Wild Berry Meadow arrowhead

Tempted as she was to remain in the flowering meadow near the coast, it offered little in the way of food, and so once more the loner's hunger urged her back towards the valley where prey was more plentiful. Thankfully, while the air still had a chill, it wasn't as bitingly cold as it had been these past few moons. She felt like the sun itself had a renewed warmth to it, as if heralding the return of spring.

She raced after a patch of sunlight now as it peaked in and out of the fast-moving clouds above, gleefully delighted by this game of chase – so much so that she only stopped when she felt something squishy give way underfoot.

Pukei immediately came to a screeching halt, nearly tripping over her own paws as she did so. Had she stepped on a bug? She lifted a forepaw, twisted it round to see what exactly had met its untimely end. "Oh." Not a bug, but a berry! It was a little early for them, no?

Puzzled, the girl stared at her purple-stained toes a moment longer before shrugging and settling down to lick it clean, savouring the unexpected treat.

Out in the open the snow had melted almost completely, making it easy for Dwin to traverse the vast fields of grasslands that surrounded her patch of forest she called home. It was a true treat to enjoy - she could see far and wide and zoom around as fast as she could. Few months down the line that sunlight and rainfall would make the grass grow thick and tall, obstructing the view and leaving only few well-trodden paths for the wolves and other critters to share, when on move to explore other greener pastures. 

Now and then she would stop to examine an interesting scent, a tuft of fur or droppings left by ground-dwellers that too frequented the fields. After that moment of seriousness she would let the joyous youthful side of her take over and she would break out in a run again. During one such stint she nearly swept another explorer of their feet. So well she blended with the surroundings that Dwin caught sight of her only, when the distance between them had shrunk to few feet. She came to an abrupt halt and eyed the stranger curiously. Sides heaving from exertion and white puffs of mist rising from her maw. 

"Good day, fellow wanderer!" she greeted the girl in a friendly manner.

It seemed she wasn't the only one who had been caught up in a sudden burst of energy. Pukei paused mid-lick of her paw as she heard the loud thrum of footfalls behind her, at first thinking she had somehow missed the scent marker of a territorial wolf who was now emerging to throttle the intruder and stake their claim! However, the girl turned just in time to come face to face with a pair of friendly green eyes and a jolly greeting as the other came to a hasty stop before her.

Relieved, Pukei responded in kind with a laugh and wave of her tail, "heya! Thanks for not bowling me over." She stood then, taking a step back to allow the other girl some space to catch her breath, admiring the cute smattering of freckles upon her face. "That was a hell of an entrance."

"Thank you - I try my very best," Dwin smiled and bowed lightly. She then took a bit of time to give a quick look over the stranger standing before her. She was a young and pretty creature and her pelt did not hold the scent of a pack she might be familiar with. 

"My name is Dwin and I come from Brecheliant. It is a pack located not too far from here," she explained. "Where do you come from and more importantly, where are you heading to?" she asked. 

The other wasted no time in introducing herself and the pack she hailed from with a polite bow. Brecheliant, huh? Pukei thought she had smelled some pack borders around but had mostly stayed clear of them during her travels. Carefree as she was, she was also aware that some packs didn't take kindly to foreign wolves roaming near their hunting grounds.

The following questions took her somewhat by surprise; she actually wasn't sure where she was headed. Well, first things first. "My name's Pukei!" With a quirk of her head, she motioned from the direction she had come from before encountering the meadow. "I came from over there." She followed up with a wink, knowing that was not what Dwin was actually asking. "In the grander scheme, though I'm from my own pack, a ways way away from here."

"Though to be honest, I'm not really heading anywhere in particular; this is actually my first time away from my family! Thought I'd strike out on my own, y'know."

Though the girl was not much younger than Dwin, the latter felt a bit of patronizing sentiment boiling up from the depths of her mind to the surface and popping like a bubble. Ain't you are going in for a surprise... Dwin thought, seeing so much of the same enthusiasm and naivety in this wanderer she had had, when she had first struck out on her own. And simultaneously she also felt a bit of grief for having lost this to the elements of grown-up life and having gardened cynicism and pragmatism instead. 

"Ah... so - are you having a great big adventure before you settle down with a family and a pack of your own. Or rather you would want to travel to all corners of the world and discover all the possible secrets that it holds?" she asked, curious, but also wishing to pick up some of that joyous wonder about the world Pukei felt. Perhaps, it would breathe in some life and color in her all to neat and polished garden she called life. 

More questions followed that took Pukei by surprise. What a stranger's grand plan in life was seemed to be a hell of thing to be asking of someone they had just met. She took the other girl's enquiries in stride, however, with a beaming smile and wave of her tail. "What, are those my only two options?" she laughed.

"Well, I really haven't given it much thought! I figured I'd just let my paws wander and see where it leads me!" And so far so good. She really hadn't encountered much trouble yet. Her luck would turn sour eventually, she knew, but she would deal with that as she did most things in life – by simply winging it.

Pukei's lilac eyes flashed, attempting to catch Dwin's own apple-green gaze with a somewhat dubious look. "Why do you ask?" Surely there had to be some sort of reason for the stranger's interrogation-style questioning.

"What else can you ask a stranger you have just met?" Dwin retorted laughing. "Certainly not about your marital status and prospects. Or - heaven forbid - politics, weather and religion," she listed all the subjects that usually led to heated discussions and into dangerous territories. 

"Well - to be honest - I was under impression that all yearlings and twolings that have not been roped in the family life of their parents or relatives, are the ones, who chase dreams and opportunities. Hence - it is so very interesting to find out, what ambition has driven them in the open arms of the world," she explained.

"Last year I too had my first big adventure - I was not yet one year old, but - boy - was I ready to conquer the world," she shared. "Turned out - the world would not have minded, but I had severely underestimated the sheer size and scope of the task I had been about to undertake," she said.

Pukei huffed a laugh in response, certainly glad the stranger hadn't asked about her marital status; she'd had enough of that from her relatives in her natal pack. Although she was always up for an enthusiastic discussion about anything else her company would throw at her, of course, as long as it didn't get too heated.

She listened as Dwin continued on the matter of dispersals. She had similar wonders whenever she encountered fellow lone wolves – ever unable to quell her inquisitive nature. What was their background? What had caused them to disperse? Had they any lofty ambitions they were trying to pursue? Her mind flicked back to Reyna, the woman she had met in the wetlands who sought to claim the mountain. Had she achieved her goal?

Dwin then offered her own experience, though it was scant in details. "Oh?" Pukei quirked one ear, interest piqued. "C'mon, don't leave me hanging," she urged with an eager grin. If she had been seated at a desk she would have leant forward on her elbows as if about to indulge in schoolyard gossip. "What happened on this big adventure?"