Boartusk Heights a shotgun wedding & a stain on my shirt.

decided to change this to "aw," hope that's okay!

The jutting rocks and jagged ground are no match for the warrior she-wolf.  She has traversed worse terrain in her short time of life,  and her long legs carry her in fluent, loping strides over the uneven terrain.  She is full of energy after having made a kill of a stray boar piglet,  the milky fur of her snout holding traces of pink bloodstain as she holds the majority of the carcass between her jaws.   Admittedly, she has fled the scene of the kill in fear of being discovered by the mother sow - a formidable opponent and one which she dares not face on her own. 

Aela deems herself a safe distance once she stands upon a flat outcropping.  Here,  she takes a moment to survey the Hinterlands, a vast and magnificent sight cut off only by the greater mountains.  She drops her kill at her paws and follows it to the ground,  relaxing on her belly and beginning to eat.  It is a welcome rest from the tireless search for her brother @Kodlak,  whose scent has brought her to this location.

Yey! Niamh met Aela's brudder in the same area-ish, so why not meet BOTH the Whitemanes!

It was her first adventure outside the pack's boundaries since she'd twisted her ankle- but she felt no weakness as she trotted past the border, hoping to track down more signs of prey such as elk and deer moving in the area. Soon they'd be dropping fawns and calves, and she wanted in on hunting them as much as possible. Though Niamh was primarily concerned with hunting birds for herself, it couldn't sustain a wolf forever- and besides, there was so much more meat to a deer or an elk than there was to a bird. Niamh simply liked the facility and the feathers. 

She could smell blood in the air, and it beckoned her. Licking her lips, she shifted into a lope, slowing once she could see the haunches and back of another wolf. She circled around, so she wouldn't approach the formidable stranger from behind her, and could just make out the sight of something being devoured. It reminded her of her hunger, but she wasn't about to challenge the stranger or beg her for her meal...What interested her more was what the female had caught. 

"S'that boar?" She asked, from a distance, ears pricking. She was still tense, ready to spring away should the stranger make a start toward her in order to chase her away- but Niamh's body language was benign and friendly. She was far enough away, too, that even if the blue-eyed stranger should come to her feet, Niamh would have absolutely no challenge, and would have been able to race away without any fear of being overtaken.

yay! Also I loooove your characters name!  <3

Aela settles the piglet between her front paws and flips it over to expose the belly, already torn open,  some of the entrails missing in a hasty decision to take a bite immediately following the kill whilst the contents were their warmest and freshest.  She takes another mouthful,  relishing a welcome change to her diet after weeks of scavenging old kills and hunting smaller prey such as rodents and birds.  She is in the midst of chewing when a voice issues from a distance ahead and she freezes,  bristling.  Her hard blue eyes regard the handsome woman standing ahead,  slight puzzlement forming. Aela can't help the shock she feels about the color of the she-wolf's fur,  a stunning carmel blonde that she did not know existed amongst her species. 

Pretty or not,  the stranger poses potential threat,  as all strangers do.  Aela is relieved however by the friendly demeanor and harmless curiosity and the Whitemane is not so brash as to display unwarranted aggression.  Her ear does twitch in irritation for having her meal interrupted,  but she merely licks her maw and answers a muffled,  "Yes...?" before continuing to chew.  The blonde female does not appear to be starving and Aela would much prefer she go find her own food rather than ogling at someone else's.  

"What's your name, miss?" she asks after swallowing her current mouthful, her voice carrying its usual commanding,  confident tone, irritation morphing into curiosity of her own. 

Niamh had noted the stranger's tension, but she maintained the distance, simply looking to see the small spots along the piglet's side. She hadn't seen boars around here yet- but then again, she'd only arrived here at the very end of spring, so she guessed they were returning to this area for the summer, or something like that. Regardless, she'd never tasted boar before, but had seen them when she was a pup. Her mother had warned her about boars- the adults were nasty, vicious things, even though they didn't look like much. How could something be so vicious if it had such short legs and a body that was both broad and hunched? Apparently, though, they were almost always angry, so she cast a quick glance about when the female confirmed her suspicions. 

"Oh- I'm Niamh. I live in a pack just up on the plateau." She answered easily. The female's tone, and just the way she spoke reminded Niamh of Kodlak- as did the confidence in her blue eyes. She pushed that thought aside, though- what was the likelihood that this was another wolf from Kodlak's homelands? "Who're you?" She asked, far from sounding nearly as commanding as the female had moments ago.

The woman introduces herself as Niamh and the ash-toned warrior smiles,  her eyes softening a bit.  "Pleased to meet you, Niamh."  she mentions that she is a member of a pack not far away,  and this is what catches Aela's attention.  But her own name has been requested and so she answers this inquiry first.  "I'm Aela Whitemane, of Jorvaskrr."  

Her stomach rumbles, requesting her to complete her meal; however this conversation has intrigued Aela such that she puts her hunger on hold.

The stranger was plenty polite- and she recognized that politeness as soon as she introduced herself. No wonder she was a bit on the formal side- she had to know Kodlak. After all, they had the same surname, and they both came from the same place. She searched the female's features, finding some likeness there, but she also had to wonder if this wasn't Kodlak's mate....But they did look a lot alike, and Niamh liked the idea, better, that she was a relative, rather than a beloved. 

"Whitemane? So...So you probably know Kodlak then, eh?" She asked, watching for a reaction. Just in case this was his significant other, Niamh wanted to clarify everything as she wanted to avoid invoking this tough woman's wrath in case she got suspicious. "I met him around here not too long ago, bird hunting." She explained.

Aela's hearrbeat quickens in excitement when the young woman speaks her lost brother's name. "You know Kodlak?" Her steadied,  formal tone scarcely wavers, concealing the happiness and relief she feels inside.  "I should hope so.  He's my brother." It is now that she smiles, a small smile,  but a smile nevertheless.  She is just elated to hear that her strong and fair brother is alive.

"Where was he?  Does he perhaps belong to your pack?" Aela wonders a little doubtfully, as it sounds like Niamh has met him in passing rather than amongst her packmates.  Meanwhile, Aela takes this time to rip an entire hind leg off the piglet corpse and toss it unceremoniously towards the blonde-furred woman,  for the news she has brought deserves reward.

The female was controlled, with her reaction, which was perhaps delayed a bit, but Niamh could still sense that Aela was happy to hear her brother was alive and well. Good thing, too- perhaps, had Kodlak been on the lam, she might have endangered him if his sister was actually out hunting him down...But nothing about the sweet smile she gave Niamh was an indication that she held any hostility toward her brother, so Niamh shuffled that silly idea out of the way. She was rewarded, and Niamh- not exactly a picky eater- reached out and snagged the piglet's leg as it rolled toward her, pinning it under her feet. 

She gave Aela an appreciative smile and lay down. "Oh, for sure. He told me all about the North, about the lights and stuff...It sounds like you two come from a really beautiful place," She admitted- as she was still enamored with the way Kodlak spoke of his homelands. "He's not with my pack; we were just like...Northwest of here, in a glade," She said. "It's sort of at the base of the plateau, which is where I live. Dunno where he'd be about now, though, he seems like the type who's pretty adept at roving around."

The smile is returned as Niamh makes herself comfortable with her gifted snack.  Aela,  too, feels much more comfortable, the last tidbits of irritation and wariness fading away.  The Whitemane eats whilst the blonde brings up Kodlaks apparent description of their former home.  Aela can almost see it as she chews,  the pigmented wash of lime green cascading across the night sky above the snowy tundra.  Homesickness stings her but she catches herself from falling down the rabbit hole of nostalgia. "Yes,  it was very beautiful..." she agrees simply between mouthfuls. 

"Indeed...  Perhaps I shall travel northeast next.  Our propensity for roaming around is a good thing,  I suppose.  Until times like these,  when we are trying to find one another." Aela chuckles.  It's an undesireable situation but she sees the irony in it nevertheless. 

"you know about me.  Tell me more about yourself, Niamh. Are you native to these lands?" By now, she is truly curious about the stranger.  Niamh seems to be a likeable woman, and they may as well chat whilst they eat.

They were both definitely in agreement- part of Niamh wanted to see if Aela spoke the same way about her homeland as Kodlak did, just because she enjoyed his manner of storytelling. From what she could tell, Aela too enjoyed it- perhaps her brother had been the storyteller of their pack, or perhaps he'd merely had a talent for it that he hadn't exactly discovered until just now. She took a moment to start eating the piglet's leg that was tossed to her- immediately deciding that this was something she'd have to try to hunt more often...It was definitely tasty, perhaps more so than birds were. 

So Aela was trying to find her brother- but nothing in her demeanour hinted that she might be hunting him down, so Niamh was glad that she'd at least pointed her in the direction of Kodlak's last known whereabouts. Perhaps they'd catch up, and find their way to the Plateau- but she felt that the pack was more open to family members by invite than anything. Needless to say, she knew she'd vouch at least for Kodlak, since she knew him better, and likely Aela to- as she was kind, and obviously a capable hunter.

Like her brother, Aela wanted to know more about her, and she shrugged. She knew her story wasn't anything nearly as well told or interesting as the one belonging to Aela and Kodlak. "Not born here- but not too far away from here either. Couple month's journey, I guess. I left with my brother, I think before we turned one year old? He kind of settled down with a bunch of loners and I continued on." She said. Knowing the next question would be why she'd decided to split, she laughed wryly. "They were just a bunch of dudes. I figured it'd be kinda lame just being in a group full of guys who don't know what they're doing." She said.

The two spent the better part of the hour or so together, and once Niamh had finished the bit of boar she'd been tossed, she departed, thinking highly of the Whitemane family.