Leaving the Pack (IC)

[size=-2]
Rowan watched her pack mates investigate the area silently, watching the girl with a fixed and level gaze, letting the others speak their minds. Before she spoke again to the druid, she murmured quiet appreciation to Alek, knowing that Aysun would not terribly appreciate the gratitude for her actions. Rowan felt the tense air of everyone in the gathering. The twins were staying back, cloistered in one another's arms, Alek was at her back and Aysun at her side, Tyerin at the other. Everyone accounted for, now.

Rowan examined the girl shrewdly, her lips pursed. "So you chose to follow this person, abandoning your pack? Or did they ostracize you when you vied for the vote to rescue your leader?" Rowan stood still, muscles taut, taking in the girl's appearance. The cloak seemed ordinary enough, though the wetness... she sniffed heir air to try to determine the smell of the wetness, whether it was musky with swamp odor of sharp with salty tears but at the distance, it was too difficult to tell. Currently, knowing that the surrounding forest was indeed devoid of other humans, Rowan could focus her attention on the girl. If they were to stand much longer, another check would be needed to make sure that they were not creeping from farther back.
[/size]
 
"Well, yes, I mean--that's right, but I guess my wording was off...the one who was taken wasn't our leader. I-in fact, he'd only joined us..about a few months ago?" She questioned her own counting of the time, as if it had seemed much longer than that, but nodded after a brief expression of thoughtfulness. She was a little calmer now, and stammering less, but her eyes still betrayed quite a bit of fear.
 
Aysun raised an eyebrow "First you tell us this person taken is your leader and then they aren't? Which is it?" she sniffed at the girl some "she wreaks of fear, Rowan. How can we know we can trust her?" she glanced around with her ice blue eyes before drawing her gaze first at the girl infront of her and then at their 'leader'. Turning her head slightly she continued to listen around them. Something told her they weren't alone, but she couldnt' be completely sure.
 
Annoyance presented itself to Ciel and he narrowed his eyes at the druid woman, taking a few brave steps away from his brother as he did so. His one hand held tightly to that needle, just in case, as he moved closer to the woman. "Are all druids this stupid or is it just you? Stop dancing around in circles and just get to the facts. If your leader wasn't taken, then who was? And what did those bandits find on this leader of yours?" He turned halfway, not willing to take his full attention away from this stranger, and frowned at Rowan as he pointed a finger at the druid. "I don't like this at all. She sounds like she's stalling. Furthermore, her arm is wet and if that's blood, then maybe she was wounded in order to lure something to her. This feels like a trap." He couldn't help but put emphasis on the last line as he glared at the druid woman with his icy blue stare.
 
The woman seemed ready to say something else at just about the time Ciel cut in, and by the time he was done a bit of a change had come over her: The edge of fear was still present, but somewhere along the way the werewolves had managed to make her mad. "Gods d***it, are all of your kind so hateful!? I misuse one pronoun and you all think I'm out to kill you! What did I even do to you!? It's not blood, it's tears, and the person who was taken wasn't our leader, like I just got through saying! Don't you think you'd to be able to smell blood from this close?" By this point she had started gesturing with her arms rather than keeping them up, and her voice was broken up a bit because she was crying. She paused, took a deep breath and sniffed, wiping her face again with the same arm. In a calmer voice she continued: "The one who was taken was a man named Iryen. He was...he had some kind of necklace with a crest on it, he'd been hiding it under his robes. I don't know what it meant, but the bandits thought they could get money out of him because of it. Does that answer your questions?"
 
[size=-2]
Rowan bristled, her gaze hardening and her muscles once again flexing as she readied herself to spring if need be.

"Human, you are in no position to snap at us. By the tradition of our clan, you should be kissing our feet for the fact that your hide has not become sustenance" Rowan stated, calm despite the steely glint in her eyes. She was at least telling the truth about the wetness, it was not blood, that much was for certain.

Lifting her chin a little, keeping an eye on the others as she studied the woman, Rowan gestured for Alek to run a second check of the surrounding area. Assured that the rest of the ragtag group was somewhere within the vicinity of her body, Rowan continued her statement.

"Now, it is indeed tragic for you that you have lost your mate. You should search for him, he is probably depending on you. Stay out of our territory, however. I assure you that if there is an entire group of humans this deep into the wood, they are not living humans" she seemed to be waiting for the girl to turn tail and leave.

"We will escort you back to human land, whether to aid you or to assure our safety, you choose which answer you prefer" she raised an eyebrow at her.
[/size]
 
Freal went up to Ciel and put his hand on his shoulder. He had known that Ciel was going to snap, he could feel the tension growing in his brother's body while the druid talked. Finally stepping forward, he only had a few words to say to the entire group, "While it is good to be cautious, that does not mean we should be so adverse to trusting strangers. Distrust creates hate, and since this woman has no reason to do anything malicious to us, what reason do we have to distrust her?" With his word spoken, he turned to Ciel, smiling softly at him before looking at Rowan to see what her next course of action was.
 
The druid's outburst had Ciel taken aback for a brief moment before he felt his annoyance bubble over into anger. So the woman was educated about Ciel's kind, but she obviously didn't know him specifically or else she would have realized that he only had his animal sense of smell when in his wolf form.
How the hell was he supposed to tell the difference?! If it hadn't been for Rowan intervening and Freal's hand on his shoulder, Ciel probably would have attacked that damn woman. But his anger subsided once he felt his brother's calmness spread across his body. Slipping the needle back in its holster, he reached up to place his hand over Freal's and gain a little more patience.

"What I don't get," he said in a soft voice, directed to his brother. "Is that she knew exactly what I was, even though I haven't taken my wolf form in days." He shook his head as he listened to Rowan's solution. "I feel like there's more to this woman and her story than meets the eye. I won't trust her, Freal. Please don't ask me to." His brother was the only one Ciel ever wanted to depend on and even though he wanted to like the rest of the pack, he couldn't help but hold back. If that druid woman ended up traveling with them, his eyes probably wouldn't leave her for even a moment.
 
The druid seemed a bit taken aback by Rowan's use of the word 'mate', but didn't say anything about it. Instead she shrugged, and answered: "I'll take both, if it's the same to you. Which way are you going? My name's Senra, by the way."

"Answer me this," cut in Tyerin to the two twins, just as softly as they had spoken. "You see six people led by a werewolf right after leaving a camp full of 'em. What do you think the other five are going to be?" He wasn't interested in defending the human, but he didn't want to let an opportunity to make someone feel foolish slip by.
 
Aysun had said her words that needed to be said. She would let the rest of the 'pack' decide what to do with the human. She sniffed the girl a moment again and glanced around. She wasn't sure if she quite trusted her yet, but her fear at least seemed genuine. Going to the girl again she peered at her, locking eyes, "If you're telling the truth then you are fine, but if you are lying...and put the pack at risk...you better beware" she said in a cold manner. It was just her way of making sure no one hurt her or anyone else. She was more concerned with the others, though, even if it didn't come off that way. Glancing away she returned to her spot at the back of the group and quietly waited to see what their fearless leader would direct them to do next.
 
The druid's angry outburst seemed genuine enough. At least, genuine enough to convince Alek of the girl's honesty. Furthermore, now that he'd investigated the area and found it devoid of any other humans, he felt quite confident in his ability to protect himself and the others from this tiny helpless girl. His distrust softened and gave way to sympathy for the girl.

By the time Rowan had decided that they would be escorting the druid to the land of the humans, Alek had already accepted the girl as a temporary travel companion. He watched in mild amusement as Aysun approached the druid coolly after she had introduced herself as Senra, and followed his packmate up to the druid soon after.

"My name is Alek," he introduced himself, sniffing at her playfully, "It is strange that bandits would dare attack your group in our forests. Maybe we should investigate that." He stated that without any undertones of suspicion, more as though it was something he'd just thought of, and he glanced curiously at Rowan as he said it.
 
[size=-2]
"Precisely what I was thinking, Alek" Rowan admitted quietly, still looking around with some suspicion. "If what she says is true, there's a larger problem here than a few scrawny human women" her droll tone and expression suggested that instead of enmity, there was more an emotion of bemusement directed at the druid.

"Well, you can talk amongst yourselves while we get moving, we can't afford to bandy about this section of the forest all day" Rowan stretched languidly, throwing her head back as she arched with her arms behind her head. She glanced around, a feeling of unease prickled at the small hairs at the base of her neck but she could not place it with having a cause and chose not to mention it, instead issuing a general warning to the group.

"Be careful, all of you, and on guard. If the woman's story is indeed true, there are other humans in the forest with a large chance of being hostile" she flicked her gaze from each one of them in turn, except Alek. Since the decision had been made to split from the pack, he had seemed distant to her, colder than he'd ever been. Was it because not only was he not alpha here, but now his chances at being the alpha of the main pack had been alienated? Her worry weighed down on her and she wished now that she could change forms, but she needed to be able to keep an eye on the woman and converse readily, meaning she was restricted to her standing form.

"You'll have to understand, but we'll be watching you too" she directed at the druid. Tacitly, the formation was decided. Rowan would take the front, leading through the forest, Aysun and Tyerin to one side, the brothers at the other, and finally, Alek would bring up the end. Each facet would be well protected with at least one member on each side physically powerful enough to ward off attacks and restrain the woman if need be.
[/size]
 
There were a lot of cruel things Ciel could have spouted off at Tyerin to defend himself, yet there were also a lot of reasons for why he withdrew from the verbal battle and instead chose to simply ignore the other for a while. He wasn't much of a fighter - that much was obvious - and he often escaped instead of battling to the bitter end. The old pack's views of him weren't all that far off from the truth. And with his brother calming him down, he switched into a sulky mood, only muttering out an introduction to the druid woman before falling silent altogether.

For a while, his bitter thoughts distracted him from his surroundings as he considered the best way to poison a certain someone - food, drink, or in their sleep? - but when he came to again, his gut was warning him for a second time that day. But considering how his last warning had been received, he stayed silent, leaving it all up to Rowan to deal with.
 
Aysun sighed some but listened to what Rowan had to say. when they were split into groups she found herself traveling next to Tyerin of all people. She said nothing, but her usual cold demeanor stayed. Watching the girl carefully she kept her guard up expecting something to happen soon, but perhaps she was just being paranoid. Aysun was liking this little outing less and less it seemed, but she had to have faith in something for the time being. Rowan was one of the few who didn't scoff at her or look down at her for being a runt. She would respect the girl as the leader for the time being, but she couldn't foresee the future anymore than the next person. Tilting her head back a bit, she watched the sky a moment as they walked. Something about this girl just doesnt' seem right...she's not telling us everything she thought ot herself.