Sunspire Mountains Yeah, they still say I'm a dreamer

@Knew

Gwen trudged away from the Keep's old borders. Stark was gone, and the pack had disbanded. It was a shame, truly - the pack was a mix of some of the best wolves Gwen knew. Though, there was one even greater than them, who wasn't one of the pack. Knew. 

Gwen's tail was low as she padded through the thickening snow. Despite her long fur, the cold was biting and her tail tip was numb, as where her paws. She had never felt a cold so harsh, not even in her homelands - it was unatural. Though, the pack disbanding had given Gwen the opportunity she needed. Her plan had been to wait out the winter then leave and join Knew as a lone wolf - but apparantly Winter had been on her side and now the white wolfess slunk away, heading for the meeting place that her and the brown male had first met. She didn't sit down once she reached it, it would be too cold. Instead she let out a ringing howl, hoping to call him over. Gwen was worried that as lone wolves they might not survive, but she'd speak with him first. They needed to sort things out; The winter was bringing some wolves closer, and some further apart.

The she-wolf wouldn't mention Knew's slightly cowardly flee from the pack territory. It didn't matter, Gwen hadn't expected him to join anyways. Instead the wolfess glanced around, hoping to see his unmistakable 'Knew' grin.

The winter had drastically grown colder, only making the chances of the skinny dog surviving to dwindle even further. He shivered at every move, he dared not to sleep knowing he may never wake up, though the sudden free food covering the land was a huge plus one to his stomach. He had been flourishing in the dead animals meat, his mouth was covered red, and although his skin felt ice cold, his stomach was full and warm. 

He wasn't aware of The Keep's dismandment, but the sudden howl forced him to lift his head from the carcuss of a rabbit, and analyze the call. Eventually, he realized it was from his lovely friend, Gwen. He leapt from his lunch, and trekked the snow covered fields, by the time he spotted the practically invisible woman, he was completely exhuasted. "Hiya, Pidgeon!" The tramp barked, wagging his toil happily at seeing her again. "Why'd ya call? Miss me?" He winked, causing his whole head to tip to the side. It was becoming mroe obvious that he'd been gaining weight since the two met, but was still unhealthily thin. He hadn't done much since his cowardly escape from Stark, though he didn't think of it in such a light. His poltroon act wasn't something he was ashamed of, but instead proud that he managed to run so fast.

Gwen was immensly glad to see the thin dog doing well. If the cold was biting at her toes, she couldn't believe how he might be feeling. She gave a wag of her tail and said, "I'm a lone wolf." It sounded odd to say it, since she'd been in the Keep for just over a month or two. She hesitated then said with a slight frown, "The Keep is no more - Stark has gone. There isn't a pack anymore." though she gave a smile since it meant she could finally go with Knew instead.

Sorry for the short post!

Her news confused him at first, and he tilted his head with a smirk of question. It then all suddenly made sense and he leapt up with joy. Kicking snow up in the air while doing so. "Really? Well, that's great, Pige!" Knew then realized how that may be insensitive, she did just lose her entire home and all. His ears lowered and he gave an apprehensive grin. "Er, I mean, that's a good thing right?" He didn't want to accidentally upset her, Gwen was his best friend after all. If he lost her now, he wasn't sure what he'd do. The sudden increase of cold would likely kill the poor tramp, though with the fae by his side his chances of surviving lifted heavily. 

Ah! Sorry for the wait!

'Tis okieeee

Gwen smiled at Knew with his excitement and chuckled. "It's fine, Knew. I guess it's both a good and a bad thing, if you think about it. Bad as in we may not survive the winter with just the two of us," She frowned but shook her head and smiled again, "But good as in I get to finally join you."

It was exciting - every time she went to see Knew it was never boring - to be a lone wolf, just her and Knew, though there was a part of her that longed for pack life again. Perhaps she'd re-adjust to the freedom of no pack, she just needed a little time to settle into it.

Knew pondered the idea, yes it would be difficult for the two to survive this strangely harsh winter alone, but Knew would never stoop to the idea of underneath someone else. It was obvious the tramp was thinking, his ears were lowered and gaze was staring down at the snow. Suddenly, his ears lifted, and eyes brightened. "What if we don't have to be alone?" He suggested. He knew Gwen was a social wolf, and wouldn't want to limit her time down to just him.

The dog stepped closer to her with eyes alight with excitment. "What if we start our own pack, Pidgeon?" 

Gwen gave a wag of her tail, and watched Knew think. She pondered a few things in her own mind, but none were of much appeal. Then Knew said that they might not have to be alone, and the white wolfess raised her brow in curiosity. She was about to ask what he meant, but she didn't have to, he seemed to have guessed what she was thinking and answered it. 

What if we start our own pack?

Gwen blinked in surprise. Of course, how had she never thought if that before? It was the perfect idea! "Oh, Knew, you're a genius!" She barked, then grinned. "It would be an honour to start a pack with you," she added, a little quieter, a smile playing on her jaws. After all,what could be better than starting a pack with your best friend?

"Perfect!" He almost shot up in the air again out of joy, though decided agaisnt it as it was rather energy consuming and he was already running low with his body working at full power just to keep him warm. "What'dya like to call it?" Knew questioned, wanting to give the honor of naming the pack to Gwen, even though if he didn't like the name he'd be rather open and honest. Despite him being less selfish around the ivory female, it's almost impossible to keep him from being a little greedy.

"What'd we call ourselves? King and Queen? Lord and Lady?" His eyes suddenly brightened, "Emperor and Empress?" So many choices, the small dog was getting overwhelmed with all the potential before him.

Gwen's own eyes were brightened with excitement and she wagged her tail eagerly. "I think.... I think we should stay around the Sunspire Mountains," she barked, then explained. "There's only one other pack here, I believe, so there'd be more prey than the other places!"

At the mention of names, the wolfess thought for a moment. "I'll let you decide rank names, I'm awful at it," she chuckled then added, "But.... I do like Emperor and Empress...." then she flicked an ear and said, "Maybe we could name the pack after the location...?" The she-wolf's excitement was making her fur tingle, and her mind explored all the options for the pair.

Knew pondered the idea, he wouldn't mind staying around here, if anything it was likely better for him to not travel very far in his poor condition. Her idea also had support, sharing prey was often a key for him to live around Teekon, but to have it all to himself would be even better! "Sounds great!" 

"Hm, I'd have to think about that a bit, but to no longer be a king, but an Emperor," It sounded so high and regal to him, he could never refuse such an opportunity. "Sounds amazing." He insisted, his tail began to wag behind him absent mindedly. The ideas continued to flourish in his mind, to once again have status, have purpose in his life again was such a bright light, and to be doing along side Gwen was even more than he could hope for.

Gwen's tail was wagging excitedly, and there was a bright gleam in her eyes. She had been part of a pack before, but she'd never led one! This all was a new experience and she loved the feeling of choice - the two wolves could choose everything about their pack. Location, names, ranks, literally everything.

"What... about a pack name? We can't have a pack without a name..." she hesitated for a moment, considering the numerous names they could use. "Well, maybe it would depend on the ranks we had?" she asked, wondering if he had any ideas. If they were to be Emperor and Emperess, what would the rest be?

Knew thought for a moment, for a second he considered laying down in the snow to contemplate but knew the cold would be far to difficult to withstand. He wouldn't even be able to think in the frigid bed of ice. "A pack name... something with meaning, that represents us." He continued to think but came up with nothing. 

"For ranks... Maybe each tier has the same names?" He offered, tilting his head as he continued to think of potential ideas. It was all so exciting, it was difficult to think over all the enthusiasm he held for their pack.

Gwen flicked her tail, thinking to herself. A pack name that represents us. She frowned as the possibilities came rushing to her,but one stood out that she liked. "Hmm, uh, Ganador...?" She said, trying to remember the small amount of Spanish she knew. Ganador meant winner, right? Didn't that suit them, since they'd have a good amount of prey at the moment? It would make them strong and they'd be winners then, wouldn't they? "Ganador..... Ganador Glacier?" She asked, pondering the name for a moment. It seemed like a good name, but there were so many choices that the wolfess couldn't be sure.

Knew's ears lifted at the mention of a good name. Ganador. He smiled wide and nodded. "Sounds wonderful, what does it mean?" The dog asked, holding a questionable expression. Everything was falling into place, him and Gwen were going to be rulers of their own pack, together. "Did you like my idea of the ranks?" He asked, hoping for her approval.

Gwen just shrugged, a smile still planted on her muzzle. "I like the idea - maybe all the rank names could be in Spanish as well?" She asked, focusing on the amount of Spanish that she knew. Sure, she didn't know a lot, but she remembered enough that their ranks could be named in Spanish if they wanted them to be. 

She wagged her tail and gazed at Knew, excitement still evident in her eyes.

Knew nodded, he didn't know Spanish very well, or at all, but he was sure Gwen could teach him a little bit. She seemed to know some of the language. "What could they be?" The small dog questioned, his tail began to wag behind him, all the potential was exciting.

Gwen hesitated, willing her previous Spanish knowledge to come rushing back to her. It didn't, at least not all of it, but she remembered part of it and that was enough for now. "Well - would we have a second in command sort of rank? Like a beta?" She asked, then continued on to explain. "I don't know what beta or anything like that means, but I know that second is Segundo, so that could be their name/s if we did have them?"

She pondered the idea for a moment, then added on, "Middle is Medio, I know that, so we could have that name for the middle ranking wolves - the ones we trust." She struggled to remember what lower was, but it came to her after a few minutes of straight thinking. "Inferior!" she barked, then blinked. "Lower is Inferior, so we could use that? And..." The white wolfess continued her Spanish spree, but halted once she tried to think what the pups rank could be. She had no clue what pup, or baby, or anything like that was in Spanish. The only thing she could think of was joven, which meant young. At least she believed it did. "Joven - Joven is young, I think."

Hey! I tried to send you the two other examples but your inbox is full.

Knew listened intently, his tail not ceasing to wag back and forth as Gwen continued on, listing her ideas. He was fascinated in her knowledge, not drifting on to another thought when she spoke. "Sounds great, Pige." The dog commented, sending her another enthusiastic smile.

"Man, Pige, I'm so happy we're doin' this." Knew admitted, his eyes showing bright excitement as he looked back at her.

Oops, sorry, I'll fix that now!

Gwen's tail wagged furiously, and she was almost shaking with excitement (and cold). "Same, It's gonna be amazing!" she nodded, agreeing with him completely. She'd never in her troubled life imagined herself leading a pack, and though it was a frightnening thought, it excited her greatly. "I can't wait!"

Knew shifted himself to lean against the white furred wolf. He leaned himself against her coat, feeling ten times more warmer next to her. For once, he didn't speak, and he just enjoyed the moment as he sat beside her.

I'll go ahead and archive!