Drooping Willows After All of My Running

About Mid Day, 4 degrees, overcast

The willows whispered around the loner in the slight breeze, but finally the earth seemed to be warming for spring and this could put any wolf into a good mood. A sigh slipped through the maw of the female who was lounging beneath the tree, in this moment of time it seemed she had traveled so far just in a circle, this place reminded her so much of her childhood den. She knew this was foolish however, there was an obvious difference, here she was alone, there she had been with a family who had pretended they understood her.

Minka stood and began pacing, she had to plan her next move and fast, it was spring and pups were to be born into the packs of the regions and she knew that packs were less welcoming of strangers with newborns among them. Through whispers of other rogues she had met among her travels she had gathered general information about the packs of Relic, heard their reputation, some of these had made her shudder in fear, others had made her feel like home. At this point though, beggars couldn't be choosers and if any pack was willing to take her in Minka would be incredibly thankful.

So it was decided, tonight she would go and try to find a pack in the nearby hush meadows, she had been there this morning the scents of packs had been strong. The she wolf could offer many things to a young pack as she was a skilled huntress and den mother, though around here they called den mothers 'teachers'. For now though Minka needed some rest, she was sure tonight would be a long and incredibly stressful night, but hopefully by the end she could call herself a member of a pack.

click!

Inali stepped out of her small den, the small she-wolf's jaws opening widely as she yawned. Squinting slightly because of the sudden sight of light in her eyes from the sun, she stretched her limbs out, flexing her shoulders and rolling her head to the side.

She had gotten home late last night because she was in need of food and it had taken forever to down a sick elk. Looking at the brightness of day around her, she internally knew it was about mid-day. She mustve been exhausted if she had slept so long and deep!

Inali headed to the creek a few metres away from her den and took a much needed bath. Washing out all the dry blood and plain nastiness out of her fur that was various shades of brown, she stayed in the creek until she felt completely refreshed.

Finishing her grooming part of the day against a large rock, her fur was now dry and full. It had been a long time since she had felt this clean.

Inali sighed and started walking around the willows and flowers she lived in, since she had nothing else to do. It was a lonely life traveling as a Lone Wolf. The only thing she wanted was to be part of a pack. Have some responsibility, a family, to put it in one word.

Walking along the trees, Inali suddenly stopped as she heard the pacing of paws along the earth near her. Quickly lowering herself into a defense position, her ears flattening against her skull instinctively. She silently headed toward the sound and took a discreet sniff of the air.

It was a she-wolf, Inali concluded by the scent. Taking another wiff, she also concluded that the fellow she-wolf wasnt infected with the disease she had heard was going around by some random rogues. She didnt smell any scent of pack on her either. She must be a fellow Lone Wolf. It was still certainly no reason to let her gaurd down though.

Taking a few cautious steps toward the brown-grey wolf she lowered her tail slightly. She let out a slight bark to gain the wolf's attention and when she had it, she asked curiously, "Who are you?"

(This post was last modified: Apr 09, 2013, 09:08 PM by Inali.)

The sound of approaching paws made the loner still, her ears flicking in the direction the muffled sound of steps against the earth. The stranger was either young or small, and based off of the scent that reached Minka's nose the stranger was a female, and she carried no scent of a pack, meaning she was a fellow lone wolf. With the sound of a light bark the stranger entered into the she wolf's line of view, and Minka raised her tail slightly, mirroring the stranger's as neither of them had dominance over the other the loner did not want to cause any confrontation. "Who are you?"

The she wolf made eye contact as she spoke "I am Minka Leigh, my alliance is to the lone wolves," and then she lowered her eyes quickly. Her tail gave a slight friendly wag as she waited for the other wolves response, though she wanted a pack to belong to, having a companion until then would not be any hardship. "I am just resting here, but if would prefer I can leave if my presence here makes you uncomfortable," Minka was not a dumb wolf and she knew that she was larger than the other female, but she had no experience fighting and she had no idea if the other rogue had any.

Even if she had been more experience, Minka was not a fighter, she was a nurturer, she tended to allow others to have what they wanted rather than cause a conflict. Make no mistake though, if backed into a corner Minka would defend herself and her pack until the end, and she had been known to hold a grudge against other wolves and packs. Stilling her thoughts she waited for the other female to request her to leave or allow her to stay, if she requested her leave Minka would just return to Hush Meadows much sooner than the original plan had been.

click!

Inali wearily scrutinized the she-wolf named Minka. She was of medium build, larger than her obviously, but the important thing was if this she-wolf attacked, could she handle her? Inali thought she could, even if the wolf was larger than her, her swift feet and stamina could probably carry her through the fight with minimal injuries. It also depended if the she-wolf had experience with fighting. If she did, than beating her would be a little bit harder than she thought.

Her wariness dissaparated slightly as the fae wagged her tail in a friendly manner. It didnt go away fully because she didnt know if this wolf could be trusted or not, but it did diminish slightly. It would take time for this wolf to gain her trust. Spreading her jaws into a grin, Inali sent the fellow wolf a friendly flick of her tail.

Inali replied to the wolf, "I am Inali Wayha and I am also a traveling Lone Wolf. This is only a temporary stop as it is. I wish for you to stay, it has been a long time since I have had company, female company nonetheless. Inali barked out a laugh and headed toward the wolf, a bit more relaxed but still a bit weary.

She said to the wolf as she slowly sat down onto the soft grass, her brown eyes never leaving hers, "How long have you been traveling alone? I myself have been traveling for a year, I have only recently arrived to Relic Lore. I am looking for a pack to join. It being breeding season, it has been a bit difficult."

(This post was last modified: Apr 09, 2013, 09:44 PM by Inali.)

Minka let a bark slide through her muzzle, she was growing comfortable with the other loner, and to display this she settled down on the grass. Her body in a laying position, her paws crossed in front of her, but her head still raised so she could still make eye contact and carry out a conversation. "I don't know about you, but I met my fair share of rogue males who were far more brawn than brain in my travels," another laugh escaped the fae's maws as she chuckled at her own joke, though it was true enough.

"I've been travelling just over two months it seems, I lost track of the days though, so this is just based on the moon and the weather," Minka had usually ignored her brother's long ramblings about the celestas, but the passing of a month with each moon was common knowledge. Her winter coat was now fully shed and she was glad, as today the weather finally seemed to be warming up, even if the sun was still elusive beyond the clouds.

Hearing Inali voice her own concerns about finding a pack during mating season Minka made a sympathetic sound and nodded her head, "I too am finding this difficult, mothers to be would rather not take the risk, and I have been wary to cross onto their territory because of this." A low whimper escaped the loner's jaws, she longed for a place to belong, for a place to go home to, for a pack to return to. Aside from brief encounters with other loners, scouts and the occasional leader when she wandered to close to a pack's territory the last two months had been incredibly lonely.

(This post was last modified: Apr 10, 2013, 03:09 AM by Minka.)

click!

As Inali heard Minka voice her joke, an unexpected chuckle shot out of her open maws. It had been a long time since she had laughed. She said, "I'd have to agree on that one, my friend." Oh, in her year of traveling alone she had encountered rogue males that always thought so highly of themselves just because they were born fortunate enough to be oh so 'large and strong.' Imbeciles, she thought with a slight snort.

Shaking her head to clear her current train of thoughts, she turned her muzzle towards the she-wolf as she spoke of her travels and agreed with her statement of how hard it was to find a suitable pack.

The low whimper she heard escape Minka's mouth almost exactly described what Inali dare not say out loud. Oh, how she yearned for a real family. The only family she knew consisted of her mother, but that was no more. She knew she would never lay eyes on that light brown form ever again. And oh how that pained her!

Inali looked up at the darkening sky, trying to distract herself from her own painful musings. She filled her lungs with air and slowly exhaled. Looking once again towards her friend, the brown she-wolf asked in a soft tone, "Was it hard to leave your family to go off on your own?," generally curious.

(This post was last modified: Apr 18, 2013, 02:36 AM by Inali.)

The sky was beginning to darken around them, though this might just seem more dramatic because of the cloud cover that was already present. Either way this surprised Minka, she had not realized they had been there for so long, and she realized that she was genuinely enjoying herself with Inali, enough so to call her a friend. The thought made her smile, and her tail wag, this was the first friend she had made since leaving home, and even though she knew that this was just a temporary stop for both of them, it was nice to have good company for now.

The question was presented Was it hard to leave your family to go off on your own Minka turned her head to the side, pondering the question, she honestly had not thought of it as being hard or easy, just something that she had to do. "I suppose that it was both hard and easy, in a way. My birth pack has a tradition that if you are not being preened to take over as alpha or are not being courted by the age of two you must leave the pack and find one of your own," of course this was not how and why she had left. She looked to the brown wolf in front of her, and made a decision that this was a wolf she could trust.

She sat up with a sigh, her story was not very complicated, and it was one that had probably been told many times before by other rogues, but it was her own, and if she was going to tell it she wanted to do it justice. Minka looked to her friend and began, "I had reached the age of two, along with my siblings, I was born into a litter of 4, one male and three females including me. My brother was chosen to take over the role of alpha when my father passes, and both my sisters had entered courtship, but I had not. The pack said they would make an exception and that I could stay, and for a while I did, but I found that I no longer fit into the pack I had always called a family. So I left, so it was easy in that I had always known I would have to leave, but hard because of the way I actually carried it out, I never said goodbye."

Minka dropped her muzzle, feelings of sadness washing through her as she grieved the loss of her family, even though it had been her own choice to leave. Then she shook her head, she had made her choice and she would stick to it, and deep in her heart she knew that she was happier on her own than she had been with them, even if she was lonely at time. Deciding she no longer wanted to talk about her old home she asked, "What about you? Did you have a family that you left behind?" She was honestly curious, especially now that she had told her own story, she wondered if there were other wolves here who had a similar background.

click!

Inali crossed her paws and laid her head on her paws, listening intently as Minka answered her question by telling her story. At least you had a family, Inali thought bitterly. She immediately scolded herself mentally. I have no right to think like that. I cant take out my own frustration and pain on Minka like that just because of my lack of family. She doesn't deserve it.

As Minka paused after she finished her tale, Inali took advantage of the silence and thought of back home. It wasnt truthfully her home though....it was just a place where she had lived the first year of her life, nothing more.

After that brief moment of silence, Minka asked her about her own family.

"What about you? Did you have a family that you left behind?"

Inali shook her head slowly, pensively, as she faced her friend. "Not really. I didnt think of them as my family really. I grew up with them in my life of course, but I didnt really think of them as that." Inali knew she probably wasnt making any sense so she tried to reach into her scrambled mind to see if she could make sense of the memories flowing through her head.

Her birth.

Her father showing favoritism to her older male siblings.

Her mother comforting her through the painful, rejected feelings she had tried to sort through because of her father not paying attention to her.

The night she left.

Inali took a breath and exhaled slowly. She was finally ready to speak. "I was the smallest of my mother's litter of 3. And the only girl. Both of my brother's, who were older, were my father's favorite. He was the Alpha of our pack and everyone looked up to him for some reason I still cannot fathom. Anyway, I remember as a young pup, I did so many things to gain my father's attention and approval."

A dry chuckle escaped her mouth as the memories of her as a young pup popped into her head, and she continued, "But nothing ever worked. Everything I did was wrong. He never payed attention to me. He was a cold hearted, bitter Alpha and an even colder father. Except to my brothers. They were of course the epitome of perfection in his eyes. Inali knew the bitterness in her tone could easily be heard but now that she began to talk, she couldn't seem to stop.

"When I became a Yearling, I found that I had grown to hate my supposed 'father' along with my two older brothers. They had grown to act just like my father. Cold and Bitter. The only one that I thought as family, the only one I absolutely adored and loved....was my mother. She was always there, even when my father and brothers were not and told her to just abandon me. But, she didn't. She never listened to them.

Inali found herself getting a bit chocked up thinking of her mother, so she stayed silent for a while to regain control of her emotions. She soon continued with her story."Anyway, one night, I knew I couldn't live like that anymore. So, I just left." Inali cleared her throat and continued, slightly embarrassed for saying so much, "There you have it. My story.

A thought popped into her head and she spoke, "You know? Our stories are completely different, but slightly similar. We both didn't fit in with our birth packs, are now wandering around by ourselves, are both yearning for a pack to belong to, and here we are! To think! Do you think its a coincidence? Fate? What?"

Minka saw the effect that her question had upon Inali, and she settled her head into her paws, patiently waiting while her friend sorted through her emotions. She knew how hard the past could be to deal with, and if her friend did not want to share hers for whatever reason that would be fine, Minka had no judgement of being unable to deal with personal history. She watched with a quiet concern as the emotions flickered across Inali's face until a sigh was heard and her friend began to speak.

Then the story was told, one that was very different to her own story, but had the same underlying message, they had not belonged. Minka could see the embarrassment cross the fae's face and she touched her muzzle to her friend's snout in an attempt to comfort her. Then she sighed, "My parents also favoured my siblings, though they tried to deny it, to hide it, tried to be fair in their affections, but it was blatantly clear that I didn't belong." Bitterness crept into her voice by the end of her words, she had never understood exactly why she had not belonged, why her parents had favoured her siblings over her.

Then a calm came over her, she truly was moved on, except for minor moments such as these where she missed the stability of having a pack, even if she was unhappy in it. She gently nudged her friend again and said, "we cannot be bitter, some wolves just aren't cut out to be parents, besides we are better off alone now, we are stronger because of them." It was the truth, this journey that she had taken had taught her many things, and she knew she was stronger as a wolf because of it.

The next question made her ponder, her head tilting to the side as she thought, did she believe in a higher power? Or was everything just random happenings with no rhyme or reason? "I had a den mother who strongly believed in the elements, she worshiped all of them, earth, fire, wind and water. Personally though, I believe in karma, I believe that if you do good things, eventually good things will happen to you," a smile broke across the fae's face. Her tail wagging again, "Maybe that is what this is, we were brought together as a reward for leaving our packs, for if we hadn't we would never have met." She didn't have all the answers, and maybe her answers were wrong, she did not know, but that seemed like a reasonable one to her.

click!

-The Finale, possibly? Lets wrap this baby up, shall we?xD

Inali felt Minka's muzzle touch her snout and she leaned in, glad for the comfort her friend provided. When they both pulled away, Inali once again laid her head on her paws, listening to Minka as she added a little to her story. She heard the same bitter tone used by her slip out of Minka's jaws but then, she seemed to have a calm wash over her or something by the smile on her face. It surprised her immensely, the calm that she showed.

"we cannot be bitter, some wolves just aren't cut out to be parents, besides we are better off alone now, we are stronger because of them."

Inali tilted her head and processed silently what Minka had just said, taking it in. She thought, So that's why she is so calm now. She has truly moved on from her bitterness, unlike me. I still carry it in my heart.

She said to Minka, "You are right my friend. But it is hard. They have all left a deep imprint in my heart, and not in a good way. I hope in time, I will be able to let go of this bitterness I hold for my father and brothers, but for now, I fear that it is just not possible.

I have grown much over this year that I have traveled alone. I have learned lessons I could not have learned if I had stayed. I have grown strong because of these cards the Fates have dealt me with. I agree with your last statement though. Maybe it is a reward for leaving our packs and maybe even destiny that we have met."

Inali took a breath and looked around her surroundings. It had grown dark already and Inali knew that this was her time to take her leave. But she did not want to go.

Inali made herself stand upright and stretch out her limbs, flex her shoulders, and roll her head side to side, getting ready to run. Turning to face Minka she said, "I guess this is goodbye my friend. I hope to meet again."

Inali leaned towards Minka and touched her muzzle against the fellow she-wolf's snout in a friendly, affectionate goodbye. With sad eyes she pulled away and turned around. Without looking back, she ran in the direction of the trees.

(This post was last modified: Apr 21, 2013, 06:48 PM by Inali.)