Kenzo told no one where he was going. It wasn’t nearly as easy to slip away from the barracks for several days as a Colonel like it had been before. But the plus side was few wolves questioned him about where he was going simply because of his shiny new rank. Leaving the barracks behind had been easier than leaving Adeline behind. For a brief moment, he thought she might actually implode. He couldn’t fault her for it, she had only just gotten him back and under the worst of circumstances. And if he were honest, he had qualms about going too. Now he was leaving again, even if it was just a few short days. Kenzo let her believe it was work related because that was easier than explaining the actual truth of where he was going. This excursion was anything but work related. After all but prying his wife off him, he slipped from their home in Yorkshire and headed north.
The path he walked was a familiar one, but he was a different wolf this time. The last time he made this trek, he had been riding the high of war, his body alight with the excitement of the impending battle. Kenzo knew the risks and that hadn’t dampened his mood. But now, he had a different perspective. Scars that decorated his hide were healed and most were buried beneath the thickness of his coat, a small mercy. The most noticeable one still lingered across his visage, the thin line had healed remarkably well courtesy of the medical staff that Adeline hounded day and night. No amount of tending to could full erase the reminder though. Just as nothing had helped chase the dreams from his head so he might sleep well. The weariness he felt was well hidden behind a mask that was akin to impatience, not unlike his father. While the great Nalik had never faced imprisonment behind enemy lines, Kenzo had a new understanding of why Nalik was the way he was. The army was no one’s friend, not even those highly respected.
Adahm wasn’t the only one to blame. Jacob’s followers had kept the Verlice wolf a prisoner and they had been just as merciless as Imperial wolves were in the dungeon. Kenzo, for the first time in his life, found himself conflicted. He knew he didn’t support Jacob or his Highlander army, not after everything he had experienced. But all the blood, sweat and tears shed for Adahm… and he’d simply been left to rot. Pale lips twitched, tempting to curl with disdain. The only thing around to see were the trees.
Trekking through the snow, it was probably the worst time of year to travel such a distance. Winter was the hardest on all living creatures, especially the old and weak. Which is what drew Kenzo north, to the cliffs. He couldn’t exactly say why he felt compelled to return to Aberdeen with a new sheep skin in tow, he certainly didn’t owe his mother anything and definitely not her latest mate. But here he was. Last he saw her, he truly noticed the way her muzzle greyed and the affects of age on her body. Life had been harder on her than Nalik and it showed. His stay with her hadn’t been a long one, not with Argent consistently glaring at him like he secretly hoped the Verlice man would die during the night. If he considered it more, he might not blame Argent. Nalik had rained down hell upon Merrin and her new family, it wasn’t a huge leap to think the old Colonels children would follow suit. Ryker had, in her own way, but the grudge ran deep and that didn’t surprise him, not with how volatile his sister was. He could only guess where Asher stood. As for himself, Merrins reemergence in his life had dragged up feelings he thought long buried.
Standing a ways down the embankment, he faced where he knew her cave to be. The sheepskin rested atop a freshly hunted deer. When he left the last time, the sheepskin had been stained with his blood and looking worse for wear after she used it to drag him to the cave. It seemed appropriate to replace it, at the very least. Merri and Argent lived far from any town and entirely on their own, it was hard not to wonder how they faired in the harsh clutches of winter. Had her new children found them? Were his younger half siblings taking care of their parents? Shaking his head, he picked up the deer again, dragging it as little as possible to keep his presence here a secret. Crossing the border had been difficult enough, the last thing he needed was to get caught - a Colonel in an enemy country was not something he wished to experience.
Leaving the fresh kill and blanket outside the cave had taken some skill and care to not alert all of Aberdeen he was. Kenzo left the gift close enough that they would find it, but not so close they’d see him standing outside. If they were even awake. Dual toned eyes lifted to the night sky, it was remarkably clear, the sky speckled with stars and the crescent moon shining down on him. The hour was late, as it should be since he came straight here and the only delay was to hunt.
With a quiet sigh, he walked away. His paws ached from trudging through the snow and the distance he had traveled over previous days but it was time to go home. With any luck, he’d get to slid into bed beside Adeline in a few days time and sleep for a bit wrapped in her embrace. Things were simpler there. Walking away felt somehow unfinished, but wasn’t that the entirely of his relationship with Merrin, his mother? Knowing what he knew now, he couldn’t quite fault her for running from Nalik. The resentment for her abandonment though, that was a wound that never healed and had been ripped open again when he first saw her, first heard of her new family. Even after everything, there was no closure, there was nothing that made him feel better about any of it. The small thanks he left on her doorstep seemed like something though. War had ravaged every other part of his life - it had nearly ruined his career, it had him struggling to fit into shoes that no longer fit and yet it also managed to soothe some of the hurt between him and Merrin. She had taken him in without hesitation, despite everything, she had staved off death and nursed him back to health enough that he could get home.
A home that he now returned to, feeling a bit more at peace. He knew he could never go back to the way things where before, it simply wasn’t possible. Now, it felt easier to close that part of his life, to leave the past in the past, where it ultimately belonged. It still didn’t tell him what to do about his career, whether he should stay or retire early. It did, however, solidify that he’d do it with his hotheaded wife beside him. Exit unless stopped
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table ; bunny - - art ; Raven |