Any way the wind blows [AW]

@Lucien 's all good! they actually make a good way to end the thread

There were many things she was hoping to find today. Ever present was the need for a meal. Winter never made the task easy and her pack's loyal, but few members often left her short-handed. Just as deep-seated and resolute was the search for their two missing pack mates. Despite the poor odds and Koda's concern she still longed to catch their scent on the breeze, a scent more welcome than any deer or elk. Another hope, slight compared to the first two, always presented itself at the ghostly forest. The Keep wolves had lived here, they had helped each other, and unbeknownst an allied pack had destroyed them. Iopah was critical, but not cruel. How could she not want to atone for what happened?

Iopah stood in the deep snow and turned sunlight-shaded eyes on the yearling as he started to answer. She had found none of these here, only a wolf colored so similar to her that she wondered at something else. Her birth place was so far that even a long-lost rival would have been notable, to say nothing of a distant relative.

His answer was as unsure as her wondering. His musing question met only a vague shrug of her shoulder. The last name was unfamiliar, but she did not always ask for one. Despite the nonchalant response her gaze still followed his subtle expressions, the angling of earthen-edged ears and dark chestnut tail. Iopah was certainly paying attention.

Stonecrop Hills. The name itself had no meaning; the directional gave a hint of the dead end. Pale gray ears slid back in unexpected disappointment. "My kin all lived in the far south." Nothing but a traveler, he said. Her attention had followed the statement in all seriousness. When the grin appeared, she suddenly recognized it as a light-hearted joke. A gin graced her own features and tail stirred the snow. Actions spoke louder than words, Lucien was slowing earning trust.

Just then, unexpectedly, a noise disturbed the moment. Iopah swung her head around, entire body focused in the direction. Distant heavy steps continued and the wind brought a hint of mule deer. Her priority had resurfaced and the huntress spent a moment considering the wolves currently at home and the distance here. Certainly she had a few minutes to spare. A left ear fell back in a decisive movement and her body swung back around to Lucien. The deer was not mentioned, but her ears flickered with telling attentiveness. "I remember being a traveler." She commented pensively.

(This post was last modified: Feb 24, 2015, 05:02 AM by Iopah. Edit Reason: always forgetting the tags... )

@Iopah

At first his words seemed to disappoint her again somehow, but then she was smiling, her plume swaying in rhythm with his. Lucien's own smirk grew wider, too. Somehow her smile seemed to brighten even this gloomy forest feel a little more alive. These were the sorts of moments he missed the most about being among other wolves, and he decided that he had been fortunate indeed to meet Iopah today.

Trying to think of what to say next, Lucien glanced over his shoulder, absently gazing at the bare trees. He had always been taught not to hold a stranger's gaze for too long, and there was a rather hawk-like sharpness to Iopah's gaze that was enough to make even the most vainglorious wolf feel... scrutinized. The lad was trying to think of a tactful way to bring the subject back 'round to her pack, when a sound broke through the quiet and had both wolves at sudden attention. The breeze idly betrayed the origin - there were deer close-by, and upwind. Glancing back at Iopah, he was rather surprised when she didn't commented not upon such the fortuitous interruption, but instead continue their conversation. "I've found it ...liberating. But it's a lonely life, too. And a hungry one," he replied, resisting the urge to get too lost in his thoughts about the benefits and costs of such a lifestyle at the moment. Instead he rose to his feet, amber eyes tracing back toward where the sounds of the deer had originated, on the lookout for signs of movement. "I'm sure you know that, though."

He hoped she might invite him to hunt with her, and if she was honorable, to take a share of the kill should they succeed - Lucien hadn't had much success hunting anything large like deer since he'd been alone, but the times he'd hunted with the Youngbloods had been... exhilarating. Far better than guard duty back at home. The hint of an opportunity now was irresistibly tempting to him. He feared she would turn a cold eye toward him and call upon her pack, denying him any chance, and possibly chasing him off, now that there was food on the line. If the pack was close enough, they probably didn't need his help anyway, and most wouldn't want to spare even a little during this season for someone like him. And so he left his last statement hanging in the air, a clear enough statement of his own personal agenda, rather than asking outright - Iopah was quite possibly weighing similar options, and he waited to see whether she would react benevolently toward a fellow traveling soul, or not. He could not, however, prevent the hopeful growl of his belly, nor the way his tail swayed in excitement at the thought of a hunt, as if it had and even more indomitable will of it's own.

@Lucien is ok if you want to PP her starting the hunt for the fade

For a brief moment she hoped Lucien wouldn't notice the deer. The conversation could continue, as well as Iopah could contribute to it, and then they would part ways, no one the wiser as the huntress raced home to collect reinforcements. It was a vain hope. She felt her back stiffen as Lucien swiveled to the deer, waiting for his reaction. The look he gave needed no explanation, confusion being evident. Iopah met the gaze evenly, expression quietly appraising, then dropped it away before disrespect set in. It was only a shifting of her golden gaze. It remained just as pensive and pale ears held immovable, position neutral and undecided.

He made to continue with the conversation, something Iopah did not expect. Her attention lifted from a dead birch tree to listen. True it was liberating, it was nothing but freedom. The statement did little to change her countenance, eyes didn't narrow in disagreement and tail didn't swing with approval. There was only a slight shift in her stance as she acknowledged his words.

A lonely life, he said.

Her head tilted ever so slightly, a memory of her own past stirring. Iopah had been there once, the same phrase had slid from her own lips years ago. The differences between them were peeling away. She wondered which wore at him more, and if his reasons resembled hers. His latest words pulled her from the musings and she regarded his turned away face for a moment, simply studying him. At no point had Lucien asked outright, but they had managed the discussion well enough anyways. Iopah looked to the deer with him and a left ear sweep back decidedly.

"Equal effort," Her voice carried across the snow, expecting Lucien to pick up it's meaning instantly, "and we both walk away with what we can carry." She waited for his agreement before slipping through the forest, following one of the Keeps old trails towards the deer.

@Iopah

Iopah seemed to appraise him for a moment before she spoke, as he tried not to watch her too closely out of the corner of his eye. It was not easy, for the lad was more desperate for a a good meal than he liked to let on, and while one chestnut ear swung to catch her voice, the other still strained to hear the deer moving through the woods off in the distance. Lucien's grin broke free and unrestrained across his jaws when she did at last speak, his broad paws shuffling in the snow with anticipation. "Thank you, lady Iopah! I'll do my best." he shouted under his breath, loping after her pale form through the trees.

As they grew nearer, the scent of the mule deer grew thicker and thicker on the air. Lucien felt his senses shift into focus, his instincts begin to take over the motions of his body. Back at home, he had hardly been allowed to participate in hunts, but among the band of young wolves he'd known, it had been a task he'd come to relish. Most of what he'd learned had been with those other young wolves, learning on their feet as they tried to survive. He'd had no proper instruction in the art of hunting, but he was a wolf after all, and was wholly determined to show now that he was not inutile. Still, his pride did have it's limits, and he forced himself not to creep ahead, instead hanging close to Iopah's side - she would certainly know this terrain better than he if she visited here often at all, and she was most likely more experienced at this, too, he had to concede. Hunkering down in the underbrush at the edge of a small clearing, they watched their quarry for a moment, the three does obliviously pawing at the snow for any food possibly still to be found so late in the winter. Luc took his cue from the flicker of the pale lady's ear, the pointing of her muzzle, and without another word, the wolves broke cover and leapt into a two-pronged charge.

-fin-