Grouse Thicket Thousands of sunsets

Any loners welcome! Of course, any pack wolves are welcome too :D

It was midday when the pale wraith slipped from her stone den, and the sun was beating down on the isle with an unmatched ferocity. She longed for the cool waters of the river, something she felt rarely, as her dislike of the water was strong. But the hot day warranted it, and she slipped into the fast flowing river with relief. She instantly felt better, and wallowed a moment before trudging up the opposite bank. She smelt the borders then, mainly the scents of herself and Malice, but Burke, too. She started a parallel course with the river, renewing the fragile scent lines with a vigour. 

It was some time after the sun had passed it's zenith that Aeronwyn turned from the rivers and her home and set deeper to the east of the isle. She wanted to explore, make sure no trouble brewed close to their pack lands. She settled into a steady lope, one she could sustain for hours on end, and ventured farther from the isle, eyes and ears alert.

they were growing.

eshamun woke to the scent of their markings around them, redolent incense for molech, and stretched in the warm sunlight. her lips parted and she would have called ar-khalba to herself had not the great one whispered and sent her off into the woodland. she crossed the borders in a short while and found herself between two forks of a small stream, but the waters ended after a small travel. and so eshamun crossed 'round them and felt her hunger stoked as the sound of birds filled the air.

the crimson-furred woman slid into a hunting crouch and began to stalk the feathered beasts, gathered as they were in a glade. desperation tinged her actions with recklessness, but her step was sure and she lunged forth, snapping for the neck or wing of the nearest fowl.

it was not until eshamun glanced up that she saw the woman there, a finely made creature, and though she wished only to drag the bird to shade and feed, the ekar-aji dropped it and waved her plume affably through the air.

Her eyes find her quickly; a nymph of a woman swathed in rust. She seems amiable, friendly, so without hesitation the femme adjusts her course and picks her way toward the woman. Steel eyes pick out the catch by her feet, perhaps in earlier times she would have not hesitated to steal such a thing, but now she will not. The famine has broken, like greyed storm clouds above, and she need not worry for the health of her and her pack nearly as much. 

She eyed the woman, stopping a short distance away and dipping her head in greeting. "Well met, ma'am." she says smoothly, eyes betraying little of her emotion, not that there is much emotion to betray. Perhaps she will make conversation, something the woman is not found of but will pursue all that same for the sake of information. "What do you seek in these lands?" it is a simple question, not a hint of hostility or edge enters her tone, she does not wish to fight this woman. Not yet.

the other's eyes were the colour of a wintertime river, but her tones were gentle. inquiring. too soft for a stranger. eshamun knew this but said nothing of it; the woman lifted her chin. "a home." the copse where she and her followers had settled had been unclaimed. it belonged to them, and though the woman was not violent by nature, she would defend fiercely the land she had claimed for the malkaria.

surely the other knew this. for the moment, however, eshamun was open. inviting. affable. "and yourself?" she murmured, wondering if this woman belonged to a pack nearby.

She is vague, the woman, and Aeronwyn matches her air. Her face has yet to show emotion of some kind, instead resting in a carefully neutral mask. "Likewise". She knew that her lord and lady would not take kindly to information of their home being shared, and Aeronwyn was all too careful about this. She had no wish to rouse the Brotherhood from their dark home. 

She may do well to gain what information she could from this female, perhaps she knew something of the land that she did not. "Have you knowledge of these lands? It has been but a short time I have resided here." Might as well make conversation, this femme seemed unthreatening.

eshamun shook her head. had she knowledge, she would not give it, but she had nothing of her own. "i have only been here a short time myself. we settled in the land given us by our god, and have not moved from it." her words were quiet, her tone gentle, but she hoped that the other would take her meaning. the beginning of the malkaria were not to be stirred from their place; any obstacles would be met with the baleful eye of molech and the anger of the god's followers.

"i am of the malkaria," the tophet-dweller revealed. "i am eshamun, its ekar-aji." she did not care that the other would not know these terms; what mattered is that she heard them, and took the titles home to whatever wolf she called leader. the malkaria made no war, but defended fiercely what was theirs, and in time, eshamun hoped that their claim would grow.

Aeronwyn gleaned the meaning from the woman's words, she would not be contested for her land. She seemed the religious type, implying that a god had granted her the land from which she would not stray, and Aeronwyn accepted this without contest. Though she herself was not religious on any grounds, she accepted that this woman was. 

She spoke more, giving Aeronwyn the feeling, that by her demeanor and words, an "ekar-aji" was not a lowly rank, but perhaps one of an alpha or beta. This woman did not seem overbearing, but made her claim quietly and firmly, which Aeronwyn liked. She had a final question for the mysterious woman, then she would return to her Isle. "If you do not mind my interest, may I ask where you have made your claim? Simply so that I may bring back this information to my leaders, and thus will treat your land and borders with the proper caution should one approach it."

the woman made quiet her question, which in turn was appreciated by eshamun. "the copse of sun motes," she rejoined, giving forth the words willingly. how else might the malkaria thrive in the presence of their enemies if not for the knowledge of their whereabouts? she waved her tail at her hips, and looked at the face of the other, and saw she was meant no harm.

"what is your name?" the canaanite inquired after a moment's pause, stepping forward with an unthreatening tone to her movement. she meant to seek a friend in this woman, if their situations allowed it. they spoke for several moments before parting ways, warmly, and eshamun removed herself home with a small smile.