Their first order of business turns out to be that of recruitment. Easy enough. Helix finds herself a decent judge of character, the ability to spot a warrior when she sees one, and surely other skills just as useful they may need in the impending months of cold weather. The further south they are from Trigeda, she doesn’t expect such harshness, but they have many small mouths to feed—more than she thinks they can afford (how lucky to have lost one with Thuringwethil and another disappearing)—so she moves with purpose.
After checking the borders, she moves south into the sound. She’s met a number here already as it and as a scent tickles her nose late in the morning, she follows. Not expecting to pick up every wolf she runs into, she can at least get a feel for what to expect, and once he woman comes into view, Helix makes a path for her. Before she sees the saddened and worry worn expression, she offers a gentle chuff when close enough to gauge the stranger.
Helix slows to a stop when she startles the woman. Knowing better than to get too close now, regardless of their size difference, she holds back. The stranger is close to Drageda territory but they are neutral territory nonetheless. All she can do it that moment is simply warn her without acting and proving their aggression.
“No,” she states rather plainly, though her gaze hardens. Her head swings back and she points with her nose at the cliffs that silhouette their background. Home. “You are not from around here,” she observes. Helix is new to the area but the coast she knows, regardless of where she is. Born of the sea and lived for years, before she’d been forced out, and perhaps the only thing that keeps her sane in a pack that does not feel yet home.
The woman realizes her mistake in getting too close but Helix feels no need to reprimand. She possesses no threat at the time and Helix finds herself slowly relaxing. On some subconscious level, she is always on guard in some form and it varies greatly depending on her situation. Lily from the North offers little for her to react to, having admitted freely what she’s doing in these parts and dragon wolf nods once.
“If you tell me about your friend I will be happy to keep it in mind, but as far as your pack goes I suggest you keep looking, Lily from the North,” she informs easily, setting her shoulders a beat later. “I am Helix from Drageda.”
Lily speaks of her friend, his name, what he looks like, and she tucks it away for later as it does not match anyone she has met. There’s a lot of estrogen this high on the coast that a male would be noted with ease and the way she spoke of him indicates something else there, at least on one end. A curious glint from her gaze is all that is offered before the usual stony, hardened expression returns.
“We are not much different than other packs,” she says with an idle shrug. They have their ways, but that is not for Lily from the North to know. “But there are many of us, not just on the cliffs.”
What little information Helix is willing to offer, Lily seems to accept. Whether or not it was because she knows she won’t open up, or she’s just satisfied with the answer, the other doesn’t let on and speaks of her home. There is very little she knows about the surrounding packs and the only one she’s been informed about is Morningside but what has her attention the most is sanctuary. Brows beat together before she has a chance to sort her confusion, as if the concept of an actual sanctuary is foreign to her. No, you simply don’t trust outsiders.
“I have not heard of it,” she says, resisting her curiosity. “I am somewhat new to this area. I only know there is a place called Mornigside. Do you know where that is?” she questions. Blixen doesn’t seem too sure where they’re located but perhaps she passed them by on the way here, if she’s already this close.
“Do you know where Sleeping Dragon is?” she questions, thinking about the forest she’d come through to get there. She had to have passed the pack, skirting their borders along the way. It hadn’t been memorable enough to stick in her memory, much more concerned with the strange wolf they’d stumbled across. If Lily knows where they are in relation to their former home, they may be able to search for their nearest neighbors after all.
Lily speaks of what she’s running from and it surprises her, if not outright stuns her. Helix takes a step back automatically, even with the reassurance she has passed by the sickness already. What if there’s something lingering, making the connection all the way to the coast? She notes to wash before returning to Drageda, shedding anything she may or may not have encountered with this stranger. The story is a strange one and she doesn’t know what to do with it. “Did you kill the cats?” she questions though, she agrees, “you should move.” Who knows what those things are actually carrying? Hopefully they’ve been taken care of through all this.
“A mountain, further inland,” she tells her. “There’s a geyser field on the east of it, I think,” she adds, trying to remember. She hadn’t spent a lot of time there with Ajatar and Denali but it’s the only real landmark she has to go by.
The information about the cats leaves her curious. The sickness killed them, or they left in the threat of wolves, but it is still not a satisfying answer. If it kills the cats, spread to the wolves, where does that leave them? Helix resists the urge to put another step between her and Lily but instead watches for sudden movements and signs of sickness. The new companion has a wet noise and no drainage from her eyes, her voice isn’t riddled with the sickly rasp, and she doesn’t seem weak or fatigued. Helix isn’t much of a healer but she’s seen enough in her lifetime to know what sickness looks like.
“I do not know the teekon well enough to help you in that regard,” she confesses with a bit of a shrug. She has no interest of going out of her way for someone she doesn’t know and a pack that has no relation with Drageda. “But I wish you luck.”
“Sure,” she says, though she doesn’t know for certain if they’re talking about the same thing but she hopes for their sake they are. “It is where Drageda used to live many seasons ago,” she adds. She’d already admitted to her newness and obvious unfamiliarity of the land. If they’d chosen a volcano to live on, she is surprised they’d lasted long at all. The history is vague with time and she can’t speak firsthand.
After a moment, it is obvious Lily needs her space. Helix nods her head and takes a step back. Usually she may wait until the other is gone but she may need the ocean seascape a little longer and, instead, takes her leave back to the cliffs.