The barren, chilly lands of Dawnlark stretched before Zephyr, the winds of Fall biting into his fur - not once did he feel it. The ebony brute slunk onwards, head drooping and tail dragging. Chusi's reaction still burned his soul, and the pieces of his broken heart lay in Zephyr's ribcage.
He'd imagined an excited reunion between them, if he'd ever found her - this was naive of him, he knew, because a young pup would always need a caregiver. He should have known she would move on, but he couldn't ever imagine her not adoring him as she always had.
Broken down, Zephyr flopped to his side at the rise of a hill - he'd stopped in the Ravine on the way here, revisited all the old places he used to hang out. He'd even debated going to Saltwinter for a home - but that was undesirable, foolish. Marauder's Keep drew him forward, but upon realizing it was no longer Warbone's scent that ruled, he'd turned tail and left. A thought to go back to Rosings was present in his mind, fully ready to lie and tell them he had no idea where Chusi went, but not concrete. For now, he just lay there, head on his paws, apple eyes sweeping the area before him and moping silently.
It seemed that Muses had arrived in a land of night wolves; creatures that were not winter wolves like herself, and not summer wolves like her opposites. They were perplexing, to say the least. Their dark coats and bright eyes were unlike anything Muses had ever seen. The difference was not so significant that it frightened or disgusted her, but rather elicited a deep sense of curiosty. Muses wondered if she would ever be able to fit in enough to satiate it.
She faced the autumn breeze, walking against it merrily, as though the impending cold did not frighten her. For a lone wolf, winters could mean certain death, but Muses was vaguely unaware of the dangers she currently faced. All that mattered to her now was that there was a stranger just up ahead, cleverly taking shelter behind a hill. Loping forward, the pale wolf approached with ease, bright smile lighting up her masked face.
"Hello," She greeted from a distance, politely keeping her head and tail at mid-level. "I was wondering if you had time to help me out." Her hopeful query rose in earnest, and she gave a little shake of the tail. The male certainly did not appear to be asking for company, but Muses hoped that he could spare her a moment of his time.
From his perch on the hill he could see the woman approach, his apple eyes wearily tracing her movements as the realization sunk in that he was her destination. The snow-splashed man didn't particularly care, was too numb, and only levelly gazed with faint curiosity.
Her smile prompted one of his own half-assed, bitter smiles -- nothing like the bright eyed and bouncy gaited man of a few months ago -- and Zephyr nodded his head in greeting. The stranger stopped a distance away, and though he appreciated this, he motioned with his tail and muzzle for her to come join him on the rise.
"I'll always have time to help a lost soul. Zephyr Maverick."
His voice was hoarse, strained, but as friendly as he'd greet anybody who'd never wronged him. His tail thumped against the earth a few times.
"A pleasure to meet you, then, Zephyr Maverick." She returned warmly, although she was distracted by the colour of the voice that rose into the air. Her pale eyes followed it, tracing it as it echoed, and ultimately disappeared. It was clear that she had encountered a friendly man, a beast who would bring her no harm, although perhaps it was because he was nursing wounds born from harm done onto him. There was no way Muses could tell, but she was attuned to the strain in his voice.
Moving forward, she oblidged her newest companion, slowly stepping along the incline of the hill, nose twitching as she obtained a myriad of information from the scents in the air. "Would you mind terribly if I sat a while?" She cocked an ear to the side, mildly hopeful. A wolf in the midst of heartbreak did not deserve to be alone. How Muses could relate to such sorrows that left her feeling even more abandoned. She had been strong enough to persevere, and was not bitter over the solitude, but had she the choice, she would not have suffered alone.
"I appreciate your help and kindness, but please, allow me to offer something in return." Although she did not know exactly what she could give in reciprocation, Muses knew that she would do just about anything to see her company give a genuine smile, to speak with a tone coloured with genuine peace, even if only for a fleeting moment.
The woman approached and asked if she could sit -- with barely a thought, Zephyr nodded -- but it was her offer of returning something that brought surprise. Brow furrowing, he shook his head.
"Your company is all the repayment I need, dear lady."
Smirking awkwardly, he found he didn't know her name. Shit... Had she said it already? In fear of the answer being yes, he didn't ask. If she gave it, so be it. The real interest was on her request: what could she possibly think a broken down brute like him could give her?
"What is it you need?"
A peal of chime like laughter slipped from her maw as she settled onto the incline beside the dark wolf. Slowly but surely she was becoming used to his kind, the shadowy wolves that seemed to be native to the area. They were a little strange, and a little intimidating, but from what Mues had seen, they were really nothing unlike herself. At their very core, they were all wolves. When her companion insisted that she had already done enough, the pale priestess shook her head in playful defiance, the action followed by a lightly exaggerated sigh. "Well, if you insist." Of course, she would not allow herself to get off the hook that easily, but she figurd reciprocation would come in due time.
"I was just wondering if you could tell me something about these lands. I've traveled from very far, were nothing but winter wolves live. The only life I've ever known is on the mountain I was born and raised, but I cannot return to there." She hoped that with her words, she had made a strong enough impression that the male would understand that it was here that she intended to make her new home. "Are there mountain further south of here? Are there other winter wolves like myself?" She queried, unable to stop herself from bombarding him with question after question.
"You know, you don't have to keep me entertained for very long, if you intended to be by yourself a spell. You look like you're in mourning." Muses added sheepishly, shyly, not wanted to encroach.
Her laugher was music to his broken heart and his ears, and the brute nodded -- her very company soothed his loneliness. Her request brought his ears perking forward: she could not be talking to a better wolf. He'd ghosted around each part of these lands for the past two seasons!
"Were in the valley, and directly North is the tiaga. There are two mountain ranges in the Teekon. The one you see in the distance, and one parrallel across the wilderness and the flatlands. Across those mountains are the hinterlands, and the shore rests along the north of it all."
The mention of winter wolves, however, the brute tipped his head and angled his apple eyes curiously at her.
"What's a winter wolf?"
Her offer was a true surprise -- did he really look that bad? -- but it brought a smile to his maw. Mourning.... Yes, that's how he felt. One of the many emotions he could think of, at least.
"A little girl, Chusi, I saved and intended to raise, she was lost from me when I got sick. A month or two later, just the other day, I-I found her. She offered me a place in the pack out of pity, and when I turned it down to avoid hurting her or her new caretaker, she rejected me completely. I was told I'd be killed if I ever came back. I don't have another option but by myself, dear, but I'm used to it."
She listened with grave attentiveness, painting a map within her mind. The terms that the male used were strange to her, and she assumed those were the local names given to various landmarks. Those too she would have to familiarize herself with. "I think I get the main idea." She asserted, offering a firm nod. The male must have been well traveled, for it seemed that he had a good grasp of the world around him. "I appreciate your insight." Muses inclined her head politely, glad that she had managed to find someone who had some knowledge of the area.
Her ears twitched as she processed his next question, eyes widening in surprise. "A winter wolf?" She repeated, as if there might have been a chance that she had misheard him. It seemed, however, that the term was quite unknown to the dark wolf. Hesitating, Muses contemplated the best way to explain the term. "A winter wolf is... Well, it's a wolf not unlike myself. We live where there is snow year round, far to the north, either upon mountains or snowy plains. We are mostly white furred, or pale in colour." Midst an alabaster landscape, a black furred wolf would stick out like a sore thumb.
Reclining slightly, she listened to the male's story, her heart aching for the tragedy that befell him. "I'm so sorry to hear that." She pinned her ears sympathetically, tail curling close to her body. Why would anyone turn so fiercly on someone who only wanted to help? She wanted to cry for the male, to question how anyone could be so callous, but she bit her tongue and refrained from speaking her mind. "I hope that you two will one day make ammends. It must be a very difficult situation to deal with." No wonder the wolf mourned as if a loved one had passed away! Not to mention it had all happened so recently. Muses dipped her head apologetically. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for you to bring up painful memories." How could she possibly do this wolf any good now? He had so graciously helped her, but all she had done was remind him of sorrow.