, Alibi."
She paused as she finished healing the last wound, and then stepped back. She kept smiling, and she added,
"You're my first real friend."
She stepped up and wrapped her neck around his, giving him a hug. She closed her eyes, enjoying her first real hug. Her smile was the brightest it could be. She stepped back, her eyes lighting up as she saw a soft smile across Alibi's face.

"I'm sorry I've dragged you into this, Arazi. I'm just so tired of this war. It feels pointless now, and I've tried everything I could think of to stop it. All of my attempts have proved useless."
He sighed, quickly noticing that he was opening up, something he meant to restrain from. But it seemed to just flow from his lips, and that was something that rarely happened to him.
"But I'm glad to have you by our side. You're invaluable."
He smiled again, but he walked off without another word.

Arazi watched him walk away, and she just couldn't help but keep her smile. All of her doubt seemed to wash away. Her fears seemed to fade into nothing. She was finally above the flame that had been trying to burn her her whole life. Her uniqueness was invaluable here; and for the longest time, that was all she ever wanted.

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<

Arazi happily walked around the camp, growing her beautiful plants wherever she desired, enhancing the old plants into fresh life. Flowers of all sorts of colors blossomed, painting the green with a wide set of colors. She continued this until she made a full circle around the camp, and then she stretched the boundaries where the gray and the green met, letting grass grow as the rain nourished it. She made it as plush as she could,  letting buds of flowers climb above the grass. She stuck roots out of the ground, turning them into tree saplings. She couldn't control the trees beyond that, but she made sure the grass was plush enough around it to provide it with extra nutrients. She walked in a large circle, her tail continously swishing slowly as life grew all around her. The fog and the rain still darkened the colors, but it certainly looked better than it did before. She stopped to lay down in the soft grass, smiling as she rolled in it happily. She had missed the feeling of soft grass, she hadn't felt it like this since she left Akaishi. The grass was her favorite part of her planet. It was only matched by the grass she could grow. No other grass she had touched was as soft, as plush, as beautiful as Akaishian grass. She got lost on her own little world as she felt the soft rain and her favorite grass surround her.

For these moments, she was in pure bliss.

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<

Chapter 9

Arazi had fallen asleep on the grass that she had grown, but she slept only lightly, for she still felt unsafe even in her own little world. She was awoken by Alibi as he said,

"Arazi, I've got a new plan!"

He then pranced away happily, heading back to the inside of the camp. His tail wagged, and the bounce in his step indicated that he was excited.

Arazi rolled onto her stomach and stretched out her limbs, yawning and shaking her pelt clean. She followed after him, wagging her tail softly as she was eager to hear what he had to say.

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<

Alibi stood in front of the pack, with Vince standing by his side. Alibi was smiling, holding himself high and wagging his tail happily. Vince simply stood still with a soft smirk on his face.

"Westerns, the last attempt to offer peace to the Easterns failed. However, Vince and I have come up with a new way to end this war peacefully. Arazi, come up here please."
Alibi said.

Arazi hesitantly walked up on the other side of Alibi, holding herself a bit low, as she was not accustomed to being held higher than the other Westerns. She looked at them and over at Alibi and Vince, noticing Vince's glance of confusion as she came up with them. But he looked away, and paid no attention to the rest of the pack, so Arazi did the same.

"Now, last time we offered to supply food so that we wouldn't have to fight over who had more food. This way, the equality rule would fade and there would be one less reason to kill each other. However, they did not accept. So we're going to get a little bit more assertive. Vince?"
He explained, looking over at Vince as he finished his sentence to allow him to elaborate.

Vince held himself high, looking over all of the Westerns as he explained,
"Alibi and I will go with Arazi over to the Eastern camp at night while they are sleeping. Arazi will grow them plants that are equal to the amount of food that we have. And if Arazi wants to, perhaps she will grow them a bit more than what we have. This way, they get to see a peak of our offer of peace before they accept. If they deny, Arazi will choose whether they get all of their food taken away, or if she takes away only what she has grown. Either way, they will have less food and will be without our peace and alliance."

Arazi listened as Vince explained, and she almost panicked.
How am I to decide? I don't have that authority.
She looked at Vince, flashing a look of concern. He looked over at her, but he looked away quickly.

"We will leave tonight. The rest of you, stay near the Anulamba River to help if things get out of hand. Understand?"
Alibi asked, strengthening his tone. The Westerns nodded, looking at each other and swishing their tails. Arazi did the same even though she was held higher than the rest of them.

Alibi nodded, and he began to walk off. Arazi followed him, trotting towards the entrance of the camp as she said,
"May I speak with you?"

"Sure."
Alibi said, changing his direction to follow her.

They stood outside of the camp, Alibi staring as he observed the grass. He silently moved his front right paw in a circle, feeling the grass. It was plush, soft, and beautiful. He hadn't felt such fresh grass in a long time. He had never quite felt it like this though. It was as if it was something foreign, something that he used to take for granted until now.

"Alibi."
Arazi said, snapping him out of his thoughts.

Alibi looked up, perking his ears.
"Sorry. Yes?"

Arazi sighed, taking a moment to find the right words to use to express her thoughts.
"I don't know about this new plan. What if I cause another fight? What if someone else is killed? And what if it does work, the war won't end just because I can grow plants. There's years of war that need to be covered that my plants simply can't cover."

Alibi smirked slightly, hiding his concern.
"Everything will be ok. If they don't accept our peace, it'll be their loss, and Rojan will have the blood of his pack on his paws. The war will end one way or another."
He paused to change his expression to one of a serious expression.
"Arazi, you are worth so much more than you believe you are. Without you, this planet will become nothing. It's already quite close to it. And if they accept the peace, even though there's much more to be done to end it, you will have helped get one step closer to ending it."

Arazi smiled at his words. She began to walk back to camp, but she slowed down as she began to speak again.
"What will you do if the war ends?"

Alibi took in a deep breath, taking a moment to think.
"Well, if the war ends, and if you decide to stay and help the planet grow plants again, then the mating season will return, and the wolves will be able to get the population of Greerans up. We'll just have to see what happens after that."

Arazi smiled at him, and he smiled back.
I really am making a difference.
Arazi thought, looking down at her grass. They entered the camp, and she sat at edge, watching over the Westerns as they ate from the plants that she had grown earlier. She simply smiled.

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<

As night time fell, Alibi, Vince, and Arazi began to move out, leading the Westerns towards the Anulamba River. Arazi ran behind Alibi and Vince as they flew low to the ground, keeping up with them as best as she could. She listened to the flapping of wings all around her, smiling as she listened, noticing the silence that occurred other than the flapping of wings and the breeze that blew by, softly bending the rain diagonally. As they reached the Anulamba, the Westerns behind her came to a stop, but Alibi and Vince flew over the river, and Arazi followed on her lillypad-like plants, running across the top of them. Arazi's joy disappeared as she felt the uneasiness of being in the East overcome her. She kept following Alibi and Vince, but her smile disappeared and a look of concern took over. She could see plants in the distance, and it was apparent that this was the Eastern camp. It looked similar to West's camp, but less green and rougher looking. She slowed as Alibi and Vince landed silently, trotting until they reached the outside of their camp. Arazi looked around at the sleeping wolves, seeing Rojan asleep in a den he had made out of a pile of rocks and vines. It was held on slightly higher ground than the ground that the other Easterns were sleeping on. Immediately, Arazi went to work, beginning with grass that extended outside of the camp borders. She then grew beautiful bushes, some with different kinds of berries on them. She grew vines along the old bushes, supplying the vines with juicy berries. She grew tree saplings, swishing her tail as she did so. She grew all sorts of small shrubs, adding in some small plants that had more berries on them. She continued to work until they had equal amounts of food, but before she turned to leave, she left two beautiful violet flowers at the entrance, smiling as she did so. She turned to leave, and Alibi and Vince flew ahead. After crossing the Anulamba River, the Westerns rejoined them, and the pack traveled back to their camp silently. Not a word was spoken, and the event seemed to only last a few minutes. As they reached the camp, the wolves settled down again, and went back to sleep.


>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<

Arazi fluttered her eyes open, waking up at about the same time the the rest of the pack did. She smiled, stretching out her limbs and yawning.  She walked over to Vince, but as she approached him, he grew distracted as Alibi called for him. She stopped, watching as the two conversed quietly. She tilted her head, confused.
What's going on?
The Westerns gathered in front of Alibi and Vince, and as Arazi saw this, she joined them, watching the two intently. Perhaps she was still in a daze from her sleep, but she was completely puzzled about what was going on. All she could do was listen.

Sure enough, Alibi and Vince turned to face the pack. Alibi spoke first, saying,
"We're going to the Anulamba River today. If the Easterns have anything to say about out offering, trust me, they will be there too."
Alibi said, looking over at Vince. Vince simply smirked.

"How do you know they'll be there?"
Arazi asked bluntly. All eyes went straight to her for a moment. She could feel their stares, as the silence grew tense.

"The Anulamba River has always been the meeting place. It's quite natural for things to happen there. After all, it is the border."
Alibi answered, bringing the stares back to him.

There was a moment of silence, but Arazi was confused as to why. Perhaps the Greerans had many memories of the Anulamba River, and she simply didn't understand yet. Her thoughts were interrupted as Alibi and Vince flapped their wings, taking off to the outside of the camp. The rest of the pack followed after them, so Arazi followed as well.

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<

Alibi and Vince suddenly landed, and Arazi slowed to a stop. The Westerns landed behind her, and she stood on the other side of Alibi, watching, listening, waiting.

Sure enough, Rojan landed harshly on the East side of the Anulamba River. He growled lowly, his wings spread out. Immediately, he began to speak.
"What is this mockery? Trespassing onto our territory and overlooking our demands against your food sources? Why do you insult me further?"
He snarled.

Alibi spoke up, spreading his wings as well.
"It's a peace offering. We want you to see what help we can offer you."

"How is this a peace offering? Intruders!"
Rojan barked, gripping his claws onto the edge of the dried riverbed.

Alibi growled lowly.
"Don't act so arrogant, Rojan. Don't act like you don't want to prevent this planet from dying."

"If anyone wants to speed up the deterioration of this planet and its wolves, it's you, Alibi. Look at all of these mistakes you're making."
Rojan fired back, growling louder.

Alibi growled, matching his noise.
"You poison this ground further, every single step you take is toxic. How dare you keep asserting yourself here!"

"Alibi..."
Arazi whispered, becoming a bit unsettled at Alibi's aggression.
You were so calm just a moment ago.

Alibi turned his head towards Arazi, still growling loudly.
"Don't pay attention to this fool, Arazi! Don't you see his arrogance leaking out of him?"

Arazi shook her head, lowering her eyebrows. She was confused again. Why was he so angry?

"Don't pull foolish little tricks like this on us again. We'll kill your plants ourselves. We don't want to see anymore of your peace offerings."
Rojan barked, flapping his wings and taking off towards the Eastern camp.

As he disappeared, Arazi continued to watch as Alibi became hot with fury. She glanced over at Vince, who was holding his head somewhat low, glancing at Alibi and back at the ground. It was as if he was tolerating this as if he was used to it. But Arazi didn't understand. She had missed something.
"Alibi, please calm down."
She said quietly.

"Can't you poison their plants? Do something to punish them!"
Alibi growled, stepping closer to Arazi as he did so.

"What? No. I can't do that. I only have the ability to grow and to heal. I'm not able to poison. Why are you so angry?"
Arazi replied calmly.

"Because he is so full of arrogance! The blood is on his paws! He is the cause of this trouble! He started the war!"
Alibi growled, now standing only a few inches away from Arazi, his teeth bared and his eyes narrowed.

Arazi dropped her ears, lowering her tail and stepping backwards.
"Alibi, we tried more times than necessary to offer them peace. If they won't accept, the blood is on Rojan's paws. You aren't guilty of anything."

"Alibi."
Vince called as Arazi finished what she was saying.

Alibi stared into Arazi's eyes for a moment, before turning his head away harshly with a quiet growl. He flapped his wings, and the Westerns began to follow him. Vince stayed by Arazi, looking at her, a blank expression occupying his face.
"If you knew him as long and as well as I do, you'd understand. Don't worry too much about it. Come on, let's catch up."
He said, smiling calmly before flapping his wings and flying off.

Arazi took a deep breath as she listened to his words, taking a moment to glance at the Anulamba River. She turned away, and began racing towards the Westerns.

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<

Chapter 10

Arazi arrived at the camp site, being the last to arrive. She could feel the tensity in the air; she could even hear the eerie silence. She looked around, searching for Alibi. She saw him pacing around the outside of the camp, his head down, watching his paws brush through the thick grass. Arazi exited the camp again, and walked around to where Alibi was. Before she could speak, Alibi commanded,
"Go away. I don't want to talk to you."

Arazi sighed, fighting the urge to obey and leave him be. She instead stepped closer, saying,
"Alibi, why were you so angry? I understand that it's all their fault, but you got so angry so quickly and I just want to know why."

Alibi huffed, rolling his eyes. He stopped pacing, turning so that he was not facing Arazi.
"You wouldn't understand even if I told you in detail."


Arazi shook her head.
"Alibi, I'm not going to leave you alone until you at least try to tell me. I can't help this pack unless I understand it."


"The rest of the pack has nothing to do with it."
Alibi said quickly, almost interrupting her. He then sighed, turning his head slightly towards her.
"It's just me."


"I can help you."
Arazi said, tilting her head slightly to the side.

Alibi sighed, shaking his head.
If only you could.
He began to speak, but all he could do was turn to face her and smirk his signature smirk.

Arazi lowered her eyebrows, irritated at his stubbornness.
"Don't try to do that again."


"Try what?"
Alibi asked, smiling and beginning to walk back to the entrance, pretending like he didn't know what she was talking about.

"This. You always try to turn away and pretend nothing bothers you. That little smirk of yours doesn't cover everything, you know."
Arazi complained, following after him.

"Well you didn't seem to like me when I expressed my emotions earlier."
He shot back, keeping his pace.

That's different.
She thought, but she didn't reply. She sighed and slowed her pace, taking a second to look out towards the Anulamba, though she couldn't see it through the mist of the rain. She shook her head and entered back into camp.


>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<

Alibi watched over his pack as nighttime had fallen and his pack slept peacefully. His mind went blank and all he could focus on was watching them, jealous as they slept easily. His eyes were light with restlessness, but at the same time he desperately wanted to sleep. He silently rose to his paws, and left the camp. He walked until he was far enough away to flap his wings without waking his pack. He flew towards the Anulamba, flying low to the ground as his mind began to race. He pulled in his wings and slid to a stop at the edge of the dried river. He sighed as he sat still, letting the rain gently pour on his fur and soak through to his skin. He sat in silence for what felt like a long while, when suddenly he flinched at the sound of a close by howl. He recognized it as one of the Easterns, and he simply rolled his eyes. One of the Easterns smelled him and howled to alert Rojan. He stood, waiting for Rojan to come to the other side of the Anulamba. A few minutes passed, and sure enough Rojan came to the Eastern side of the dried river.

"What are you doing, Alibi?"
Rojan asked, half asleep.


"Calm down, Rojan, I didn't come here for you."
Alibi said, rather irritated.


"You know, your newest wolf is quite naive. She thinks she holds so much power, but really, what does she know about this planet, about its past, about you?"
Rojan said rather darkly, watching Alibi closely for his reaction.


"What are you talking about?"
Alibi growled.


"Really, Alibi, I am not stupid. I can see what she doesn't know. How long do you think you can keep everything from her?"
Rojan asked, a sly smile on his face.

Alibi stared at him, unable to answer. He simply lowered his eyebrows.

"If you don't tell her, I will."
Rojan threatened.

Alibi growled,
"You will leave her alone."

"Really, Alibi, who's the bad guy here? I'm not the one keeping secrets just to get what he wants. You're putting her in much more harm than you realize. And one day, she'll find that out, and at that moment, who is she gonna look at when her heart is breaking?"
And with that, Rojan left with a silent flap of his wings.

Alibi watched him fly away, and as much as he hated to, he thought about his words. He groaned in frustration and turned to fly away.

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<

Alibi walked back in through the entrance of the camp, and scanned the area for Arazi. He spotted her and simply looked at her. Alibi let his mind race, shaking his head.
It'll work. She has the power.
He thought, trying to reassure himself. He lie down, closing his eyes in an attempt to sleep.


>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<

Arazi awoke from her sleep, opening her eyes to see other wolves awakening. She smiled at the simple joy of waking up at the same time as the rest of the pack. She stretched out, yawning as she did so. She rose to her paws and shook the grass that was stuck to her fur. She walked over to Alibi and Vince, whom were watching over the pack.

"Good morning, sirs!"
She said cheerfully, wagging her tail in greetings.


"Good morning, cave dweller."
Vince said with a slight smirk.

Arazi rolled her eyes, but with a smile.
"It's not going to catch on, I'm telling you."


"I'm not expecting it to. I won't mind if it's only me who calls you that."
Vince said with a shrug of his shoulders.


Arazi shook her head and looked at Alibi.
"Well you're being quiet."


"I didn't sleep well last night."
He replied.


"How come?"
She asked.


"Not sure."
Alibi sighed. He paused, thinking,
Just tell her. Rojan is wrong.
"Well, I went to the Anulamba because I couldn't sleep, and I accidentally alerted Rojan. So he came and we talked..."
Alibi looked at Arazi, seeing the worried expression on her face.
"He doubts you. And it kills me."


"Well, I don't really care about what he thinks. There's nothing for you to worry about."
She reassured him, smiling and wagging her tail again.

Alibi signaled Vince to leave for a minute, and after he did, Alibi took a deep breath and said,
"Actually, I need to tell you something."

Arazi perked her ears, listening closely.


Just then, a howl erupted from a fellow Western packmate.
"Alibi, the Easterns have crossed our borders!"


Alibi turned to face the entrance and ran out, squinting to see faint wolf figures flying towards them. Alibi growled and began to fly towards them, the Westerns following after him.


>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<


Alibi flew into Rojan, pinning him to the ground.
"What do you want, Rojan?"
He growled.


"I've come just to talk."
Rojan said with an amused smile.


"Then why did you bring them?"
Alibi asked, flicking his eyes up to the Easterns, and then back down at Rojan.


"Just in case."
He replied, laughing quietly as if it were a joke.


Alibi growled.
"If you've changed your mind, it's too late."


"Hold on, Alibi. Can we hear him out?"
Arazi asked.


Alibi growled, but let him up. He stood in between Vince and Arazi, ready to defend either one of them.

Rojan stood, clearing his throat rather sarcastically.
"I actually have changed my mind. I will cooperate. But first, I want to see how powerful you are, Arazi."
He said, staring coldly into Arazi's violet eyes.

Arazi's heart skipped a beat, as she was suddenly put on the spot.
"What exactly do you mean?"

Rojan chuckled, his smile daring and his stare intensifying.
"How much grass can you make at once?"

"Well, it depends on-"

"Don't explain. Just show me."
Rojan interrupted.

Arazi nervously stepped forward, and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and waved her tail slowly from side to side, and lush green grass began to surround them. She made a patch large enough for all of the wolves to be standing on fresh grass. The Easterns watched the grass, their eyes sparkling in hunger. Arazi began to shake as energy began to drain out of her. She kept growing grass as fast as she could, but she hadn't practiced as much as a normal Akaishian wolf would have at her age, and she was inexperienced in keeping her energy up.

"Is that it? That's all you can do?"
Rojan asked tauntingly.

Alibi growled at him.
"Rojan, that's enough. She's trying."

"Exactly. If she can't handle this without becoming weak, how does she expect to fix this entire planet? And what about the river? She doesn't control water, does she?"
Rojan growled.

Arazi slowed down, opening her eyes slowly as she listened to Rojan's words. She looked at him, fighting to catch her breath.

"You don't know what she's capable of."
Alibi snarled, spreading his wings in aggression.

Rojan smiled as Arazi gave up.
"Neither does she."

Arazi looked down, and hung her tail.

Alibi bared his teeth, but he couldn't think of anything to say.

"What are you doing to her, Alibi?"
Rojan taunted.

Alibi growled and launched at him, stuffing as much of his throat into his jaws as he could. The two packs launched at each other, and once again all Arazi could see was flashes of fur. She couldn't find a way out of the brawl fast enough, and within seconds she was pinned to the ground. She aimlessly snapped at the opponent until she felt skin between her teeth. She heard a flap of wings, and within seconds she was hanging on to the wolf's throat as the rest of her body hung in the air. She felt teeth sink into the nape of her neck, and she was shaken violently until her jaws were forced to let go of the wolf's neck, and she began to fall. Her back hit the ground, and her vision began to blur. She heard growls, barks, and a few Westerns howling her name. She was unable to speak, and everything went dark.

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<
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Keet

Keet


Posts : 9
Flakes : 28
Join date : 2015-10-31

Character sheet
Strength :
тнε ωαя σғ тнε gяεεяαηs Left_bar_bleue1/50тнε ωαя σғ тнε gяεεяαηs Empty_bar_bleue  (1/50)
Speed:
тнε ωαя σғ тнε gяεεяαηs Left_bar_bleue10/50тнε ωαя σғ тнε gяεεяαηs Empty_bar_bleue  (10/50)
Stamina:
тнε ωαя σғ тнε gяεεяαηs Left_bar_bleue9/50тнε ωαя σғ тнε gяεεяαηs Empty_bar_bleue  (9/50)

тнε ωαя σғ тнε gяεεяαηs Empty
PostSubject: Re: тнε ωαя σғ тнε gяεεяαηs   тнε ωαя σғ тнε gяεεяαηs EmptyWed Nov 25, 2015 12:53 pm

Chapter 11

Alibi glanced over at Arazi as she hit the ground, and he started to panic. He leaped off of Rojan and ran for her, but something sharp gripped one of his ankles, causing him to trip, yelping as he did so. He looked back to see Rojan with his jaws wrapped around Alibi's ankle, growling loudly, yanking as he pulled him further away from Arazi.

"Stop it! Call off your side!"
Alibi snarled, fighting to crawl away from him.

"She might as well be dead! It wouldn't change this planet's fate a bit!"
Rojan barked, continuing to pull.

Alibi looked him in the eyes, trying to kick at his face to make him let go. As he did so, he yelled,
"What is wrong with you? Don't you care about this planet? About your pack? About anything?"

Rojan narrowed his eyes.
"Yes, there is something that I care about."
Instead of elaborating on what he said, he flew upwards, still holding him by the ankle.

Alibi glance over at Arazi, and noticed that some of the Westerns surrounded her, protecting her, whilst calling her name in hopes of waking her up.
"Arazi!"
He called, but with no result.
Arazi...
He thought. The thought of her dying scared him. Part of him clung on to the hope of her waking up, but the other part of him started to break. He narrowed his eyes and growled, looking up to stare at Rojan. A flap of his wings brought him upwards, and her yanked his ankle out of Rojan's jaws, resulting in most of his ankle skin being ripped off. He flew at Rojan, and the two bit at each other's throats, clawing and trying to get the upper hand.

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<

Arazi slowly blinked her eyes open, still hearing the sounds of fighting, still smelling the scent of blood, and still seeing wolves go at each other. She blinked a few times, pain holding her body still, but she looked around some more and saw that some of the Westerns were surrounding her, fighting off the Easterns that tried to get to her. She looked around for Alibi or Vince, but the Westerns surrounding her blocked her view.
Another relapse.
She thought, angry as she blamed herself for this brawl. Nevertheless, she had to do something now. She forced herself onto her belly and tried to stand, but her attempt was futile. Instead, she grew a few plants, taking a bite from a few and wrapping the others around where she hurt, which was mostly her back and her legs.

"Arazi!"
A Western called.

She heard her name and looked up, and one of the female Westerns had noticed that she was awake. The female looked relieved, but didn't stare for too long.

Arazi continued to heal herself until she was strong enough to stand. She slowly stood, and again she looked for Alibi. She saw him fighting Rojan in the air, and that Alibi's ankle was bleeding badly. She growled, and looked around her. She aimed at the Easterns, and threw three roots at each of the Easterns that she had a clear shot at. They fell backwards, and Arazi took this chance and pinned them down, throwing out more roots at their paws to hold them. The Westerns backed off, looking at Arazi in awe. The Easterns that she didn't pin down - 8 others - saw this and launched at her, but the Westerns near her all launched back at them, stopping them in their tracks. Arazi looked around, searching for Rojan. He was still in the air, fighting for the upper hand over Alibi. Still holding down her roots, as marched over to Rojan, and threw a thorny vine at his wings, binding them together. Rojan was ripped away from Alibi and he fell, losing his balance and his flight. He pulled at the vines, but Arazi pulled the vines tighter, tearing some skin off of his wings. She grew thorny vines around his legs and a few roots at his throat, hoping that this time her method would succeed, as she knew that Rojan could break her roots. Rojan struggled against the vines, tearing some of his skin. Alibi landed next to Arazi, panting as he tried to catch his breath. His ankle and throat were bleeding, and his eyes were slightly glazed over, as he was dizzy.

"Call off your side."
Alibi said, speaking slowly and with a deep growl.

Instead of replying, Rojan chuckled. He stood still, trying not to rip off anymore skin. His eyes were sparkling with madness and a refusal of his pain.
"Why should I? I'm having great fun. Are you not?"

Alibi growled in irritation, and dug his claws in the ground.
"What is it that you want? What is that one thing that you care about that you mentioned earlier? What is wrong with you?"
He said, a harsh tone accompanying his words.

Rojan grinned, enjoying the confusion that he was causing his enemy.
"I want you to suffer the way I did."

Alibi went quiet, and he swallowed his words. He lowered his eyebrows and stood tall, tensing his shoulders.

Arazi tilted her head, confused and somewhat intrigued.
"What do you mean?"
She asked, glancing between the two males, hoping someone would answer her and cure her curiosity.

Rojan kept his grin, staring into the eyes on Arazi, a strange emotion sparkling in his harsh silver eyes. He loved making his enemies wonder. He loved appeari a mystery. But he changed his glance over to Alibi, smiling ever more.
"Someday you will understand, little child."
He said coldly, talking to Arazi but maintained his glare into Alibi's eyes. He let out a loud howl, and immediately the Easterns backed off.

Arazi swished her tail and released the roots from the Easterns, and reluctantly removed the vines that were gripping Rojan. Rojan stepped backward, revealing the blood and marks from the thorny vines. He smirked and stepped to the side, smoothly walking back towards the Eastern grounds, his followers following after him.

A chill ran up Arazi's spine, and she glanced back at Alibi, whom was still frozen in place.
"Rojan suffered? Suffered what?"

Alibi grumbled in reply,
"Well for one, I think he was dropped on his head as a pup."
He then began to walk back to the camp.

The rest of the Westerns followed him.

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<

At the camp, Arazi healed the wounds of the Westerns, starting with Alibi. After she finished, she finished healing herself as best as she could with plants, and decided to rest in the middle of the camp.

Alibi approached her, quiet and a bit emotionless.
"Are you alright?"

Arazi half-smiled at him, a little uneasy but kind anyway.
"Well physically I'm getting better. But these past few days have been strange. Rojan is hiding something from me and frankly I think he's just doing it because he enjoys being mysterious."

Alibi swallowed again, breaking eye contact with her for a moment. He looked back down at her, flinching his wings a bit nervously.
"I think you need training."
He said bluntly.

Arazi lowered her eyebrows and tilted her head, confused.
"Training?"

"You said before that your mother taught you how to heal, correct?"
He asked.

"Yes,"

"So this must mean that training is a custom on your planet, correct?"
He asked.

"Yes, but-"

"But you have left your planet, correct? So you missed a lot of training, correct?"
He asked.

This time, Arazi took a moment to answer. She gave him a slightly irritated look and replied,
"Yes, Alibi."

"Sorry, I know I'm bringing up a bad memory. But I can help you train."

Arazi shook her head.
"You're not an Akaishian. You don't control plants. You don't know what or how to train me because you yourself haven't been trained like an Akaishian."

Alibi nodded, listening to her concerns.
"This is true. But I'm not going to teach you how to heal. You already know enough about that to treat wounds. But this is a war you're in the middle of. In order to live and bring an end to this war, you must know how to defend yourself and fight back."

Arazi listened for a moment, fear striking her heart.
"You're going to teach me how to kill? Alibi, I want to end this war, but I am not a killer."

"No, I don't want you to kill. But there's not enough of us to protect you from the Easterns. If one Western was to break away from a fight to protect you, there would be a loose Eastern, and he could jump into another fight and kill a Western, or even worse, kill you. This is part of the reason why we kept the numbers equal - a fair fight. You must learn to be fair and defend yourself. I know nothing of plants, but I have seen you fight with them and your tactics need work, and that I can help you with."
He replied.

Arazi stared at him for a moment, unsure.
He is right, you got yourself into this, now you've got to fight your way out.
She thought, contemplating whether he really knew what he was doing or not. Finally, she sighed, changing her gaze onto the ground, and replied,
"Alright. You are a warrior, I guess that's fair for you to teach me."

Alibi smirked, and turned so that he could call Vince over to him. Once he came, Alibi said to him,
"I need your help. We're going to be training Arazi how to fight."

Vince flinched in surprise, lowering his eyebrows and looking between the two of them.
"Well, alright... But what do you need my help with?"

Alibi turned his smirk into a sheepish smile and wide eyes, kind of like a puppy begging for food.
"Well... I was hoping if you'd be a target?"
His smiled turned into a pleading grin.

Vince looked at him with a blank stare, lowering his eyebrows further.
"Alibi, you owe me. Fine, I'll do it, but don't expect me not to tackle both of you."
He said, grumbling as he walked away.

Alibi chuckled and Arazi shook her head. She stood, rising to her paws, and began to follow after Vince to the entrance of the camp. Alibi followed after her.

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 12

Arazi, Vince, and Alibi gathered on the outside of the camp, conversing about the training that Arazi was to receive.

"Alright, Arazi. We're going to start with target practice. For now, you can just use regular vines so that you don't injure Vince. Vince, all you have to do is try to avoid her vines. Make it as challenging as possible."
Alibi instructed.

Vince and Arazi nodded and took their positions. Vince had walked away about 20 feet, and awaited an attack. Arazi took a deep breath, focusing on her target, her mind working to determine his dodges and where to follow up on them. Arazi swished her tail and had a vine ready, one sticking out of the ground. Vince shifted his feet, watching closely and trying to expect a move and in which direction he would jump away. Arazi watched his feet, and threw a vine as quickly as she possibly could. Vince jumped to his right and dodged it with a fraction of a second to spare.

"You can do better than that!"
Vince said, half playful and half serious.

Arazi loosened her shoulders and focused, knowing that she needed a quicker throw. She threw another vine to her left, expecting him to jump right again. He jumped left, now with a little less time to spare, but plenty of feet between him and the vine.

"Don't try to read my mind. Watch my feet and watch my eyes for direction, watch my shoulder and hip muscles for my timing."
Vince suggested. He was a skilled fighter; he knew how to expect a move.

Arazi nodded and watched carefully the places she was told to watch, and she threw another vine, quicker than her last one. Vince jumped away, but the vine touched the tip of his tail.

"Better. Much better. Now also try to focus on wrapping around my waist. That is a difficult place to quickly reach and tear off your vine, leaving you extra time to throw more vines to wrap around my legs, my throat, and my muzzle. Always close the muzzle, for that is what is hiding a wolf's most powerful weapon; that is, of course, his teeth, powered by the jaws. Once you've closed the muzzle, aim for the entire head to try to shut the jaws, for the power of one's jaw originates from the entire head."
Vince instructed.

Arazi wrote all of this down in her memory, nodding along as he spoke, looking at every body part for a visual memory as well. She threw another vine, watching all of his muscles to determine his direction, and aiming for his waist. She missed, again the vine only reaching his tail. She grumbled and tried again, missing and wrapping the vine around his hind leg, to which he quickly reached down and tore off.

"The easiest places to quickly rip off a vine is the legs. It's also easy to rip off if you go for the throat first, because a combination of claws and teeth will rip it off quickly as well. Be careful of hitting those places first."
He said.

Arazi took a deep breath, and tried one last time. She threw a vine, aiming for the waist. Vince jumped, but the vine did reach his waist. However, it slid back off because she only wrapped it around halfway. She was happy, though, for making progress so quickly.
"Can we take a break? I'm tired now."

Alibi nodded.
"Yes, we can take a break. We also need to work on your stamina. Greerans don't have much stamina, but we have learned how to endure through being tired. We'll teach you our tricks."
Alibi said, winking as he finished his sentence.

And this is how they trained. For the first month, they did target practice until Arazi had perfected her technique. After this first month passed, the next month was for following up on her aim and tying down the rest of Vince's body - the waist first, then the legs, then the throat, then the muzzle, then the head. At the end of the second month, she had also perfected this technique.

"You've got it! You've got it! You've tied him completely down!"
Alibi exclaimed.

Vince nodded in congratulations, but of course didn't say anything, as his muzzle was tied. Arazi chuckled at the sight, and at the sound of Alibi's excitement.

The third month came. Now they worked on pressure points - where to strike that gave Arazi the advantage. With this training, Vince and Arazi stood closer, only a few feet apart, and Alibi and Vince explained the best pressure points to strike - the throat, of course, just behind he elbows of the front legs, the hips, the ankles, the back where the spine was closest to the skin, the skull, and where the wings met the shoulders. Of course, some of these were best for teeth to dig into, but for now they imagined that her vines were tree roots or thorny vines. After training sessions, the three of them talked casually, joking around with one another and getting to know each other's personalities. Vince was becoming happier. He enjoyed Arazi's company very much. He stayed by her a lot, and the two were becoming close.

"Hey Arazi,"
Vince called. They were inside th camp at this time, taking a break from training.

Arazi turned and met his gaze, smiling as he walked towards her.
"Yes?"

Vince caught up to her, also smiling.
"You're progressing really well. You've come a long way."
All he wanted to do was talk to her, to compliment her. He loved her smile; it made him smile. He loved the way her eyes shimmered in response to a wolf. They sparkled with adventure, with curiosity.

Arazi tilted her head, laughing nervously, she never really knew how to take a compliment.
"Thank you. You and Alibi have both been a great help."
She said.
He's so different now... Just three months ago, he was the wolf who hated emotion and feeling. He was cold, and rather heartless. Now look at him.
She thought. This was a good thing, that he had changed. But it was rather surprising and new. She wondered if he still had a dark sense of humor like he started out with. She liked his humor. He made her laugh.

The third month ended, and the fourth month came. She now knew all of the pressure points, and how to aim at them accordingly. Now she must learn stamina, how to work through exhaustion. This she had to learn by using all that she was taught at once, and to keep going for a few minutes after she was tired. This was the most difficult part; her plants used up her energy, for she was never taught how to gain stamina on Akaishi. She didn't know how they trained stamina on Akaishi, but her guess was that it was different than this. This was a warrior's stamina, not a healer's stamina. But she hoped that they were similar, and she could use this training to help her grow plants. But something was different. Alibi had started to act strangely. Whenever Arazi tried to talk to him, he pushed her away. He had suddenly gone very quiet, and she was worried.

"Keep going."
Alibi instructed.

Arazi was throwing several vines at once, watching Vince's muscles and his eyes to determine his direction and his timing, also focusing on being quick and swift as she aimed for his waist, but throwing several other vines at once to confuse him, and also throwing seperate vines at a slower time to wrap the vines around the rest of his body. She was panting and struggling to keep up with her breath, but she did not stop as she obeyed Alibi's instruction. As soon as she got Vince tied, she released al of her vines and started again. To the naked eye from a distance, it looked like she was just throwing random vines and pulling them back again. But, the wonders that a naked eye from a distance couldn't see! A complicated technique done over and over required constant attention, constant brain work, and constant focus, and now that she had the technique and the timing, she must also exceed her physical limitations and constantly retry without missing a single beat. To a trained eye, this was the sight of a fighter.

"Alright, that's enough. You've done well."
Alibi concluded, beginning to walk away as he finished what he was saying with no emotion.

Arazi stopped and retracted her vines with a swish of her tail. She sat down for a moment and fought to catch her breath. She shifted her eyes and saw that Alibi was walking away on his own and rather quietly, his wings folded in and his tail hanging low. Arazi tilted her head at this, trying to read his body language, but only scratching the surface by concluding that he was sad and bothered. What she could not see was why he was feeling this way. That conclusion required words, an explanation at that.

Vince walked up to Arazi, also keeping an eye on Alibi.
"Something wrong?"
He asked her.

"I'm not sure. I'm going to go ask him."
She replied. She rose to her paws and padded towards him, slowing as she reached him, and walked along with him by his side.
"What's going on with you?"

"What do you mean?"
He asked, again with no emotion tinting his voice.

"Come on, I'm not blind. I can see that you're acting strangely."
She said.

"How so?"
He asked.

Arazi stared at him, her expression changing from concern to one of anger. She growled and sped up, turning to face him head-on.
"Stop it. Stop brushing me off like this. I've been here for four months, spending it mostly with you and Vince. I know you well enough to know that something is wrong, and I've been here long enough to care a lot about you. You're my best friend, and I care about you, alright? You don't have to push me away and pretend like nobody cares, because I care. Vince cares, too, he's like your brother. Please tell me what it is that's troubling you so I can help. I'm a healer at heart, and I know that there must be someway to help you."

Alibi looked her in her eyes as she spoke, and continued to gaze in them in silence after she had finished. He didn't speak, he just watched.
Tell her, tell her.
He thought.
Don't tell her, don't tell her.
"The raining season is almost over. Next month we'll try to work on your growing abilities before the dry season starts."
He said, his voice breaking as he held back tears. He stepped to his side and began to walk past her.

Arazi's expression changed back to concern, and as he walked away, into sorrow.
Does he not trust me anymore?
Tears began to silently stream down her cheeks.
What do I always do to make others hate me?
She turned around and marched back towards him and faced him head-on again, still crying as she said,
"Tell me, you douchebag, tell me! I'm tired of you pushing me away! I trust you, I trust you with all of the trust that I contain! Don't you trust me at lease a little bit?"

Alibi flinched at her remark. But he still fought back his tears, shaking his head.
"I trust you."
He whispered as he looked down at his paws.

"Then tell me."
She whispered back.

He took a moment to gather himself, and finally he looked back up at her.
"This next battle must be our last."
He said quietly.

Arazi shook her head.
"I don't understand."

"You've been trained well, and your stamina is increasing. When you start growing things again, it'll all be useless unless this war ends. Your ground mustn't be poisoned by blood any further."
He explained.

Arazi went quiet. Suddenly, she felt unprepared. She wasn't ready for a fight-to-the-death battle. She was only prepared for defense.
"I see."
She said.

"Trust me, you don't see."
Alibi said, even quieter.

"What do you mean?"
She asked.

"Arazi, there is a chance that many will die. Even a chance that you will die. Just be prepared for that. Be prepared that our best may not be good enough."
He said.

Arazi flinched.
"Don't talk like that. We're going to take down Rojan and end what he started, and the planet will become beautiful again."

Alibi said nothing and showed no emotion now. He nodded once, and turned to walk away.

And so, the fourth month eventually ended. Arazi was stronger, swifter, and had much more stamina, four times as much as she used to have. She was about equal in skill in stamina to the Greerans, but her only advantage was that she could keep a distance between her and an opponent, for the Greerans were still skilled fighters and had four more years experience than her. So the fifth month came, and her fighting training was over. Now she must use her stamina to grow plants, and she only had a month left to do so.

Arazi stood still, out about 50 feet from the camp, staring in front of her.

"You can do it."
Vince said.

"Forget anyone who ever told you that you couldn't. You can. You're stronger than ever."
Alibi reassured.

Arazi took a deep breath. Her memory had been invaded by remembering when Rojan told her that she wasn't strong enough to grow enough grass.
He's wrong, he's wrong, he's wrong.
She thought.
She took another deep breath, looking around at the ground beneath her. She looked upwards and closed her eyes, focusing only on grass. She swished her tail, and grass grew all around them. A large circle of grass immediately grew beneath them, and she kept going. She wanted to reach beyond the camp, so she opened her eyes and turned towards it. She swished her tail again, and grew another patch of grass that started where her grass had stopped. She focused hard, keeping her breathing under control and she worked past her exhaustion, continuing to grow grass, watching as it reached the entrance of the camp. She grew grass all around the sides of it, and walked closer as she fought to make the grass grow farther. Her grass reached behind the camp, and she stepped backwards to make the grass grow thicker where she had grown it. She turned again, and decided to see how far she could get towards the Anulamba. She grew grass as far as she could see, not reaching the Anulamba but getting close to it, and finally she collapsed, panting as she did so. She smiled wide, and looked back at Alibi and Vince.

"You see? You did it!"
Vince exclaimed, yipping in excitement at the sight of new grass. He ran towards her and tackled her playfully, and then jumped off and rolled in the grass.

Arazi laughed at him, rolling in the grass as well.
"So this is why you were so grumpy. You love grass!"

Vince chuckled, rubbing his ears in the new grass happily.
"Makes me feel like a pup again."

Alibi smiled, still standing where he was before. He looked down at the grass and felt it with his paw. His smile faded slowly, and he extended his neck downwards and took a deep breath, taking in the scent of new grass and rain. Memories filled his mind, and he slowly opened his eyes.
If only...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The fifth month was moving slow. Arazi continued to grow grass everywhere she could, adding in a few plants and bushes here and there. She planted a tree sapling and made it grow some, only growing it until it was a bit taller than her. About a mile behind the camp, she saw what looked like a single cliff that went upwards. She noticed that it had a few plants growing up the sides of it, indicating that fewer battles were held there, as it wasn't as poisoned. She tilted her head, but continued to grow grass where it was most necessary.

She had walked back to the camp now, and smiled as she met the gaze of Vince. They walked towards each other, stopping at a foot between them.

"Welcome back, cave dweller."
He said, winking at her.

She rolled her eyes and smiled.
"Alright fine, I give in to the nickname."

Vince chuckled.
"Good. So how was today?"

"Good. I found a cliff today. It'll be nice for when the dry season comes and the planet is beautiful, you'll be able to overlook the land from there."
She said.

"I remember that cliff. When I was a pup, after we were done playing in the Anulamba, I'd go up there and watch the river flow."
He said, eyes sparkling with nostalgia.

Arazi looked at him, tilting her head, and slightly squinting her eyes.
"You've been really happy lately. It's almost scary."
She said frankly.

Vince chuckled again.
"I've been waiting so long for some hope, for something to look forward to. I've always loved grass and the river, and now I can't wait to see those all over the planet again."
He paused to look at her.
"You are my hope."

Arazi blushed, smiling slyly, looking down at her paws.
"I, uhm... Thank you, I mean you're welcome, I mean thank you."

Vince chuckled at her.
"Soon, it'll all go back to normal."

Arazi looked concerned at this.
"Alibi says that this next battle will be the last."

Vince sighed, nodding slowly.
"It has to be."
He looked at her, smirking softly.
"Don't worry. We'll protect you."

Arazi looked up, gazing deep in his eyes.
"And what if Alibi dies?"
She spoke softly, adding,
"What if you die?"

Vince forced a soft smile.
"I promise, we won't."
He said, trying to be confident.
"It'll be alright."

Arazi sighed, keeping her gaze.
"Promise?"

"I promise."
He said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So this chapter is a little short and forced, but don't worry. The next chapter is when everything gets interesting  :=P:

Chapter 13

It was the middle of the fifth month, the sixth month approaching faster than expected. Arazi was halfway done growing grass and plants for the Western side, growing tree saplings, all kinds of bushes, flowers, vines, and plenty of berry bushes. She made sure she had grown these thick and plentiful, just in case some would die in the dry season. Everyday she would return to camp, and Alibi withdrew farther and farther away from her, despite the discussion they had earlier in the month. She did not understand, and she was caught between giving up on him and trying harder. He was a true friend to her; she wanted him to be okay. And he was not. What was a friend to do?

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<


"Alibi..."
She called quietly, slowly walking up to him one day.

He halfway turned at the sound of his name, but he didn't look at her full on.
"What is it?"

Arazi sighed, forcing herself to continue talking.
"I know that something is still bothering you."

Alibi held back a groan, instead responding with a harsher voice,
"This last battle, Arazi-"

But she interrupted him.
"That's not it. I know that's not it."
She said in an equally harsh tone.
I know that's not it.

Alibi turned all the way, but walked past her, heading towards the entrance of the camp.
"Leave it be, Arazi."
He groaned as he walked.

But Arazi followed after him, catching up to him, walking by his left side, a bit slower so that he had some space.
"I will not. You are my friend, I want to know what's wrong."

Alibi growled, waiting until he exited the camp to turn and look her in the eyes.
"I'm not asking you anymore. I am the leader of the Westerns, and you are a subordinate in rank. I am giving you an order. Do you understand?"

Arazi flinched at this. Instead of a friend standing before her, suddenly he was her leader, her boss. The warmth left his being, and suddenly his words went cold.
"I'm sorry..."
She whispered, only barely audible.

Alibi stood for a few seconds, and then turned away to keep walking.

Arazi didn't want to give up on him, no, she would keep trying.
What does he plan to do if I step out of line? I am no ordinary subordinate. I am the link to peace, am I not?
She thought, purposely bragging to herself so that she could get up the courage to speak again.
"And where are you going?"

Alibi growled once more.
"I'm walking."

Arazi had enough.
"Well stop. I'm trying to talk to you."

Alibi stopped in his tracks, perking his ears and tensing his wings. He turned, spreading his wings up and out to signify dominance and irritation.
"You do not give orders. If you try, they will be ignored. And "I'm trying to talk to you" will not increase my desire to talk to you. In fact, it lessens it."

"Alright... I'm sorry."
She said softly, trying to lure him to converse.

"I hate those words..."
He growled.

Arazi looked at him in confusion, asking,
"What?"

Alibi growled louder, flying towards her and landing harshly in front of her.
"I hate those words!"

Arazi stepped backwards, swallowing her fear, trying to keep this conversation going.
"The words "I'm sorry"? You hate apologies?"

Alibi nodded at her.
"Yes, and all of the empty promises they carry. Meaningless, meaningless those words are!"

Arazi lowered her eyebrows.
"But apologies are good. They smooth over problems and encourage forgiveness."

Alibi finally folded his wings in, pausing a moment before replying,
"If only that were true."
He then turned away to walk again.

She followed after him, again leaving some distance between them.
"But it is... Is it not what's happened to you? Have you never apologized and been forgiven? It is a wonderful feeling."

"No."
He replied, his voice quiet and deep.
"It's never worked that way."

Arazi stared at him, unsure of how to respond.
Somthing must have happened to him. Something other than what he's told me. Somebody has broken his heart.
"Alibi... Whatever it is that you have apologized for, and they have not forgiven you... I forgive you."

Alibi once again stopped in his tracks, pausing long enough to feel the rain soak through his fur deeper than it already has. He turned slowly, pausing when he met her gaze.
"Arazi... You don't know what I was sorry for. And even if you did... You surely would not forgive me. Like I said, "I'm sorry" does not mean anything."

Arazi sighed, sitting down since they were paused.
"Alibi, I've never had a friend before you. On Akaishi, nobody thought I was worth a thing. I thought I didn't need friends, I certainly didn't want any, because I thought that a friend would treat me the same way; worthless to them. When I left Akaishi, I wasn't sure if I would live or die. I didn't know anything about space travel. But I didn't care what happened. If I had died, nobody would have cared. I thought that if I lived however, maybe... Just maybe I could find a place where I was worth something. I wanted to go somewhere where I mattered to somebody. Now I have 14 wolves who I matter to, and I have two best friends that I trust, and who might trust me. That's all I need, and I refuse to let it slip away from me so easily. I trust you, Alibi. I'm worthy here. I'm worth something to you. You are what I wanted. You are what I was seeking for. You've given me everything I wanted... The least I can do is be there for you."

Alibi's eyes sparkled with emotion, but he did not let a tear fall.
What have I done?
"I'm glad you've found your place here. You are worth very much. And I do trust you."
He sighed, on the verge of spitting out what was on his mind. But he couldn't.
"I have to protect you, Arazi. I have to protect my wolves and the fate of this planet. Just know that."

Arazi stared at him, unsure if she should feel relieved or angry.
"But there is something that is still bothering you, is there not?"

Alibi smirked, a short and quiet chuckle coming from his throat.
"You will know one day. But not today. I must protect you."
He said.

Arazi decided on anger.
"From what? Protect me from what? I swear, I have never met such a stubborn wolf. You say you trust me, but you won't tell me anything. Talk about empty promises."
She growled.

Alibi's smirk disappeared.
"This isn't an apology. I am not one to give empty promises."
He growled back. He began walking back to the camp, angry and irritated.

"Alibi!"
She called after him.

"What?"
He growled, slowing his pace but not turning towards her.

"You're right. You have never promised me empty things. I take what I said back."
She said, now standing and facing him.

He flicked his ear, waiting to see if she would say anything else.

"I trust you... I trust that you have never promised meaningless promises, and I trust that you never will. Understand?"
She said firmly.

Alibi left his maw open, trying to speak, but nothing would come out. He held back tears and entered back into the camp.

Arazi sighed, staying where she was.
I trust you.
She began to cry silently, the rain hiding her tears as they rolled down her cheeks.
Perhaps I will never be a good friend.

Alibi began to cry as well, but he wouldn't let anyone see.
I will never be a good friend...
He thought, closing his eyes tightly as pain filled his heart.
I'm sorry...
He thought.
I'm so... So sorry.

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<
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