Aequo

Backstory

"Aequo?" Venari glanced over at her mentor. They were stalking through flat terrain; a vast grassland, it seemed to be. Venari had only just joined the pack, and Akela had assigned for her to become a second scout; so of course Aequo, being the chief scout, was in charge of teaching her how to scout. He glanced over at her as she said his name. "Yes?" He asked. "What's the story behind that scar on the side of your neck?" Venari gestured to the vicious scar on the side of Aequo's neck curiously. Aequo sighed. "It's... it's a long story. I suppose I could tell it to you, if you so wish." He told her. Venari nodded. "I would like that."

"I was young, and ambitious. Three years old. The beta of my old pack had just died due to an unidentified illness, and I was promoted to take his place." Aequo began. "Now, I had been rivals with another wolf known as Ukari for a long time, but I assumed that our sort of 'cold war' had ended, and that I'd won it, when I'd been promoted to beta. But I was wrong." He sighed as he recalled his past. "The alpha of our pack made an announcement a few days later, that when Ukari and some of his friends had gone to bury the late beta, they'd discovered the scent of deadly nightshade on his teeth. She came to the conclusion that someone must have poisoned him, and that we must catch whoever had done it."

"I, of course, had no clue who had done it. But the next day, I figured out what happened." Bitterness laced through Aequo's voice, the slightest hint of a growl beginning to rise in his throat. He remembered the day that he was about to describe vividly, as if it'd just happened yesterday. "I was enjoying a peaceful afternoon napping in the shade of a tall pine tree, when I was rudely awakened by a howl splitting through the air. It was Ukari's howl, and I realized that he was standing right next to me. He was howling, 'Alpha, come quick! I've caught the killer!'."

"I got up and looked at him in confusion, and was only met with an egotistical smirk for a reply. When I looked down, I saw that he had placed nightshade at my paws, right where I had been sleeping. He was framing me for murder, the nasty little punk. I growled at him as the alpha arrived." Aequo bared his teeth as he spoke, as if reliving the moment. "I wanted to tear Ukari's ears off, I was so mad. I tried to explain what had happened to the alpha, but she was too angry to give me a fair hearing. She lashed out and tried to bite my throat- no doubt, she was trying to kill me, but I dodged slightly. She still nicked my neck enough to cause a deep scar, though."

"I knew that there was no reasoning with her. You see, the previous beta had been her son. They were very close. The wound of losing him was still fresh in her mind, and she was too grief-stricken to think straight. She needed someone to blame for her son's death, and wouldn't even so much as listen to my reasoning. I ran away, and never looked back." Aequo sighed as he finished his story. They'd covered quite a lot of ground by now, and Venari was staring at him with wide eyes.

"So, you think that Ukari was the one who actually killed the old beta?" She asked. He shook his head. "No, I don't think even a wolf as half-witted as him would've tried something like that, for fear of being caught. I don't think anyone poisoned the beta at all. I think he just caught a disease and that was what killed him, and I think that Ukari completely made up the story about nightshade on his teeth." Venari was considerate enough not to press Aequo about his past anymore. With a sigh, Aequo woofed softly, "If I could go back, though, I wouldn't do anything differently. Because, if I wasn't exiled, then I wouldn't have ended up here. With you. And, I think that I'm happier here."