With high, prancing steps, Mitanni traipsed through the snowy expanse that encircled the large, crystal blue lake. Somewhere behind her was the canyon where Malice and her group were holding up in preparation to move their pack-to-be, but the brown and black wolf had yet to join them. There was still time enough for that later, but for now she wanted to hang on to what freedom she had for as long as she could.
Her amber eyes studied the lake from afar, noting its size and unique shape. There's no way you could swim across this, Mitanni concluded, though swimming across it was entirely unnecessary. You didn't need to swim across to catch a fish in the shallow edges of it.
It was too cold for that currently, but she licked her lips at the thought regardless. She would need to try it sometime, maybe when the snow melted a bit and the cold went away. The last thing she wanted to do was turn herself into an icicle trying to catch a meal. There were plenty of other meals to be caught here instead, ones that didn't require freezing in water. Listening over the crunch of snow beneath her paws, Mitanni continued to walk around the outskirts of the lake, wondering if she would find food or company first.
She found herself at the same creek she had explored with Charon some weeks ago, following it in reverse. She knew a great—the great—lake lay directly in her path. She was pretty familiar with this area of the wilderness, after all. Wildfire knew she could cut almost due west from its shores to make her way home to Moonspear. Her heart thudded happily in her chest as she thought of home, of sleeping in her own bed, beside Floki.
Her heart fluttered for an altogether different reason when she passed a dark forest on the river's opposite bank and the resident pack's scent filled her nostrils. It was vaguely familiar. Wildfire moved on quickly, sensing danger. The back of her neck prickled. The woods rapidly fell away in her proverbial rear view mirror even as the gleaming lake materialized, beckoning her forward.
There was another wolf there and Wildfire tensed ever so slightly as she roamed toward the water's edge, perhaps fifty yards away from the dark stranger. It put her in the other wolf's moseying path, she noted. Keeping one amber eye peeled, she bent to take a drink. Traveling this much made her awfully thirsty.
Company. The wolf wasn't hard to spot as her auburn coat stood out starkly against the contrasting white of winter, highlighting her presence like a beacon. Mitanni's amber eyes fixed on the youthful figure as she watched the wolf step toward the edge of the lake to drink. The typical uncertainty that once haunted each potential interaction the mottled wolf had was absent now, dispelled by recurring friendly strangers, and figuring this one to be like the others Mitanni continued to walk and bring herself closer to the other.
As she neared, she smiled, tentative but friendly, and set her posture unassumingly. Her head was low, nearly even with her spine, and her tail wagged against the backs of her legs. Mitanni didn't come closer to the wolf, but kept some distance between them for comfort. "Not too cold for a drink, is it?"
The black wolf kept coming. Wildfire finished her drink and swiveled slightly to face her. Although their coats were quite contrasting, their builds were practically identical. They also shared an eye color: warm butterscotch. Between these things and the stranger's tentatively warm opening, Wildfire decided this was bound to be a friendly encounter.
"Is there such a thing?" she rejoined, lips and tail twitching amiably. "Been on the road a few days and I swear I can't get enough to drink. What brings you here?" she wondered, falling easily into conversational mode. She had been making a lot of small talk lately and was getting pretty good at it, she thought.
Almost as soon as she spoke, Mitanni thought she saw the auburn wolf relax, even caught the way her expression showed openness instead of closing off. Another friendly one, she concluded, and couldn't be happier. It was actually very refreshing to meet so many conversational wolves, and completely changed her earlier opinion when she'd first arrived in this new region. The place was really beginning to grow on her.
Her own lips twitched, threatening to grin outright, and the mottled female bit her tongue to stop herself from chuckling. She knew what the other wolf spoke of too well after all of her own travels to get here. "Scouting out packs," Mitanni answered, strolling slowly closer, "I've noticed there's quite a few here, and I'm curious about them." Stopping, allowing a comfortable distance, she sat down. "I'm Mitanni, by the way."
Her response intrigued the young ambassador. She didn't have the best track record when it came to recruiting but Wildfire never passed up the opportunity. "Oh, yeah? Which packs have you checked out so far? Any of them catch your interest?" she asked conversationally, deciding not to bring Moonspear up right away. "Oh, and my name's Wildfire. You can call me Wifi."
As she awaited Mitanni's answer, Wildfire folded her slim haunches and sat beside the water. She licked the last few droplets of chilly moisture from her lips, then swiped a paw over her mouth before letting her amber eyes come to rest on the other female's elfin features.
Ah, easy conversation: Mitanni's favorite. Her smile was relaxed as she went on, her tail thumping once in open delight against the ground. "Well, so far they've found me. There's been a few startups in the area out rounding up potential pack members. Can't tell much about them yet, but they're easier to get closer to than the established ones." And Mitanni was in no way bold enough to try poking around an established pack's claimed territory. She valued her life too much for that.
Wifi. Once again her smile twitched, but the black and brown mottled wolf bit back her amusement over the auburn female's peculiar nickname. "Very nice to meet you, Wifi," she answered, trying out the name for herself, "I'm Mitanni."
The news of not one but several startups caught Wildfire's attention, though her interest in other packs was typically fairly minimal. It wasn't that they didn't interest her, there were just too many to keep track of properly. She would never turn down information, though, especially as a scout specializing in ambassadorship. And if any of them were nearby, her Alphas would surely be interested in knowing about them.
She blinked when given the wolf's name a second time, then smiled in a gently teasing way as she pointed out, "You said that already." Not wanting to embarrass her, she smoothly moved on by offering, "I'm from a fairly established pack, if you're interested in learning about it. It's called Moonspear. We're based on a mountain due west of here."
I did? Mitanni's expression blanked as she thought back, realized Wifi spoke true, and her smile returned with an embarrassed air. "You're right, sorry," she laughed, shaking her head as her tail thumped amusingly at her side, "Been a while since I've chatted, guess I'm rusty." And inattentive. She'd need to pay better attention to what she was saying from now on.
Thankfully her slip didn't deter the young auburn wolf from answering her question, and her amber eyes glittered with interest. Moonspear. That was a new one for her, though she didn't expect to know it. She was still new here, and still in the process of learning about the territories. "Moonspear," Mitanni repeated, the name slowly rolled from her tongue, "what can you tell me about it?" Wifi had offered to share information, but Mitanni wasn't sure how much she was willing to share.
Wildfire shook her head as if to say, No apology necessary. She was a bit more comfortable with socializing these days—her occupation demanded that of her—but she had been prone to social awkwardness once upon a time. She wouldn't judge anyone else for it.
They moved on, in any case, and Wildfire was happy to fill Mitanni in about her pack. "It formed last fall, when two smaller packs came together to form one big one. There's a family at the core and the rest of us fill in the blanks. We're pretty peaceable, for the most part, and the location's great." There was a lot of square mileage, and a good variety of prey. Plus, there were very few packs nearby, which was just an added bonus.
"The Alphas are Charon and Ame," Wildfire continued, "and Floki's the Beta. The leadership is sort of young, though I personally see that as a good thing." She paused to take a breath, opened her mouth to say something else, then closed it again for a beat before asking, "Do you have any specific questions?" She didn't want to blather aimlessly and endlessly.
With obvious interest, Mitanni listened as Wifi described her home. It sounded like a nice place, a conglomerate of two packs fusing to become stronger. She hadn't heard of anything like it, and though she was still entertaining the thought of Moonlit Hills she couldn't deny that this Moonspear pack intrigued her.
Names were given of those in higher positions, and one in particular caused her ears to perk as recognition flashed in her amber eyes. Floki? She'd met him by chance when she'd first arrived, and he'd been a great help in assisting to secure her first meal there. A faint smile touched her face, but she bit her tongue, letting Wildfire finish speaking.
Did she have questions? Oh, when she not have questions. But first... "I've met Floki," Mitanni stated happily, "I think he might have been the first wolf I met here. Good...good wolf," she added, amending her initial impulse to refer to him as a kid. The auburn wolf across from her wasn't that far in age from Floki, or so she suspected, and she really didn't want to offend either one by making them feel patronized.
"Is the pack very big?" With the idea that two packs had come together to form it, she assumed it had to be, but asking was the only way to know for sure.
Rather than a question, Mitanni mentioned having met Floki. Wildfire smiled in surprise, then laughed quietly at the other female's remark. Floki was a great wolf, though of course she might be a little biased. She could go on about him all day—especially since she missed him so much—but luckily for her acquaintance, Wildfire saved her sweet words for later, for him.
Mitanni posed one simple question, regarding the pack's size. "Our ranks tend to stay full, with about a dozen wolves at any given time," the young scout replied. In fact, she wasn't even sure they had any vacancies at the moment, though that didn't stop her from saying, "Maybe you could join us... or at least some check it out sometime," since that's what it sounded like Mitanni had been doing with the other packs around here. She complemented the suggestion with an encouraging smile, then glanced out over the lake.
She knew it sounded too good to be true. They sounded like a nice bunch, and the prospect of living on a mountain was appealing, but with two packs combined it sounded like a lot of bodies. Mitanni imagined that they might have even needed to send some away during the merger just to make it possible. How sad that would've been.
Even so, Wifi encouraged her to look into the place, leaving the option open for further investigation if she wanted to take it. Mitanni couldn't lie, it did interest her. Even if she'd already given so much of her interest to the other in-the-works pack already. "I'll keep it in mind," she assured, nodding her head. She wouldn't soon forget it, especially if her other plans fell through.
"Do you know much about the other packs around here?" Wildfire struck her as the wandering type, at least from what she'd gathered so far. Maybe she knew more.
Mitanni said she would keep it in mind and Wildfire bobbed her head. "And I'll put in a good word for you," she replied. Once she got back home, there were many things to tell her Alphas about her voyage around the Teekon Wilds. Mentioning a few possible recruits would make her look good and remind Charon and Ame of how their Gamma could make use of her skills for the pack's benefit. It was a win/win for both herself and Mitanni, should she end up swinging by.
Her acquaintance asked about other packs in the area and Wildfire huffed a good-natured laugh. "I know of a few, but keeping track of them is an impossible task. They come and go," she explained, "with only a few really sticking around for long. At least, that's my experience. I think my parents' pack, Redhawk Caldera, might be one of the oldest in the area, and it's only been around for a year or so."
It felt nice knowing she had someone that would willingly vouch for her to join their pack. While the offer of starting fresh in something new was still appealing in its own right, there was something exciting about the prospect of jumping right into a well established and stable group. And it does sound like a nice place, she admitted to herself, but still wasn't ready to make a decision yet.
Wifi went on to speak a little about the other packs, and with the answer given Mitanni could understand the lack of any definite information. If they changed a lot or shifted around too much, keeping track of them was surely difficult. Wonder if that startup one will be that way... Hopefully it wouldn't be. If she made that commitment, she wanted it to be permanent, at least for a while until the arrangement no longer worked.
"I see," she commented absently. Over all, it seemed she had her work cut out for her learning about all of her pack options before making that final decision. "Doubt I'll be able to visit them all." Mitanni smiled, almost laughed, and sighed just a little. "I might try nosing around a couple of them though, just to see what I can gather about them." The petite brown wolf thought for a second, frowned slightly, and asked, "Do you know of any I should avoid?" They couldn't all be great and wonderful places, could they?
"Probably not," Wildfire agreed amiably. She was a native Teekon Wilds wolf and a scout by profession and if she couldn't stay on top of the local packs, then a relative newcomer wouldn't have a snowball's chance in hell of keeping them sorted. "But I'm sure you'll find a suitable one." She paused to consider Mitanni's question. "None come to mind," she admitted, though of course she didn't know all of them. "But I'd be cautious, one way or the other. Some packs are more territorial than others and you just want to tread carefully in general. Your mileage may vary," she quipped.
Speaking of mileage, she was now in the home stretch and, especially after discussing Floki a moment ago, she felt Moonspear calling to her from afar. "Hey, Mitanni, it's been nice meeting you but I need to head home. I've been traveling for nearly a week," Wildfire explained, tone mildly apologetic. "Good luck in your window shopping. I'm sure you'll find a pack that suits you." She proffered a final, well-wishing smile, then glanced at the lake one more time and began to trot away, black tail streaming as she left the lake shore behind.
Again Mitanni nodded, grateful for all the advice and help that Wildfire had been able to offer. Even not knowing everything there was to know about this new region, the black and brown female felt a little more knowledgeable and prepared to tackle finding the perfect pack for her. At the very least, she had another to add to her list of known packs. Moonspear. She was going to hang on to that one for a while.
The conversation changed as the auburn wolf spoke of home and travel. That's right. She had mentioned being on the move for a while, and if her pack was close by Mitanni could imagine her eagerness to be there now, even if she didn't yet have that same sense of home for herself. "No problem," she assured with an answering smile, getting to her paws. "It was nice to meet you too."
With a final nod as the other wolf began to turn away, set on her direction to travel home, Mitanni cut a different path across the plains beside the lake, pondering where she would go next in her hunt for a pack.