Back-dated a wee bit! Open, hoping for this to be a quick thread :)
Silaluk had journeyed back to the crag with the tawny Tugar in tow. She and her subordinate made good time back, and Silaluk had new intelligence with her. Her strides were long up until they ascended, and she and the Seahawk wolf of Tartok picked their way upward with ease. The scents of her subordinates were noted, and Silaluk threw her head upward to call to them to let them know she had arrived. They were likely well-rested, and she was ready to move out herself; she was impatient to know of their own information gained, and eager to learn it.
The call had carried on the air with ease, and the confidence was what Miyax caught in her ears more than the intended message. It was the sound of the stranger's voice that perked her ears. She was still curious of the many other scents in the area. The many packs, the layers upon layers of wolf she continued to stumble upon — but the immediate opportunity to encounter another live soul was too enticing. She did not recognize the stranger who called, but she tilted her own head back all the same - and after returning a message of her own (Who are you?) Miyax took to the shadows and wandered with the idle hope of meeting this stranger.
The beastly woman was given moments pause at the sound of anothers howl. This voice was one she had not heard join her rallying cries, and Silaluk ceasd her movement for a moment, foreleg pulled toward her chest as she inhaled the crisp, fresh mountain air. She tilted her head backward and howled, and this time Tugar's voice joined her own: I am here. There was no introduction in the song, but that would come in time—better to get this from scents, she felt.
The wolf traveled silently through the snow. She was blessed with a body well adapted to this climate - to worse climates, rather - and so this easy winter was not so hard for her. When the second call sounded she did pause, raise her head, and look around. There was likely some part of her that calculated the difference in position between herself and the song, although it was not a conscious part; but she was off again in moments, making a bee-line towards the voice as it died upon the wind.
Yet when she came upon the stranger's position she was struck by multiple realizations. The first being: this wolf was large. At first Miyax thought, it is a bear! And she lurched to a stop, then took a few stiff-legged steps closer. The second realization came when she spotted another set of eyes. There were two wolves here. She was outnumbered, and was made more restless by this fact.
The dark creature - the shadow with ursine proportions - she mentally named, Bearskin. The other, a tawny male, she did not get a good look at yet. He would go nameless for now. Miyax raised her nose and made some obvious motions with her face, trying to get their scent without getting too close, and then mewled an inviting note towards them both — but she stayed back due to a well-placed fear of ambush.
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Silaluk moved onward, albeit at a slower pace to accomodate the wolf that might come to find them. Just because Silaluk had shared her location did not mean the other would definitively come, and Silaluk saw no point in waiting. But another did, after a time, approach them. Her subordinate drifted forward, some, and Silaluk rumbled lowly for the stillness of her. Silaluk took some confident steps toward Miyax, whose scent was familiar to her. But much time had passed, and Silaluk had come across many scents that she recognized in passing. Miyax had been second to the food they had found that day, and so was not vividly remembered.
Silaluk was not the most inviting woman to look upon, but she exuded a calm attitude. The others anxiety could be seen and smelled both, but Silaluk—here and now—was no threat to the stranger.
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The wolf with the coat of coffee tones was seemingly eager to come forth, and that made Miyax nervous. She heard Bearskin issue an order with a rumble in her chest, and the other wolf did pause. It was an informative moment. Miyax now knew which was the dominant wolf and which was the more submissive — but there were still two versus one, so she did not feel safe. Still, she tested the limits of the dark wolf by talking a few steps closer and whisking her tail, ducking her head, almost purring with the hum of a high note.
Although the tawny wolf made her more nervous, they were closer to Miyax. She slunk towards them and sniffed at the air, then with a lowered body, scooted ever closer and let her face drift near to the stranger's fur. Her ears were pivoting all over, not wanting to miss any signals from the large and intimidating Bearskin. This wolf carried many smells amongst its hairs. Pine, snow, the musk of old meat, and layers of wolf-scent. Nothing dominated more than the mark of the bearlike she-wolf though, to which Miyax now shifted her attention, with care.