Walk on Water [Kelka, Sheol]

[nero]

The scampering of paws over the icy landscape signaled Nero’s daily run to Trinket Lake. The brown wolf was a lanky pup. He had a love for the frozen face of the lake. It was a mirror in some places and frosted glass in others. It was also the chance to do what he had seen Sheol do: Walk on water.

The puppy slowed as he neared the lake. His paws were still clumsily oversized so he jolted in his deceleration, just enough to look like a hiccup in his stride. Nero narrowed his eyes orange eyes—the color of rust—in a small effort to see through the glare of snow under the autumn sun. Young Nero was nearing his fifth month of life and somehow, he seemed more mature than he ought to be. His small, bobbed tail wagged and, in his stoic carriage, it was the only thing that betrayed the true nature of his feelings.

Confidently, he padded to the edge of the iced water. His paw slipped immediately, but he forced his limbs to be strong. This was not the first time he did this, but the last time had him tumbling over the ice like a clumsy buffoon before he got a taste of the glory. He had skated before, if only for a few minutes. It was like flying. It was easier to be graceful without steps, but with flight.

Nero put the other paw on the ice. It was a window into the deep. He looked at his feet, closely. He obsessed quietly at the beauty of the lake. The gold and silver shone through the ice like glitter. Young Nero wobbled forward until he hopped his hindpaws onto the ice sheet. And then, there was no going back. He drifted on stiff legs for a length until he was further from the edge. And then, he attempted to move a paw, which only resulted in him slipping.

He had to learn. There was no going back. He turned a head over his shoulder, to judge the distance between himself and the shore. It had to be at least ten feet. And he was sliding further away. The shrinking shore made him feel a little nervous. He turned around and his paws scrambled underneath him. His limbs were not yet strong enough to give him the precise balance required to skate across the surface. Unlike Sheol, he was not built for it, so to do was a feat of strength. The young puppy would periodically wobble to his feet before collapsing after a few steps on the ice. Progress was slow.

The brown puppy gave a sigh as he rested himself on the hard ice with a plop. He had bitten off more than he could chew. He wanted to learn how to dance upon the water like Sheol. And sing like the beautiful Kelka. “I’m just resting,” he told himself. If he was left alone, he’d probably make it ashore in an hour or so.

[kelka]

Kelka sat in the shadows of the trees near the lake, thinking. Ever since she had gotten back, few had talked to her, let alone glanced at her, after all it was a big pack. But still, large pack or not, she felt a bit left out. Through all that though, she had acted more sociable than before, even singing a bit on request. Through all that, the re-entering the pack, meeting everyone, ex. she had shoved all of her past memories in the back of her mind but now that she was alone. A mere ten feet or so away from the lake where she had been trapped in for seasons. She let the memories rush back to her again. Suddenly, she was under the ice again, clawing, scraping, screaming out in vain, seeing ghosts on the edge of her vision. Than just as suddenly running, running as far away as possible. Than meeting them the people who had pulled her back from insanity and than being pulled back into it every time she stepped outside of their protection. Than the process of the slipping in and out of memories began, and she would wake up in the middle of the night, yowling, remembering cold depths and glinting eyes. But after months of being away, they sent her off, and she found her way back here.

She was jolted out of her thoughts when she heard the words of Bathsheba's pup, Nero. Looking up, she saw him sprawled out on the ice, with a laugh., she went to the waters edge, gingerly stepping onto the ice and "skating" toward him. "Nero, pup, you need help, don't you?"

[nero]

Nero’s paws were spread-eagle as he slipped across the icy face of the lake. The glassy surface offered no purchase for his splayed paws and he merely glided toward Kelka, awkward and not of his own actions. Luckily, he bumped into them and the both of them careened into a place closer to the edge, stopping by the friction of their claws and pawpads against the frosted ice. “What gave you that idea,” the pup said with a grin. He was always happiest with the section of the pack that entertained others.

The young pup scrambled farther from Kelka because he wasn’t really the sort of puppy who enjoyed standing so close to others. “It’s fine though. We can just… uh, stand out here. We’ll get to the edge. Eventually.” Nero shrugged toward the closest shore and then turned his orange gaze to Kelka.

“You really okay out here?”

He knew that she had been trapped under this lake’s ice for too long. He didn’t know how she was, mentally, before the incident happened. And neither did much of the pack. She had been accepted as if she was a new member of the Empire rather than a returning one because of the fact that most of the pack did not know her. But they were kind. And his mother, Bathsheba, even gave her a good rank. Ringleader.

Oh, how jealous Nero was! He wished that he could be Ringleader more than Alpha. But without Silas and with his mother’s deteriorating sanity, he knew that he was destined to be the next Emperor.

[kelka]

Kelka let out a lagh when she heard the pups question. "Of course i'm okay, a bit afraid, but otherwise i'm fine!" She smiled. "I can't stay mad at the water for long, and im far better off in the mind than your mother." She looked torward the edge of the lake, or the shore. "Now, we could just wait till we glide torward the edge, but wouldn't it be better if I gave you a little lesson on the art of skateing!?" She waited for a moment, thinking, than stood up as straight as she could. "Now, your mum, with her... weight and all, probally would fall in. But you oh great soon to be king, with your pup weight, don't have to worry about that." She glided forward, useing her tail (non-fish) as a "rudder" to help balence her out. "Now, you may not have much of a tail, but it could still help you just a tad in balence. Otherwise you will just have to learn to glide, useing your leg power now, not just shuffleing." She turned and glided back to him, trying to demonstrate a bit more. "You see?" She twirled to a stop next to him. "Of course, you can get to the more fanicer tricks later, like spinning with grace, being able to twirl, all that good stuff." She sighed. "But, not all, Sheol does a much better job than me in that part. And i'm getting on in my years...I do say it would be a right time to have pups..." She trailed off, murmering and stareing at the treeline.

She remembered once, a while ago, that Bathsheba had ordered, or was going to order, all the females to have pups, and she wondered who all acctually had listened to the Empress. If any had, she wondered also if any of the pups played with Nero. After all, all pups needed a childhood friend.

[nero]

Nero listened to Kelka. He nodded as she spoke and then added, “I wish you had them, then. You seem as if you’d be a great mother.” The brown wolf pup steadied himself on the ice. He didn’t have much of a tail to work with, but twisted his pelvis to better balance himself so that he could stand on the ice and be confident enough to dare a sliding motion. “Let’s see if I could skate.”

He pushed himself forward using his hind legs. His front legs were mainly stiff, just bracing themselves because he feared falling. Nero twisted around and fell on his side. Without a word, he picked himself up again. And then, a moment of revelation caught him. He softened his elbows, made liquid his movements, and then, he was gliding. It required smooth motion to move smoothly. He thought himself a fool for not realizing that sooner.

He couldn’t turn yet and crashed into a soft snowbank across the lake. Nero laughed a bit. “That went well.” For once, he seemed like a happy pup—but it was only because he was doing what he wanted.

“Kelka!” Nero called. He wanted to learn everything the Entertainment wolves did naturally. Sing, dance, skate, and live life like it was a grand show that everyone was watching.

[kelka]

Kelka couldn't help but smile as she watched Nero finally get the hang of ice skateing. But than, not turning, crashed into a snowbank. She laughed a bit at that. Than glided forward. "That was a nice first turn. You need to practice on your stops though." She glided around him, thinking about what he last said. Was it Kelka, like a look kelka look what i'm doing, or a Kelka, like he wanted to learn more. She guessed more at the last thing. "You want to learn more? Singing, Danceing, Being Entertainment?" She twirled in a small circle around him. Humming a few notes, and thinking. Would she get in trouble for doing so? Would Bathsheba care? She shrugged. Best to see if that was really what Nero was thinking first.

[nero]

Nero frowned, “Am I really that easy to read?” He lowered his ears and hung his head. His orangey eyes glanced up to Kelka before lowering again. He didn’t like it when another wolf guessed at his thoughts. It felt as if they were trespassing on his territory—or at least the only territory he had since he was yet a pup. His mood had shifted, but the chance of learning the things he dreamed to be able to do was too close to his heart. Instead, he took his chance despite his sour feelings.

“Well, anyways, I suppose I do have a desire to learn about entertaining others.” The Yagi wagged his bobtail. This stirred the snow behind him in a small half-circle of powder as his eyes followed her motion around him.

“Teach me,” he demanded.

[kelka]

Kelka laughed when he asked her the first question. Perhaps he was easy to read, that or she was a good guess. But she would never tell him that. So she just smiled and thought about the last thing he had said. He wanted to learn how to entertain? What would she teach him first? Singing. Yes, that was easiest, and all entertainment wolves where expected to know how to do so. "Singing than. Nero, you know how to sing? Than follow me."
She thought for a moment, than picked a song off the top of her head.

"A Captain bold in Halifax,
Who dwelt in country quarters,
Seduced a maid who hanged herself
One morning in her garters,
His wicked conscience smited him,
He lost his stomach daily,
He took to drinking turpentine
And thought upon Miss Bailey."

One night, betimes he went to bed,
For he had caught a fever,
Said he, "I am a handsome man
And I'm a gay deceiver."
His candle just at twelve o'clock
Began to burn quite palely,
A ghost stepped up to his bedside
And said, "Behold! Miss Bailey."

"Avaunt, Miss Bailey," then he cried,
"You can't fright me really."
"Dear Captain Smith," the ghost replied,
"You've used me ungenteelly.
The Coroner's quest was hard with me
Because I've acted frailly,
And parson Biggs won't bury me
Though I'm a dead Miss Bailey."

"Dear Ma'am," said he, "since you and I
Accounts must once for all close,
I have a one pound note in my
Regimental small clothes.
'Twill bribe the Sexton for your grave."
The ghost then vanished gaily,
Crying, "Bless you wicked Captain Smith,
Remember poor Miss Bailey."


She than stopped, and took a breath. The song was long she realized, much too long. He couldn't possiblly beable to remember that, much less sing it all, could he? She paused for a moment, looking at him. "That was to long Nero, was it not? Can you remember it? One must always remember a song."

[nero]

Nero growled. “What is this?” He gave an angry face, upset over the fact that Kelka made it seem impossible for him to be a wolf of entertainment. How was he supposed to sing a whole song after one listen to? To know the rhythm of every word and be expected to do it perfectly. “I thought you wanted me to learn!” The wolf was yet a pup and didn’t take kindly to such demands.

However, he realized that perhaps it was just so natural for Kelka to sing her song. Perhaps she was so lost in the lyrics and the beauty of it that she forgot the purpose she was singing the song. He wanted that, to be so in love with something that he could forget himself and everyone around him—if only for a second.

He merely hummed the tune that he could remember. He went off key and off rhythm in many parts of the song, but the song itself was recognizable in his music. He’d sing in the end of the verses, the final three lines about Miss Bailey, each time. Perhaps it intrigued him. The song’s captain’s maddening obsession with Miss Bailey. Somehow, it reminded him of his own mother and her thoughts about Anthony, that dead skin of a father he had, who was only alive in the Empress’s mind.

However, Nero realized how pathetic his effort was. He growled and turned away from Kelka childishly, angry with how terribly he failed her unreachable standards. Instead of turning him away from entertaining others, it increased his feverish desire to learn. It was impossible now in his mind; therefore, he wanted to understand it and prove everything wrong.

[kelka]

"Oh, please."
Kelka said, frowning over the heir and his comments. But than after them, he started humming. Most of it was rather off key, but she could sence that alot of it was close to the orginal content. Perhaps a simplier song than, it was her fault for chooseing such a long one. She sighed, "Nero, stop frowning please. Another song than, simplier. Or a diffrent subject?"

She started to hum, a song that she had heard constently when traveling, it was also eay to remember, and a childish song too. After a few lines, she set to singing and skateing in a small circle.

"Ring around the rosey,
pocketfull of posey,
ashes ashes,
we all fall down"

Once the few lines where done, she stopped skateing and turned to Nero. Waiting.