A God's pack

Time set out to hunt more often with the hunting parties, more so with Hercules's group but occasionally the ladies would conscript him when they wanted to take down something particularly difficult... like a brown bear. When not helping the hunters, the God would focus instead on keeping an eye on the scouts, Relis continuing to be an asset, or helping Robin with the two little ones that the pack had ended up with. Things continued with a sense of normalcy, familiarity, and seeing as he still wasn't a True God his cousin, Sar'ene, remained close-by in the Rainforest at their feet. Days flow by, something the mortals were better at keeping up with than he was.... the main thing he noticed was the aging of the younger pack members but even that blurred by for someone whose life was going to be as long as his.

-Four years pass- 

Day 1

"Inio, In-e-o, Inioooo!" Aika insisted on calling him 'Inio', something he could only blame on Sar'ene for calling him Iniko so much in front of the toddler. The Heir-God took a breath, rubbing his arm over his face, before kneeling to hug the young boy as he ran to welcome him back. Today's hunt was particularly dirty, the stampede and hot blazing summer heat causing him to be glad that braids weren't as keen to stick to his forehead as the rest of the party's hair. Hercules's had sweat so much that almost all of the hair-paint he wore had ran into a tan-cream smear that was dripping off his face as he continued to heave for air, Bear looked half-way towards heatstroke with how damp and lethargic he was, and Drifter? Well, actually, the young adult's short hair was sticking to his face but he was beaming. He had done really well today, though he had been a hunter for the pack so long that it wasn't exactly surprising that he managed to correct Time's slip up. Time, himself, was a bit better at hunting but he still wasn't exactly... good at it persay. Especially not the chasing bit. 

"What have you been doing all day, Ai?" he asked the toddler, who grinned before raising his arms in a demand to be picked up. Aika was very insistent about attention, it was better to just humor him than to fight it. Rolling his eyes good-naturedly, the Time God picked up the four-year-old and settled him on his arm. 

"Mama shouwed me som flouwers today." he responded, his pronunciation still leaving much to be desired but Time understood him well enough at this point. He could tell the Aika had been 'shown flowers' because he still had random stems and leaves sticking out of his hair. The youth didn't have hair quite like his, not as kinky, but his hair wasn't at all like Robin's either with how thin and fine her's was. Aika had a thick, curly, head of hair that went down to his back at this point so it was a constant battle to keep random twigs and other junk from getting tangled in there. 

"Oh yeah? Which ones were your favorite?" Time was just humoring the toddler, pulling the debris from the youth's hair as he began to walk across the camp. Aika seemed to think deeply about this, making a show of tapping a finger to his chin as he considered his response every so carefully. 

"I lik... the yellouw ones." he decided with finality, he couldn't help but smile at the youth shaking his head as he put the youth down onto one of the stripped stumps. 

"That's a very good choice, I agree, the yellow ones are very pretty." Aika seemed pleased that he agreed, the toddler lifting his head up like he was proud he had made the right choice. It was difficult not to laugh, but he managed to keep it down to just a big smile. 

"Alright, Time, stop hogging the kid's attention." Drifter noted, Time could hear the grin on the kid's face without even having to look at him. The God made a show of sighing dramatically as he stepped back, allowing Drifter to sneak close before grabbing the toddler and covering the giggling creature in kisses. When Drifter, himself, was considered one of the youth of the group he didn't seem too fussed about Aika or Rem, like he could do without, but the older he got the more he seemed to go out of his way to interact with them. A lot of the energy that he had shown when he had first joined still present, if only the same could be said for Tero. He wasn't nearly as fun as when he had first joined and Time couldn't help but wonder if that was his fault, or Relis's. Bear dropped to sit across the currently out fire, drooping down against the stripped log like a backrest. 

"Ay' ya' okay over there, buddy?" Vaitelin asked, nudging his teammate with his foot, causing the dark-skinned man to groan in response before throwing up a weak hand to shoo the sandy-hunter away. 

"Not dyin' of heat exhaustion, are ya'?" the blond said it humorously but he was obviously expecting an answer considering he was still hovering over the man. Considering Bear was the same person who went every single winter wearing the same thing he had in the summer it was a fair concern to have. 

"No." Bear responded after a long moment, shifting slightly when the still out-of-breath Hercules gracelessly dropped to sit next to him. While Sar'ene's healing had saved his life, surely, he still took longer to recover from exertion and illness and, honestly, it was difficult even now not to get concerned over how red his face was. 

"How 'bout ya', Hercules, you gonna live?" Vaitelin turned his attention to the other werewolf, who nodded slowly as he rubbed a hand over his face... only succeeding in further smearing his hair-paint across his face-tattoos due to the running. 

"Fantastic, no one's dyin'. What a day, ay boss?" the sandy-haired hunter grinned, he was the oldest one in the group besides Relis and sometimes Time found himself searching for any grey hairs... still none. He was holding up mighty well for a mortal, and he and Drifter were generally the first to bounce back after a hunt. Vaitelin sat down on the log next to the still suffering pair of hunters, most likely to keep an eye on them. 

"It would have been nice if there had been a cloud or two while we were out there." Time responded, the sound of dipping into a cold mountain stream sounding like heaven right then.. and he didn't even feel temperature like they did so he had no idea how the mortals managed to hunt under this kind of skin-hugging heat. 

"Agreed." Bear managed, attempting to get his damp hair out of his face and failing... causing him to just give up for the time being while he tried to cool off. Thankfully, the mountains were cooler than the plains and the camp had purposefully been built under a thick canopy of ancient trees... so this was probably the best place to be for a cool-down. 

"Where's Robin?" Drifter asked lightly as he stopped 'torturing' the poor toddler, Time wasn't one-hundred percent certain but he was pretty sure he had sensed a crush from Drifter forming for the red-head. It was strange to think about, considering that Robin had had a kid when he had still been considering Drifter one, but in all honesty the two weren't actually that far apart in age. Four years, at most. 

"Here, sorry. I was just washing up a bit." the red-head responded.... Time wasn't actually sure where she had come from, he nodded in greeting to the werewolf as she approached while flattening the wrinkles in her skirt. 

"Oh, good, I was starting to worry when we didn't see you." he was referring to the fact that Aika had ran up to them and had seemed to be in camp alone. An understandable concern, and one that the young-god shared. He raised an eyebrow at the priestess, watching her carefully take the toddler from the dusty-haired young adult with a grateful smile. 

"Don't worry, I only ducked out after I saw him with you, Time. He wasn't alone at any point." she explained with a soothing voice, pressing a kiss to the child's chubby cheek. 

"Of course not, I know you are too smart to do something like that, Robin, hence the initial concern." he agreed, Drifter allowing him to take over the talking and merely nodding enthusiastically in agreement. 

"I'm alright. Just a little hot out here, not like Aika seems to be bothered by it." Robin's expression turned from a simple sweet one to one of amusement as Bear muttered a simple 'I wish that was me' in the background, still sulking at how hot it was. 

"You all looked like you've been dragged through the dirt today. Did everything go alright?" she asked, lightly, glancing at the whole party. 

"Was there ever any doubt, miss.Robin?" Vaitelin responded with a wink, causing the red-head to roll her eyes and turn her attention elsewhere. 

"We brought down an mule elk, but I have to say we would have just came back with some bruises if not for Drifter's quick thinking." Time responded, tilting his head towards the youth who looked rather sheepish at the praise. Robin raised a inquisitive eyebrow at him, which seemed to be all the pressure he needed to explain.

"Ah, well, me and Time were functionin' as closers today..."

"I tripped into the elk's way, instead of taking it down, like an idiot and Drifter shot it through the eye. It was very quick thinking, he has good reflexes." Robin seemed amused by this, shaking her head with a playful snort.

"If you want to make the rest of the hunting party look good there are other ways than laying down in front of your target, Time." she pretended to scold. 

"Ah, see, you should have told me that earlier." 

"Atleast you still brought something back, more leathers will aways be useful and its not like the ladies ever bring something back with an intact hide."

"Don't let them hear ya' sayin' that or there'll be trouble." Vaitelin warned jokingly, glancing around like they were in danger. Time couldn't believe it had be so long since he had come out here, it felt like yesterday... but this also felt like home. 

Day 2

Deep summer continued to burn down on them like they had managed to anger the God of Weather, seriously did that guy have a problem with him or something? Time ran a hand over his face to try to keep the sweat from dripping into his eyes, wincing when he ended up somehow doing the opposite. Today was another hunter with Hercules's hunting party and things were just as much as a slog today as they had been the day before. Bear looked like he was melting as he lied in wait for the signal, the only one who seemed ready in any form was Drifter. Youth. 

Hercules was working as the finisher today, while he, Bear, and Drifter would be the focus. Vaitelin had been the tracker, per usual, and he was currently functioning as a filler-hunter that would go where he thought best. The target for today? A rather large mountain ram that had ventured onto more of a flat-land of the mountain than usual. This would be a difficult one for the terrain alone, but the fact that the matured ram was unlikely to run would mean that this would either go good or go bad very quickly. Time began to move towards the target as his fellow pesterers began to close distance, the prey quickly becoming defensive and lowering its great-horned head in threat. Pause, watching as Vaiteling crept around the corner of the group, before Time began to move again and cowed the ram into stepping backward a few paces. The sandy-hunter saw an opening and feigned an attack at the ram's side, causing it to jump to the side and attempt a kick into the open air. Now things had started to the order was non-existent as they attempted to work together to off-balance and pester the ram into making a mistake. Slowly backing the thing up against the mountain wall. That wouldn't last long, it could climb such a sheer surface while they could not, but this had been planned. Hercules was a damn good shot with a crossbow, the sound of the weapon loading was all Time needed to hear to know they had this in the bag. The ram crumpled to the ground only moments later, a triumphant werewolf sliding down the sharp-inclined rock wall to join the rest of the hunting party.

"See, I told you guys this would be a nice easy catch for today." he said, smiling, hardly having any difficulty breathing at all. Hercules had been right, as he usually was with such things, and the party was no worse for wear after the short exchange. 

"A good opportunity, glad you talked us inta takin' it." Vaitelin agreed, stooping to help Bear begin to field dress the fresh meat. 

"Not a day goes by in which I'm not thoroughly pleased with the fact that you ended up joining us." The young-God added, causing Hercules's smile to grow and eyes to crinkle. 

"Ugh, gag me. I thought we were hunters." Bear cut in, though his voice was playful. 

"I think we're done? Does everyone want to see how the girls are doing?" Drifter piped up, no words even needed to be exchanged for Hercules and Vaitelin to switch roles. There was no way the hunter was going to pass up a chance to see Astaira. Fairly recently, maybe a few months back, the two had become a bit more open with their relationship. They weren't married, nor did Vaitelin seem quite comfortable with public affection, but the fact that they were an item was obvious at this point. 

"Me and Bear will do that, you three might as well see if the other hunters need any help." Hercules agreed with the youth, making a small shooing gesture before stooping to help Bear. Poor guy, everyone knew that the field dressing was his least favorite part... but it was probably best to keep him away from Felis anyway. She was still just as short and aggravated as she had been four years ago, she had even attempted to start a fight with Relis a couple of times, she didn't get along very well with anyone outside of her immediate hunting party anymore and Time couldn't help but wonder why she even bothered sticking around. 

"Actually, if it is all the same to you all I think I'm going to check on the scouts." Time interjected, merely saying that to be polite instead of anything else. As much as he may follow Hercules's instruction during the hunt, and as much as he may mingle among his followers, he was still a God and he wasn't the kind to be bossed around. 

"That's probably smart, if all of us show up I think the ladies are gonna get offended." Vaitelin agreed, Hercules and Bear didn't seem to care one way or another as it didn't really make a difference to them.

"Tell my brother I said hi!" Time nodded to the youth, as the two dusty hunters departed to see if they could track down the mostly-female hunting party in the fields. The young-god dipped his head to the two stuck with gutting-duty, also some of his favorite people, before beginning his own way down to the meadows. The best place to look for a track, or trail, of either of the scouts was along the ancient forest border. Tero more so than Relis, the blond knew how to lay low and was often too busy to be easily caught up to. 

Walking along the edge of the forest, Time quickly picked up on the sensation of... Relis and not Tero. Strange, if you were to find the shapeshifter generally his apprentice wasn't too far away. It didn't take long for him to catch up to the blond, he seemed to just be enjoying a break by the same river that Time had found Tero and Drifter at a few years back. 

"Something the matter, Relis?" he asked shortly, while he no longer distrusted the man as much as he used to he still didn't particularly like him either. The instinctual distaste for his kind still making him tense up when the man turned to look at him.

"No, I am fine. Thank you for asking." Relis responded shortly, he had become quieter of late and Time wasn't sure if he should be concerned or not. He almost expected the shapeshifter to say something else but the man seemed perfectly content to sit in silence.  

"Taking a break?"

"Yes, if that is okay."

"You do more than Tero does, regardless. Doesn't matter to me how you do it." the shapeshifter blinked at him at this, opening his mouth like he was going to defend his apprentice before deciding against it and just nodding in thanks. 

"Are you sure you are alright? You didn't use to be this short." Time didn't really care, but if something was going on he would like to know about it. Pressing at the shapeshifter's ether was something that he did very infrequently, as it made him feel antsy and on edge, but he could sense that there was something bothering Relis. "What is it?" he prodded further when the was no immediate response, taking a few steps into the clearing to stand at a more reasonable distance from the other. Relis didn't seem to know what he was asking about, raising an eyebrow at him but offering no words. 

"I can tell something is bothering you, its written all over your ether, so what is it?" a look of realization followed by a slight frown. Understandably, Relis didn't like others prodding at his thoughts any more than any one else would but considering how much of a puzzle the man could be it sometimes felt like the only option. 

"Do not worry yourself over it, it will not affect my work for the group." hm, seemed he wasn't keen on talking about it either. Time sighed, but dropped the subject. 

"No?"

"No. There would be nothing you could do about it regardless." 

"Well, if you decide otherwise you know how to find me." 

"Yes, thank you." with that very short, uninformative, exchange Time left the scout to his break. As long as he continued to be as useful to the pack as before he didn't see any reason to try to drag the issue out of him, let him be. Maybe... maybe Robin was in the meadow with Rem? That could be a good way to waste some time. 

Day 18

As usual, Time had been mostly hunting with Hercules's hunting party to take down bigger prey. Mostly, what they caught would be dried and stored away to help them get through the winter while they had the opportunity to catch plenty but now even their storehouse was beginning to run out of space for it. Should they slow down on hunting or should he build another? He knew that he needed to start working on creating other things, leathers were nice but, eventually, his followers would long for the finer things in life, but Time couldn't decide if it was late enough in the creation of the group to warrant doing that. He had started asking Relis about the closest towns, what the trade was like, and thusly the scout was beginning to venture several days worth of travel to bring him the information he sought. Currently, Time was waiting on the shapeshifter to return so until he knew what the trade situation in the area was like he'd have to put the thought of upgrading on hold. 

"Time, I was hoping to ask something of you." the voice of Robin cut him out of his thoughts, today was the first day in a while that he would be spending the afternoon in camp. Most days he was out with the hunters, following the scouts, or he was patrolling their borders, so it wasn't often that he got to spend any particular amount of time with Robin. He turned to the red-head, giving her a smile. Her braid was a mess, she had probably slept in it last night hence all the stray hairs, but her clothes were mostly without wrinkles. Aika was on her hip, dozing off on her shoulder. Time offered to take the toddler from her, the werewolf smiling enough to cause her eyes to crinkle at the corner, but she shook her head.

"What can I help you with?" 

"Well, Rem's a teenager now and I was thinking... the earlier he starts getting to learn about things the better, right?" she gave him a searching look, but Time merely nodded for her to continue. "I was hoping you'd be able to start teaching him how to hunt. Relis had been teaching him scouting somedays but...." she didn't even have to finish the thought for him to know why she asked. Despite the amount of time that had passed since it was revealed to the pack that Relis was a shapeshifter Robin had never gotten over the fact that he was dangerous. She still didn't like how often Rem ended up with Relis and if Rem became a scout that would cement the two working together frequently... in fact it might be a good idea to train Rem to replace Tero when he became old enough, considering how bad of a scout he was.

"You want me to teach him how to be a hunter?" Time asked, raising an eyebrow at the red-head. Robin nodded in response, tilting her head towards the young teen that was sitting infront of the currently out fire. He seemed bored out of his mind. 

"If you do recall I'm not exactly the best hunter out there either, Robin." he reminded her as he returned his attention to the woman. 

"I know, but I don't think that matters right now, right? He's only thirteen, he doesn't know how to even notch a bow." she was insistant because she didn't want him hanging around Relis as much anymore... though it would have been very good training for the youth to go with Relis when he left to gather information... maybe next time. 

"All right, I'll see what I can do. Might as well, not like either of us are doing anything." Robin seemed to relax at this, dipping her head deeply in gratitude before quickly returning to her tasks. Stretching, Time quietly approached the firepit and dropped down to sit next to the young teen. The patchy youth blinked in surprise at his appearance, obviously having thought he was out hunting per usual today, but didn't seem displeased to see him. 

"You busy, Rem?" he asked in a light tone, the youth rolled his eyes before shaking his head in response. While for most of his childhood the youngling had had hair that framed his face he had more recently cut his hair off at the root. Now he had about two inches of kinky-curled hair growth but it was still strange to see. 

"You know I'm not." Rem responded with a sassy voice, a slight smirk on his face as he turned to look out over the mountain again. 

"Great, I was wondering if you wanted to learn a few things about self-defense." that got the youth's attention, eyes bright in excitement as he snapped his head back to look at Time. 

"You're going to teach me how to fight?" he asked, an incredulous tone to his voice, seemed he had been turned down on being taught that before... by Relis or by someone else.

"Well, I've heard that Relis is teaching you to track and scout, like he does, soo.. I thought it only right you know how to defend yourself out there." Rem got to his feet at his words, rubbing his spotted hands together in excitement as his eyes gleamed. It had been years since he had distrusted the youth but seeing him so intensely interested in violence made his scarred insides squirm on instinct. He couldn't help but wonder if Rem even remembered the corruption. 

"Relis refused to teach me, for some reason, but I'm so ready for this!" seemed Rem thought it had something to do with his age, hm. Time stretched once more, before getting to his feet. 

"We'll be using the meadows as a training ground, too many rocks up here." the youth seemed impatient but didn't argue with his words, merely nodding and impatiently waiting for him to start leading the way down the mountainside. 

"A fair warning, Rem, this isn't going to be very fun." they weren't going to be starting out with any of the interesting stuff, all of it would be useless without a foundation to build on and they were starting from scratch. Youths don't really understand that concept of patience to attain what they want though.

"What will we be going over then?" Rem asked, but his spirits didn't seem any dampened.

"Movements, mostly, and how to fall. If we started with actual combat without doing those first I'd just end up hurting you." the youth made a thoughtful sound in response, Time giving him a long look, but he just nodded in understanding. Hm, maybe Rem wouldn't be such a bad student then. He wasn't quite like usual kids, anyway, maybe something to do with whatever mix he was or maybe something to do with the corruption. 

"Will you be teaching me this all the time too? Like Relis does with scouting?" after a few minutes the teen asked, Time considered this. He mostly worked with the hunters... but it wasn't exactly like either hunting party needed his help they were both perfectly function without him... would it be a good idea to focus on teaching the young and building the pack again?.. Probably. 

"Yes. We should give you the best possible start, shouldn't we?" Rem seemed pleased at this response, a smile on his face. 

"What are you so pleased about? You know that this is going to leave you sore, don't you?" he added, causing the youth to snort and roll his eyes as he crossed his arms. 

"I know that!... It'll just be nice to be able to spend more time with you again." Oh, that actually hurt him a little. Had he been neglecting Rem with all the hunting? 

"You know I always have time for you." he said earnestly, hoping that the teen actually believed him when he said it. 

"I know that." he confirmed, but Time wasn't sure if he believed him. 

Training today had went about as well as one could expect. Rem had a lot of difficulty with even the most basics of stances and movements, but that was the price of being a beginner at something. That and the new bruises from stressing lazy tendons and muscles. 

"Ow, is it going to be like this every time?" the youth whined, he was several lengths behind Time as they walked, dragging his feet. 

"Pretty much, yes. You'll see improvement of your skills over time but as you improve I'll be expecting more out of you. So, yes, training will hurt most of the time." he responded lightly, pausing to let Rem catch up so he didn't leave the sore youth in the dust. He'd get used to it eventually, just as the hunters had. 

"Why does anyone do this if it feels so bad?" the patchy child continued to complain, causing Time to shake his head good-naturedly. 

"Because it is a good thing to know. You think that the hunters don't come back sore everyday with all of the running and maneuvring they have to do? a small smile worming its way onto his face when he saw the look on Rem's face. Like he could almost feel how awful it must be to be a hunter when the hunt was over and the target was down. 

"Will I be a hunter when I'm older, then?" Rem asked, Time couldn't place exactly what the look on the youths face was but he shrugged in response.

"If you want to be. Or you could do what Robin does and tend the camp, or you could be a scout like Relis, you could do smaller-solo hunts if that's what you want to do, or you could... leave and explore the world. Regardless, knowing how to respond is a good skill to have." he couldn't decide for Rem what he was going to be, having Rem replace Tero would be useful but it was his life. The youth seemed to like that he had options, smiling as a thoughtful look crossed his features.

"And if I change my mind?"

"Life is long enough that you can always pick up and decide to be something else." The rest of the slow, casual, walk up the mountain was spent in personable silence, as Rem looked out over the far-spanning mountains with a dream-like look. Time had left his own family behind to create this one, maybe Rem would do the same one day. 

Day 22

Training with Rem was going well enough, he didn't have really any more of an understanding of the material than he had when they started but it hadn't even been a week yet, it would take time. The hunting parties understood his decision to start focusing on Rem's training, Astaira seemed a little disappointed that he'd be able to go with them even less but Hercules actively encouraged the idea. Saying it was only smart to help the youth put his best foot forward. Because of how unused to this kind of activity Rem was he became exhausted rather quickly, so while the sun was still rather high in the sky they were already beginning the trek back up the mountain. No need to push the youth too far, patience would do him better. 

"I... I thought this was going to get easier." the patchy youth complained, the walk up the mountain in the direct sun making both of them feel like they were burning even more than they had during the actual training. 

"I do believe that I warned you that it was always going to be a slog, didn't I?" Time responded, raising an eyebrow at Rem as he paused to let the feet-dragging immortal catch up to him again. The red-haired boy sighed in response, but nodded.

"Y-yeah, I guess you did, but I thought that eventually, I would get used to it."

"No, you'll always feel it. You'll just not care about it as much." the young-God smiled at the big frown on the youth's face, it took everything in him to not tease the youngling when he was already a bit on the prickly side. No reason to cause any friction, teenagers were easy enough to anger without going out of his way to do so. "Don't give me that look, Rem, I promise that the skill will be worth knowing. And, eventually, as you get better you'll find that it's satisfying to pull off throws properly. It just takes work, and patience, to get there but you have all the time in the world to work on it." he added this in a light, encouraging, tone that made Rem glower just a little less. 

"Will I be able to take you down, one day?" he asked, Time gave the youth a long searching look as his insides ached with the old memory of claws. He tried not to look nervous as he began to walk again. 

"Maybe, but you'll need to train a lot to get there... asking one of the hunters for help might be a good idea too if that is your goal." he was saying this supportively as possible, but the thought that Rem would go out of his way to specifically beat him made the young-God uncomfortable. Once again, he wondered if the teen remembered what he had done during the corruption, if he remembered what Time had allowed to happen in order to bring him here. The dark-man shook his head to clear these thoughts from his mind, they would do him no good. 

"Is training over for today?" Rem asked, he had thought that the answer to that was obvious but he supposed not. 

"Yes, it is."

"Can I go hang out with Robin, then?" Rem had been more interested in spending time with Robin again more recently, he had even started going out of his way to play with Aika. A nice thing to see considering how much the shift in Robin's attention had upset Rem when the toddler had been born four years ago. 

"Absolutely, do whatever you wish." he responded, tilting his head toward the werewolf's house and watching the red-haired youth quickly scamper off to bother the woman. Surely, she wouldn't mind. Now free for the rest of the foreseeable day, Time settled in front of the low-burning fire. A few books he had more recently acquired had become rather common items over here, and as he had left them out the night before they were waiting for him as he dropped to the sandy-ground to look over them. Basics, diagrams, simple laymen's term explanations for medicinal care. He'd never be a healer, his blood told him as much, but knowing how to properly stop bleeding would be a helpful skill for when Sar'ene moved on. His cousin had proved very helpful these past four years when his pack got hurt, and he would continue to for the foreseeable future seeing how his uncle was not particularly keen on giving up his Godly title just yet. Time hadn't really envisioned Sar'ene having such a head start with this but, not much one can do to fix that. 

Time had settled in to continue his research when the sound of someone being forcibly dragged into camp caught his attention. He... didn't believe that had ever happened before. Putting the book aside, the young-God got to his feet and quietly approached the west-facing exit. Straightening out the wrinkles, and brushing off the dirt, from his clothes the dark-man didn't even look up to see the situation until the struggling party was forcibly thrown to his knees. Now, let's see..

The kneeling man, hands bound tightly at his waist, was a tanned individual with a scraggly head of hair and unkept facial hair. Time couldn't tell the man's natural hair-color through all of the mess, leaves and twigs stuck out of his hair, as well as dirt, clay, mud, and maybe dark ash? So he had a forest floor's rainbow of color going on and for some reason Time got the impression that this wasn't much worse than his usual. Aside from that the man's hands were bleeding at the knuckles, face bruised, and a cut was slashed across his cheek. 

"Wow, you got into quite the skirmish didn't you?" Time commented, neutrally, before turning his eyes to Relis.. the one who had dragged the man here. An ice-cold chill went down his spine as he saw the blue-fire in the shapeshifter's eyes, whatever had caused the altercation the blond was still beyond pissed. Time's instincts told him to step away, to put distance between himself and the angered predator, but he merely crossed his arms defensively. While the anger on Relis's face had been the first thing he noticed it wasn't lost on him that his packmate had also gotten roughed up; a busted lip and a nosebleed... Time vaguely questioned if the dirty bound man had broken Relis's nose in the fight.

"It was not my intention to get into a fight, this man does not know the meaning of the word 'parlay'." the shapeshifter's voice dripped with danger, and Time shifted uncomfortably at it as he tried not to tense too visibly. Oh... Tero and another man were also here. Tero had brought another man.... no not man. A teenager, an older one, about the age Drifter had been when he joined by the looks of it. Tero had him by the arm but he wasn't being particularly forceful with him. The teen's clay-brown hair was tousled, and a slightly dazed look on his face, but there was a slightly goofy big smile on his face. Tero looked a slight mess too, blood on one of his hands... if Time had to guess he had jumped in to assist Relis with the kneeling man. 

"So... what are you two doing on our territory?" 

"Territory, what in the blazes of sovereign's holy hell are you talkin' about you bloody baster'?" an accent but different than Rory's or Vaitelin's. It sounded like the sea. 

"This is my territory, I am the God that resigns here." Time responded calmly, patiently, to the short-tempered fellow. The messy man spat on the ground in response, a gesture that had Time scowling down at him, before he shook his head.

"Aint no such'n thing as multiple ods, there be only the one and we'ave traveled far from hes' terf. Aint we, boy?" he had never heard of the belief in a singular God before, Time had to admit curiosity, glancing at Relis's reaction of eye-rolling before turning his attention to the teen. 

"Aye' sir, we 'ave. I'ave heard legends, myths, of beings that called em'self gods before." he responded, a similar accent to the messy man but a slight twang like Vaitelin's to boot. 

"Very well, that part doesn't really matter, what does matter is that this mountain belongs to us. What happened?" Time re-directed the conversation. 

"I told them that this was our land, our border, that they could not just hunt here and this filthy excuse for a human threw a punch at me." Relis responded to his question while the messy man grumbled a few choice curses to himself. 

"Broke yer' nose too, he did." the teen mocked with a sharp grin when the shapeshifter turned his gaze to glare cold-fire at him. 

"Alright, okay. Relis, let me handle this." The dismissal had the blond giving him a momentary wide-eyed look before he signed, nodded, and left to, probably, pout on the over-looking ledge at the edge of camp. 

"You two obviously aren't from around here, is there something you are looking for?"

"'esides food?" the filthy human responded with a slightly bloody grin, he was missing several teeth... was that old or had Relis knocked some teeth out? 

"You were just.. hunting? You aren't going anywhere?"

"Yea', what else we do in here's about?" the teen piped up, a snarky tone to his thickly accented voice. Time shared a look with Tero, who seemed to know what he was thinking immediately and shook his head. 

"If you two were just looking for food that could be provided. Our hunters catch plenty to share." 

"We aint gonna turn down no free supper, mista'." strange that the youth was the one accepting, but the human was nodding in agreement too. 

"Too bad the rest of yer little cult on this ere' mountain aint as willin' to 'ave hospitality or maybe we 'ould be convince to stay here." the human was probably referring to the fight he got into with Relis.

"I am Time, the leader of this group."

"I be Heeteri, that boy be Soaphoet, pleasure... I'd make ta shake yer hand but.." the filthy man made a show of moving his hands within his restraints, Time huffed shortly before kneeling and removing the binds. The man, who he had to guess was close to Relis's age, then turned and undid the 'Soaphoet's ropes. 

"So, are you two family, or?" the two didn't look related as far as he could tell, Soaphoet looked like he could have immortal blood somewhere in his bloodline and Heeteri... looked like the average dirt-blooded human. 

"... I adopted the boy, someone's got ta look out fer 'em." ah. Yeah, that made sense. Soaphoet seemed pleased enough to be in the messy man's company so it could be worse, probably. Maybe a similar situation to himself and Hercules. 

Oh, right, he had forgotten one important detail. Felis hates humans. It would be one thing if the only person unhappy with the man's presence had been Relis, he could suck it up, but Felis was... dangerous when she was upset. This one was going to be interesting... 

Time rubbed a hand over his face, temporarily banishing the stress, as he watched Tero guide the two guests over to the fire and sit down to keep an eye on them. Well, at least Tero was doing his job right now. That counted for something. Taking a moment to make sure all seemed well, the young-God turned and approached the bloodied scout. 

"Did he actually break your nose or did you just get a nosebleed?" he asked, not bothering with a proper introduction. He watched with a raised eyebrow as the blond gingerly placed a hand to his nose, pressing with a slight wince, as if testing to see which it was himself. 

"Not broken, just bloody." the pressure had not been helpful for his health though, causing a bit of fresh red to start dripping down to his face. Relis just looked irritated rather than anything but made no move to stop the bleeding. A nosebleed wouldn't really kill you, maybe make you dizzy but generally not dangerous, but the scout treating it like being bitten by a bug was a little strange from where he was standing. 

"You alright? You are acting a little strange." atleast he didn't seem directly mad anymore, his own instincts were still a bit on edge but he didn't feel like he was staring down a viper anymore. 

"I am fine, thank you. I will not cause.... trouble with our... guests." 

"Good, yes, thank you for that. If he does punch you again though you have my permission to drop him down a nice sheer slope." Relis gave him a confused look at this, before he seemed to realize that this had been a joke and offering a short smile before turning to look over the mountain range again. The blond was still acting weird, something was obviously still bothering him, but Time wasn't going to press this right now. Relis was having a bad enough day without him trying to drag information out of him. Soon, though. 

"What is this?" he had been anticipating this since he remembered Felis's distaste for humans. Time had been pacing near the fire since he had finished speaking with Relis, only now that he was standing still and staring at the painted woman did he notice how much his legs hurt from the hour or two of circling. Felis was bristling, eyes glinting like brown-steel, baring her teeth like a territorial wolf. She was pissed, he could feel the rage rolling off of her in waves. Time stepped forward, entering the clearing around the fire-pit, and put himself between the werewolf and their guests. Felis took this as claim, as this being his fault... not a bad guess, and she stalked up to him like a pissed panther. 

"What the fuck is this, Time? I thought I made myself clear on the 'no humans' front?" she snarled, eyes narrowed and face scrunched up with her anger. The young-God briefly cast a glance at Relis, the man who had initially brought her into the group, and while the blond shifted to more readily step in should things go south he didn't seem keen on going toe-to-toe with Felis's anger again. Time couldn't blame him, the woman had gone out of her way to try to antagonize him and try to start fights with him as much as she could since the shapeshifter reveal... she would probably not be very interested in being reminded of that long-lived lie right now. 

"Calm, Felis, they are merely guests." he responded lightly, dripping a small amount of extra ether into his voice in an attempt to soothe the nerves of the werewolf. Felis was beyond mad, though, and the ether was shoved back in his face with the next wave of unsuppressed anger. No amount of ether manipulation was going to sway her right now, even her subconscious was set on this. This wasn't even a small part in her that was okay with this that he could leverage. This had insulted her more than he thought it would, he could feel the impulsiveness on her brain. He had known this wasn't going to go well but... now he was sure this was going to go particularly bad. 

"Don't you 'calm' me, I had one request when I joined and that there would be no dirt-bloods!" she snapped in response, stepping closer in a way that was vaguely threatening. 

"Now, lass, I don' think that this is such a big-"

"Shut the fuck up, I'm not talking to you, ant." Felis spat crossly as the messy human attempted to cool the situation down, it would be better if he stayed out of it. 

"What are you getting at, Felis?" he knew she was going somewhere, he could feel it, and he wanted to cut to the chase instead of standing here being snarled at by a semi-rabid werewolf.

"I had one condition for staying, you broke my rule. I'm leaving." Oh, shit. To say that he was surprised would be an understatement, the rest of the pack seemed equally as gobsmacked as he was, a silence of shock falling over the camp at her words. 

"They're leaving tomorrow, I don't understand why you would leave over this." 

"Because you have shown me that you can't handle the one thing I asked." as she turned to storm off Surie stepped up with a desperate, sad, look on her face. The black-haired woman stepped into Felis's way, hands shaking as she tried to reach out to the other werewolf. Time had expected a growl, or threat, but Felis merely brushed aside the gesture with a softness that gave him a distinct impression. Why had it taken him four years to notice? Surie and Felis were together, it was pretty obvious now that he was aware of it, they spent every waking moment together. Was Surie going to leave with her? 

"Felis, wait, where are you going?" the quiet-voiced woman asked, voice sounding empty.

"I'm leaving, Surie. I'm not staying here like this." Felis responded, causing the other woman to shake her head like she didn't believe it. 

"You can't, I... I can't leave. I can't go with you, you can't go." Surie was begging, the display making Time feel innately guilty. 

"I know, Surie, I know that. I'm sorry, I can't stay." he wasn't going to stop Felis, this had been a touch too far for her and he was going to let her leave if she wanted to do so. The huntress said her goodbyes to those she actually liked before departing. Time let out a short sigh before turning to look at their human guests.

"I'm sorry you two got caught in the middle of that. I did not think she would react like that." 

"No worries, mista'." the teen responded with a smile, seems he didn't take any offense to being called a dirt-blood. Heeteri had a thoughtful look on his face, before sitting up a bit.

"I know we 'idn't start off with yer group that well but... we 'ould stick around fer a bit. We help you lot, you put us up in a bed?" the messy man offered, Time wasn't sure if he wanted their help or not but a following doesn't grow with refusals. 

"If you feel so inclined, you are welcome to stay." he responded lightly, dipping his head to the man who grinned a semi-toothy grin. Surie was, understandably, quiet and gloomy. Sitting at Astaira's feet with a distant look on her face. The demi-goddess looked upset as well, Felis had not only been one of their best hunters but a good friend of her's. It would probably be difficult for her to adjust to not having her around. He hoped that the two didn't blame him for how things played out, but right now both of them were too sad to throw insults at him. Rory seemed a little down as well, sulking near the two woman. Seemed that hunting party had been very close... and now it was just the three of them. That was going to make hunting for them difficult too. 

Drifter seemed keen to meet the two new guys, getting up and crossing the fire-pit to drop down next to the teen. The two weren't that far away in age, probably, Soaphoet looking just a tad older than Drifter had been when he joined. 

"Hello, nice to know you two will be sticking around for a bit! I'm Drifter, it's real nice to meet you both!" he beamed, the two looked suspicious of his intentions.

"I be Heeteri, this one's Soaphoet." the messy man introduced, glancing at the teen like he expected him to know something he didn't. 

"Glad to have you here-" Drifter was cut off by Rem, as he jumped into the conversation with sparkling blue eyes and a sharp grin.

"Soaphoet? So, like, can we call you Soap then?" he asked, causing the human to cough, choking on his food. Actually, he wasn't too far off from Rem's age either, probably fitting neatly between Rem's and Drifter's age groups. 

"I'd, uh, prefer if ya' didnant'?" the clay-colored hair youth responded, hand still to his chest after the shock. Aika, being a toddler, liked the upbeat vibe that the conversation had going and decided to give his input.

"Soap! Soap! Soap!" the toddler chanted, clapping his hands. While the majority of the adults were still in shock over Felis's departure at least the youth of the group were enjoying themselves. That counted for something in his book.

"I, uh, I am not 'scaping that one am I?" Soaphoet asked, the grin on Rem's face confirmed his fears and the teen sighed theatrically. 

"Fine, ya' can call me Soap, I reckon." he relented, Aika cheering at having won whatever it was he thought this was. Drifter seemed amused at the interaction. 

"You are going to fit in here just fine." the dusty young-adult said with an encouraging tone. The two humans looked a lot less suspicious of him now, maybe even comfortable by the fire with them. Maybe having those two around wouldn't be such a bad thing... he only hoped it was worth losing Felis over. 

Day 23

Figuring out how things were going to work now that Felis was gone was a little difficult and stressful. The hunting parties worked best when there was at least four people in each, and now one of them was functioning on just three. Vaitelin had offered to switch parties to help fill the gap but even if he did that would still leave one group missing a vital person. The most obvious choice was for Time to step in and work as the filler for the time-being but that would mean nixing Rem's training. Seeing how frustrated he was, Heeteri had approached with a wide grin and a question of 'how could he help?' The young-God had made an off-handed comment about the man not being able to help any unless he happened to know self-defense and the messy-human's grin had widened in a smug way. 

"What, you know self-defense?"

"I'ave lived my life on a ship most me life, lad, I know a wee bit about fightin'." he had responded, reminding the man of the fact that he had managed to put up a good-enough fight against Relis, Time begrudgingly requested the man to try teaching Rem as he needed to know how to defend himself, and the man had readily agreed to it. So, with that settled, Time was free to join Asteria's short hunting party. 

The air around the group was, understandably, damp and dull. The normally high spirits of the group scattered to the winds without their fourth member with them... knowing that she wouldn't be hunting by their sides ever again. Time had chosen to go with the group to evaluate how well they were doing, and while Rory seemed to be starting to move on already Asteria and Surie both didn't seem as prepared to leave Felis behind. He wouldn't hold it against them, they had all been very close for four years, and, honestly, he wasn't even expecting to catch anything today. Just keep them busy so they didn't sulk too much. Normally, Asteria would be the one leading and the one calling the shots but she didn't seem interested in doing that today. Rory stepped up in her place, weither because he felt she needed it or if this was how he was dealing with the lose Time couldn't tell, and the gilded man quickly decided they were going for an elk. A bull elk. Either he wanted to lift the spirits of the group by taking down something big or he wasn't thinking. Rory instructed himself and Asteria to work as chasers, Surie was finisher as usual, and he would be on standby to help. Not a terrible plan but Time wasn't sure if Surie would be able to function as such an important role as a finisher with how.... distressing losing a loved one would be. 

Despite his reservations about the situation, Time held his tongue and allowed the party to function without his input. It would be a good way to see how much help they would need in the next coming weeks to deal with Felis's departure

. 

Surprisingly, they had actually managed to take the bull down. Surie had missed the initial shot but she didn't seem willing to allow the target to escape and jumped it like a cougar. It was actually incredibly impressive and the others in the hunting party seemed to think so too, too bad Surie didn't seem keen on dwelling on it and just wanted to get on with field dressing the buck. The walk back to camp felt a little less stifling than the initial departure, if Rory had intended on lightening the team's spirits with such a catch he hadn't been wrong, but there was also the deep longing of missing a friend. Re-entering camp, it was still fairly early in the day and the sun was beating down overhead. Time quickly noticed that the camp was... different. It looked like Heeteri, Soaphoet, Rem, and... even Relis had cleared out a new space on the old edge of camp. The group wasn't finished with it yet, obviously, but it seemed to be a start of what would be a training area if he had to guess. Currently, Heeteri was walking Rem and Soaphoet through the motions of blocks and stances. 

Time was... impressed. He hadn't asked Heeteri to make a whole area with the intention of training Rem, and it wasn't quite done yet, but he had taken it upon himself to do so. Initiative. The young-God approached the group, sitting down on a newly felled log next to Relis who was watching the group like a hawk. Atleast now his face wasn't bloody. 

"You four managed to do this by yourselves all in just this morning?" he asked, to no one in particular. 

"Robin helped a bit as well, as did Tero before he left to do a few tasks for me." Relis responded for the group, he was still a little surprised that the shapeshifter had been willing to work with the two humans after the, literal, fist-fight they had gotten into the day before. Time nodded in response, focusing on the three training. Rem still was the same as far as stance understanding went, but the presence of Soaphoet there seemed to make him more determined in fixing his mistakes. The older teen had a lot of purpose, skill, in how he moved so he could only guess that Heeteri had already taught the youth these moves and was going back over them for Rem's sake... maybe Heeteri would be worth losing Felis over if he really did have experience teaching. Soaphoet seemed a capable enough teen, if that was the messy human's doing then he could be an asset in the long-term goals of the pack. 

"Oy', Time, how'd yer huntin' party go'ins?" the accented teen asked, raising his arm up in what must have been a gesture of greeting. Heeteri gave him a look, smiling and tilting his head in a small nod of acknowledgment, before continuing to help Rem with his posture. 

"We got a buck, so I'd say it went pretty well all things considered." Time responded to the youth, 

"Oh' ya'know, we' just'in caught 'en elk, no big deal, 'aight?" Soaphoet seemed to be mocking him, good-naturedly, but the smile on his face was a sly snarky one that had the young-God shaking his head. 

"Keep in mind the hunting party consisted of two werewolves, a god, and a demi-god." he responded, the clay-haired teen paused, pursing him lips. 

"Ya' still on about that 'god' thing, are ya'?" seemed he had thought it a white lie that Time had just dropped casually the day before.

"Do not be surprised if he continues to call himself one for the entire time you are here for, either, for he is considered a God in these parts." Relis cut in, tone actually polite. Time could still tell there was something at the back of his mind that was bothering him but, for the moment, it seemed to be on the back burner. 

"A god of what?" 

"Shockingly, time. I know, who would of thought that a man named Time was the God of Time." he responded sarcastically, causing the teen to smile at his tone. 

"Can ya' see inta' the future, thens?" 

"Not yet, anyway. Ask me again in a few years." Soaphoet seemed to find humor in this, and while he could tell the youth still didn't believe him a God he seemed to be okay enough with the topic now that he'd probably stop bringing it up when it was mentioned. Time became aware of the other individuals around him when an exhausted Rem suddenly plopped to the ground between him and Relis, running a hand through his short, kinky, hair and seeming to be thoroughly drenched in sweat. 

"Having fun, Rem?" he asked lightly, gently nudging the thirteen-year-old with his foot. 

"Yeaaah, so much fun. Wow." the patchy youth responded before slipping down to lay out over the freshly cleared ground. 

"Do not get too comfortable, Rem, you still have training with me later today." Relis noted with a smile, causing Rem to groan and cover his face with his hands.

"I better be the most strong, battle-ready, immortal in the whole pack in a year from now." he whined, causing Time to snort. 

"Maybe in a few." Rem groaned again at this, sitting up just to flop down onto the shaded ground completely. 

"I am sure you will put the rest of us to shame in no time, Rem, but you will have to work to get there." Relis lightly tapped the teen's nose, causing him to wrinkle his face in response. 

"Fine, fine, how long till we leave then?" the red-head relented, causing the shapeshifter to smile warmly at him.

"I'll give you an hour before we start getting ready. Use it wisely, little one." with that Relis nodded to Heeteri and took his leave from the group.

"That is the best mood I've seen him in in months." Time noted out loud, causing the humans to look at him in what must have been surprise. 

"What can I say, we jus' liven' the place up, don' we boy?" the messy man responded with a grin, one that his adopted... son, maybe, mirrored. Yeah.... yeah, Time didn't feel so uncertain about his choice anymore. For humans, these two weren't too bad. 

Day 40

Hunting with Asteria's group was now his norm, him fitting in as the new tracker and extra where Felis had once been. While, at first, the change had been hard for the werewolves to deal with they had been slowly coming to terms with the new way of things. Rory was thoroughly over Felis's departure, as far as he could tell, Asteria still missed her friend but seemed ready to move on, the only one who seemed to still be actively upset was Surie... and he couldn't blame her. He didn't know for how long the two were together, it wasn't really his business, but your partner leaving you behind so suddenly would only ever be painful. It would like take several months for her to start moving on... but she still managed to be very helpful while hunting despite her somberness. 

Returning to camp, removing the grime from his face with a cotton cloth, he noted that Robin and Aika had joined the training session for today. The area that Heeteri had started clearing was complete now, they had actually dug a shallow sloping hole into the training hollow and carefully ripped out countless rocks. The dirt was still a little loose and unhelpful for the task but it would become softer, more worn, the longer that they used it. Rem was finally starting to show some promise, managing the proper response stance to Soaphoet's prodding. 

"Ay'! There ya' go, Remis, just like that! Do that again, I wanta see if you got this down!" seems the older teen was taking a turn teaching Rem... also calling him Remis. Probably a response name for Rem calling him Soap, and also a reference to how much time Rem spent with Relis. Aika and Robin were going through the motions with Heeteri, but the Robin was obviously only participating to humor her son... and Aika was just interested because the older kids were doing it. Time shook himself off, straightening out a few of his braids that had gotten tangled, before approaching the group. 

Now that he was closer, Heeteri was a little damp... like someone had dumped water on him. Not like sweat either, just water. The twigs and leaves that the man had in his hair were gone but the mixture of colors remained... dyed then? Now that he could see him a bit better he would have to guess the original color was... black? But there was a mixture of grey-hairs, from aging, as well as brown and green in patches. Strange choice, but okay. 

"Robin." the red-head paused in her poorly done stance-shift, giving him a sweet smile as he carefully adjusted her footing with a nudge against her shoe. 

"Time, did everything go well with the hunt today?" she asked kindly, continuing to absentmindedly shift postures with Heeteri and the poorly mirroring toddler who was giggling to himself. At least he was having fun.

"Oh, want to hear the story of how I let a deer get away?" his tone was playful but that was the truth of the matter. Robin didn't seem phased, she shouldn't be they had more than enough food without that catch but it had still been embarrassing. 

"I do believe we have had the conversation about self-sabotage already." the werewolf commented wryly, Time rolled his eyes at her in response. 

"I forgot, maybe you should start reminding me of that lesson every morning before I leave." Time glanced at Heeteri as the man snorted, but he managed to keep a straight face rather well. It wasn't a big deal, not like the conversation was anything besides banter, but he wished more of the pack had Robin's ability to mind their own business. 

"By the way, I haven't seen Relis today. Does anyone know his whereabouts?" it wasn't uncommon in the grand scheme of things for the shapeshifter to be gone for several days at a time but, usually, that was done after requesting to do so. Relis had made no such note about a long outing so he was going with the assumption that the man had simply missed him via scheduling. 

"I think he's.... checking in on Sar'ene?" Rem piped up, tone breathy as he stepped away from Soaphoet to catch his breath. Understandably, the thirteen-year-old was having trouble keeping up with the more experienced teen. Thankfully, the clay-haired youth seemed willing to let Rem take a break. 

"Why would he be doing that? Sar'ene wants literally to kill him." the young-God responded in confusion, knitting his eyebrows together. 

"He wan's to what?" Heeteri looked confused at that, a bushy eyebrow-raising as he made a face akin to concern for the blond man. 

"Relis is a shapeshifter, specifically dangerous to Gods, so Sar'ene hates him." the werewolf deemed to fill the human in, deciding to stop with the 'training' she was doing and stretching casually. This was common knowledge, well known and long-since revealed for the pack, but for the two humans that was... a whole bunch of nonsense really. 

"He's a who-what-now? I though' that shiftas were myths." 

"As did I, but they are real and Relis is a half-blood of one. That is part of the reason Felis was so willing to leave." Heeteri didn't look like he bought his explanation but he nodding noncommitedly in response. 

"That aside, why would Relis go out of his way to visit Sar'ene alone?" he asked, again, looking between Robin and Rem to see if either had any clue to the blond's, obviously stupid, thought-process on such a markedly dumb idea. 

"As I understand it, Sar'ene got over the fact that Relis is a shapeshifter a while ago. I think they are... almost friends at this point." Rem was the one who explained, and Time wasn't sure if he was hearing right. His cousin...getting over something like blood. On a half-mortal created with the purpose of hunting them. Yeah, sounded fake. 

"Right.... I'm going to do a wellness check on our scout."  he noted the fact that Robin rolled her eyes but disregarded it. 

"'Ave fun, mista'!" Soaphoet called after him as he left the group. 

Seeing the thick, vibrant, foliage of the Rainforest as he descended the mountainside put him on edge. Time, as far as he could recall, hadn't ventured down here since the corruption and walking towards those tall trees... made him feel like he was doing it all over again. Walking into the mouth of a lion, well aware of the danger he was in, but forced to move forward in the name of another. It took everything in him to remain semi-calm, his muscles tensing against his wishes as he neared the tree-line. The corruption was four years dispelled from this place, four years owned by Sar'ene, he was in no danger here... right? 

Some part of him was slightly mollified as he stepped into the deep ocean of ether that surrounded Sar'ene,  while he could generally feel the presence of it from up on the mountain it was almost suffocating being near him. It felt like going to visit his uncle again, as a child, but the age-gap didn't feel like it should warrant such a power difference anymore. Like currents, it really wasn't hard to figure out where the True-God was, currently, in the deepest parts of the calmer rainforest... through the sheer strength of Sar'ene's ether there was no way for him to check if Relis really was here or not... he'd just have to see. 

"Hello, cousin." it always struck him how smooth and powerful Sar'ene's voice was, like liquid black silk, as his memory still remembered when the Space God had experienced voice-cracks. Stepping into the clearing, Time quickly noted the casual atmosphere, the True-god was lounging in the branches of a low-lying tree, leg dangling over the edge as he leaned against the tree's trunk comfortably. The blond, Relis, was also here and was seated criss-cross on the ground a few yards away near the clearing's center. A friendly distance, but respectful. No danger, no threat, no distate even on the ether in the air. Had Rem been right about Sar'ene 'getting over' the fact that Relis was a shapeshifter? He still hadn't managed that himself, the man still putting him on edge merely by existing in his presence most days. A much later realization as he coughed on the smoke in the air, Sar'ene was smoking from a golden stick and a thick purple haze surrounded him. Familiar, but not something Time had ever had himself. It was a substance only meant for the Gods... True Gods not Heir-Gods like himself so he had not yet had the privilege to try it. Seeing Sar'ene with it, and the fire-like markings on his skin, really struck home that this wasn't his annoying cousin anymore, this was a ruler-God. 

"Sar'ene, getting a little hazy?" he asked with a wince, fanning some of the purple smoke away from his face. There was a reason he hadn't been allowed it up to this point, poison. It was poison for Relis too, for everyone not Truly God, but the shapeshifter didn't seem to mind it too much. He had heard that there were some healers, short-lived ones, who had taken up smoking the strange substance so... maybe it affected healers differently than most others.

"I have the right to do so, Iniko. How can I help you?" the Space god responded smoothly, lazily blinking orange-ember eyes at him through the purple fog. 

"Just checking to make sure my scout was still alive." Sar'ene seemed to find this amusing, a short smile appearing on his face as he gave the shapeshifter a look. 

"Well, Relis, are you alive?" was that humor? Rem really must have been right, the dark god wouldn't throw jokes around at people he didn't like. This was a familiar environment, they might actually be friends. Weird. 

"I believe so, could be wrong." a short response. 

"Since when have you two started hanging out?" it was an act of will to not step back when Sar'ene blew another cloud of purple smoke into the air. At least it seemed to mostly be concentrated in the True-God's side of the clearing, likely intentional. 

"...hm... two years, I think? At first it was just Relis bothering me every so often, though." wow, really? How had he missed this for so long? Sar'ene laughed lightly at the incredulous look on his face, stretching out like a lazy sunbathing cat.. his patron animal was the panther, after all. 

"Were you actually worried about our dear shapeshifter, cousin?" the man teased, sticking his tongue out between sharp golden-tipped teeth when Time raised an eyebrow at him. 

"He is a part of my pack so, yes." what was he getting at? The young-God shook his head, clearing it of the vague fog now present like dust on his brain. He didn't really care what Sar'ene was thinking, he had just been checking and now he was eager to be away from the purple smoke, the Rain Forest, and the grating instinctual discomfort with Relis. 

"Anyway, as long as you don't intend on beheading him like an angered Old-God I'll leave you to your... whatever this is." 

"No promises." Sar'ene purred back, invoking the image of a cat string down a snake, making a shooing-like gesture that Time frowned at before the dark-man quickly took his leave. It was... strange that Sar'ene and Relis were friends now when Sar'ene had threatened to break the blond man's neck only four years ago. Whatever, he supposed that was a them issue as long as it didn't affect Relis's ability to work for him he supposed it didn't matter. 

Day 41

Late night with Aika, but this time Robin was up with him too. Nights like this didn't happen very often anymore now that Aika was a toddler and could reasonably sleep through the night but Aika was having some growing pains in his legs so he was too fussy to go back to sleep now that he was up... very cranky and whiny, though. Time had been re-detailing the walls of the temple when Robin came down with a moody baby in her arms and a distressed look on her face. He had offered to keep an eye on Aika and let her sleep but she didn't seem keen to leave the toddler alone while he was in pain... understandable but this was a very normal part of growing for children so it wasn't like she could do anything. Really, all they could do was sit with the toddler and comfort him as best as they could when the pain became less bearable for him. 

"Is there really nothing we can do?" Robin's voice was tired, but steeped in worry for her son, holding the upset child close to herself like she thought she could take his pain by doing so. Time sighed, shaking his head in response, trying to ignore the look on her face.

"unless you want to give him a pain-inhibitor." they did have a salve or two that could do that but... it wasn't generally something mixed with the intention on being used on someone so small. Robin thought about this for a long moment, squeezing the youth a little as he made a noise of complaint. 

"Do Gods go through this as well?" she asked, trying to think of something else besides the limb-pain Aika was going through. 

"Yes, I think everything does." 

"...even shapeshifters? Aren't they capable of appearing however they like?" well... no he didn't know anything about them, actually, he had heard many tall-tales of them when he was younger but it had always painted them to be mindless, insatiable, monsters who hunted Gods for sport.

"Are you asking that because I am here?" Relis's voice, he hadn't even noticed the half-blood ether. The blond and werewolf shared a look, like sizing eachother up, before the scout seemed to find more interest in the poor wriggling toddler that Robin had in her lap. 

"What is wrong with the little one?" he asked carefully, taking a few steps closer and kneeling to look at the moody child. Time wasn't sure if Robin had noticed that Relis never called Aika by his name, ever since he had told Relis that he had no say in it he had taken to just calling Aika 'little one' the same as he had with Rem before he had been properly named. 

"Growing pains." Time informed shortly, raising an eyebrow as the scout offered to take the youth from Robin with a gentle gesture. Robin growled, not liking the idea of handing her son over when he was hurting.

"I am a healer, Robin, I can help." the half-blood's voice was strangely soothing at that moment, and after a long moment of conflicted thought from the red-head she reluctantly handed the squirming toddler over to the scout. Aika seemed to calm down almost instantly... and Time himself did feel a little calmer. Like a much lighter version of what the Healer did when around... he hadn't considered that Relis might be able to do that, or that it could be an intentional thing. 

"I... didn't realize you had the ability to calm like the Healer does." he noted, honestly he hated it when the Healer did it and he wasn't any more of a fan with Relis being the originator. But, at least, this wasn't aimed at him. 

"I am half-healer, we all have that ability." the scout responded, shortly, Time could tell something was still eating at the blond's mind. At least Aika was sitting still now, though he was occasionally still whining. 

"How.. how long will this last for?" 

"Hard to say, could be a few minutes... could be a few hours." 

"You should go to bed, Robin. I'll make sure to put Aika down when he's ready to go back to sleep." Time could see the look on her face, she wanted to argue, but seeing how calm the toddler was with Relis seemed to make her give in.

"Please wake me up if anything changes." her voice quiet as she reluctantly got to her feet.

"I promise, I will." the werewolf crossed the clearing and entered her house with much hesitance. Now it was just him and the shapeshifter by the fire, with Aika, again. Relis seemed keen enough to let the silence go, but Time had some questions he needed to press and now was the best time to ask them when the half-blood was not capable of hiding from it. 

"So, how long have you been visiting my cousin for?" he asked, the blond gave him a strange look in response. 

"You already asked that. Two years." Relis responded shortly, referring to when he had asked Sar'ene that. The time they gave was the same, at least. 

"I wanted to know if you two agreed on that front. More importantly, why?" 

"Why what?" the shapeshifter wasn't a stupid man so he must be responding like this on purpose, being intentaly thick in an attempt to avoid the conversation. 

"Why do you visit him?" Relis gave him another odd look. "Look, he's my cousin not my brother, I'm not protective of him or anything I just need to know your intentions." the confused look on the shapeshifter's face, followed by a thoughtful one, before melting into shock as he seemed to finally realize something.

"We are just friends, why would you think otherwise?" the blond defend himself, eyes wide on the implications. 

"The fact that you, supposedly regularly go out of you way to go all the way down into the rain forest to visit him?"

"Yes, because he is my friend!" Relis repeated, normally this would be the point where Aika would get involved into a high-energy conversation in some way but he was too busy pouting over his leg pains to bother. 

"You are saying you go all the way to the rain forest just to visit a friend?" 

"Yes, Star's know I do not have many of them." oh. Yeah, he supposed that was pretty accurate. Even more so now that Felis was gone. 

"I see, and this has nothing to do with whatever it is that's making you act so strange?" to his surprise, Relis got to his feet now and handed Aika to him. A stern stoic, look on the man's face.

"I did not come here to be interrogated. Goodnight." touchy. The tone of finality in the shapeshifter's voice enough warning to not get him to chase the blond looking for an answer. This just further proved to him that something was off with the scout, before he would have sat there and just dealt with the accusations for as long as he had to in order to put Aika properly at ease but, whatever this was that was bothering him, he was willing to over-ride his desire to soothe in order to keep it to himself. That just made Time more concerned about the nature of this secret. Could he trust Relis to be a good scout, a good pack member, if he couldn't trust him to be completely honest?

Not like there was anything he could do about it right now, for now he would just have to do his best to soothe the now squirming Aika. Seems his legs were still hurting, hopefully, that would pass soon or he was going to be one cranky toddler tomorrow.