She'd noted the pack borders a while ago, veering away before finding herself slipping back in their direction, intrigued. It had been a while since she'd come across a pack; never mind one as strong as this one. At first, the strength of the borders had repelled the siren; but surely strong borders meant many wolves; and what better place to find a tale to add to her collection? She could not succeed in her travels if she was not bold, besides, a
udaces fortuna iuvat.
With this in mind did she slow, lifting her muzzle to let out a long call for whoever inhabited that plateau; glancing once behind her at the view (and the fall) before turning her gaze back into the territory.
Grayday travelled in a springy-legged jaunt, as was typical when he was in a particularly good mood. And he had been, amazingly, ever since giving Engel the boot. It was funny how something could weigh so heavily on one's mind without them even noticing it. Grayday had blamed his moodiness on the season until he'd gotten rid of the weight that had been causing his spirit to flag.
He arrived at the borders with an open, curious expression on his scarred face, wondering what the woman might want. He was a bit wary of having her so close to his home - she was on the plateau, after all - but she didn't seem to mean any harm, and Grayday would advise her against coming so close in the future if she turned out to deserve the warning.
"Can I help you?" he asked, not yet sure what to make of the stranger.
When the wolf approached; for a moment did the siren consider simply aborting the plan and shooting back down the plateau. The male looked fierce; scars running down his face, and one eye was simply missing. Remembering her earlier words, she repeated them, silently, before dipping low to the earth, ears flicked back and muzzle swinging back to touch her chest a moment; a gesture half-submission and half-bow. "good morning, sir," She began, carefully unfolding herself from her bow to stand before him humbly.
Bi-coloured gaze blinked at him a moment as again she spoke. "I do not wish to intrude, but your borders intrigued me. I collect stories, and yours is the first pack I've come across in a while now. Could you tell me of this place?" Pfft. She ought to have introduced herself first, ought to have asked of the company that made their home here. But she would not babble, and thus waited passively for the reply of the male.
Grayday was a little suspicious about the other wolf, but he didn't see what harm she could do knowing a bit more about Morningside's origins. As long as he didn't mention their woeful lack of fighters, they should all be fine. Right?
"Well, why don't you introduce yourself, first," he suggested, not quite willing to give in that easily. "I'm Grayday, and we call ourselves Morningside." He waited to see if she would share her name, and if she would mention any pack of her own. It seemed awfully strange to Grayday that a shewolf would be travelling alone in the winter, looking for stories of all things. Well, if she turned out to be genuine, Grayday would pass on a few stories, feed her a good meal, and send her on her way.
Hopefully, she was genuine.
The male prompted her to introduce herself, and her ears flicked back in embarrassment before she responded without delay. "I am Helia," she said simply, tail wagging once in quiet appeasement. She ought to get better at this type of thing, and the siren hoped that it would come with practice. Her encounter with Engel had gone quite well; but perhaps that was a fluke, or merely because she'd been the one in charge of the situation.
"morningside," She echoed, testing the word on her tongue, admiring its novelty. She canted her head a fraction, question half-formed on her tongue. But no, that would not do; she'd only just arrived at their borders and was in no place to ask things of the male.
He was placated, somewhat, by her easy offering of a name - Helia. "Well, Helia, we haven't been in this territory more than a season or two," he said with a wry grin. "So I can't tell you too much about the plateau's lore. What sort of things did you want to know?"
This would help him determine how far to take the conversation, and whether he wanted the woman on his borders at all. If she started asking too intently after his packmates, he'd have to chase her off. If she just wanted general history of the land or the pack, he would give that out easily enough.