hi! :3

Quiet frankly, she had no idea what brought her here to the shore of this quaint spring. She had woken up this morning with an itch in her feet, a burning in her legs to wander and roam. It wasn't often that she would admit it to herself, but she felt out of place. Most of her life had been spent as a nomad, and as much as she loved being around other wolves, being a part of something, there was a side of the aging wolf that felt out of place. She didn't feel like she belonged anywhere in particular, and after awhile, staying in the same place for so long made her anxious. She had joined Swift River for a number of reasons, but many of those reasons seemed strange in light of her sixth birthday. She had hoped to find someone, start a family, escape her loneliness. But as she stared down into her the mirror-like surface of the water, she was struck with just how old she looked. Nothing about her would entice a dapper young lad. Her eyes were dull and commonplace, and her mottled, ragged fur was nothing to write home about. At her age, she even doubted she could have puppies. And as for loneliness, well, there were wolves everywhere.

For example, there was one just across the pond, dipping down to lap at the water. Ozera, as usual, had been much too engrossed in her silly daydreams and thoughts to have noticed him before. Something about him seemed indistinctly familiar, which piqued her interest. The Tainn family, after all, seemed to all resemble one another. But no matter how familiar he seemed, Ozera could not put a name to the face. Perhaps I don't know him... Which was, of course, very likely. Not wanting to be caught staring, she ducked her head down quickly, accidentally plunging her nose much farther into the drink than she had intended. Frigid water flooded her nostrils, and her head shot back up as she snorted and coughed unceremoniously.

Out of the corner of her eye she noticed that the male balked. He was the very picture of a scaredy-cat, and it puzzled her. She looked down at herself, trying to see what about her was so threatening. Seeing him crouched across the water, poised for flight, made her heart ache. What made him do that? Fear of harm was such a foreign concept to Ozera that she could not recognize it on such a young face. Faintly, his whimper floated across the water, and to hear such anxiety made her cringe, but at the same time, it made her all the more curious. Idle interest had given way to a very keen urge to know what was making this wolf tick. But she couldn't just ask him upfront, though, could she? That would be rather rude.

Oh. She was staring again. Awkwardly, she recovered some semblance of composure, coughing a few more times. “You didn't see that, did you?” she called awkwardly, her voice ringing about the little clearing surrounding the lake. His tail was moving in some vague manner between his legs, and his voice cracked with disuse. Ozera tried to ignore how uncomfortable he made her feel. Is he an omega or something?

He spoke with a stammer, hesitantly stating he had not seen her shove her nose underwater, which was probably for the best. That was not to say she would have been embarrassed, though. Ozera had long since learned that her self esteem was made of stronger stuff. She did, however, believe in the importance of first impressions —even if she rarely made a good one. This wolf, on the other hand, seemed more concerned with avoiding interactions on the fear of pain or death... or at least, that was how it had seemed. He's still here, isn't he? Despite his flighty and subordinate posture, he was still standing before her, and it almost looked as if his tail rose a notch or two in the air. Perhaps he wasn't so strange. she had, after all, manifested out of thin air, almost. While Ozera probably wouldn't have chosen to react in the manner this strange fellow had, it was... sort of understandable.

The curious lad even spoke further, which surprised Ozera slightly. Maybe she had been jumping to conclusions. Venturing a gentle smile, Ozera wondered at his politeness, and was suddenly reminded of little Triell. That gentleman. Indru and Ruiko, too, although perhaps to lesser extents, seemed posses this gallant quality. Was it some inherent Tainn trait? Her smile deepened as she offered a response, "Oh, don't worry about me, I'm fine. My nose was thirsty." Maybe it was unseemly to laugh at her own jokes so often, but she did anyway, thinking it would lighten the mood. "Sorry if I scared you, I know my looks aren't anything to write home about," the disheveled wolf amended with laughter.

With every passing second the atmosphere lightened and relaxed, and gradually, the stranger began to come closer. He even laughed at her stupid joke, and oddly, his giggle was even sillier than her joke, which in turn made her laugh again. Not at him, really, just with him. Ozera would never truly laugh at, why, that would nearly kill her inside. At any rate, though, he seemed complacent, willing to stay and talk.

When he called her lovely, she would have liked to blush or smile, but she was rather taken aback —though she didn't show it. No one had ever called her lovely before. That's not to say that she had ever believed she was ugly or completely lacked self-esteem. She had always seen herself as average and ordinary —maybe a little old— and had never really bothered herself with something as so irrelevant to everyday life as how she looked. But to hear it from someone else was new... almost intoxicating. Abruptly, she shook herself free of those thoughts. Ozera, you've been around on this earth for quite awhile, now is not the time to give in to vanity. And thus, her only response to his compliment was a sweet smile and a careless shrug, since he continued to talk and she didn't intend to interrupt him.

Hadn't been around another wolf? A wave of empathy gushed up from her heart, nearly knocking her off of her feet. Hadn't she been in this poor fellows place only months ago? But she had never run into other wolves, let alone been chased away. Her heart ached at the thought of being chased away from her own kind, to be condemned to loneliness. Ozera's loneliness, after all, had been a choice, a life style. To be chased away continually was something else entirely. He may have written it off in his head as the "natural order" of things, but such a thought would have horrified Ozera if she could have read his mind. Spending most of her life alone, away from civilization, she knew little of this "natural order," and overall condemned violence. She could hardly believe there wolves out there who would have chased him off. But what was she supposed to say? "Sorry?" Like that would make up for anything, change anything. Ozera didn't even know a damn thing about this poor soul, not even his name. A sorry, no matter how heartfelt, was probably meaningless.

His question about intrusion brought her back from her reverie. "Oh, what?" She looked about her, taking in her surroundings, the pond and the afternoon shade, the emptiness of it all. "Heavens no, you're not intruding! I don't think anyone lives here but the squirrels and deer! Most of the packs are much farther south." Quite a bit farther, considering it had taken her quite some time to get here from Swift River. "I've never been here before. Just decided I would go exploring, eh?" For good measure, she through in a brilliant smile and a hearty wave of her tail.

For some reason, his vehement response to her exploring took her by surprise. But it shouldn't have. His reaction was that of a wolf, a pack wolf who was loyal to the very bone. This fellow didn't seem to have any wanderlust in him, any particular brave characteristic, for all the world he seemed the perfect pack wolf. But Ozera wasn't honestly afraid of anything —except heights, which she did not expect to encounter on her adventures anymore— and her feet itched too often. It was hard to stay put, hard to form a connection with these wolves she was living with. Sure, she liked Indru, and adored his brother Triell.... but what was really keeping her there now? She just didn't know anymore, and she didn't see any point in responding to his question, since it was unlikely that they would see eye to eye. Besides, it was probably rhetorical. At any rate, none of this was important at the time being, because when he mentioned that he was in fact looking for a pack, her curiosity was piqued. He made it sound as if he knew what he was looking for, which was interesting. "Oh really?" Does he know anyone here? Perhaps she could be of some help. The notion made her tail wave vaguely behind her as a light smile curled her lips subtly.

A sudden gush of information bubbled from his mouth, so excited and jumbled that Ozera had a hard time making sense of it. However, there was a name that snagged on her ears as it flew past, a name that she recognized instantly. Indru? Her eyes flickered up and down his figure once again as it occurred to her that there had been a reason he had looked familiar, after all. "Are you a Tainn then?" she replied after a pause, blinking as she tried to digest all of this information. She knew little of the history of Relic Lore, and little of the events surrounding the Tainn family, except that some of them had been killed in a wildfire. That did not, however, explain why this particular brother, who seemed so unlikely to travel, was so far from his family. Her confusion only slightly delayed her smile, though, which returned to her face with a renewed vigor, "You're in good luck, because I know exactly where Indru is. I live with him!"