Silence | F | Pack member | M: Katyusha, Mudslide, Clem, Keanu
By the time Silence had found both Katyusha and Mudslide, she still hadn't managed get herself to become more confident when it came to mentoring two juveniles on hunting techniques. Mudslide, she knew, was an exceptional hunter for his age, and Katyusha already had enormous potential for becoming an incredible fighter. Both of them didn't deserve someone like her as a mentor, and Silence didn't understand why Clem would place her with such talented youths when they all knew very well that hunting was not her forte.
Nevermind. The decision had been sealed and there was no use in stressing about it. Silence sighed quietly and turned to Mudslide and Katyusha. "Are you two ready?"
Mudslide dipped his head respectfully and replied "Yes, I am," while Katyusha impatiently muttered, "Finally."
Ignoring the snarkiness in Katyusha's voice, Silence inhaled sharply and head into the forest. Interesting. Silence had always been under the impression that Katyusha was more introverted - while that still remained true, she supposed that the dark she-wolf was also a bit more... sharply expressive.
Silence wasn't the fastest, nor was she the keenest, but she could manage to navigate the territory without getting lost, simply by using certain locations and landmarks as directional signs. "The chamomile likes to grow here," she muttered to herself. "These odd leaves like to spread across this shore of the river. The red flowers always sprout in the summer around that rock over there -"
She turned around and realized both Mudslide and Katyusha were staring at her with varied expressions, with Mudslide being a bit more curious and Katyusha appearing slightly judgmental. Fine. Silence admitted that maybe not everyone had a habit of talking to themselves.
"Sorry," she muttered. "This is just how I navigate these areas. It's easier if I say it out loud."
"Interesting," Mudslide noted.
Katyusha made a noise displaying annoyance. "May I kindly remind you that the others are far ahead of us? Silence, you're supposed to be training us. Not only have we not received any training so far, you're just leading us in circles around the forest."
Silence internally panicked at the thought of one of the juveniles disapproving of her so quickly, but she quickly gathered her thoughts. "Hmm, is that so? You are right, to some extent, although I can confirm that we haven't been walking in circles, otherwise we'd be back at camp by now. I specifically chose this area by the river because few other hunters like to stay here for too long."
"Why, because there's no prey?"
"There is prey. Just not the type that most wolves prefer."
"Fish?"
"Well - no -" Silence's solemn facade was beginning to crack a bit. "Fine. You'll be collaborating with Mudslide to hunt down larger prey, if that's what you want." If there was anything Silence knew about the typically quiet and sometimes snarky she-wolf, it was that she probably hated teamwork, similarly to herself. Poor Mudslide. It wasn't necessary to get him dragged into all this, but she had to compromise.
Luckily, Mudslide had no objection. Whatever opinion he had, he kept it to himself, as usual. "Yes, of course," he replied. "It would probably be easier that way."
"Glad to know that you agree," Silence acknowledged, directing her focus to Katyusha instead of pondering about whether Mudslide was actually satisfied or not. "Katyusha, do you have any objection?"
"Well -" Katyusha made that annoyed noise again, similar to a click. "It's much, much better than fishing." She scowled. "Or whatever you were planning. You know very well that half the pack is practically incapable of swimming. Were you trying to get us killed or something?"
"No," Silence replied, and then looked at Katyusha in the eyes before adding, "Not yet."
Katyusha turned away, thoroughly annoyed by now, but luckily, she made no further objection. Mudslide began to tread into the woods again, before he turned around and asked, "Wait, Silence, you're not coming?"
"I -"
"She just doesn't want to admit that she's a poor hunter," Katyusha hissed under her breath, loudly enough for Silence to hear, but she just dismissed it as a fragment of her imagination.
Mudslide glanced back at her for a moment, and then tried to nudge Katyusha to get her away before she could say anything else out of line, but Katyusha just muttered, "It's entirely unfair that we have to do all the hunting and Silence just gets to stand there doing nothing. Right, Silence?"
Internally, Silence agreed, even though she wasn't about to admit it. But Silence, being Silence, would much rather remain silent than drag her lazy self to go on a hunt. Instead of retorting, Silence just replied, "Listen, Kat. Neither of us want to be here. How about you guys finish up something so we can all head back to camp and pretend to be productive? I'm not fit to train you two; I can tell you that with all honesty. But if there's anything I'm good at, it's avoiding getting in trouble. Deal?"
"Could both of you just agree on one thing?" Mudslide asked, without intending to sound annoyed. "I don't think it's a good idea to continue arguing for all of eternity."
Katyusha gave a wolfish smirk, ignoring Mudslide. "Productivity? I didn't think that was something you'd ever mention."
Silence exhaled with disappointment, trying to relieve herself of her internal panic. "Fine. You want me to prove to you that I'm capable of something besides being silent? Meet me at the Bridge."
Katyusha's expression changed ever so slightly, but for once, she didn't snap back in retaliation. "Deal. Mudslide, let's go."
Mudslide blinked before turning away and leaving, but Silence didn't miss the flutter of nervousness that briefly crossed his face. She decided they'd both be fine. Sure, maybe the icy surfaces and the fatal cliffs were good for invoking fear, but she herself had been there and back countless times and hadn't died yet. And Silence was one of the less agile wolves around. She just relied on pure muscle memory. Well, then again, Mudslide had oversized paws, but that wasn't much of a concern.
Besides staying silent, Silence had another talent, and that was random knowledge of herbs. Which also meant that she had to know where herbs were found. And as a result, she was extremely experienced in finding her way to the Bridge from any corner of the territory. Tracing the flow of the river, Silence ran upstream, sprinting across the smooth stones and sprouting grasses before the forest opened up to an enormous complex of cliffs. Despite not being the fastest runner, Silence was able to arrive at the Bridge in no time at all.
Silence was familiar with this scenery, but she supposed other wolves had a right to be frightened. Any wolf lucky enough to survive a fall would be crippled for life and extremely vulnerable. Shorter, smaller plateaus rose into tall, menacing cliffs with waterfalls seemingly pouring sorrow from the azure of the sky. Streams collided together to form lakes, and the water fell from cliff to cliff before eventually flowing into the serene river that carved through the rest of the forest. The roaring falls and the looming precipies unsurprisingly invoked fear, comforted only by the plants and moss that dappled the edges of the cliffs and the ledges that formed a path all the way up to the tallest plateau and eventually ascended into the white mountain, where the clear river was fed by the fresh melting snow. Gazing up, any wolf could spot a variety of birds that flew high above them, almost taunting them to climb up and try to hunt them at the risk of death.
Silence, however, wasn't here to marvel at the cliffs or birds - she could save climbing for another day, and she had no chance of hunting the birds. She was here for the treasure harbored behind the ledges and the precipices, the place they all called the Bridge of Land and Water. The exterior cliffs were just a facade.
Silence quietly walked through one section of the river, trying not to get her paws too wet while avoiding the moss lining the water - the plants were, in fact, very slippery, contrary to popular belief - and bounded towards a narrow gap between two cliffs that couldn't have been spotted from far away at all. Many wolves were unsettled by the closed-in space and the shadows that loomed over them, but Silence found it comforting, almost. She could traverse this place blind if she had to.
The moment the fresh smell of herbs smacked into her nose, she knew she was in the cave. The walls and floor were adorned with a variety of medicinal plants and flowers, surrounding a waterfall trickling into a clear pool of water. Stray rays of sunlight shone through the crack in the ceiling, and although the sunlight already appeared to illuminate the cave enough, Silence knew that the sunshine could never match the brilliance of the moonlight at midnight; thin strands of silver that cast the moon's lonely gaze onto the water. Occasionally, the whistling of birds and the soft whispering of winds trespassed the solid stone walls shielding the cave from the outside world, adding a slightly whimsical tone to the already soft atmosphere.
Nevermind the beauty. Silence was here to collect herbs to prove to Katyusha that she wasn’t useless. There was, of course, a whole cave system that she could explore, and it contained just as many plants, but today she wasn’t here for exploration. She selected a particular batch of chamomile in the corner, and then harvested some fresh feverfew and a bit of yarrow as well. Chances were, Keanu wouldn’t appreciate the extra herbs in the den, but no one else seemed to care, and nowadays Silence barely interacted with her own mate -
“Silence! Where ARE you?”
Silence rushed out of the cave to find Katyusha and Mudslide standing near the river, each carrying a hare. Katyusha appeared to be in a slightly better mood now, having been uplifted by her success with her hunting. Silence was, however, immediately disappointed when Katyusha muttered, “This is what you call productive?”
“I suppose so,” Silence said, setting down her bundle of herbs.
Mudslide, on the other hand, was… busy gazing up at the birds? “Huh,” he murmured. “I’m slightly tempted to try and hunt one of those.”
“I… would not recommend it,” Silence replied ominously.
“You know what? Let’s try it anyway,” Katyusha said unusually confidently. Perhaps it was out of pettiness, Silence assumed. Katyusha marched towards the ledge that led up to one of the higher cliffs. “Are you two coming or not?”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Silence sighed.
Mudslide turned to her. “No worries. We’ll be fine.” Jokingly, he added, “If we fall, you can always catch us, right?”
“No guarantee” was the blank response.
Mudslide’s humorous demeanor faded, and Silence almost felt slightly guilty for ruining the joke, but she decided she’d much rather make the juvenile slightly upset than have to carry his dead body back to camp.
Silence stared helplessly as the two wolves ascended the ledges and reached the top cliff. She supposed that no amount of convincing would persuade them, so she simply decided to follow them as well. This particular section of the cliffs was very familiar to her - the relatively smooth but still textured stone that was abnormal to most wolves felt welcoming to her paws, and the occasional vine or two that hung down from the sides of the ledges added a little sense of comfort to the otherwise daunting cliffs. The other two wolves, however, were taking much longer to cross between ledges than she’d expected - which wasn’t too surprising, since not many wolves liked to come over here as often as Silence herself.
It took a little while, but under the embrace of the sun’s springtime warmth and the taunting of the birds from above, Katyusha and Mudslide became familiar with the feel of the unusually smooth stone under their paws and began climbing more confidently than before. Silence stopped feeling the need to encourage them from behind, but she quickly became concerned as Katyusha practically began bounding across the ledges, and then Mudslide started doing so as well. After gaining confidence, the two wolves didn’t take too long to reach the first of the tall platforms in the cliff complex.
“Wow,” Mudslide whispered, awed at the view.
Silence turned to see what Mudslide was fascinated at. Everyone who had ever come up here had always noted on how beautiful the view was, with the rich green forest sprawled across the landscape, accompanied by occasional dapples of partially melted snow and a seemingly never-ending river running all the way through the greenery into the distance, where the forest faded into the flower meadow famous for its romantic blossoms and fragrant grasses -
“Are you two going to come with me or not?” Katyusha snapped.
Silence turned around to face her. “You could join us here. Beautiful view. Also a very convenient place to shove you off the edge and watch you fall to your death.”
“Is that a death threat?”
“No. Not yet.”
They stared at each other for five solid seconds.
“Uh… I was under the impression that we were going to hunt birds around here?”
Silence blinked. “Right. Um. Go ahead.”
Katyusha was about to say something, but Mudslide brushed past her and chased the nearest bird he could find.
“Please, for the sake of my reputation, don’t die,” Silence muttered, and went off to find more herbs around the waterfall. There was a bit of edelweiss and lemongrass nearby; Silence had left her other bundle of herbs at the foot of the cliffs for the sake of convenience, and since edelweiss was a bit more common here, she’d decided that she might as well follow the wolves up to the platform just to get some extra herbs. She ignored the sounds of the wolves clawing the birds down from midair and the birds screeching in fright.
Once she’d collected everything she needed, Silence started sniffing around the pool of water that poured over the edge of the cliff and formed into the river below. She’d have to be exceptionally careful to ensure that she didn’t get caught in the current and swept off the cliff, but in springtime, there was less melted snow, and as a result, there was less water, and the currents were much weaker.
Silence’s nose immediately picked up a few notable scents. There’s some edelweiss hidden here… a few other stray leaves here… is that a bird’s nest -
There was a squawk, followed by a rumble.
Silence snapped towards the sound. “What was that?” she asked.
“Probably my stomach,” Katyusha muttered, and for once her attitude wasn’t snarky. “The sooner we kill these birds, the sooner we go back to camp and eat.” She paced around a bit, before spotting a swift suitable to her tastes and decided to pursue it.
“Well, I mean, Kat’s got a point,” Mudslide pointed out. “Silence, once you finish gathering your herbs, tell us, alright? I assume the others are almost done by now.”
Silence nodded. “I will. And please don’t get yourself killed today. I’m sick of attending funerals.”
Mudslide appeared to be slightly perplexed at Silence’s statement, but he turned away and trotted near a flock of resting, completely oblivious birds.
Silence glanced back at them one last time and reassured herself. They’ll be fine, she told herself. One of them is a fighter, and the other a hunter. Both are agile enough to avoid falling down the cliff. The sound she’d heard earlier had come from a bird knocking down several stones. There was nothing to worry about.
With that reassurance, Silence turned towards a taller cliff and begun heading up towards the ledge looming above the one they were currently on.
This particular ledge was slightly harder to reach, but any wolf with enough muscle memory or agility would breeze past it in no time. Silence made few visits to the higher ledge, but she supposed that springtime beckoned for her to make another trip to it to see if there were any more herbs. Slowly, the sound of the waterfall beneath her faded away, and eventually the trickling of the water above reached her ears. That was a good sign - Silence herself hated looking down when climbing, and was trying to use sound to check how far she was from the ground -
There was a yelp.
Silence turned towards the sound of Katyusha slipping on the edge of the cliff after a miscalculated leap at the swift she was targeting. She barely managed to turn around and cling on the edge before her paws slipped, and she would have fallen if it weren’t for Mudslide instantaneously grabbing her scruff in his jaws. Barely managing to balance himself, he howled, “SILENCE! SILENCE!”
She instinctively sprinted down the ledges, ignoring the fact that a misstep would spell fatal injury for her, and pelted towards the two wolves. Right before Mudslide lost his balance completely, Silence managed to grab him as well and tried to help him yank Katyusha to safety, but Mudslide’s constant slipping combined with her own lack of strength made the task seem almost impossible.
Just then, Mudslide mustered the last of his strength and yanked, pulling Katyusha high enough for her paws to barely scrape the edge of the cliff. Silence pulled as well, although not nearly supporting Mudslide as much as she’d hoped.
Mudslide yanked one final time, and Silence nearly loosened her grasp on him, knowing that he had succeeded, except -
His disproportionately sized paws had misstepped. He’d pulled - in the wrong direction.
Silence’s legs slipped, and she barely managed to regain footing in time. She felt the brown wolf fall out of her grip and completely give in to Katyusha’s weight, tumbling over the edge of the cliff helplessly before he fell to his demise.
Spring 
Night Weather: 
Clear Moon: 
