There was something about the way the cold wrapped around her and seeped into her bones that she enjoyed. The scale up the mountain left her shivering, but she did not mind it. Snow crunched underpaw, a trail of prints spread in a line behind her. She was tired -- but who wouldn't be while climbing the mountains. Despite the weariness that plagued her she continued until she reached the outcropping where dark birds sang their ragged songs and perched on gnarled branches.
The scent of other wolves made her wary. She stayed a decent distance away from the scent, albeit how familiar it seemed to her. Lilja sat down, nearly falling asleep where she was.
determined to be of service in some way, teya tested her hobbling new steps along the border. soon she would retire to the shelter stjornuati had chosen for her, but in the present, the bracing cold seemed to devour her bones. breath rising in a shaky plume; one paw before the other, concentrating.
up and about; the trail of unfamiliar scent dragging her apricot hackles upright. in the distance, a smudge of cream and graphite against the frost-licked foliage. tail lashing once at her hips, teya considered she was in no state to approach the stranger, but issued a series of sharp barks all the same, shoulders spiked and widewater eyes flashing blue in alarm and annoyance.
Ears were pierced by sharp barks echoing against the mountainside and she whipped her heads towards them, a frown tugging at the corner of dark lips, nose wrinkled in distaste. What's the problem? She kept the words from slipping past her maw and instead decided to stay silent, letting quiet fall between them.
"Am I intruding?" she asked instead, deciding to take the kinder and less aggressive route despite the aching in her heart to demand why this stranger had come at her in such a way. "Because if I am, I can go," she offered, almost rolling her eyes but deciding against it. Probably wasn't a good idea.
the stranger turned toward teya, and the girl beheld the pointed firelight of her gaze. "raven's watch," she grunted a bit breathlessly, hoping that if her posture was kept, the other would not see her weakness. desperately she hoped for one of the storm-siblings to arrive, for she was a poor ambassador and even more inferior warrior.
"you go," the half-wilted flower urged, though her low voice lacked the tones to carry such an order. if this one was wise, she would inquire into joining if she wished to remain longer upon their land, but teya knew too she was ill-equipped to survey this one for stjornuati.
Barks, sharp and strident, summoned the man with a ritual as old as time, a warning to keep the demons at bay. From the shadows of the treeline, gold-crested cream melted to stand aside the blíður álfur, never too far from the blossom when she wandered. His ward was well-tended and this matter was to be no different, hackles rippling up to spike along his spine.
Stjornuati stepped forward, once, on a stiff leg, eyes of strung intestines narrowed and menacing. A threat borne by a yellowed glint of tooth, he eyes the bonewhite woman without recognition. Many a wolf wore colors such as she, though few were so brave to climb their peak with the presence of their scent heavy 'round the base of the peak.