- Nothing but lies -

Ok I have 100 things to do and this is image is lazy but here have a story. I figured this activity check was a rare chance to put Silas in a blizzard so why not make him meet a long lost... someone at same time too.

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Numb feet drudged through the snow as the wolfdog pushed on in the storm, up the hill. Silas had decided to move back up to the mountains and it's valleys after his exile, but little did he know the winter here had become this harsh. Just his luck. He was blinded by the snow and cold winds whipping at his face, and now he could only hope there was a large enough rock he could shelter under or a den somewhere nearby. Luckily, his winter fur was long and dense, but after all, snow was quite rare in this island and he wasn't so used to it, he had only seen it once before, last year.

Now that he thought of it, a lot had happened after that, he couldn't really say he was the same dog he was a year ago. Or at least, so he liked to believe. He had saved two lives, he had worked on his fear, and he had found his love and family... Silas flattened his ears even more at another gust of chilling wind. Family... Was that really what he had been needing all the time? And if so, why was he here again, drifting further away from them? Was he unable to find peace? It was all his fault, as much as he didn't want to admit it. The more he had tried, the more he had been screwing his life over.

Perhaps he hadn't changed one bit.

Just then, a voice called out in the distance, her form was blurry and greyed out by the rain. Silas raised his head, squinting his eyes as he tried to shield them from the snow. The voice called out at him once more, saying something about following her, but it was hard to make out her words in the howling wind. Slowly, Silas pushed on to follow her trail, hoping she was someone kind enough to actually find him shelter, and not some vile bastard the strays usually were. Surprisingly, she was almost his size, so the trail she was leaving behind her made it a little easier for him to walk. Soon, she disappeared into a cave behind two pillaring stones. The entrance was narrow, and his weary legs slipped up on some ice covering the ground.

The ice led him down into a hole, it had frozen over some jagged rocks that would have worked as stairs for the cave in summer. Silas hit his back as he slid further down to the bottom of the cave. With a groan, he tried to get up, possibly to defend himself against this stranger, in case the dog turned out to have malicious intentions. But he gave up as he felt a sharp pain in his flank, possibly a broken rib bone that had shattered on his way down. It must have been one of those rocks. Slowly, he turned his head up at the female, and to his surprise, she seemed awfully familiar.

"Jaela?" he huffed, sounding thoroughly confused by the whole situation. Maybe he had just hit his head and was now hallucinating things. Though, the stranger took a step closer, looking equally as confused as him. "...Silas?" she huffed back. Both of them looked at each other for a moment in silence, only the howling of the harsh winds and storm raging on outside echoing through the cave. "I thought you were-..." Silas spoke, but was interrupted by his sister. "I thought you were dead! Do you have any idea how worried I've been? I thought I was the only one left of our family, and- and..." she shouted over him, and Silas decided to get up from his awkward position, even though it hurt so much. "Are you hurt?" she continued, her angry voice softening up a bit. It didn't take long for Silas to start laughing, finding her reaction to actually seeing him alive for the first time in years amusing. "What?" she whined. It was just like how they were when they were pups. Silas lifted his head again, looking absolutely exhausted. "We've got a lot to talk about, Jay."

Jaela took him further into the cave, starting to tell her brother about her family. The cave they now resided in was supposedly her secondary den, she and her family had been intending to leave their main one in the morning as it had already been looking like it was going to be clogged by snow later on. She had left earlier than the others to check if the secondary cave was still unoccupied, and they promised, that if she doesn't return, the others would join her. However, they never came. That's how she found Silas, as she had been wandering about in the storm, trying to find her mate and two pups, but it was no use in the heavy blizzard.

"How about you, Silas? Do you have a family?" Jaela questioned. Silas was quiet for a second, wondering where to start. "Yeah, five kids," he answered, his tone a bit different now than it was earlier. "Whoa, that's... A lot of kids!" She chuckled, it was contagious to Silas, but he went quiet again at the next question. "How about... their mother?" Of course, those words were inevitable. Though, it wasn't like Silas hadn't had the time to process her death. "Ah. She... Died when she gave birth," he admitted, his eyes met by Jaela's saddened gaze. "I'm sorry..." she whined. "Luckily, the pups were given foster care. You know, Riverclan and all." Silas added. Jaela perked her ears a little. It explained a lot -  and now she had even more questions. Perhaps that's why they hadn't met quite so often, if Silas had been down there all the time. "You are a clan dog? I thought you hated the clans, I mean, we all did, back in the days..." she inquired, trying her best not to sound rude. As strayborn, they were taught the clans were evil and greedy, and that they walked all over the poor strays. "Yeah, you know, when your mate is the leader of a clan you're kind of expected to join her, don't you agree?" he hummed, a cheeky grin on his face as he admired his claws, waiting for her reaction. "What?! The leader! Silas, oh my god," she bursted out in laughter. She knew her brother would be successful one day, even after everything Nettle and Eli had done to him. But she figured she probably shouldn't ask more of his mate, she knew the look on his face was hiding sadness. She opened her maw once again.  "Why are you out here?"

"You don't really happen to listen to the rumors, do you?" Silas wondered. He was hoping he didn't have to tell her he was just recently exiled. "No, I like my quiet territory in this corner of the mountain ridge. Not many visitors pass by," she explained. "What, are you famous or something?" she added, wagging her long, soft tail. "I wish," Silas laughed, but cleared his throat afterwards. "I suppose I never got to this region then. I used to wander the mountain valleys a lot," Silas spoke, swishing his tail. The snow that had covered his fur was melting off, though Silas didn't like the feeling of wet fur. "I always wondered where you were, it's strange how we never met after that storm..." Jaela said, her gaze wandering away. "I wonder..." she paused for a second. "Do you know where Eli is?" she finally asked. She knew Silas never liked him, and she did not like him either. Jaela had been afraid to ask if Silas knew anything about him.

Silas' fur rose to the name. A name he had never wished to hear again. "He's dead, Jay," he spoke with a growl deep in his throat. Though he didn't want to admit what he had done, perhaps it was best to let her know. After all, Jaela had been his best friend. Would she still support him if she knew? "Listen, I need to tell you something-" but she interrupted him. "What, dead? When-... How?" she questioned, a frown creeping upon her face. Jaela had been guessing it, but it was still a surprise considering what a personality the third sibling was. Eli was a survivor, if anything. Silas changed his mind, he needed to be careful now. "The night we were separated. There was this landslide that took both of us and we fell into a deep pit. Eli... He got buried under a bunch of stones," Silas explained, teeth flashing at the name of his brother. And there he went again, bending the truth, making up the end of the story. Jaela looked confused, she apparently did not know how to feel. After all, even after the things he had done, Eli was family. And nothing mattered more to her than family. "Are you sure he died?" she spoke quietly. "Yes, I'm certain. I was stuck in that pit for days..." he answered, but the thought of that time of his life made him uneasy. It was certainly one of, if not the most traumatic event of his life, an event which had left him a fear of rain too.

The stormy winds howled outside, a few flakes of snow swiveling into the dark cave. There was not a sight nor a sound of Jaela's family, the only thing they could do was hope they had found shelter elsewhere. At least Jaela had found another long lost part of her family now, in this mess. Silas did not tell her the truth, he told her none of his secrets; the dogs he had killed, and none of the foul things he had done during the past years. Nothing but lies filled the air, and they did not stop until the storm was over and the siblings parted ways. Perhaps it was best this way. Perhaps it was best not to lose more family at this time.

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