The sound was subtle at first, like an echo in the distance that grew louder, more frequent, and she realized that the creature was getting closer. Her haven at Secret Falls did have their flaws, and there was no doubt that a few miles from the watering source lived a thriving pack which marked their borders promptly, a warning to any trespasser attempting to cross over. In her days of travel she had carefully avoided the pack, traveling mostly at night and making sure to conceal herself during the day in case anyone were to question why she was here--she had only been back a little over a day and already she felt afraid for her life.

She was looking for Whisper Caverns, the place she had once called home, but she had no idea just where the pack was considering she had aimlessly wandered to the Eastern side of Relic Lore, where the pack lands were much more dispersed, the prey fewer and further between unless you lived in a thick marsh, and the lack of shelter kept her fearful of her life. It hadn't dawned on her until she had attempted to return home that she was an adult and she was all alone. She missed her father Ash, she missed her mother Narime and she missed the luxury of a pack to help provide for her; living as a Whisper pup had never been easier. Today though she was considered a yearling, an adult in so many wolves eyes, and she was cautious to keep her head low for fear of any challenge.

Her head turned in the direction from where sound had come, it was eerily familiar to that of water being separated and she was curious to who could have traveled this far up, and whether someone had finally found her out. Anxious and afraid at the same time, the pale girl crept to where the sound was loudest and watched the muddied form of Noble rolling around in the water in an attempt to wash herself clean from her adventure. The young girl looked to be about her age, but she seemed much harder on the outside, more seasoned then Rory and therefore the pale girl had not walked toward her, instead she stood in hiding and waited, simply watching, the young dark girl catch her breath.

She heard the call of the bird somewhere in the heavens and her eyes turned upward to search the skies, looking for the creature that had given warning of her strange new guest. Her teeth clenched tightly together, having grown nervous of the new visitor who had heard the call of the and seemed disturbed by its presence--perhaps the visitor had not anticipated that someone else had made the Secret Falls their refuge as well? Despite the call Rory stayed at her spot, watching and observing in near silence as the dark girl began to quench her thirst and perhaps shake off what had scared her earlier.

So deep in her own trace, the golden furred youth hadn't noticed that finally Noble had spotted her, the glisten of her pale yellow eyes had given her position away and she immediately tucked her body into itself to seem smaller, as though she would disappear if she tried hard enough and yet the dark yearling remained at her spot, simply watching. Her questioning words reached her, causing her cream ears to perk but she still did not move for fear of an unwanted attack--she was weak and had no knowledge of how to defend herself, even at the hands of a yearling. Though she was no coward, she was not a natural fighter and wanted nothing more then to flee but it was too late now, running would only cause Noble to potentially give chase, and though she was fast, she had no idea where she could go to hide from the darker woman.

"Nothing. I want nothing from you." she assured the Lagina girl, her voice seemed to quiver as it came forth, "do you want something from me?" she gave with ears pulled back and gaze staring intently for any swift movement; if Noble did indeed give chase, Rory would flee.

Her initial response shocked her, having caused her head to perk upward as she studied the dark girl further, watching her every move with keen interest. She truly did not want anything from Noble, at least she was sure she didn't, her stance was neutral and her eyes remained as fearful as they were the moment she had locked eyes with the golden eyed youth---if only she could leave this land without injury. "I...you frightened me. I didn't mean to stare at you, I just...I wasn't expecting anyone else to be here." that was a half lie, she had known of the pack not too far off from the Secret Falls and had anticipated that eventually they would catch wind of her, she just hadn't expected someone so soon. Judging from Noble's appearance she looked to be a loner, scavenger even, but she was not foolish enough to assume that the other girl was not a threat to her; without a pack to protect her, everyone was.


She mentioned "them" and her head cocked to the side, assuming that by them she meant the pack just miles from the Falls and immediately her head shook to signify a response, "No, if only I was so lucky," she admitted but bit her lip almost instantly. She wasn't supposed to let on that she was alone, not this early anyway, especially if this girl that was staring her down truly did expect something from her, she cleared her throat before stumbling on, "I've been searching for a friend of mine, her name is @Vaeta, we got separated during the storm and the last I saw her was here..." the lies stretched on and for a moment she felt herself grow hot with worry, as if Noble may be able to detect that were lying, but it was a half truth, she had in fact been separated from the Cavern girl but that had been months ago and Rory had long ago stopped looking for her. "what about you?" she questioned finally, watching as the dark figure began to circle her, studying her closely and the cream girl did her best not to shake at her spot. What really was Noble looking for?

From this distance she could tell that Noble was hiding something--she sniffed the air and caught whiff of blood, but to whom it belonged to would remain a mystery. She pretended not to notice how carefully the other girl cleaned herself, placing her paws into the fall by means of rinsing away what injury she had acquired and the Thanne girl couldn't resist the twitch of her nose as she pinpointed the stench of pine and mildew, the same smell she'd caught whiff of from the pack nearby. It had just occurred to her that this girl had an unfortunate run with those wolves and was perhaps washing away the evidence--the look of shock could still be seen in the dark girls pupils. "They have families to protect. I'm sure I'd be the same way if I had so much to lose." she still had so much life ahead of her and yet she couldn't recall the last time she'd felt happiness, true and unaltered happiness--her childhood had been fleeting and short.


Seeing that her companion was hurt brought her to feet, standing tall in the presence of a wolf who seemed to be in the same predicament as herself, lost and lonely, but she kept caution about her and remained a considerable distance from Noble in case the tables turned. She shuddered at the hard truth, swallowing the hard facts that Vaeta was most likely not on the Eastern edge of Relic Lore and was probably still lost in the mysterious stretch of land that had separated her from the Cavern wolves. This reality made her shoulders slump forward with sadness, her lanky limbs lowered into a sit to steady herself while she collected her thoughts. She'd been a disappointment to herself and to her family, but what worst, she had left behind the only other wolf who actually seemed to care about her, perhaps she was turning into the very wolf she had grown to dislike; her mother. "I can't just give up looking for her. She can't just disappear, no one just disappears..." she trailed off, searching the golden eyes of Noble for some kind of hope, but her eyes were cold and immediately she averted her gaze. "what made you give up?" she questioned with a cock of her skull. Surely there were wolves still out there searching for her, as Rory was sure there was at least one wolf still searching for her.