Wolf RPG

Shalon was no stranger to adventure, her life having never been known for it's stability. She had no place to call home, and no one to call friend. She was alone, and she had always told herself that was the way she liked it. Away from the devious eyes of others, and their false sense of security. Shalon was glad to be on her own, for she had known no other way. 

As a loner she often gave pack lands that might fall in her path a wide birth, prefering to remain neutral and avoid the danger. Packs were not known to be kind toward outsiders, well in Shalon's opinion anyway;The scares along her muzzle and one her left shoulder were her proof of the fact. 

So on her journey that she know found herself in it might have been fate that lead to Shalon entering the lands of a new pack. A pack that had not yet finished their borders, Shalon found herself venturing where she did not belong.

Charley was patrolling his borders that day, yawning and bored, when something caught his attention. A new scent, an UNWELCOME presence. Hackles raising up high, the King trotted forward after the females scent. In his mind, he knew there was not full blame on the trespasser. The borders werent fully set, but the scents of the Court was at least strong enough one should be able to tell someone was living here. 
She wasn't far, and Charley slowed with a growl rumbling from his chest at the dusty grey pelt.
        "Can't you smell right? You're on the lands of royalty."
His words, though harsh, weren't all that aggressive. Irritated, no doubt, but not truly upset. This one had no smells on her suggesting a pack, or family. Perhaps she would be interested on joining the court? Scaring her off would be useless.
                  "I'm Charley Pryor, and this is my land. I rule beside my Queen, Aspen. Are you from around here?"

Shalon paused mid step as she heard the growl behind her, "Can't you smell right? You're on the lands of royalty." Turning sharply to address the brute, she tooking his features, and found no sign of aggression. Relaxing slightly she would bow her head slightly, submitting to the wolf before her, not looking to antagonize him.

"I'm Charley Pryor, and this is my land. I rule beside my Queen, Aspen. Are you from around here?" Shalon's head dipped to the side in curiosity, a king? "If I had been more aware at the time I would have steered clear of your lands. I do apoligize. I meant no offence. I am not from the area, and have found myself quite turned around. Please accept my sincerest apologies to you and your Queen." Shalon dipped her head even lower acknowledging his position.

The stranger turned as if she were going to lash out, and for a moment Charley dared her to come at him. Memories of the last trespasser, Aerowyn, flooded his mind. She had been taken care of the fun hard way, and the Pryor was glad to see her off. This woman would be no different.... But she bowed her head beneath his steely gaze, and his hackles began to fall as she fell even lower. Her words were accepted with a charming smile, and a nod of his head.  
                   "Apology accepted, though I will have to send you off. Unless you were looking for a home, by chance? We're awfully new here, hence why the borders aren't all that strong yet, but every soul helps towards our cause."
As if to entice her, rolling back on his haunches to sit and tipping his head towards her, Charley told her a little bit about what life would be like.
                               "You'd start of a Commoner, but once you prove yourself truly loyal and move forward in the pack, you'll find yourself in the Inner Circle, with a much more meaningful rank. Inner Circle wolves are allowed in the tunnels my wife and I nest, encouraged to find their own den in the tangled web of underground caverns. The Outer Circle wolves make their dens in the forest, but are treated with the respect they deserve. I won't allow hate to rip through my ranks, no distrust."

She tiltered her head to the side, this was a new experience for her. She looked over the shoulder of the male, back the way she had come. Into the endless travels, and the hunger. She wasn't sure what pack life was like, but she wondered if maybe it was better than the life of a lone wolf? Maybe, she entertained the thought for a moment or two, it could be. 

Shalon would nod her head,   She looked over her shoulder glancing deeper into the pack territory, could this be her home?, she thought to herself. Maybe, just maybe it could be. "I have little experience with pack life, but if you would be willing to aide me, I can assure you that I will do all within my power to help advance you and your name." 

There was a long moment of silence in which Charley kept his warm carribean eyes on her, roaming her frame and deciding that once this famine was over and everyone was well fit again, she might be a good warrior. Whatever she wanted to do, really, so long as she contributed. Eventually, after what seemed to be weighing her options, Shalon gave him an answer and it was his turn to think. She'd never lived in a pack, eh? She wasn't below asking for help, however and she was pretty. Man, another girl to add alongside two males. great idea! and that was something Charley appreciated. She'd already pledged herself to him, and now there was only one thing left.
                       "What's your name? I'll help you fit in here, don't worry. As long as you can hunt and protect, I can handle teaching you whats proper and not within a pack. The experience itself should be a lesson in itself. Welcome to Royal Fire Court."
A smile spread across his charcoal maw, and with a wag of his tail it was done: Shalon was the newest member of the Court. Standing, Charley stepped forward and rubbed his shoulder along hers, slipping alongside her side and doing the same on her other side. No use pitting his wolves against each other by letting an inexperienced newbie in without his scent laden on her. Eventually, all their scents would mingle and create that of the Court, but that was a long way off. 
                                          "Nobody will challenge your right to be here with my scent on you, and if they do you can tell them Charley wont be happy with them. I suggest bonding and getting to know people now, before we're entirely offical and rank begins to play in everything." 

A look of surprise flashed over Shalon's features, "I apologize for my rudeness your Majesty, I am known as Shalon Sentiel of the White Hall Steps." Shalon stood stock still as her rub his scent along her shoulders, a curious mask on her maw. Why was he doing this? Her ears perked foward as he continued to speak, and understanding dawned on her. Idiot, other wolves in a pack, obviously they might believe you to be a tresspasser. She made a mental note to herself, check new comers for a scent mark! "I shall tell any who would challenge me as such you Majesty. I will endeavour to meet as within you pack. Learning as I go, I suppose." Shalon grinned, with a small shoulder shrug, "Thank you for this opportunity, I will not let your acceptance be offered in vain." She would bow her frame again, forever humbled by her Kings acceptance.

Confusion spiked from the girls pelt but she accepted his touch, and Charley stepped further into the forest with a charming smile aimed back at her.
                    "Well come on then, Miss Shalon. Explore your new home. You're welcome to join me if you like, or you can do it yourself. You hacve safety here now, this is your home as much as it is mine."
The woman further stated her dedication to him, and it brought a wag to his tail. One more for his cause, one more future member of his family. Until she did prove herself, she would be held at length as a friend.
                                           "Things will get easier, I promise. I believe you'll make a good adition to the Kingdom, and trust you wont dissapoint."
He turned fully and padded off, keeping his strides slow as to let her catch up if she wanted.

Shalon was in unknown waters, for now she thought it best to follow the male before her. Trotting after the King, she smiled softly to herself, she wasn't sure what the feeling in her stomach was. Gratitude, acceptance, kindness. Emotions she rarely felt, and never expressed. But she found it easier with a kind soul to guide her, she was....happy. She remained silent for a few minutes, processing her feelings, the smile never having left her face. 

With a small cough, and a shake of her pelt she acquired her neutral tone and mask. "And were are we headed this evening, your Majesty?" Shalon was a naturally curious animal, but had always suppressed her sense of wonder in favour of survival. Now however she let it slip just this once. Although she spoke with an aloofness that showed none of her core personality.

She followed, and for a moment Charley found himself happy about it. Her words stroked his ego a little bit, and it warmed his heart to realize that soon everything would be settled an official. He was a KING, with a Queen to rule beside and a pack who would soon become family at his back. He'd won, hed achieved his dream.
He walked, but in truth it was nothing more than wandering.
           "Ive yet to explore the entire territory my borders surround, so I usually let my paws carry me where they will."
He flashed another smile at her, and kept his stride. Might as well take the time to get to know her, right?
                 "So were you born a lone wolf?"

Shalon nodded to her King, understanding his need to follow the land with which he owned, securing his border and coming to know the land like the back of his paw. She admired his determination to his land.

Shalon returned the smile of the King, and nodded in the affirmative, "To an extent, I was not all alone, I had my mother and brother. For the longest time it was the three of us." She wasn't sad about her growing up, for it was all she knew. Shalon had no notion of pack life, and so she found no sadness growing up with only her mother and brother. Infact Shalon found herself smiling in the memory of her little brother, her closest companion.

While she followed her King, she took in the scenery around them. The dense woods of sugar maples, they had lost the sun light, as the trees obscured most that tried to shine through. She found the calming birds and the swaying branches to be tranquil, the dim lighting bring a sense of saftey and security. This land was truly beautiful.

So she really had no knowledge of pack life, then? Well, so far she was doing good showing him the respect he called for, and he was not as dominant as to make his subordinates to submit when they were acting properly. Despite having grown up with only two family members, she seemed happy enough, and he supposed it was because she'd never known different. Being in a pack, so long as she made friends with her packmates and pulled her own weight, would be a walk in the park compared to the life as a group of three. 
                   "It can't be easy to raise pups on your own, your mother must've been a strong wolf. Where are they now?"
He almost hated to ask, but alas he did want to know. He wanted to be able to know the details of those he called friends before he allowed them close to his heart. 
Shalon seemed relaxed in this new area, and Charley took it as a good sign that she would be okay when he left her alone.

"She was an extraordinary woman." Shalon lowered her head slightly look at the ground directly infront of her, "She has passed on from this world I'm afraid." She sighed, it was still hard to wound still so fresh. "She died protecting my brother and I from her old pack. My mother had pups against permission, and her parents had assumed she had died. When they found her scent and realized that she had indeed survived they hunted us down. My mother was killed, while my brother and I escaped." Shalon kept pace with the King, even when her voice weavered every so often.

Shalon was not in the business of keep secrets from her new leader, and so she would answer any questions of her he could think of. "And what of you family, my King?" She wasn't sure if this was correct etiquette or not, but she asked either way.

The tale of her heroic mother touched his heart, for the King hadn't had a mother, not in his mind. The woman who birthed he and his sister was hellspawn as far as he was conserned, one at the top of his shit list and first to die if she ever showed her face to him again. He murmered his respectful apologies as she finished, but her turn of the question on him brought a halfassed smile to his maw.
           "My mother was nowhere near the same as yours. She cared little for my sister, Emory and I. Couldn't stay faithful to her husband, the father that raised his pups and ignored the evil things the woman who birthed me was doing to him. He taught us everything he knew, stayed faithful to his wife and treated her like a Queen.... And she repayed him by having one of her toys kill him. My twin and I ran from there and never looked back."

Shalon looked toward her King as he spoke, he seemed to hold no grudge against the woman who gave him life.  However she knew it must be a facade. "I am sorry to hear of such a terrible mother. She might have given you something though..." Shalon spoke calmly, although carefully. "You will never treat your pups that same way, or your Queen. She may not have seen the error in her way but you did. Your legacy will not know the pain you have felt from a lack of a mothers love, because you have chosen Queen Aspen." Shalon did not know the Queen yet, but was sure that Charley would not have picked someone with the same personality as his mother. She was saddened by his story, although she wouldn't show it. Shalon was rather reserved when it came to sad subjects, prefering to let others speak. She had found that by letting others talk to her, they sorted out their own issues and only need a soul to listen to them.

Shalon was right, he knew. This very pack was proof of that, for the very reason he was doing this was FOR his future children. So they would live the life he didn't have. With a small smile, he nodded without breaking stride. 
             "Yes, exactly. I hate her for it and I suppose that's made me a better family man for Aspen."
Aspen, he knew, would be a fantastic mother. She was kind, warm, and she would teach them well. THEY would teach them well. Though decisions would obviously be left to the parents, Aspen and Charley planned on the entire pack being a major part of their growing up. They were meant to be a family, after all. 

Shalon nodded, a small smile curved the corners of her mouth. She had a good feeling about this would-be-pack, and she had a feeling her and King Charley would get along quite well. "Queen Aspen is a lucky woman indeed." She looked over to the male beside her, a very lucky queen.

"I should leave you to it though, my King. I would like to explore your realm, learn it and it's ways." Shalon was anxious to explore her new home, follow the trails and learn what it had to offer. She wished to know it like the back of her paw so as to protect it better. Maybe find a den in there somewhere. She would wait to be dismissed however, not wanting to offend her new leader.