Stone Circle A Friendly Face

Takes place the same day as this, two hours after: https://wolf-rpg.com/showthread.php?tid=37697 

Nyra had been sniffing and searching for @Nanook for a while now. By the time the sky was just barely starting to turn scarlet, the snowy mountain of a she-wolf had started to feel hopeless about the task Greyback had given her - to find Nanook by the end of the day. 
"This feels almost impossible..." Nyra whimpered to herself, for she was eager to succeed and earn her place among the wolves of Easthollow. 
Several scents came and went, and so far, none of the trails she had followed lead to the tall she-wolf she was meant to find. 
Finally, Nyra was so close to giving up that she did what she probably should have done in the first place to make her task easier - howl.
She tilted her head up and let out a loud howl, something similar to a melodic song, letting it lower and rise once before it faded out, and the pitch-white she-wolf tilted her head down again, perking her ears to try and catch any approaching pawsteps, hopefully those of the wolf she had been assigned to.  

Welcome to Easthollow! <3

It wasn't Nyra's fault she couldn't find Nanook. The Apaata simply couldn't stay still. If she was awake, she was almost always on the move, criss-crossing through the territory, or leaving, at times for hours on end, to watch, and study, and observe the phenomenon of nature and weather as the seasons shifted a little each day. Other times, she found purpose in the rhythmic circling of the perimeters. She was one of the few trained mercenaries within Easthollow -- at least, of those wolves who chose to make their trades known. Nanook was familiar with the routine of patrol, and she knew she was capable of holding her own if any strange company set their devilish eyes upon her family here.

Since her routine was so sporatic, Nanook was accustomed to having others simply howl for her if they wished for her specific company, often easier for her to find them than the other way around. Of particular curiosity in the summons today was the nature of the other voice. Nanook did not recognize the notes as anything familiar, and yet, this stranger -- a female, by the sound -- knew her name, and even more, called from within the territory and the borders around. Perhaps she had met this woman somewhere in passing?

She turned, and with a trot, roved off to meet the stranger somewhere within the birchwood forest.

The setting sun cast brilliant shadows across the snow. If not for the stranger's scent, Nanook might have missed the other woman's pale form entirely. She carried the trace of many wild things, and on the surface, Greyback.

Copper eyes, sharp and intense, and brimmed with curiosity, sought for the stranger's own. She reminded her of Siarut and his siblings, and of Nanurjak, and her cloister of Northern nuns. "Salutitsinik," she said, in traditional greeting, "You called for me." Not a question, and she fell silent, expecting the stranger to speak.

Thank you!! <3 

Nyra waited patiently for a few minutes. Then, the tall she-wolf appeared. 
The greeting made the large girl's brows furrow a little in confusion and curiousity.
You called for me.
Nyra knew it wasn't a question, and when Nanook didn't say anything else within the next couple moments, Nyra spoke up as expected "Salutations, My name is Nyra. Greyback granted me the task of finding you. He wanted you to show me the ropes, as a mentor of sorts." Her voice was rather unexpectedly loud at first, to herself especially in comparison to the silence around them. After startling herself with her own greeting, she quickly lowered her voice so it was still audible, but not nearly as booming.
"Sorry about my previous loudness..." Nyra slanted her ears back sheepishly. Apologizing was courteous, even though she figured Nanook herself wouldn't be nearly as easily spooked. 
Already, I don't want to get on her bad side. The girl thought to herself, wagging her tail at her heels, in partial submission, equal parts friendliness.

The silence lasted long with this one, but Nanook had been trained by patience. Her own quiet countered Nyra's, until the snowy girl spoke, and flooded the empty space with a message Nanook had no preparation to receive.

She tipped her head, thoughtful. To her knowledge, Easthollow had never paired newcomers with senior members to integrate, and introduce. Nanook rather liked the idea - though why Greyback thought of her name first to propose to show anyone around was much beyond her...

Nanook offered Nyra the quirk of a smile. "No need to apologize, even a mouse would sound loud in this silence, if it braved to talk," she took a step closer to the much larger woman, and appraised her with that same curious glint as before, "Nyra. I am Nanook Apaata, though I suppose that is redundant. Where you've found yourself in is the Clone Forest. It is quite easy to lose yourself in here, for reasons I am sure you can guess. Come," and she beckoned Nyra to follow, "I will show you somewhere better than here. Do you like mountains? Rocks? Rivers? Open plains? You will see all, but tell me, what you would like to see first."

Nyra returned Nanook's quirk of a smile with her own, nodding in agreement at her words. 
As the Apaata turned, Nyra's ears perked at her beckon to follow. 
"This place is beautiful! To answer you though, during my travels, I've come to especially favor rocks and mountains, especially mountains that contain a lot of rocks and trees!" Nyra answered, excitement bubbling in her voice as she bounded forward to join Nanook at her flank.

"A wolf of like mind, I am in luck! For I too am quite partial when it comes to mountains and rocks," Nanook laughed, and she wondered if Nyra had shared this information with Greyback, too. How humorous a thought, that perhaps this one similarity was why he had sent this newcomer to her for tutelage, and not to someone else. Or, she mused, perhaps he had chosen her because Nyra looked so much like the wolves he might have known she had often ran with.

Nanook decided to steer her pupil toward Easthollow's southern perimeter, where forest met with the rocky outcrop of mountains that shielded Bearclaw Valley. Stone Circle would be theirs to see in time. For now, they would take this longer route, and enjoy the rougher terrain before cutting North. "Answer me another, Nyra, again to do with you. You favour rockls, and mountains, and trees," she hopped onto the breadth of a tree, fallen from the quakes, and turned her glinting eyes to observe the newcomer, "But do you know much of weather, of the nature of the earth, of the sky, and the stars, which even now come alight to guide us overhead?" Might she be a fellow naturalist? A gameskeeper? A tactician, a physician? "Have you learning in anything? Or have you only wished to learn?"

As Nanook lead her south, to where the forest blended with the outcropping of mountains, Nyra continued to look around in awe at the landscape. She felt the pull to start exploring, to climb around and take a look...
As her mentor's voice pulled her back to the present, The snowy girl perked her ears.  
Answer me another, Nyra, again to do with you. You favour rocks, and mountains, and trees,
The Apaata had jumped up on a fallen tree, looking back at her. 
But do you know much of weather, of the nature of the earth, of the sky, and the stars, which even now come alight to guide us overhead? Have you learning in anything? Or have you only wished to learn?
Nyra thought back on her brief time with the Direfangs, before her birth home's demise, on how Gaia had started to teach her some of these things while her parents had been out patrolling. 
The girl remembered Gaia teaching her about some herbs. A few that grew in wet places, others that grew in forests, or grasslands, or the minor mountain ranges the clan had around. Nothing came to mind about the weather, the earth, the sky, the stars...Gaia and all the wolves of the Direfangs had died before she could learn more.
Nyra sighed with sadness;
"I know nothing of the deeper meanings of weather, nor do I know much of the nature of the earth, the sky, or the stars. My grandmother in my birth pack had started to teach me about herbs, and my parents occassionally tought me how to fight, to defend myself, but I know very little even in those areas. I would love to learn more, though. About the weather and the earth and the sky, what different things mean in the changes having to do with each, respectively. I would also like to know the stars, and the patterns in them, which ones to follow to get to different places. " She swished her tail a bit as she spoke, trying to imagine herself knowing these things in depth.

@Nyra So sorry for the wait! Life's been busy <3

Nanook inclined her ears, and watched Nyra, even in these wordless moments. Much could be learned about another, in the way they thought. The breadth of a pause, the turn of eyes toward the sky. With Nyra she gleaned a sense of forlorn. The sigh that fled from her lips, a punctuation to all that followed.

She tipped her head, and considered her. This newcomer possessed a sense of wanting. A thirst to learn, that had been teased with the promise of any lasting satiation, but never quenched.

Easthollow could fix that. The slightest smile curled the warrior's lips. "I have trained as a mercenary, and as a naturalist," Nanook said, and leapt from the log to rejoin her apprentice on the ground. "The stars share words with me some will never know. But you will know them," her copper eyes remained fixed on the Northerner, flickering with inscruitable thought, even as she moved around her and struck their course back toward Stone Circle. "I will teach you to read them," she remarked as they moved, "as I will teach you to fight."

It's alright, I understand! <3 

As Nanook smiled, Nyra tilted her head slightly at the mention of mercenary training, of naturalism. Her mentor then jumped from the log, their eyes meeting briefly before the Apaata spoke again.
The stars share words with me some will never know. But you will know them, 
And continued as she moved past;
I will teach you to read them, as I will teach you to fight.
Nyra's ears swiveled back slightly, pausing a moment before she trotted after Nanook, and stayed at her flank while they moved.
"I'm excited to learn!" She said as she caught up, tail swishing with enthusiasm.

<3

Ah, the spirits of this one! Nyra's enthusiasm fixed the grin on Nanook's face. If only now to hope she had the same tenacity!

"We will start with the stars. They are always out, ever watching, even when the sun burns strong." But the sun was almost set, and the last smears of twilight licked at the horizon, eclipsing the earth in night. Nanook could imagine the map that sprawled above them. "The stars shift with the seasons, so there is no better time to start learning than now. In this way, a trained astronomer tracks the passage of time -- similarly to the way a gameskeeper like my sister will gauge the seasons by the movement and activity of the herds."

The trees thinned. Stone Circle stood nearby, through the forest ahead. The perfect spot for any novice, and expert, even, to study the stars. She was, after all, of the mind that one was never too learned to learn.

"Do you know any constellations already, by way of story, perhaps, or in folklore passed down from the elder generations of your family?"

Nyra noticed the slight change of scent as they neared Stone Circle. The openness that seemed to carry in the air past the thinnig trees.
At Nanook's inquiry, Nyra shook her head "I only know that the sun rises in the east, sets to the west, and that one star is always visible in the northern parts of the sky, mostly so at dawn before the sun fully rises, and the darker times of dusk before night fully comes. I don't remember which member of my family said it, but I was told if you can find that star, if you know which way the sun rises and what your landmarks are, then you know the way home." 
The snowy girl sighed softly after she spoke, looking upward at the stars through the trees.
She hadn't really ever had to use that knowledge before, except once. Until her birth pack died, she had never strayed far from the main den. But, when she had no choice but to leave...
Nyra recalled it now, the period of time she had been traveling since then, how she used the star she spoke of to make her way north. Here, to the Teekons.