Wild Cherry Orchard The Gravity of Tempered Grace

Well if you wanted honesty that's all you had to say

He had expected her to say maybe one or two other packs besides hers, but to say it had been crawling with them? A shiver went down his spine at the thought of what could have been so bad as to take them all down to nothing. Well, at least the ones on this side of the mountain. “I can definitely say there’re none left this side uh the mountain, been up and down and there ain’t nothin’. ‘Bout the other side, got no idea. M’ travel companions n’ me are followin’ a herd uh elk ‘till th’ spring thaws, after that s’all up in th’ air,” he replied with a shrug. Honestly, Hudson was just going with the flow of things, rolling with the punches as they were given. To say he really had a plan would be...laughable, in all honesty.

She asked next where he was from and he grinned. Based on the reactions of the other wolves he’d told, she was in for a treat. “Grew up with m’ parents, m’ sister, m’ aunts and m’ grandparents. We were a pretty tight knit group I guess ya’d say. One day ‘m out huntin’ and suddenly I get hit in the neck with somethin’ and ‘m conked clean out. Woke up in this weird cave with a bunch uh other wolves, realized I’d been taken by humans, then got knocked out again and woke up here. No idea how far away from ‘em I am or if any uh m’ family’s been taken too, so I’m just kind uh lookin’ ‘round as I go.”

Ashbash 2016 - Ian Schneider

It had been a long time since she’d had a calm conversation like this - in fact, she found herself wondering if she’d ever had one – it felt oddly, normal. Hudson answered her questions readily, as she had his, and the fire-pelted woman settled down on her elbows, relaxing while she listened with perked ears and head held attentively high. His report made her heart clench a little, something heavy settling along with the venison in her stomach; So it’s true… The Wildwood was empty, nothing but a few strays left in the Edens. Flair sighed to herself.

The mention of companions did make her ears twitch, nerves stirring a little. But she was too comfortable to get truly upset, still fairly certain that the dark man was not planning to ambush her; What would be the point? As he said himself, they were simply passing through, staking no claim on these particular lands. Flair nodded, suppressing another yawn and giving herself a mental shake, it would be rude to let her attention go after having asked. She was a little surprised by how detailed his response was though, ringing almost like a fairy tale, and as the story went on, she did begin to speculate if it might be exactly that.

The fiery girl knew next to nothing about humans, apart from her uncle mentioning them once or twice, as far as she was concerned, they were mythical creatures, bogymen invented to scare pups into good behaviour; Not that that ever worked on me…! So she couldn’t keep from wrinkling her muzzle at Hudson’s story, wondering what might possess him to lie like this after having otherwise been so sensible. He did seem to enjoy telling the tale, but he had to expect she wouldn’t believe him, surely! Feeling a need to gauge the situation, Flair politely waited for him to finish, looking up with brows raised, and tried to keep the disbelief out of her voice as best she could when she asked: “So yer’ sayin’ these humans kidnapped y’ and dropped y’ here?” He couldn’t be serious.

Word count: 350

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