Kintla Flatlands ₐｗₒₒₒₒₒ!

Red Eyes Gleaming from teh shadows of the deadwood. Fur every which way but right. There was a wild feral glint to his eyes and the shadow of his jaw. Where fat had begun to grow was now lean and muscled from running and hunting and fighting. Throwing himself at anything with reckless abandon, but why shouldn't he.

He lifted his nose and joined in the howl. His voice ringing out loud and full of grief and anger. As if the devils themselves had risen from the grounds beneath their feet and touched the sky. The darkness had finally taken him.

Although all the hullabaloo had woken Eshe up and put her in quite a mood, all of that dissipated as soon as she heard the voices of some of her family members. She hadn't expected to hear so many familiar voices; her heart swelled, and her spirit lifted when she realized she could see them again.

Starry-eyed and breathless, she scrambled onto all fours and left her den. Then, when she had scrambled into the open, she tipped her head back and howled through a smile that spread from ear to ear. Tears began to prick at her eyes as she sang, and she let them flow as she began to quiet. She was happy and light with a renewed purpose and quickly decided she needed to find them.

With a substantial amount of adrenaline coursing through her veins, she admired the night sky, wondering who else might be out there.

Etienne moved from the pack lands. The heaviness upon his chest was a bit much to bear. He wanted to find a place to perhaps cry a little, grief for his granme and his family that he left. He missed them, and yet he was also not in a hurry to go home. Which caused no shortage of pained thoughts and made him feel as if he were a bad son, brother, nephew.

Once he was far enough away. He lifted his muzzle to the sky and called out a sea's call. A sailor letting the world know he was land bound. Broken and sad, but alive.

wip

wip

The many voices had been filling the air for a while now, and Glaukos had not yet added his own to the mix. The pull was strong, but he was busy with his work — his patrol, and his guarding of Sialuk's sleeping place — which required all of his focus. He was more frustrated by the ongoing noise than anything; surly, as per usual.

The cacophony seemed to get louder and more complex as it went on, and by the time it was a wailing of voices he was outright livid that it had not yet ended. With a grunt he lifted his own chin and was prepared to shout about it (something like shut up, you idiots!
—but in the end, his deep, crackling voice erupted in song to add a bit of edge to the rest.

Moy curled up beneath an old maple tree, toes sinking into the bed of moss at its base. The leaves at the edge of the crown were tattered, bitten by insects in twisting, pretty patterns. She idly wondered what it was like to be a leaf-eating bug, instead of a tired wolf coming to the end of a long journey.

Short and painful, she thought; she could become caught in a spider’s web as easily as a bird’s beak.

Moy yawned at the moon and her eyes fluttered shut for a moment; it took exceptional willpower to open them again. She wanted to listen to the night’s chorus — the summer wind, frog song, and early crickets chirping — not be lulled to sleep by them. Moy laughed at her folly; she was an early riser, and here she was trying to stay up late like an overtired pup. Still, there was something in the air that kept her from fully dozing off.

A howl rose above the local din, and Moy’s ears flicked curiously. The wind pulled at the beautiful call, distorting it in a way that made it untraceable; it almost sounded like it was coming from more than one place at once. While notable in and of itself — what vantage point were they singing from? — what followed captivated her. Voice after voice joined the rising call, almost as if the Teekon itself was serenading her.

And then Moy heard it. Her sisters and brothers were singing, too! The familiar cadence of her family’s howls was music to her ears, and she threw her head back to join the chorus.

Sialuk added her own voice to the song that spread throughout the land. A simple sound of joyful, reckless abandon. In a month's time, she would have children of her own. In a month's time, the mountain would give what it had always promised her.

The song lifted over the land greatly intrigued her. Brockleigh tilted her head back and forth like a dog hearing a squeaky toy. Within her she felt a great pull to howl, but too young now could only yap and bark, and did so, getting to her paws with her tail wagging and bounding about in her den as if the choir would reveal themselves to her. Likely bothering her family around her, but that was no concern of hers!

From the Hinterlands their voices danced until they reached the ears of the young boy. He knew not who they were or their stories, but knew only of the pull that drives him to join them. 

He remains in the shallows of the river as he tips his head to the sky and releases his own song, thinking of Ines, of Iseul and the Isle that is their home.

And he thinks of mama and papa too, hoping wistfully to hear their voices somewhere in the crowd.

From somewhere very far off, S’ari could hear the howls of many, many wolves, as if the entire population were howling at once. A strange and unnerving sound. She wondered if it were a sign from the gods, and only happening in her head. A bad omen? A warning of some kind?

But S’ari was not one to be scared off by such things. She stared out at the distant speck of mountains from her spot in the Lowlands, threw back her head, and gave her best yip-yap coyote howl, joining her voice to the voices of so many others.

Half-lidded and drowsy, the pup stopped his play and prepared to turn in for the night.

The flutter of wings overhead drew his attention to the sky. He searched for the culprit of the noise but came up emptyhanded. However, his gaze remained on the night sky, hypnotized by the dim shine of the moon. 

Something called to him. He gave in to the impulse and answered, bellowing out the only song his heart knew.

His voice was alone, yet surrounded by a choir.

Something roused her from her sleep beneath the stars.

Ethereal. Otherworldly. Rising with the cadence of tens, of thousands, even! And Jasmine’s felt a shiver reach from her nose to the very tip of her tail.

Thoughts drifted to Sweetharbour for the first time in forever, to Bartholomew and his teachings of God, and her heart stirred, strange and unfathomable. Weighty — 

ashamed

— and perhaps, even, afraid.

Jasmine skirted the hillside for the cover of trees, ignoring the call for the favour of the silence, in favour of the shadows and the comfort to hide.

Chenoa joined the song with her own cry. Her howl echoed through the mountain she now called home, and yet all the while she looked up to the stars, trying to catch a glimpse of something familiar.

For Meridian, howling at night was an ill omen. The sacred sun was hidden, to emerge only by morning. As the song of wolves split through the air and carried over the breeze, Meridian permitted herself to a single yip.

Njord heard his wife’s song and joined her before Narwhal’s cairn. The moon’s silver light illuminated the stone marker in a holy way. Then, the man sang his own chorus in a duet with Meerkat. A song for their child. Their children.

Seal lay awake beside Orca at the rendezvous site. The sound of crickets chipped in the night as fireflies twinkled in the forest.

Then, she heard a sound… it started quietly. Far away. And then it became louder. More triumphant! Mighty! A new feeling made Seal’s heart double in size, until it burst from her in the form of an unpracticed howl.

Shadowpup laid on her back and looked to the heavens.

There, a grand full moon hung in the sky.

Around it, thousands of bright stars twinkled.

Then, thousands of voices joined in concert.

Shadowpup thought it might be the stars who sang for her. The Heavens!

And so, she sang with them.

Wake! The spirit beckoned.

Sunset’s head lifted lazily as she was pulled from a deep slumber.

Do you not hear it? the spirit asked.

Who? Saturday’s Sunset thought as her tired eyes glanced up at the night sky.

Our sister spirits! Past and future. Your ancestors, child. the spirit explained. Listen…

The silver girl's ears cupped as she listened. At first, it sounded like a howling gust of wind over a mountain peak… and then she heard their voices!

Let us sing with them! the spirit asked.

The wolf cub lifted her muzzle, parted her lips, and let the rare sound of her voice join the night in song.

Even as a tiny child, Granite knew the howl of a wolf. He heard the many songs and it evoked a deep, primal feeling within him. Then, piloted by instinct, he lifted his small head and howled the mightiest song he could.

Let the wilds know he was here!