The sound of dripping water and crying wolves filled his ears. He sighed before trying to get back into a comfortable position. It wasn't like he didn't care for everyone's plight, but at the end of the day, he was only one wolf. He had already done as much as he could've done leading the wolves out of this crisis, even if he wasn't exactly prepared for it. At the end of the fight with the wolves who had been attacking his clan, even those of his clan who had turned on them, they were all sniffing around in confusion, as if trying to catch an elusive scent when they all decided to look upon him. Tear found himself as the sole clan leader who had not succumbed to whatever THAT had been. The others were confused and when Tear asked his clan to start taking stock of what damage had been done, and the other wolves noticed and started following his orders as well, none of those who had been clan leaders gave any opposition whatsoever. So, Tear suddenly found himself to be the accepted leader of a larger clan than he had ever seen in one place. He considered it to be a temporary thing, likely to only last until the other clan leaders recovered and challenged his right to lead. Because of this, Tear was thinking about a lot laying upon his rock, trying to get rid of the tension that quaked inside him, and that led him towards a key thought.

Tear didn't think much of gratitude. Sure, he often gave his family more to fill their bellies if they impressed him or performed better than he thought they might during a hunt. However, the role that he had been given was not one that he thought he deserved, so instead of being somewhat thankful for the trust that had been placed upon him, he was more or less almost indignant towards the amount of duties that he had to fill now. Others in the new-clan might think he was being heartless because of that, especially as he was the only leader getting results, but it was more of a matter of pragmatism for him (even if he didn't know that specific word or its meaning).

He did not waste his time with pups who could not hunt, nor the lame who only hindered the movement of the whole. Sure, with some, time is an option, it almost always was. Pups would grow, the lame would strengthen, but this...this wasn't something he could fix with time. This was something he had to deal with now. Nothing could've prepared him for this moment, but he grabbed it by its antlers and forced it to the ground, like he would in any hunt.

"I'm...uh...leader...sorry, but...um-" Tear opened his eyes and readied himself. It was one of the new ones to the clan. Someone who hadn't yet received the encompassing scent of the clan. Without a scent, one often had no name, no defining mark. Sure, even without scent they had names, but having the definitive scent of your pack was more of an instinctual need than a societal issue. It did not help that their previous controller had given no orders to issue scents, so their natural air only diminished as time went on. The normal amounts of scentless wouldn't have usually been a problem for Tear. Lone wolves showed up now and again asking for aid or even to be a part of a clan again. He suspected those were ones who couldn't be lone for long, but what was happening was on a much bigger scale than a single wolf coming in.

He could not perform a ceremony, nor invite the wolf to a hunt to prove its worth. There were just too many for that to be done. All that could be done was to accept them for now, and wait for them to prove themselves later. Given this, Tear assumed he knew what the problem was and huffed a sigh at the work ahead of him.

"Well, what is it? Do you need another huddle to get the scent back on you?"

"No! No...I'm fine...but...he's awake." This confused Tear. Why would one wolf care so much about another singular one? It could've been a mate, but most of the women and children were dead from previous...ahh. Battles. That was the word Tear was looking for. There could've been enough for one female for five males, but Tear then recalled something rather important. The wolf had mentioned it was a male. It could've been those who had been a part of previously rival clan heads, in which case it was indeed probably a huge issue. One that should be taken care of quite immediately, if it was the case.

"Who's awake? Is it one of the other clan-heads?"

"No. It's the Savior." Tear's eyebrows went up a tad. 'Ahh,' he thought, 'That was it.'

Tear had almost forgotten about the creature that had ended the hunt of terror. Sure, it was in the back of his mind, but after a couple of hours of trying to deal with the tensions between previous rival clans, he'd just pushed that issue under the carcass. Thinking back on what occurred, he could only grumble. After this day, he might no longer hold position as clan head. The responsibility of being clan leader was not really all that important to him, but it did mean he could take naps longer than anyone else and get the first choice meat of prey. That was usually enough for him.

There had been a battle between his clan and an odd assortment of wolves, many belonging to other clans, all working together. Then, from deeper in the cave system, this thing had come out of nowhere and batted away his own clan members like pups and turned the ones that harmed it into dust. Under normal circumstances, this would have meant that the whole clan would work together to destroy the attacker, but these were anything but normal circumstances. Seconds before the creature's appearance, he thought all had been lost, and that they would be forced to join something that which was more fearful than one of his deepest nightmares. To think, the thing that had been hunting them, and apparently every other wolf clan around, was not a rival clan, but an upright. A single upright that took the individuality of a wolf, and replaced it with blind obedience towards itself. He was sure that when he saw it capture his daughter, all was lost.

Although, there had been a moment's reprieve, although he could scarcely believe, his son of all things, had come back and fought for them. Sure, his son may have a different appearance then before, but Tear could still smell his particular scent. That was Claw, no doubt about it. Although, now he appeared to more like the name of Plant than any other. Sure, it wasn't a name born of battle or blood, but it was highly descriptive. When you talked about Plant, you knew who you were talking about, especially since the battle.

He could scarcely believe the heights of his son's new battle prowess. When he has sent Claw away, he was concerned. He thought that maybe Claw would not be able to survive as a Lone wolf, but he was no longer worried. His decision to have him leave the clan was a good one. He had grown from it, after all. The only unfortunate thing in all this was that in the chaos, he finally realized why Tuft had acted the way he did. He was under the control of that upright as well. It was with sad thoughts, his mind returned to when he made good on his promise and tore out Tuft's throat.

Tear's mind returned back to the present however, as he realized he had been staring at the wolf in front of him as he processed this. Unfortunately for the scentless, Tear's thinking face was also his hunting face, and that long moment of silence was enough for the scentless to finally gain a scent and it wasn't all that pleasant to smell. Tear realized it was his own fault, so he didn't ostracize the pup, but there was something he had to do first.

"Bring me to it." The wolf nodded resolutely before leading him past other members of new-clan resting up. Most had given their all for this fight and reveled in their hard fought victory. Other seemed to have given up, giving in to the oppressive feelings that they had within their skulls, whether by choice or not, one could not tell. Tear gave those wolves a couple of hours to make some sort of recovery before calling their time. He still remembered the 9 bodies he had to lead gently to drown, their muscles not responding towards his touch, nor their eyes looking anywhere except the far distance. They had died as warriors. They would be remembered of course, in stories, but it would not do for their coats to be as patchy as their minds before heading off to Ounder. One had to be at least somewhat presentable before appearing before their god.

He stared at the wounded licking their cuts and scrapes, at the wolves who sat quietly staring at something only they could see, only stopping to look at passersby, and at the crying ones, begging for their pups and mates to come back. It was enough to drive any clan head to tears if they heard it. Thankfully, most of the old heads had been moved to a separate part of home, those who weren't wounded too much to be able to walk at least. He wasn't headed to that part, however. He was headed towards the lake that was located further out from their home. It was the closest source of water and of the life-moss. It was also where they had moved many of the wounded who could not remain awake because of their pain. Those included, more often than not, the many who had lost paws and teeth, where only the moss could've given them back their lost icons.

It was a gruesome sight to any, but Tear had grown used to it. He feared he may become uncaring after long, because if this kept up, the life-moss would shrivel from how much they were taking. The creature had been in a dire state when it was brought here. According to his son at least, the thing could heal itself given enough time, so any wound it might have occurred in battle were soon long gone. That did not mean it had energy though, so they moved him to the water and placed enough moss to cover his most grievous of wounds before leaving some to monitor him and move on to the other wounded.

There, Plant stayed by its side for hours. When Tear had begged him to come and help in the recovery, he had refused. When Tear had asked why, Plant's only response was that he was indebted. Tear did not fully understand what debt was, but he felt like it was probably something akin to gratitude. So, he let Plant be, and returned to stopping the infighting that had been occuring. That had taken place hours ago, and he had feared what might've occurred here while he had been away.

Thankfully, nothing seemed to be amiss as he returned. The life-moss lighting the ceiling had recovered a bit, no one had yet cleaned up the broken bits of rock over from the markings they had caused making laying stones, and the water still held its fish nibbling away at more of the bigger insects. The only thing that seemed to be a problem to Tear was that most of the laying stones had no one upon them. Blood was still fresh upon the ground, so Tear assumed that most had died in the time he'd been gone. This troubled Tear, as he wasn't too sure how to perform mass honor rites. It had been awhile since his grey teachings, and most of the elders had been killed during the hunt of terror. Only about four remained, but they always seemed to be bickering near a corner of the cave about some off-begotten head of yore who did something that he couldn't for the life of him remember their importance to the present time. So, with a heavy heart, growing heavier with each empty seat that they had passed, he was brought up short by a sight which he could barely dare to believe.

All of the wolves, all of his clan, and even some that were not, were still alive. They had even gotten their lost limbs back and some had even gotten back their teeth, all in perfect condition. This seemed strange to Tear. Sure he was happy that they had recovered, but life-moss never worked this fast, and it never restored a wolf's limbs or teeth so thoroughly. At most, it was simply a way to close a wound or to retain some manner of an edge with biting. So, he ran ahead of his scentless guide, pushing and shoving through the crowd that was gathered by the shore. He couldn't see anything, couldn't hear anything. The sheer amount of wolves talking was too much for his old ears, and his senses were being discombobulated. Nothing specific could gather his attention, and it was only after he saw the tell-tall green of his son that he regained control of his mental faculties.

"STOOOOPPPP!!!" Instantly, all the wolves grew silent and began to stare at him. Some were part of the original clan and bowed their head in respect, while others had no clue what this one wolf was trying to pull here, that is, until the shadow of ignorance fell from their face and, they too bowed their head. It was like a ripple in a pond spreading out, wolves taking notice and stopping what they were doing to pay respects.

With a more steady gait, he more easily walked through the crowd, wolves parting before him, not wanting to get his ire. Some younger ones were too excited to see him and tried to get his attention, but he ignored them. There were more important things here than catering to the whims of a single wolf. He could feel it in his soul. Something about this moment was important, he just didn't know what. He looked to his son, standing by the thing's side. For some reason, Plant was speaking to the thing like it could understand him. That however stopped, when Plant finally noticed him.

"What happened?" Plant towered over his father. Tear had almost directed his question towards another wolf, but he figured that he should at least directly talk to his son.

"Friend, here, just did some healing. He's a shaman, so I asked if he could do it." Tear looked at the faux-upright. It's face...it was hard to tell for Tear, but it seemed almost...constipated?

"You asked him?" Plant nodded before lying down so his head was at eye level to his father.

"Yeah, he's able to talk to me. Don't know why he can't understand anyone else." This...almost sounded like what the other upright was capable of, to Tear at least. All of his followers were able to understand his orders, from what he could get, but it was more of a head thing than actually speaking.

"....is he..."

"No! No, don't worry about that, he's not like that." The thing turned towards Plant and started...barking? It almost sounded like a wolf, but it was...different. It's barks were more varied than the wolves. Sure, the wolves were able to convey a lot with just a few particular emotions applied to certain howls, but these were more articulated. This thing could move its tongue in ways that wolves could not, and that was enough for a multitude of concepts better applied to different words. It kind of sounded like...no. Tear put that thought away. It's best to stay in the moment than to remember that nightmare of ages past. Of divinity touching him in his youth.

"He says he's sorry about those he killed. He felt that by doing this, he'd be...square? Fair! Fair." Plant nodded vivaciously as he laid down besides the thing.

"...so, this thing-"

"His name is Friend." Silence stretched on for awhile. No one would dare to interrupt a clan head, as some clan heads were known for fits of violence. Thankfully, Tear didn't take this too personally. He just realized how caring Plant was to his new follower.

".....really? That's his name?"

"I know. When I was first told it, I couldn't believe it either."

"...well, tell him know that we...appreciate the help. There have been enough dead in the hunt of terror." Plant nodded before repeating his words to Friend. Tear followed the changes on the face of Friend. His face was very expressive. Sure, he couldn't recognize what some of the facial muscles represented, but he realized this thing probably didn't rely on scent as much as an average wolf.

"He...uh...he's asking if we're expected to do anything?" Friend was looking at Tear expectantly, for what he wasn't sure.

"No...he's done enough for us as is. Right now, is a time for recovery. There's too much...tension here. Too many clans with too many ideals. We need to fix this, and that needs time and effort. Something which I'm sure he can't give, given he can only talk to you." While Plant translated, Tear looked Friend in the eyes for the first time since this thing had shown up. As the words were spoken, Tear could sense no change in Friend's intensity nor in its face. Nothing seemed to give away what it was thinking, and even if it did, Tear doubted it could tell what with its weird face. And, at the end of it all, Friend nodded towards Plant, stood up, said a few short growls, and started walking towards one of the laying stones, sat on it, and closed its eyes.

"He said...he's sorry that he couldn't do more. He doesn't want to be...in your hair? I think that means be a problem from how it was said, but I'm not sure. Either way, he says he's going to be leaving at the earliest. He doesn't want to bother you more than he already has." Tear looked back towards Plant. Even with his son's enhanced size, Tear could tell that he was sulking. Even in a different body, the same characteristics tend to come to the surface.

"Why are you sad, Plant?"

"I thought he would stay here. He liked me, so I figured he might not back down when it came to your wishes. Seems he and I are different like that."

"Yeah...I suppose so...My son. Even though I gave an order a long time ago, I need to tell you something." Tear debated whether or not to continue, to splurge his emotions out in front of the rest of the crowd. Eventually, he managed to find the words that he wanted to say. "You can still be by yourself if you want. Try to do something great with yourself, but I want you to know this. Even if you haven't founded a clan yet, or even got a mate, you've still made me proud, just by being who you are, and by achieving what you've become." Tear laughed for awhile at the end of it before turning his attention to the rest of the crowd.

"Well...if you all are alright now, I guess there's no further delay in this then." Tear breathed. "GO ON AND HUNT ALREADY!!!!" The crowd, a bit taken aback, quickly ran over each other towards the entrance of the cavern to take down the biggest prey they could find. Even in their fear addled minds, they knew that the clans needed the biggest amount of food they could find. It wasn't everyday that they all came together after all.

"Why are they going-"

"I told them how to make it through the purple room and beyond, as well as, how big the prey there is on the other side. They should be fine if they are all smart enough."

Tear sighed a bit before looking back towards his son. Before speaking though, he noticed that Friend's eyes had opened in an almost manic expression, he was no longer sitting on the rock, and he was raising his front legs ahead of him. Tear chuckled before speaking once more in a hushed tone. "Thanks and keep an eye on your Friend. He may be a savior, but his reflexes seem to be lacking."

And with that, Tear gave his son one more nuzzle, tail slightly wagging behind him, before heading back into the main cavern. He had a lot to deal with after all. As he finally reached the entrance, he looked back and took notice of the rocks again. This time, no fits of terror or sadness hit him like before, only pride. And, perhaps, if he was being honest with himself, a smidgen of gratitude.