Sex: MaleDecember 1st; Morning; Light snow, chilled winds, gray skies; -2° F/-19° C
December had finally come and the frost had long since advanced into the harsh, bitter winds that brought the snow to the forest floor of Relic Lore. On either side of the territory, the cliffs had somewhat shielded the pack from the biting blizzard, but in turn had imprisoned the wolves of Nomads Pass. Several times over, Naira's equal counted in his head the number of mottled heads he had seen in the den and the scents of those he hadn't seen. In the past week, aside from he beloved Queen, he had only seen Taima, but the last time he had felt her at his side while patrolling along the borders had been roughly two days ago. He snorted through his nearly frostbitten nose when he found he could not recall when he had last seen the rest of them: Chulyin, Sagacity, Faol, Crowe, Mercy, the girls...
His brow furrowed and, as carefully as he could, he descended down the slippery path that led down from the middle of the Pass. The wall of snow that had accumulated practically overnight had been alarming when he had first set eyes on it, but now... now it was bordering on something short of terrifying. What if he had miscounted? If his dearest Aponi and Nova were stuck on the other side? Mapplethorpe swallowed hard in attempt to rid himself of the thought. At seven months old, the girls were slowly coming into their own and the grizzled patriarch had no doubt that they had enough wit and hardiness to weather the winter and eventually find their way home - much unlike the two wayward cubs he had to recover last Spring...
Shaking his head he turned his back on the wall and began to circle. Once... Twice... Only when he stopped himself amidst his third round did he lift his head and ears, inhaling deeply in case he had missed his pack mates' scents. The storm and the wind had done well to hide the tracks of those who had come to this end of the Pass and the cold had successfully smarted his nostrils since he had first stepped out of the communal den. Perhaps he should have never sent Taima out on her own; having her around at his beck and call seemed a much better idea for the sake of having someone to be his extra set of ears and eyes. He could only hope that his nerves would not get the best of him; with his luck, he was certain Naira would say nothing of the several instances that led to him waking up and pacing in the middle of the night or the occasions in which he went out on his own on the young Lyall's trails.
His tail lifted in a lilted wag then, with one lifted forepaw and a canted head, he let out a loud, wary bark in hopes someone would answer him... just to know that they were all (still) all right in the face of what seemed like the harshest winter he had ever faced.
