Whisper Marsh This Lonely Paradise

Belun tired of his lonely existence.

The clouds floated above him, casting a thin veil over the sun. He wished, for once, that the day would be sunny and warm, but mother Winter would not be so kind to him. For months he had pushed his existence to what he thought was its limit; he'd spent all that time trying to subsist off of meager meals of squirrels and rats and scavenging from the ravens. The brown male had traveled far, trying to find a place of paradise where prey was more plentiful and his kind existed. He had, it seemed, found it. The scent of wolves anyway was close, and if the scent was close and fresh then they were close as well.

Belun spoke to himself out of habit. <b title="I wonder if anyone will accept me.">"Zaujímalo by ma, či niekto bude prijímať ma." The language barrier was not obvious to him. Belun knew very little English, and it would prove to be his biggest obstacle to overcome in the coming months.

His whole family spoke their native tongue, and since they had never had anyone who spoke native English, none of them knew much English at all, just enough to get by. Naturally, Belun assumed that everybody spoke his native tongue, and was about to find out just how very wrong he was.

(This post was last modified: Mar 01, 2013, 08:04 PM by Belun.)

Cisco was feeling a bit adrift. He had not been given any time to see Koda and to be sure, he couldn't blame them. From the whispers he had heard, his mate was Nina, the fae that had met them at the borders and only she sparked some recent memory of feeling in the lad. So she had stayed with the amnesiac leader of Willow Ridge and helped to nurse him back to physical health. Apparently, he had decided to abdicate his throne at the side of the regal dark queen Elettra. Cisco was at a loss as to why he had led with her when he had been mated to another, but perhaps one day Koda would enlighten him.

He had not asked too many questions and had kept his distance in respect to Elettra's wishes. A few days prior, he had seen Nina and Koda leave headed north towards what he could only assume was her home. Their home. He intended to follow and seek entrance, but he decided to give them time to settle and get their pack sorted before he approached them for a new home. Koda was the last iota of anything which he had left of his old life. Staying by the son of his best friend seemed a fitting way to spend his golden years.

His departure from his makeshift den would take place bright and early in the morning, he decided. Nina and Koda should be settled and he tired of being on his own. It had been far too long since he had family and friends gathered around and his old bones craved company in this cold season, albeit coming to an end soon. Having slaked his thirst at the Lagoon, the lanky wolf now headed back to his den for lack of anything better to do than have a light siesta. Before he reached his temporary home the scent of an unknown wolf came to him and he decided that investigating the stranger would be more interesting than a lonely nap.

Shifting his direction slightly, he followed the trail until he came upon a young wolf of about two, lean from winter's trials wandering through Whisper Marsh. He paused a dozen or so yards away and gave the darker male a friendly smile. "Hello, there young man! I'm Cisco Moriel. Are you new to these parts?" His stance was neutral and his tail slowly waved a couple of times as he introduced himself.

Beluc was sitting beside one of the many pools of water that had formed from the lake draining. Reeds poked out of it like hairs in the water and the pool was too still to drink from, but nice to look at. Catfish nibbled the surface of the pool, grabbing at anything that fell onto it. Insects were nowhere to be found at this time of year, and Beluc was surprised that any fish could survive at all in such cold. They were small fish, granted, but he wondered where they all went when the water froze over. Maybe they were trapped underneath. He mused beneath a small cedar tree, putting one of his brown toes into the water out of curiosity.

An aging wolf with chestnut fur came loping toward him, stopping some distance away to avoid making Belun uncomfortable. The lanky creature was the first wolf he'd actually seen in months, although he'd been following their smells for some time. His tail wiggled a little out of both a shy joy and light submission, and his ears fell a little bit because the male was older and looked a bit more fleshed out. He was probably eating a little better. Belun stood, retracting his very cold toe from the marsh water.

"Hello, there young man! I'm Cisco Moriel. Are you new to these parts?"
Belun looked at the red coated male awkwardly, looking up at him, then at the marsh water, and then at the ground. He shuffled in place. He had a lot of trouble understanding. The foreigner did catch the name, or at least part of it, and knew "hello" like any sane person would.

"Hello-u," he said, and it sounded mostly normal. English. What English words did he know? "I.. not.. eh... fruhm dis miesto. Eh... lo-ca-shun." It took him much longer than it should have to say. He was very unpracticed and had learned most of his English as a yearling, not as a child. He frowned at the other wolf. <b title="Do you speak Slovak?">"Hovoríte slovenské?" It was worth a try anyway.

(This post was last modified: Mar 01, 2013, 08:04 PM by Belun.)