It was impossible to stay there any longer, to see that look in their eyes and feel their doubts thickening the air around him. They had served their purpose, nourishing him and helping him through the past winter, but as the second approached he knew it was time to move on. There was a great purpose for him out there in the world, he knew it in his bones, could hear his father's words echoing in his mind with strength. They thought him a meager orphan, something to be pitied and coddled. He would show the world otherwise. |
Today was not likely to be any different from the rest, save for a single anomaly. On this particular day, as he traversed the borders, a howl caught his attention. Rather than a single long note, it was a spray of sound, and he moved towards it. It was clearly summoning, and with suspicion, he picked up his pace. Moving easily over the stones, away from the Pass, he spotted the caller, a dark male, not unlike himself. <b style="color:#a51919">"What is it you want?" Chulyin asked, his voice gruff, but not impatient. He knew the rules regarding strangers and the Pass, but winter already had its grip on this place and the more paws they had the better. His dark form stood out starkly against the white landscape, his golden eyes brighter than usual. <b style="color:#a51919">
The response was nearly immediate, pleasing the young man greatly. Having caught notice of @Chulyin 's approach on the wind before his appearance, Gent stood with expectant and bright eyes, his gaze filled with an energy that contradicted the worn state of his body. As the other man entered his sights, the prince without title found himself satisfied with what he saw. The paladin held a thickly muscled form, and a stoic confidence that assured Gent he had found the pack best suited for the life style he wished to lead. |
If there was something he could not disagree with, it would be the need for new souls come winter. But that did not mean that once winter was gone, the helpful paws would suddenly melt away like snow met with heat. This boy would need to be vigilant. Which was why Chulyin did not divulge his own name, nor identity of the mountainous pack. There was still some distance between their position and the pack's borders, so if the male proved inadequate, then there could be no disturbances again. <b style="color:#a51919">
Ever since her nightmare she had been on edge, stalking along the borders rather than merely patrolling them, savagely marking as she went so there could be no mistaking, this was her mountain - and what she held she would keep. She was sure her foul mood had not gone unnoticed by those around her. She slept less and worked harder. Their safety was in their secrets - it had protected them this long, and while @Rhysis knew where they lived having once walked among them - the fact a pack lived here was not common knowledge.
So when a staccato of calls ricocheted off the walls of the Pass for the second time in as many weeks, the hairs along her spine stood on end and she charged in the direction the call had come from, slowing only when a recent marker left by her brother smacked her in the face. Even from here she could hear the strangers words. Her paranoia turned to anger at the boys confident tone and when her golden eyes finally fell on him her blood boiled.
Tall, lanky, dark. The similarities were enough that for a moment she could have sworn her heart stopped - when she saw his eyes... It was all too much. Her pace quickened and her tail swung high as a deep growl left her chest. Not only was he openly challenging a member of her pack by daring to meet his eyes, but he was carrying on like they were the privileged ones to be in his presence!
She charged the boy, aiming to slam him with her full weight in the hopes of throwing him off balance and reminding him just who held the power here. If he was smart enough to submit then he just might get out of this alive - but Nomad’s Pass was a place where words were wind. If he expected to live among them the lessons would begin now.
He knew too much simply by knowing where to find them - and she intended to find out how he had come by the information. She had warned that girl... that @Minka of the consequences should she speak... She needed to know who had sent him here.
Gent was well aware of expected mannerisms, though he often forgot to practice them. As Chulyin inflated his stature and responded to the boy with a look that could melt the snow around them, he was reminded, though he wouldn't trip over himself to make the correction. With a phantom of a smirk tugging at his lips, he suppressed expression of the thoughts within his head and sombered himself. It wasn't such an awful thing, to have to swallow his pride; it helped to prove that they were worth his allegiance. |
Tempted to reach out to her, Chulyin held himself back. Not knowing the cause of all this, he had very little to offer to either party. Instead, he settled back upon his haunches, ears alert and copper eyes watchful and expectant, on this off chance this escalated. But for the time being, the stranger had cowered beneath his sibling. A wise choice, really. As a guardian of the Pass, particularly of Naira, he wouldn't simply sit by a watch a stranger harass his sister. Unfortunately for Chulyin, that was the reason for her anger, but he simply didn't know it. Eyes moved between both parties, waiting for something to happen, wondering if he might speak up, but no words settled to the surface. <b style="color:#a51919">
Her voice was dangerously low as she moved back to allow the boy room to get up. The paranoia from her nightmare was still gnawing at the back of her mind. What if it had been Rhysis? What if he had been sent here by her former mate? Would she ever be free of him?
Her brother was here to back her up and so she had no qualms with dropping her guard. She waited for an answer, shifting her weight from one paw to the other, her chin tucked low to protect her throat. “Why are you here and what do you want? Best make it quick.” To the point, she had better things to be doing with winter so quickly approaching.
What the hell? Gent could only assume that the woman looming over him was crazy. The paranoia dripped off of her, and his youthful mind failed to calculate a viable reason for it. However, he would be damned if he'd let this thought cross into his appearance and cost him entry. Every passing moment only added to his determination, and by now he was as hellbent on getting into this pack as if it had been his birth right. |
A rumor... A lip pulled back from her teeth in frustration, but no growl came forth. There were those who had left them, Him. Golden eyes searched the boy for any sign of deceit and found none. She had never been much of a one to bandy words about herself, and besides, she had @Mapplethorpe to deal with the talking now.
To live here... but for how much longer? This winter was already so much harsher than the last, there were days when she wondered if the sun would rise at all. Already in places the snow would brush her stomach and she had to wonder - what would they do if it got much worse? Would it? She loved her kingdom, she was prideful - but she was not foolish. Hunt, and fight... Her eyes drifted to her stalwart companion, her brother, her knight in pitch black fur. Perhaps there was hope for this boy yet.
Herbs and poisons... Well that would be useful. She had her own knowledge of course but she barely found the time to gather the stores she required anymore and her own tolerance for the art had dwindled during her exile. With a steady exhale her posture relaxed. “We have more need for hunters than fighters with winter upon us. If you seek out @Sagacity she may be able to tell you where she last sighted suitable prey, her son Mercy shows great promise too. Be sure to let the boy join you wherever possible.” She moved forward to take the dark youths muzzle in her jaws, firm pressure pushing home the message that it was she who ruled here and it was her he would need to impress.
Releasing the boy from her hold she gestured for him to get up and turned to return to the heart of her home, expecting both men to follow in her wake.
{end}