Wolf RPG

OOC: Keyni is back after an extended absence from the Teekons! Open to anyone! <3

She drew in a long breath and exhaled it slowly. The familiar chill upon her lips...the very scent of the air she breathed. It felt right. Familiar, like a long lost friend she had missed for too long. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, the Tundrian pressed on through the woodland, in which she was already deeply immersed in. She had arrived not where she had made her departure, many months ago. 

Thinking back, the details leading up to those circumstances were perfectly clear. She forgot nothing. Not even the names of those she cared for, or the land in which she had lain last. Breathing out a soft hum of a sigh, Keyni could only hope that if she did eventually track down the Moonglow wolves, that Kukutux and her followers would not cast her away. Deem her a spirit, an imposter. She had explaining to do, and she was ready to prove her case. She moved on, coming to a split pathway - an old game trail in the forest. Sniffing the air, she weighed her options.

A young buck, not of caribou make, shot through the bracken wood from the south. He crossed the trail of the she-wolf and spun on his heel in the deft manner of a desperate animal; there was blood running down its haunch and its withers quaked with the effort to push harder and run, plunging in to snow, and away.

Some minutes later another section of snow erupted, and through the flakes came Kigipigak; breathing hard and clearly focused on the red streaks melting the winter path, he did not immediately take notice of the wolf scent nearby. He spun also, charging around saplings and over roots packed with white, only to lose the trail.

He cursed to himself and stood panting on the rise. His breath plumed around him. The stag had made a last feint and escaped — but off to one side of the trailhead, the she-wolf. Kigipigak gawked for a moment as he caught his breath, not yet able to speak.

The sound of hooves pounding against earth and snow reached her ears. In the distance, steadily coming closer. The muscles lining her back and shoulders tensed in anticipation, should the need to veer out of the way arise. Soon she saw the dusting of kicked up snow, hanging mist like in the air. Smelled the iron of blood. That of a buck. Then a wolf, following.

The blur of brown hide that was the stag fell out of the corner of her vision. Behind it, it left a fresh smattering of blood. A clearly marked trail in the pristine white of the snow. This was not what drew her immediate attention. It was the pale wolf, beyond the divide of the trail, that she held her eyes upon.

She squinted, curiously. He looked...and smelled familiar. But she couldn't be certain just yet. Giving a wave of her tail to show she was non hostile, the Tundrian took two steps forward. Then gesturing to the curling blood trail near her paws. "There may yet be an opportunity to track it down. He won't get far in these conditions, especially if he is under stress." She invited, testing the strangers interest in teaming up for a hunt.

Kigipigak gathered himself while the stranger drew closer, listening as she offered advice, which he felt was ill-suited to the moment.

He did not like that the buck had escaped but he knew the area was filled with other targets, so the masculine ache of his loss would not live long. He did not need a stray woman to tell him as much.

Still, he smiled to her a tired smile. I had hoped for something to get my blood boiling, and it has. A good break from the easy kills in the valley.

It was the season for caribou, and this year they were plagued, which made them slow and stupid. Kigipigak knew this; but the woman, she appeared ignorant. A new arrival to the wilds, maybe?

I am Kigipigak. My people have made winter camps in the valley.

The pale one did not take her up on her offer. Which she didn't mind. Her dark tipped ears flicked back but did not flatten. "Then, at the very least the chase seems to have been what you needed." She offered, tailing on his boredom of easier kills.

Setting aside her past interest of a hunt, Keyni focused more closely on Kigipigak, as he called himself. The name struck a chord of familiarity with her, though she had yet to place it. Lost to him was that she was far from new to these wilds. However, this exact stretch of forest, was a different story. Though no smile lay on her lips, her expression was calm. Pleasant. "I am Keyni. I have only just returned to the Teekon after an unforeseen absence." She peered at him closely, with jade eyes so much like that of Kukutux. "Your people...what do they call themselves?"

He quirked his head slightly crooked at the question. Her name meant nothing to him, but the rest was intriguing. He did not know what she meant — that perhaps she knew his name because of a connection to Tartok, or something else.

I hunt for Moonglow and for Duskfire; we are keeping close to the glacier village for the winter. A thoughtful blink of his bright eyes, then. I, myself, am from the village of Unnuakvik which is controlled by the influence of Tartok.

Would any of these names ring true for her, he wondered? And if they did, what then? Kigipigak studied her face; she was striking in appearance, but unknown, and quite unlike the moon-woman or her daughter.

She resisted the urge to shift on her paws. A movement that would normally be very out of place for herself. She must have been gone longer than she thought. Her conversation skills felt awkward at best. But, it also could be that it just came down to that she was face to face with a stranger, and not a wolf she knew well like Kukutux or some of her other followers.

Her jade eyes lit up then, when the name of Moonglow left his lips. Her own finally gave way to a faint smile, her tail coming to life in a slow wag. "Moonglow. Then you are with Kukutux, Moonwoman." She stepped closer, then. "I know them well. I ran with them right before my sudden absence. She is like a sister to me..." She tipped her head just slightly, thoughtful and curious. "This Duskfire...they are unfamiliar to me. But Unnuakvik...and Tatrok..." Her lack of complete familiarity with the tundrian clans (or what she assumed to be tundrian), showed in the deliberate pause in her speech. "The names...they are of tundrian? Northerners?" There was little room for doubt, that Keyni, with her paler coloring and especially thick winter coat, did too, hail from the North. Her Tundrian blood was dashed with a mix of Timber, setting her slightly apart. Perhaps another story to dive into at a later time, to explain the many missing puzzle pieces she had yet to find.

Answers came quickly, but so did more questions. Kigipigak put thoughts of the buck far from his mind as he focused wholly on this woman, this sister to Kukutux.

My people, the Tartok, they are from the far north where the land becomes ice. Unnuakvik is my home village, but... I left it, and when I found Moonglow and Kukutux, I made my home with them. It was not the whole story but, it wasn't the time to explain in great detail.

I can show you the glacier, he offered, turning to lead the way even before her answer came, if any would. Perhaps in traveling together Kigipigak could learn more about this woman, and decide if she told the truth or not.

I do not know this word, tundrian, but yes, we are all of the north. Those of the glacier are more kin to Kukutux than they are to me, I think. All are hunters.

Her soft brows pinched down, making for a thoughtful expression on her soft face. "These words...the language of it... It seems so familiar to me..." She admitted out loud. Hearing that he was from the north, Keyni was not surprised. Perhaps by some chance her native pack once had relations with Tatrok and his Unnuakvik. Who was to say. She had never been terribly close with her own family...for complicated reasons. "I was born in the far north also, where the great white bears roam. I chose to leave and discovered the Teekons. I made my home with a pack called Firefly Glen for a while, and then joined Moonglow." 

He gave her no time for an answer in being shown to the Glaicer, but she happily took up his offer. However, it had not escaped her attention that he, a wolf of Moonglow, was here, so far east. "I would like that, thank you." Came her voice as she fell into step beside him and just an inch behind. Her paws, made thick with protective winter fur, glided soundlessly through the snow. 

"Tundrian. It is another term for northerner, you might say. Of the more common language." She was deeply immersed in the knowledge he offered her. "The Glacier is an ally, then. It sounds like Moonglow prospers." She smiled, this time a little more easily. "I am eager to meet them. After I reunite with Kukutux."

The woman's story gave rise to Kigipigak's curiosity, but also something twisted in his chest upon hearing the name for the glen in the west. It brought to mind the ruination of fallen trees and the death he had found there, as well as Sakhmet, who he had somehow forgotten about during the hunts within the taiga.

She went on to speak of her people: Tundrian. It was not a word Kigipigak knew for his own people but there were many villages and lifestyles across the ice.

Moonglow is doing well. Kigipigak was proud of his home. He was proud of his friends within the Glacier as well. I will take you to Kukutux then. She will be glad!

And without another word, he turned in the direction of the women's camp to lead the wandering woman home.