Wolf RPG

Sialuk and Elentari had successful deliveries. Two singletons now counted themselves among Moonspear’s ranks - a boy and a girl full of life and energy. It was a happy time within the pack. Towhee had returned for a visit and Kukutux had come to watch over the new mothers.

Njord set out early in the morning on a solo hunt to feed the pack. He followed a fresh trail around Moonspear’s foothills towards Ghost Lion Crag. From there, a lovely view of the verdant Tuku Hinterlands could be enjoyed. Njord spotted Sun Mote Copse and its sparkling river and felt the sudden urge to explore it.

He was eager to learn what game the territory supported. Could his family truly thrive here? The man crossed into the lowlands and scented the wind.

As much as Meerkat wanted to coo over the pack’s newest additions, she reminded herself to give the new mothers some space to enjoy their newborns. She did stop by to drop off a small kill for @Sialuk, @Elentari and their babes before shuffling away from the ulaq. She would track down her husband and cuddle him instead.

His trail led her out of the territory, in a compelling but unsurprising direction. Lips curling into a smile, Meerkat followed after him, her paws moving swiftly to try and catch up with Njord. She didn’t even see him until the two of them were nearly at the copse. Regardless of anything, the sight of it made her heart leap in her chest. Or maybe that was just her mate’s effect on her.

Swept up in a sudden sense of playful merriment, Meerkat proceeded to catcall him.

Njord’s nose hovered above the Copse’s rich earth as he trotted along under the sparse canopies. It was evident, by scent, that this section of the Hinterlands didn’t often see wolves. However, plenty of game called this land home. Mule deer, moose, snowshoe hare, marmot, and mouse tracks could be identified. Even black bears and bobcats, too, hunted here. The lush flora provided food and cover. All good signs of a thriving ecosystem.

Suddenly, a very familiar and amorous note caught Njord’s attention. Meerkat, that sly mink, had tailed him! His red plume curled and wagged as he gallivanted over to his wife, ready to give chase should she choose to play coy.

He turned and capered over to her. Meerkat stood still, eyes merry and tail raised, twitching to and fro. She braced as if preparing to bound away, her forepaws thumping the ground. But instead of making Njord chase her, she surged forward, one foreleg slinging over the slope of her mate’s back as the other embraced his neck. Reared up perpendicular to him, she planted a wet smooch right on his nearer cheek.

Hi, she breathed, smiling against the fur there before teasing. Well, here I am. What’re your other two wishes?

Njord’s broad paws slapped the ground in a bow when Meerkat suddenly burst into action. He became willingly ensnared by her affectionate embrace. If a heart attack cut him down at that moment, Njord would have died a happy and contented man!

“What more could Ah man want?” Njord said with a whimsical sigh. Satisfied, he could have granted any genie its freedom!

His gaze drifted from his beautiful wife to the new and abundant land that welcomed them.

“Did ye ever imagine ye’d come back to this place? Call it home?” he asked Meerkat.

She frowned playfully at him, batting at his broad chest with a dainty paw. Her expression soon smoothed into a fond smile as she teased her blunt claws through the fur there, feeling the firm muscle beneath the pads of her paw. Her eyes sparkled.

No, she answered his question lightly, honestly, and it still seems surreal to think I would come back to live in the place where I was born. I mean, it’s poetic in a way, but I’ve spent so much of my life living in other places, she thought aloud, humming into silence rather than adding her next thought, and thinking those were my forever homes.

If they settled in the copse, she would think that here too, she knew. Meerkat dropped her paw and gazed around, drawing in a deep breath of golden air. Maybe, this time, she would actually be right?

It really is lovely, though. And I think the girls are onboard. So I say we make it official, mo chride, Meerkat spoke, warm gaze returning to his face. Let’s do this, Njord. Let’s patrol the borders—our borders—and leave our calling cards. Let’s make it ours.

Njord scanned the verdant frontier as Meerkat spoke. Already, he had begun to imagine a life here - it was so easy! A fanciful, breathy hum vibrated from his throat as he leaned into Meerkat’s embrace, lifelike pictures of his children beside the river playing in his mind’s eye.

Then, Meerkat suggested they proverbially cut the ribbon. Her warm gaze found his and Njord’s expression began to beam. Aligned, he responded with confidence. “Aye, let us start. Let us make it ours!” The volume of his voice crescendoed into a cheer as his cadmium red tail wagged and curled over his back.

If he had hands, Njord would have clasped his wife’s and pulled her into a spin. Then, his steps turned into a gallop as he dared Meerkat to run with him.

They galloped around the copse in tandem, one or the other pausing now and again to hike a leg (in Njord’s case), squat (in Meerkat’s case) or rub themselves on the rough bark of a tree. Every time she stopped, Meerkat also made a point to scuff her paws in the soil, their soil, before springing fleetly after her husband.

Time passed in a blur as they finished their circuit and plunged back into the copse’s heart to spread their scents there. Soon the place was drenched in eau du Sveijarn-Corten and more than a fair few pheromones too.

Meerkat led her mate toward the river at the foot of the mountains as the sun began to sink in the sky. Had they really spent a whole day here? She felt spent in the best possible way. Although they’d already made a pass through here, she dropped to the grass on the bank and began to roll, smothering herself in the scent of the land now. She belonged to it as much as it belonged to her.

I don’t want to leave, she admitted in a whisper, eyes seeking Njord’s from where she sprawled contently on the shore. Tomorrow, let’s bring the girls here. We’ve marked it, now we need to settle it. We can go back and forth while we transition, since it’s not so far…

Njord didn’t think his heart had ever felt so free!

He careened across the copse with Meerkat and weaved in between the tall pines pillars of sunbeams, and the late September flowers as they left their marks upon the land. Soon, all would know this place as theirs. Their own piece of the Hinterlands.

But before Njord could realize it, the sun began its descent. Vibrant colors touched the distant mountain peaks to the East, the forest bathed in gold. Meerkat led him to a cold river where he drank his fill – and everything felt right in the world.

Meerkat practically tossed herself into the bed of grass and Njord’s expression warmed as he admired her. It, everything, just felt right.

He lay beside her and watched light shimmer atop the moving water. “It couldnae be better timed,” he observed. “Our girls are at the right age tae explore. Tae ken this new land. When they lay eyes upon it… they’ll no fancy leavin’ either.”

He wrapped a paw around Meerkat. “Aye, tomorrow, then,” he agreed as the first stars began to twinkle in the sky.