"WE DON'T HAVE ELDERS!" Asta screamed at Erest, truly, open mouth screamed, her hands clutching the furs she was still kneeling on. "You ATE them! The Okolts have their heads on their walls! I don't KNOW why they didn't write anything down but we don't have it!"
Molaki was now being physically restrained by his sister, who was hissing in his ear, reminding him that at the very least Sable, and most likely Amarok, would protect Asta if Erest got ugly.
Erest matched her word for word, leaning in so his nose nearly touched hers. She tried to shrink back, but the tonic had now made her feel so heavy that moving was impossible. Maybe it would be better if she just got eaten.
"Well then let me educate you, you doe eyed little witch. Once upon a time, your Herd leader or whatever the fuck you call your Alpha, made a deal with the Okoltants. They were afraid of us - all the predators, because we are superior. We're large, and fast, and we could eat them if we wanted to, even though we DON'T. We thought the shifters were all living happily ever after, working together for the better of us as a whole people, but YOUR leader made a deal to help eradicate all of us. Not just the wolves, but the bears, the mountain lions, all of our brothers and sisters who don't chew cud. In return, the Okolts promised to never hunt the herbivores again, and to grace you with some of their powers.
Not a single one of you who knew, had the spine to come tell any of the predators the plan, you followed like lemmings. And at midnight, one night, while we were asleep in our homes with our families, you started to slaughter us. Deer murdered their wolf partners sleeping beside them, 'for the greater good of the herd.' Pup's throats were slashed by the women who birthed them. When we realized what was happening, in every village and city in our singular tribe, it was too late, because the Okolts did indeed give the deer magic. They were unstoppable. Do you know any Bear Shifters, Asta?!"
Asta shook her head, tears flowing silently down her face.
"NO, of course you don't, because they weren't fast enough. They're extinct as far as we know, we haven't seen a bear brother or sister in my lifetime. The only way any of us escaped, was we ran. We ran until we hit the ocean, and from the grace of the Idols, you didn't follow.
The deer and plant eaters went their separate ways, and we picked up the pieces as a fractured people. The wolves have rebuilt the best, but only because we don't forget. We. Forget. Nothing. And we will defend Lykos with the last of our breath and blood. If that means we kill your grandma, then so be it. And we won't waste a piece of her either."
Asta was full on sobbing, unable to keep any form of composure. Erest's irate rant echoed in her skull, pieces of it pinging in the back of her brain and bouncing. Between the tonic's effects and the actual, literal words he was saying, none of it seemed real.
"H-h-how do you KNOW this?! You weren't there!" She cried.
"BECAUSE OF BOOKS, ASTA," Erest yelled.
"And because we still have a precious few who lived through it, like Mira here. But we keep records of everything. We would never let that blood spill without remembering out ancestors, and wanting those who come next to know our past mistakes." Sable had spoken, calmly, staring down Erest who instinctively backed up from the prisoner.
"Amarok, is there anything else you need to ask our guest?" Sable asked, the male shaking his head.
"Zylo?"
The brooding Zylo was hunched over, having crept his way over to Erest who was clearly feeling the same resentment he was. The pair looked at each other, trying to figure out new lines of questioning, but neither came up with anything, except for the burning question of -
"But what do we DO with her? Does a deer get to just walk among us now like nothing ever happened? Seriously, Sable? Amarok?!" Zylo growled.
"They aren't her crimes!"
The murmurs and whispers around the darkened room suddenly cut off, searching momentarily for the voice who called out of turn. Everyone's eyes went to Molaki and his family, assuming it was one of them to protest, but instead, it was a young male sitting near them. He was tall, but wiry, the youngest of the wolves who had been out on the hunt the previous day.
He fumbled with the edge of his shirt, his ears pressed to the sides and his eyes diverted in submission, but when none of the Tri snapped at him, he kept speaking.
"I... I believe her. She just doesn't know. The deer hid their betrayal from their children. Some of us... I mean... I at least know I have at least one rabbit ancestor... some of us have deer ancestors even if we tried to erase them from our memories. Can't we just... I'm sorry. They just aren't her crimes. We're fair people. It wouldn't be fair."
"So we just let the enemy walk among us?" Erest protested. "Because Lak over here wants to screw her?"
"She's not the enemy!" the young wolf responded, but shrunk down, his chin nearly in his knees.
The Tri looked like they were about to go at each other's throats again, the room erupting in bickering again. It was chaos that was otherwise unknown to the wolf clan, who had rules and order for everything, but this was unprecedented. It wasn't a matter of how to divide food and labor, but rather abject fear of putting their loved ones in harms way.
Molaki however, hadn't taken his eyes off Asta, trying to steady both himself and her. Trying to will her to hold her chin up and stay calm. So when the doe, who had been sobbing and looking around blindly, wavered and then fell as dead weight into the pillows, he was the first to respond. Losing all composure, he leapt into his beast, a massive white wolf crouched over the unconscious girl, daring anyone to so much as look in her direction again.