The Vale had disbanded.
It had not been announced, but the scent of piss around the outskirts of the forest was weak at best. Bazi had not caught the scent of Vale wolves upon the neutral path through the mountains that divided their two territories, and curiosity had driven her further into the sheltered valley. Nothing, she concluded after several hours' careful examination. The place was devoid of wolves.
Her first instinct was to celebrate their demise, whatever had caused it, by romping through the pleasantly cool forest and rolling around in a few softly lit clearings. Her coat was thinning in the heat, and every wriggle left a mat of thick, white hair behind. It felt naughty, but the overwhelming feeling was one of relief. The end of the Vale meant meant a stronger presence for the Creek, who now ruled supreme as the only pack to the east of the mountains.
Jinx had left Dawa's resting place, as well as Tenzin, behind in order to more carefully explore the Vale. She had got a brief glimpse of it when it was inhabited, but it had cost her her dignity. Now, Jinx could wander the wide vale without fear of repercussion. The closest pack was the plateau, and that was miles away.
She had half a mind to relocate her wolves here, if only to make use of the bounty of herbs that grew in the vale. Walking through a small patch of greenery released the crisp scent of sage, which the Alpha paused to bask in for a moment. Lecter would definitely prosper from relocating here, but the shaman's one request held her fast to the mountain. He wished to die upon its slopes, and Jinx would not steal that wish from her mate.
Her pleasant walk was abruptly interrupted when she turned around a bend in the vale's sparse forest and spotted a white wolf rolling around in the grass. Jinx halted where she was to watch, though the hair on her spine prickled uncertaintly. She was a warden and a warrior of the mountain, so she was confident of her abilities, but she also suspected which pack this unidentified wolf came from... And, no matter what ignorant thoughts they thought about her, Jinx had no desire to hurt her former family.
A soft breeze snaked its way through the trees, glancing Jinx's coat and continuing past her to where Bazi was now preening in the half-light. The Creek wolf stopped mid-lick, rear leg in the air and tongue hanging stupidly out of her mouth. Her nostrils flared with each breath. That scent had once belonged to Swiftcurrent Creek, and its owner was someone whose attitude to visitors Bazi had begrudgingly come to understand - even respect - since having to shoo an endless tirade of hippies away from her own borders.
Slowly, well aware that she had strayed close to the mountain on more than one occasion in the past, the new Creek Beta lowered her leg and sucked her tongue back in, scanning the gloom for the source of the smell. She struggled to remember what her reservations had been against Jinx now - if anything, she was becoming more like the Silvertip alpha the higher she climbed in the Creek ranks. Lecter still frightened her, but he was safely ensconced on a far-away rock and would likely die there, happily surrounded by his strange little paintings and shrunken heads.
She felt the wind ruffle her coat and sighed through her nose the second that Bazi paused. There was no concealing herself now, so the woman stepped boldly out of the trees and into the light of the Vale, what little of it there was. Jinx maintained her bristle, unwilling to allow someone she had considered weak once to run their mouth in her presence. She had known Bazi only briefly, and met her only once. The yearling had been delirious and disoriented on the pack's borders, and Jinx had ever formed her opinion of the pale youth based on that one fact, however undeserved it was.
“Bazi,” she called across the space between them, recalling the girl's name only because she had been so annoyed to find the other's scent in the vicinity of her mountain. Fox considered Bazi worth something, but Jinx was a lot harsher, and saw only an irresponsible youth who overstepped her bounds and frolicked in the shadow of others' homes. It was ironic, given that Jinx's own wolves often found their way to Swiftcurrent's edge, but she was wholly unaware of that aside from Lunar.
She had nothing really to say, and had no doubt that Fox had delivered her message. If anything, the Kesuk was mischievous for once, intent on figuring out what Bazi would do or say to her.
Bums - I'll get that deleted.
Oh, balls, Bazi thought when the Silvertip wolf stepped out into the light, and swiftly got to her feet. She hadn't stepped foot near Silvertip Mountain since well before Fox had relayed Jinx's message, but that didn't matter - this was a proud wolf, and Bazi did not doubt that the transgression would be remembered.
But the silly little girl that had stumbled into Swiftcurrent Creek was a
Beta now. Of course, that held no sway here in the Vale, and Jinx was unlikely to be impressed by the news if it was told to her. She prized action over words, Bazi remembered from that single meeting at the borders, and part of her itched to prove something to the wolf that would probably have dismissed her if Fox hadn't been the one in charge.
The neutrality of their location offered an opportunity.
Perhaps unwisely, Bazi responded to Jinx's curt greeting by lowering herself into a play-bow, eyeing the other wolf questioningly. In the wake of her first kill and single spar with Cutthroat, she felt invincible, and a warden and warrior of the mountain was not an opponent to be sniffed at.
It was either that or chat idly about the weather, and the very thought of Jinx commenting on the pleasantness of the breeze was laughable.
OOC: Hope you don't mind me joining in.
IC: Majesty, who had been wandering the mountainside that morning, had caught his Alpha's scent not too far away, along with the odd absence of the scent of other wolves in the vicinity. Though he had not been in the Teekon Wilds for long, he was sure there had been a pack in the Northstar Vale when he had arrived… Hadn't there? And what was Jinx doing way out here? He shook his head. He was in no place to be questioning his leader, but he was curious to see what she was doing out here, so far from the mountain. He laughed at himself. He was far from the mountain also, but that was due mainly to his natural curiosity and wanderlust.
He followed her scent into the Vale, and saw her speaking with a small, white wolf nearby. Immediately, a chill went up his spine, causing his hackles to raise slightly. He calmed himself, and allowed the fur to lay flat once again. He had recognized the white she-wolf speaking to Jinx. He had almost gotten killed because of her just days before. Not one to hold a grudge, but still full of caution, he made his way over to his Alpha's side. He wasn't sure what the little white wolf wanted, but his sense of honor was not going to allow him to let his Alpha face the Creek wolf on her own - even though he knew she could.
"Jinx," he said quietly as he neared her, bowing his head slightly. Then he turned to the she-wolf not far off. And waited.
Rather than speak, Bazi lowered herself into a bow that tugged insistently at Jinx's instincts. Hesitating for only a moment to discern the other's intentions, the mountain Alpha lowered herself into her own bow, though she arrogantly believed this could only end one way. She would stand victorious, and if blood was spilled then it was Bazi's own fault for even enticing her to begin with. They may once have been pack-mates, but now they were rivals, and rivals didn't play nice with each other.
She was about to make the first move when suddenly, her name sounded from behind her. Flipping back her ears with a speed that might have suggested agitation, the Alpha righted herself and turned her head to catch sight of Majesty approaching from the rear. Lately, it seemed like her wolves followed her everywhere... That no matter where she went, one of them always seemed to pop up. Most of the time, Jinx welcomed these instances, but presently it felt like an intrusion on her privacy, and it was embarrassing.
Nevertheless, the Alpha maintained a cool expression and didn't allow her heated feelings to surface. “Majesty,” she lilted in a way that suggested she was surprised to see him, “what are you doing here?” Slowly, she swivelled her left ear in Bazi's direction. Having not known her well, and having her own reasons to be suspicious, Jinx didn't trust her not to act now that her attention was pulled elsehwere.
Jinx mirrored her, and Bazi was readying herself for a scuffle when a second, larger shape appeared at the other wolf's shoulder. The Creek girl stiffened in her bow, ears fanning out from her skull and tail wilting. An entire mountain range separated her from her pack, and she had neglected to bring muscle along for this particular journey. Without her pack, she was weak - especially against two wolves. And wasn't this the creature they had chased away from the vicinity of the Creek mere days earlier? Was he here for some kind of revenge for besmirching his pride? Her eye flickered to Jinx. Surely, this wasn't something the Silvertip alpha would sanction.
That much was confirmed by Jinx's question to her underling - his presence was unexpected. Did she know of his recent transgression? Would it be appropriate to bring it up - here? A million questions rushed around the newly appointed Beta's brain. Her best option would be to just leave, she eventually decided, and rose - slowly - to do just that, glancing in the direction of the eastern mountain range. Majesty had probably saved her skin by intruding.
OOC: Look, Chelsie, I'm using your avatar! :)
IC: Majesty's ears went back for a moment at the look of utter surprise - and disappointment - on his Alpha's face as he approached. 'What are you doing here?" she asked, and he noticed that she kept one ear trained on the white wolf even as she turned her head to look at him.
"I…" He didn't know how to say, "I was worried about you facing this wolf by yourself" without offending her. He really wasn't worried. It was just that his natural instincts always told him to put his family before himself. And he didn't know if she had been in trouble or not, so he had come to check. "I - " he began again, but cut himself off as he saw that the white wolf had begun to slink away, slowly.
"She is trying to run," he murmured to Jinx quietly, so that the other female wouldn't hear. "What do you want to do? And what do you want me to do?" Majesty had always believed that honesty was the best policy, so he was honest with his Alpha now. "I will leave if you ask it of me. I know you don't want me here."
“That is not necessary,” Jinx responded to Majesty's concerns, though her eyes remained fixed on the slowly rising Bazi. In reality, she would have loved the opportunity to rip this wolf apart and deliver her back to Fox as a reminder of how useless she had been when she came to the creek, but to do so with the aid of her pack mate would only bring war on their heads. She would win in single combat or not at all, and in this case, Bazi saw the opportunity and took it.
But before the plush white Swiftcurrent Beta could properly leave, Jinx spoke loudly, addressing her subordinate but still staring fully at the yearling. “This is one of the wolves I talked about at the rally who is unwelcome near our home,” said the Alpha, projecting her voice so that Bazi could not mistake it. “If you see her near the pack... Kill her.”
With that, the pale Alpha lifted herself as if to leave, bumping Majesty's snout amiably with her own in thanks for his presence. Her initial irritation had dissipated into gratefulness. They were, after all, much closer to the Creek and Bazi could have called for her comrades faster than Jinx's could ever have arrived.
"She's trying to run."
Trying to? Bazi frowned at the white alpha and her minion, pausing her escape momentarily. Were they going to attack her - here?
But Jinx had no such plans, it would seem, content to eviscerate the Creek wolf in the privacy of her mind for now. The warning that had previously been issued via Fox was repeated, and Bazi turned around to glare insolently at the Silvertip pair as they too prepared to leave, but took took note all the - she hadn't been west more than one in the past few weeks, and would not be going any time soon. Majesty, on the other hand, had taken it upon himself to travel across two mountain ranges to skulk around Creek borders, much closer to claimed territory than Bazi had ever been. "Keep a tighter leash on your own dogs, then," she shouted back, "That one next to you was prowling around our borders."
The sudden bump of Jinx's snout to Majesty's sent a jolt of surprise through his chest. He had never known his Alpha to be very… affectionate, so the feel of her muzzle on his was quite unexpected, but not unwelcome. Suddenly, in a rush of camaraderie, he had the urge to lick her cheek, but he refrained. He knew that if he tried, he'd probably lose his tongue. Chuckling to himself at the silly notion, he instead made a simple sound of happiness deep in his throat - a kind of hum that let others know he was in a joyful mood.
Even the arctic wolf's comment about him "prowling around their borders" did not bother him. His conversation with Jinx earlier had left him feeling better about that. His tail wagging slightly, he followed her back toward the Mountain that he called home. He wondered, briefly, if it was worth it to start his own pack when he was just beginning to settle in where he was…
Bazi's shout compelled Jinx to splay her ears back to listen, but it was received with a cocky smirk. It would have been exceptionally rude to tell Bazi to kill her subordinates if she could catch them that close to the Creek in front of Majesty, so instead she held her tongue. For her, it was an equal world. She had every right to harm Bazi for coming close, just as Bazi had every right to harm any of Jinx's subordinates who came too close.
She believed her wolves were much too cunning to be caught, though.
She silently gestured for Majesty to follow. She was sick of the cloying herbal scent of the vale, sick of thinking about Bazi, and sick of being away from the mountain. The chocolate male could decline her company, and she would simply return home alone, but she would have appreciated the opportunity to get to know him better, for more than just social reasons.