Her intentions had been to travel to Magnolia Glen and seek acceptance from the wolves that lived there. Upon leaving the Spectral Woods subsequent of her farewell circuit, however, she once more stood in awe of the mountain ridge that strove to separate this land. She knew not what duties the pack would require her to fulfill; she may never be allowed time for exploration again. And that possibility made up her mind. She would stall the trip north to Magnolia Glen with a detour; she cared not how long it would take, days or weeks. She had never attempted to scale a mountain before, but she wished to say she did.



So Eek set forth at an angle, traveling north west toward the base of Mountain Dire. The closer she got, the more formidable she knew the journey would be. What made a difference was that Eek would accept defeat in a quest such as this. She did not mean to conquer the palisade; merely to do her best. In truth, she hardly ever feared failure in anything other than social practices and her matronly obsessions. This indifference diminished any sense of urgency, and Eek found herself spending more time analyzing than actually climbing. She took her time, and sought the safest roots. This took her from side to side, and sometimes even down. With time, she worked her way around, ending up by use of several passes on the west side of the mountain.



The weather grew colder, but that was not enough to drive her back. It was when conditions turned icy that she considered descent. As her gray eyes considered both that piercing peak and the soft green sling of the land below, something new caught her attention. All this time spent trekking up the mountainside, she had seen no other living creature save for birds in the sky. But before her eyes, a mountain goat kid was struggling to find its way on a narrow ridge above. Eek forgot her rules of caution and began to scale closer in any way that she could find. Her clawing steps broke loose stone and snow alike, and as she drew closer she could her the animal's frightened bleats; for whatever reason, it seemed to be lost. Abandoned. She needed to save it.



With vocal effort, she threw herself at the ledge. In her haste she nearly slipped right back off, and would've ended violently on one cold, rocky outcropping or another. Luckily, she was able to pull herself up onto level ground, nearly giving the kid a heart attack. The poor animal's cries grew more frenzied, and it leapt away from her. She called out to it, promised not to hurt it, but still it ran. The goat's hooves were naturally more adept at holding their footing, and Eek began to fall behind, unable to stay on its tail no matter how reckless her bounding became. Not even minutes passed before she lost sight of the animal, and seconds later the skewed horizon was lost as she slipped on slicked stone and tumbled through the snow.



Her vision became useless as the only thing before her eyes was the snow flying up around her as her tumbling form threw it from its place of rest. Eek proved to have golden luck on her side as a curved precipice caught her before she could collide or plummet. Dazed, the girl took her time in recovering. A terrible sadness ate at the walls of her heart, demanding to be let in, but she did her best to fight back. It had not been hers. She would have another. She would. Someday...



Or she might still be able to find it.



Eek righted herself, untwisting her body from the awkward angle in which it had ceased its rolling. Ending up on her stomach, she crept over to the edge of the ledge that had saved her, and peered downward, attempting to find a safer route upwards than the sheer slide of snow that lay directly ahead of her. To her utter surprise, she saw yet another living creature, this one a kin to her.



"Sir!" she called out urgently as she attempted to descend to his level. She wriggled her way cautiously off the shelf, sliding a short distance before the ground even out enough for her to find footing.



"Sir, I need your help! Please!"

She had thought that she was doing so well. In fact, the idea had occurred to her, 'With just a little practice, I'll be as good as any mother goat!' Of curse, she was wrong, and just as she was about to come level with this hopefully-helpful stranger, Eek messed up. The smooth snow was interrupted by a broken chunk of mountain core and the falter nearly sent her tumbling again. Luckily, the knight proved shining, and she was caught by him before falling on her face.



Eek recovered quickly, stretching out each limb in a snapping motion and looking at them disapprovingly. But her disdain didn't last, for there was something far more important at hand.



"My apologies, but my safety isn't really a concern at the moment. There is a lost child further up. It was scared and ran from me, but if it sees that I mean no harm, it will surely come to its senses! Please help me rescue it!"

Eek was utterly relieved to see the man so willing to aid her. With two of them, they were certain to catch her child. She was already thinking of names, but had yet to decide on one when her assistant so happened to ask.



"I'm afraid I don't. I've never seen the child before, I was merely exploring when I found it...." she told him. But that would be remedied soon. Perhaps, Alice if it was a girl, and Justus if it was a boy... ?



"Mine is Eek. Thank you so much for agreeing to help, Rayne."



Eek followed him closely, sometimes directly behind him, sometimes neck and neck, depending on what the terrain would allow. Every now and then she would even leap ahead, intensely eager to track down her baby. Her hurried steps were soon rewarded when a panicked bleating, softened greatly by the wind that brought the sound to their ears, caught her attention.



"Do you hear it?!" she asked, pausing her ascent only to try and pinpoint the source's location. However, the mountain winds were fickle, and it was difficult to decipher where exactly the kid was. Eek, for a moment, was frozen by indecision. Time was precious at this moment; what if she took off in the wrong direction, and lost him for good?



"Please tell me you know which way to go," she pleaded of Rayne. Her back arched slightly, she lowered her head, a soft whine leaking from her lips as worry continued to consume her. However her ears remained forward, and her colorless eyes wide, still trying desperately to catch any hint at where little Alice or Justus may be.

Eek shivered as the freezing drizzle, with time, worked its way through her coat. It was unhealthy to be here at this time, and the sleet that now flitted down upon them might be a precursor for worse things to come. But then what of the child? It was her only concern, and her safety, along with that of her partner's, was dismissed from being of any importance.



He was certainly and genuinely helpful. If Eek weren't so selfish, she would be thoroughly grateful to him. Instead, at this moment, he was a breathing tool. If they were to retrieve the child, her praises would be unending. It was her chaotic nature.



'There, I see a tail.'



Eek's posture rapidly changed, from fearful and consumed to tall and alert. She looked around frantically before following his guiding gesture, and saw too the tell tale sign of a lost little goat above them. While Rayne's following actions were defined by his concern for safety, Eek acted with reckless abandon.



Eek threw herself forward, onto the unsteady slope that connected both ledges. It was dangerous for any creature unhooved, but personal safety did not occur to her. Her paws fought valiantly for footing, claws digging into any hold the virtually smooth rockface allowed her. The this climb grew more difficult and it become questionable as to whether she was making any ground, her state of mind became more and more frayed. She had to have the child, this child, it was the only child for her, it would be the perfect child and it would live and everything would be as it should....



"Come here child! Come to mother!" she called to it desperately.



By now it had clearly learned of their presence, and pounded its hooves frantically against the ledge that held it, square eyes seeking desperately for a route of escape. The only opportunity it saw was the ledge Rayne stood on and Eek had just abandoned, and as Eek grasped the ridge on which it currently stood, the young prey was forced to make a decision. With a single cry, it lept down from the outcropping, narrowly escaping Eek to land directly behind Rayne.



"Catch him!"

"Eek!" Rayne cried after the small wolf as she clambered to 'rescue' the young goat up on the ledge, shouting at it to come to mother? What was going through this female's mind to think that this animal that was their prey was her child? Did she recently have a loss of her own and was projecting the unjustly death of her lost pups onto this young thing? Unfortunely, Eek was too quick for Rayne and already had climbed up to the ledge before he had taken one step. With every slip Eek made, caused a ripple of fear go through Rayne as he shifted from paw to paw below the she-wolf, unable to scale the slope due to his bulk making it considerably more dangerous to climb. A single wrong footstep out of place and it would have sent him tumbling back down. "Eek! Please! This is dangerous! You could get hurt!" It was obvious the goat had seen them and was searching for way to escape. Yet as it soon became clear to Rayne, the only way was down as with a single desperate cry, the kid launched itself into the air and managed to land behind Rayne.

Catch him There seemed to be no stopping Eek and her seemingly endless want to not only save the goat but to place herself in danger while doing it, Rayne came to the conclusion that unless it was captured, her reckless behaviour would continue. And it was impossible for Rayne to leave her alone with that on his mind. So spinning around, his long legs easily eating up the distance between the young goat and himself, Rayne went after the goat. The young prey heard him giving chase and smelt him only a few feet behind it.

Unbeknownst to the pair, a loblolly, though more a small mud puddle more than an actual mud hole, had been made due the drizzle. It was small and wasn’t very deep but in combination of both the little amount of rain and melted sleet had made it deep enough to trip up anyone not careful with their footing.

The small goat saw the loblolly and so managed to jump over it yet Rayne, who was running right behind it, didn't see it until the last minute. Thus, his body was sent tumbling to the hard ground as the goat managed to escape.

It took tapping into a deep reservoir of will power for Eek not to throw herself over that ledge after the child. Slipping paws scrabbled to the edge, but at the last second self preservation held her down, and she grudgingly held her breath to stay still and watch the scene unfold. The sleet had penetrated her coat completely, making her shiver from the cold, and her legs hurt from the bursts of energy she had forced them to use. She was damned lucky she was not alone on this mountain, for at this point she was becoming exhausted. These facts did not manage to cloud her conscious thoughts, for matters such as those were always trifling when an orphan was within her reach.

Silver eyes took everything in as if in slow motion, her heart swelling with a tremendous hope as Rayne closed in on the small goat. This was it, the child would be hers. Everything would be normal now, she wouldn't ever have to chase or panic again. Then these feelings were ripped from her suddenly as Rayne, the poor altruistic boy, faltered in a small mire of slush.

"NO!" she shrieked, so forcefully it felt as though the harsh cold air tore her throat. With abandon, Eek launched herself off the precipice, barely catching herself on the ledge bellow. It was nothing but luck that kept her from spraining or even breaking a limb as the weather conditions and topography seemed to be purposefully trying to kill the trespassing wolves.

She leaped over Rayne, not sparing a second to see if he was alright. Eek may try to play nice with others, but it was always an act; she never cared for anyone but herself and her child, if she was lucky enough to have one at the given moment. But as she turned a curve on the terrain, a horrid sight entered her vision; the child had found its true mother. They stood together, separated from the wolves by a crevice. The youth was shaking and pressed itself against its mother, soaking up her warmth and comfort. She in turn stared down Eek, daring her to come closer. And Eek considered it, but only for a few moments.

"Fine! Have him! Fucking vermin... you're nothing but a meal!"

She didn't mean any of it though; it was the anger talking. Inside, in the pit of her stomach, grief began to churn though she fought desperately to push it back. Why did she always end up alone... ?

After calling the mother & child several other choice words, proving to them surely how unaffected she was by the loss, Eek thought of Rayne; it was his damned fault this happened. If he hadn't of fucked up, that child would have been hers. Determined now that someone was going to pay for this with her, Eek turned around and headed for his direction, a growl on her tongue and blades in her eyes.