Duskfire Glacier /waɪld/

"AW" but tagging @Scarlett! :)

Trips that would take land creatures days to make could be made by a Steller's jay in just a few hours. Ultraviolet reminded her mother of this before setting out on a flight to the north today. A few fellows from her flock insisted on coming with her but she shook them off promptly. UV loved her flock but she enjoyed exploring on her own. It just made the whole thing so much more adventurous.

As morning wore into afternoon and her wings were beginning to grow a bit tired, UV spotted a strange shape in the distance. She squinted her black eyes. It was like a rock, although... shinier, somehow. As a bird, this feature naturally drew her. Ignoring the weariness in her wings, she began to pump them faster to make better time.

Her heart was fluttering in her chest when she finally dropped to ground level and clasped her small, scaled feet around a tree branch. She faced the strange land form, black head tilted to the left. She clicked her beak curiously, though UV needed to rest a few more minutes before she could proceed.

Aww yay! This will be great!!

Scarlett wondered what was going to happen to duskfire. The attack on Adlartok had taken its toll on her mind. How could one attack a youngster like that!? There had been no reason for the malice. She wondered how the conversation between Malachi and Tuwawi would have been. Would their alpha kick her out? Probably not. She wondered what would happen to Duskfire with an unstable wolf in their ranks. The female also wondered what would become of her future now this happened. She loved the Glacier and would be very reluctant to leave it.

Her red eyes fell on the shining block of ice. Her beacon of hope. The glacier was always a metaphor for her. It visualized what she wanted to achieve in her life. The white snow on the Glacier reflected the sunlight, projecting it into the world around them. Wouldn't it be great if she was a wolf that projected sunshine, positivity, on others? She at least hoped so. The female settled at one of the hills that gave a bottom view of the ice wall. It still took her breath away. She sat down by a tree and just looked, lost in her dream world.

Her ears picked up some clicking. Her head turned to spot the creature that made it. Being a Naturalist she was highly curious about other wildlife. Eventually her red eyes fell on a beautiful bird. "Oh," she breathed out. "Aren't you pretty in your feather coat," she hummed softly. She wondered what type of bird the winged creature was.

While she waited to catch her breath, Ultraviolet turned her head nearly completely backward and began preening some of her plumage. She picked at some of the downy fluff beneath her sleek flight feathers, then slicked everything back into place with her hooked beak. Next, she stretched out a wing and brushed it overtop the soft black crest on her head. When all was said and done, she puffed out her feathers, then let everything fall flat as she squatted on her perch.

Speaking of falling, her sharp black eyes fell to the tree's base and she made a sound of surprise when she saw she was not alone. Even as UV became aware of the wolf's presence, it spoke to her in a feminine voice. The jay cocked her head to the side, the tuft of fur on her head quivering as she took in the canine's words. She could understand fairly well and they seemed friendly enough.

"Hi! Thanks! What's a 'coat'?" UV said, tipping slightly forward on the branch. Her claws tightened around the rough bark so that she would not take a tumble to the ground and, for all intents and purposes, she appeared to be floating.

Scarlett hummed softly when the bird seemed to hear her words. Normally they would fly off into the sky and god know where they would land. The petite she-wolf often wondered what flying was like. As a wolf she would never have that experience. She would feel so free and probably let herself get carried with the wind to see where she ended. A soft smile tugged on her lips. She liked wildlife and plants. Now the bird was talking back to her and it made her even more interested in the winged creature.

She cleared her throat. "A coat is a collective word for all your feathers together covering your skin. In my case; I have a fur coat. You have feathers. Feathers that makes you able to fly," she returned. She knew it also had to do with their wings why these critters could fly but fur on wings didn't sound like the way to go. Her red eyes were trained in the blue colored bird. She had seen a few of them, often far into the skies or on a branch like this one. Although they were really shy flying off immediately at the sight of a wolf. "What kind of bird are you? Could you tell me? I like to know more about nature."

The wolf indulged her with a detailed description of a coat. The jay bobbed her head to show she understood. Ultraviolet was a clever creature and intuited the wolf's fascination even before she began asking questions. Her small black eyes smiled and she fanned her wings, showing off her long, sleek flight feathers in their varied shades of black and blue.

"I'm a Steller's jay!" she said loudly and proudly. UV righted herself, then folded her outspread wings against her body and thrust out her chest. "Not to be confused with a blue jay," she added with an almost indignant shiver of her tail feathers. It was clear by her tone that she looked down on her lesser cousins.

"My name is UV. That's short for Ultraviolet! What's yours? What kind of wolf are you?" she chirped, her crest fluttering forward and then smoothing back as if it had a life of its own.

Scarlett got a pleased and friendly smile on her muzzle. Slowly her body turned more towards the blue bird. Her description was deemed alright by the small critter. Her red eyes studied the proud one on her branch. The bird was indeed beautiful. Especially how she was showing off her shiny feathers.

"Oh! Good to know," she returned. To be very honest, to Scarlett this Steller's jay looked like a blue bird to her. So maybe this bird would even look like a blue jay she mentioned. The she wolf was not going to comment on that. The winged creature was a proud one and she was not the wolf to take away someone's pride. Scarlett figured she could learn from this bird and be proud herself.

"Nice to meet you UV. Our names are almost a bit similar. I am Scarlett. It is also the name of a color. A reddish one to be precise," she returned. "I am just a common Northern Rocky Mountains Wolf but with a special gene. Or well, absent of pigment. It is why my eyes are red and my fur is white," she hummed softly.

"My name isn't a—oh, you mean the '-violet' part. I gotcha!" the jay said in a chipper voice, then cocked her head as Scarlett explained her albinism. "Oh, I know what that's called! You're an albino, aren't you? I once met an albino crow! He was sooo strange! You don't seem that strange," she added frankly with a soft titter.

"Do you usually talk to birds, Scarlett?" UV wondered, pinning the she-wolf with an inquisitive look. She hadn't spoken to many wolves, though after meeting Aesop and now Scarlett, she found herself very interested in the species as a whole. She wanted to learn so much more. Hopefully they could learn from one another!

not sure if wolves see actual colors but since this is semi-realistic lets go with it xD

Scarlett hummed. "You got that right!," she returned on a pleased tone. Her tail wagged a bit in return. Slowly her head bobbed confirming that the bird was once again right. "You did? Oh interesting!! I saw a cat like me once but she was really mean and wanted to eat me! Thank you. Some wolves do think I am weird though," she admitted. Scarlett wasn't going to talk about her family or anything like that. But it wasn't that fun to be albino when your own family didn't like how you look.

The pale wolf chuckled. "Not really. I try to but normally they fly off. I really enjoy this conversation." Her red eyes tried to study the bird more up close. "Could you come down a bit more? Now I have to look up at the time. I promise I won't hurt you." It was at least worth a try. "Do you talk to wolves often? Can you tell me a bit about your kind? The Stellar's Jay?"

"Me too!" Ultraviolet was quick to say when Scarlett told her she was enjoying the conversation. The invitation to come closer should have set alarm bells off in her head but the bird was so swept up in the conversation that she didn't even hesitate. She spread her wings and glided down to the ground. From down here, the wolf looked much larger. She hopped a few feet sideways, maintaining a happy distance of about six feet between them.

"Now I have to look up," UV said and tittered. "I don't mind, though! No, I've only spoken to a few in my whole life. I saw one just the other day, though! His name was Aesop," the jay shared. "What would you like to know?" she added, pride and excitement in her voice. She could go on and on about her species. "Like, that we live in a forest? That our flock is called Pandora? That kind of thing?" she chirped.

Scarlett watched the bird gracefully glide down in front of her feet. The she-wolf was nice enough to lay down for the bird. Scarlett didn't want her to have the same problem she had. The white wolf smiled when Violet like this too. "Oh I feel honored! Often wolves don't really talk to birds do they?," she questioned. Some wolves were even bird orientated in a food source kind of way. Scarlett couldn't remember if she ever had bird on her menu.

"I do not know this wolf but I hope he was friendly to you!," she returned with a smile on her lips. "Yes, that type of stuff!," she hummed. "Oh. That is a cool name. I am in a pack called Duskfire Glacier," she spoke in return. "You guys don't fly south for the winter then?," she asked in wonder.

"I don't know, though I don't think so!" UV replied. She bowed her crested head gratefully when Scarlett lowered herself to the ground. It really was much easier to talk this way. "He wasn't as friendly as you!" Ultraviolet added, which was the truth. She had enjoyed conversing with Aesop at first, though he hadn't been able to hide his predatory edge from her, nor hold his tongue in the end.

Scarlett told her about Duskfire Glacier. "Is that what it's called?" Ultraviolet exclaimed admiringly, turning her tufted head nearly sideways to look up at the great glacier after intuiting that the pack must be named for this monumental landmark. "You should see what it looks like from up in the air! It's so beautiful!"

Her beady eyes returned to the she-wolf's face. "Nope! We're a resident flock. Some of the jays move to higher elevations in the spring and fall to breed, though they always come back down in wintertime. It's too cold all the way up there!" Ultraviolet exclaimed, giving her body an emphatic shudder as if to emulate shivering in the cold.

"Do wolves migrate?" she wondered, cocking her blue-black head.

Edit; If you want we can finish this up! :)

Scarlett chuckled softly. "Well I'd like to talk to wildlife. I like nature around me actually. You and your flock are very important in the cycle of life," she hummed. It always interested her how the wolves needed other species to live. Scarlett liked to be friendly towards everyone around her. Surely she needed to eat but she didn't saw this bird as a prey animal.

Scarlett bobbed her head in return. "Yes! That is what it is called," she confirmed. Oh how the female wished that she could fly in the air and see it. Unfortunately she wasn't a bird like this other one. "I wish I could, Ultraviolet. I wish. But I don't have wings," she pointed out.

Scarlett tipped her head in response. "Oh really! That is so much fun. So you can totally come and see me more often then!," she returned. She would like to see the bird more often. The beautiful bird could be a wonderful friend. "I understand that it might be super cold up there. I am glad I met you."

You're welcome to wrap it up whenever you like. :)

Scarlett didn't answer her question, though the easily distracted jay hardly noticed. It tickled her pink that the wolf was so happy to meet her and even wanted to see her again sometime! UV was quite flattered, really. She even bowed, spreading her wings so that all the long, splendorous flight feathers were on beautiful display. Her dark crest stuck straight out in a soft, feathery ridge and her black beak dipped to nearly touch the ground.

"You would look beautiful if you did—have wings, I mean," Ultraviolet said, picturing it. "They would be huge and white. They'd sparkle and turn different colors in the sunset, just like the glacier!" she chirped confidently. "Then we could fly together and I could show you everything!" Of course, UV knew it was impossible... but it was still delightful to imagine!

Scarlett gasped softly as the bird showed off her wings. So pretty. She liked the coloration of the bird. A soft smile tugged on her lips when the bird visualized her wings. That would be really pretty. Now Scarlett imagined herself as a super wolf! She would fly out to justice! And! Oh she could kill prey from above. Man! That really would make her a super wolf!

"I would love that. Unfortunately I never will. But!! We might chat again if you want? I need to get on with my duties now," the pale female pointed out. "Maybe I can run over the plains of Wapun Meadow and you could join me wither flight! See who is faster!,' Scarlett proposed. "Anyways, when you see me walking you can always come and say hello to me!"