Kivi trudged along after speaking with the wolves of the Spine. They were not very helpful, but that would not stop Kivi from hunting for the bison. Her muscles grew sore and her body began to shut down. She needed sleep, but it would put her in a vulnerable position without the safety of the Khalas.
After a few more minutes of walking, the wolfess found herself at a lake. Exhausted, Kivi forced herself to the edge of the lake, and bent down to get a drink hoping the cool and refreshing water would wake her up. Still feeling the effects of not resting for days, the female flopped down in the shallow part of the lake and let the water crash against the lower half of her body. Her head was a safe distance from the water, and after a breeze came by not revealing any scents, Kivi assumed no one was nearby and it was fine to take a quick nap. It was a dangerous place to sleep, but the wolfess was not thinking about that as her brain was not working at its full potential due to the lack of rest. For now Kivi peacefully drifted off to sleep not worried about what was going on around her.
He needed a break. Room to roam. His feet were far too accustomed to wandering to be fully comfortable with staying in any one place for long. He was restless. It was a common thing and a mentality that was hard to break as soon as one became fully adjusted to the life as a loner. Places to see. Faces to meet.
Back there? Everywhere he turned it was as if that brown bear of a wolf was following. Or rather, everywhere Toni went, that wolf was her shadow. If the male felt so threatened by his presence, Kero would give him room to breathe. He could piss on their alpha all he wanted. It only made Kero think less of him. He was crowding.
Not far from the spine, there was another lake. He remembered it from his previous travels. No he wanted to test his memory and see if he could find it again. Putting his inbred talents to the test, he travelled and wandered, crossing many a landscape until he happened upon the water again. He sipped from it, drinking just enough to whet his whistle before he was on the move once more.
Kero took a lap, circling the edges of the water. What he found, was a curious scene, but not entirely unlike one he'd been in himself not long before. A female, one he recognized, napping in the shallows. Kero smirked and situated himself on the shore. Seated, he lingered, letting her sleep as he sat a silent sentinel.
Kivi opened her eyes and looked around to find a familiar face. An annoyed growl came from the female before she flopped back down in the water. "Get lost" was all she said before shutting her eyes again. Kivi would have considered this male somewhat of a friend, but what he said to her when she fought Tonravik upset her. It didn't matter though, she didn't need him. He was nothing, he was simply another enemy. The wolfess would not go back to sleep, not until he was out of sight, so for now Kivi waited for his movement that signaled he was leaving.
She wanted nothing to do with him and when she heard no movement so far, Kivi took her tail and began to try and scoop of water before flinging it at the male. She let out another growl, a simple warning to leave her alone. However a part of her wanted him to stay, as she was curious why he was even around in this area. She assumed he had pack responsibilities to do, or atleast do something better than sit around and watch her sleep.
He waited. He made no move to disturb her, nor shake her from her slumber. Instead he lingered as she slept, turning his mind towards other things as he practiced the long lost art of patience. After a while she stirred, opening her eyes to glance upon him. She snapped, her words biting across the air as she stubbornly shut them and tried to ignore that he was here. Kero didn't move. He wasn't quite sure what to say as of yet, but he had a feeling the words would come when they were ready.
She became annoyed at him. If he were in her position, he might have too. Her tail whipped through the water, kicking up a veil of spray that merely spattered at him from the distance at which he sat. "You're an idiot," he said with a smirk, still watching at her. "Rumor has it, you earned a death sentence because someone told you no when you asked if there were bison in the area."
Kivi growled once again when this did not move. Could he not hear her, or was he simply being difficult? She rolled over so that she was looking away from the male, and so that she could try and pretend that nobody was there. However when he spoke it reminded that he still sat there, but also have her some information she did not know. Kivi sighed and flopped over so she was facing the male, exposing the wound on her flank and the obvious injury on her ear. She didn't care about her wounds though, she needed to get use to having scars of she was going to be a great warrior.
"You are the idiot for joining that pack" Kivi said and left a moment of silence go by before speaking again. "I don't care if I have some death sentence, if I return there and die then so be it." The female did not fear death like some others did. All living creatures die someday and so if that means Kivi's fate leads her to die by the teeth of that dark leader, then she would not argue.
She ignored him further. Or tried. Whether she was successful or not didn't much matter. He rose either way and strode into the shallows of the lake. Lowering his head to the water he took a sip, lapping lightly at its surface while she decided if she wanted to give him the time of day. Oh well. He ignored her too and settled in to quench his thirst.
Eventually she flipped over, staring at him as she revealed her wounds. They were still fresh. The ear would be fine. The one across her flank? Hmm... That one was probably worthy enough to look at, but there was something about her that suggested she was too stubborn to ask for assistance. If it healed without infection, it'd make for a nice scar.
She finally spoke. Kero shrugged. It didn't much matter to him what she thought about his joining a pack. It was his decision, not her own. Besides, "I think I recall you saying your king would not be so open to my joining yours." That limited his options, though truthfully he preferred a female leader over another male. He had dominance issues.
"So be it," he replied. She knew what would happen if she returned. And if it was on his watch? It'd be on his fangs. Here? On neutral grounds? As far as he was concerned they were both lone wolves. Their affiliations were irrelevant. "How'd that cave work out for your student?"
So the male kept sticking around, and even decided to drink for the lake. Kivi gave a sigh as there wasn't much she could do. He was on free lands so it's not like she could send him away, and the female was to lazy to move so she would just have to accept him being here. Kivi was glad the male did not care for her wounds, as she would try at bite his head off if he attempted to help her. She wanted them to scar and show how she had experience when fighting, but of course this would just make her appearance much worse. It was then something popped in the wolfess's head. When as she ever cared about her looks? Was there really even a point to looking good, everyone becomes old as some point and people just keep getting uglier and uglier through age.
When he said about how her Khal wouldn't take him in, Kivi shook her head. "I never said it would be impossible to join I just said he would probably not take kindly to you." The female was a bit confused at her own words now. One second she was calling him an idiot and the next she was practically telling him why he should try and join the Khalas. "Think of it this way, if you are accepted that means you are special" Kivi said with a fake smile. She didn't care for the next words he spoke, as she didn't care for her death sentence either. The mention of the cave did attract the wolfess's attention though. "I never got a chance to train them yet." It would be difficult finding time to train a normal wolf, but training Zhavvi made things ten times harder. However Kivi couldn't complain as it was her choice to train the female.
Heh. Special. "All just special snowflakes now aren't we?" He lifted his head with a smirk, letting the water dribble off his chin as he stared out towards the horizon. Nah. He was content with the spine. It worked. He didn't have any reason to look for anything else. Besides, he'd circled these lands well enough to know by now what his options were. They were few. For him, he'd chosen the lesser of all evils. It was only a matter of time before he discovered if it had been a good call or a bad one.
Lifting a paw from the water, he used the dried edges of his arm to wipe the water from his chin. Glancing towards her, he had a moment to wonder why it was he kept running into wolves who spoke another tongue. The wolves of the spine spoke one thing. This one? Her accent was different. She'd only spoken one word of it to her, but it was enough for him to put the accent and the word together. She knew more than one language. "I'm terrible enough with this language as is. I can't imagine trying to learn another." Trying to learn another culture seemed just as impossible too. At least at the spine, those wolves shared the common tongue. "I'm lazy enough not to want to."
He wandered back into the shallows and flopped down in the water. Rolling onto his back, he hooked his front paws over his belly and turned his gaze towards the clouds above. The fire within his pelt was quenched beneath the water, leaving only the soft whites and creams of his undercoat exposed. His ears were close enough to the shore to remain above it's surface, letting him listen not only to her, but to his own rampant thoughts. "Think you'll ever find the time to do it? Or waiting for your pack to settle down first?"
Kivi wasn't going to keep trying to get the male to join the Khalas, as it would be difficult for him to love with them. He spoke English and many of her own kind did not. When he said about how he didn't want to learn another language Kivi let a shocked expression spread across her face. How could someone not want to learn a new language? "You know it's actually good to learn a new language, that way it's less likely someone can talk about you and you not even know what they are saying. I mean I can call you an tzarafar, sia riika, vur vi sthyr kenzi and you would never even know what I said, unless you learned my language." The wolfess listened as he said he was to lazy to learn anyways, and then watched him flop down in the water. Lazy indeed.
Kivi continued to listen to the male as he went on to say something about training her student. The wolfess thought for a moment and realised it would probably be best if she waited until the Khalas were permanently settled down. "I will wait until we find a good location to settle down, it will be easier that way." Kivi realised that she was supposed to be treating the guy terribly, but as usual thing didn't go as planned. So the female decided to try and enjoy her time with the male instead of being miserable around him.
He inhaled a long, lazy breathe and let it all go in one heaping breath. Pressing his eyes closed, he lingered, listening to the lapping of the lake against the shore and chatter of birds that winged over heard. It was peaceful. Nice. Serene even. Funny how he felt far more relaxed outside of packlands than within them. Politics made monsters of men.
She seemed almost offended when he suggested learning a language was not for him. A bemused expression fell across his face as he wiggled within the water and nestled his body within the wet sands. "You can call me a tazerfer sherieka all you want. It doesn't mean anything to me." He butchered the words and couldn't remember all of them, but hey, it's what he heard on his unknowing ears. "Unless you're volunteering to teach me."
His eyes slipped towards her, wondering if she simply wished to bark about learning or if she had any follow through in making that a possibility. Either way, she went on about waiting to train her student until her people settled. Still looking then, huh? "What? None of these lands good enough for you?" A tease.
Kivi too found herself enjoying the lake. She noticed that the male had stopped talk and was now just taking deep breaths for some reason. It was the perfect opportunity to doze back to sleep. Just as she closed her eyes the male's voice filled her ears, and Kivi couldn't help but smile. Why did she even bother trying to rest? She listened as he attempted to speak her language, which left Kivi laughing at him. Maybe it was best if he didn't learn new languages. When he said about her volunteering to teach him, he had gained Kivi's full attention. Teaching him would keep her busy, and she didn't see a reason why he shouldn't learn her language. "I'll teach you if you want" she said keeping it short and simple, leaving it up to him if he wanted to learn the difficult Dotharan language.
When he teased about none of the lands being good enough for her, Kivi shrugged her shoulders. She actually didn't want these wilds, but the Khalas were searching for plains and so that is what the female would have to work with. "These lands are fine with me, but the group I'm in prefers flatlands over mountains and valleys." The plains are what Kivi grew up on, but honestly she enjoyed the strange terrains, however nothing could beat the good old flatlands.
Ahh. There it was. She volunteered to help teach him the language of her lands. He glanced at the sky, contemplating it for a moment before he decided it couldn't hurt. He could remain completely ignorant or get a clue. If he had the opportunity. He was going to get that clue. "I suppose it couldn't hurt. Start with the basics?"
He rolled over where he sat, turning onto his stomach. Mud clung to his fur and he flicked an ear, shaking a little bit off as he looked to her. Eh. Not quite clean yet. He rolled again, moving towards her in the shallows until he was a little bit closer, but not near enough to touch. Grinning he glanced towards her with a large glob of lake bottom on his nose. "Am I clean yet?"
Kero shook his head and rid the mud from his muzzle. He ran it through the water, cleaning the rest of it off and huffed to clear the droplets from his nose. His ears lifted, then fell as she spoke of seeking flat lands. It didn't make sense. "What? How do you? There's not really a... " He frowned, thinking on it, trying to piece the words together. "There are few natural dens in an area like that. Not to mention wide open borders... How does that even work?"
She smiled when he said about how learning a new language couldn't hurt. So she now had two students, one she was teaching how to fight, and the other her native language. Kivi wondered if she should start making people pay for her services. Nah, the female didn't enjoy taking payment as she was afraid someone would poison it. "Ok say ava'yorn. Ava-yorn. Aaaavvvvvaaa-yyyyooorrrrnnn." Kivi probably sounded like an idiot, but she didn't care. "Ava'yorn is hello in Dotharan." When the male roll over on his stomach so did Kivi. She watched as he tried to clean himself of the lake muck. She didn't say anything when he asked if he was clean yet, but just layed there smiling.
When he shook the muck from his face, a peice landed on Kivi's muzzle and her eyes narrowed at the male, but she did nothing more. She took her paw and swiped the mud away in one quick scoop. He seemed suprised when she said that her kind live in the open plains, and then went on to ask how someone could even live there. "My kind are strong, if we can not find a den then we make our own. Open borders makes it easy to spot intruders." They were simple but yet answered his questions.
She didn't hesitate to comply. No sooner had she mentioned it and considered the topic of language, than she launched into a simple word. She spoke it first, then broke it down into syllables before lengthening the word in such a way that he was better able to catch the subtle inflections of it. The way she did it really helped the world click. It was so much easier than someone just repeating it a bunch of times and hoping he caught on.
"Avay-orn," he attempted, recognizing it sounded wrong and trying again. "Ava-yorn. Ava'yorn?" That last one sounded closer. "Did I get it?" He looked to her, waiting for confirmation on the yes or no. That combination of letters felt really strange upon his tongue, but if the rest of her language was similar to that, it definitely explained why her accent was so exotic. It was different.
"Datharan?" he asked, noting she'd put a name to the language. "Is that what your people are called?" Or perhaps some variation of the word. It was the first he'd ever heard of that society, but it sounded like they were vastly different from anything he knew. It was interesting. "Are your people adept diggers? For dens and such?"
It was strange to hear the male speak her language, but also it sounded quite nice. On many of her travels she learned to speak other languages but not once had she taught someone her native language. A smile spread across the female's face when he said the word correctly. Kivi felt like she had accomplished something and deserved a medal for teaching the male a word he will probably forget in minutes. Nevertheless the wolfess embraced her inner teaching skills and continued on with another word. "Good, now say si mi vin malai." Kivi's smile had slowly turned into a smirk as she waited for the male to attempt the sentance. She wouldn't tell him what the sentance meant...not yet.
When the male asked if Dotharan are what her people are called, she shook her head yes. She wanted the word Dotharan to be heard all around the world, and Kivi believed one day only Dotharan wolves would exist. "You could say that I guess" was her answer to his question. Maybe instead of simply teaching him about her language she could also teach him the ways of her people. "Would you like to know more about my people's ways?" He seemed curious about Dotharan things such as the language and how they lived in open plains. Kivi was still deciding if this was good or bad.
She was smiling, he must have said it right. He echoed the expression, letting his lips spread in a happy sort of grin as she told him he'd done well and moved on to the next few words. A phrase this time. He wasn't quite sure where one word started and the other ended. He parted his lips to speak and noted her smile turned into a grin. "Nope," he said, dragging a paw through the water to splash at her. "Not until you tell what that means." He wasn't gonna fall for that one, not when her smirk revealed some kind of sneaky intent. "The real meaning."
Her people were kind of diggers. He nodded, not quite certain what she meant by that, but he decided to drop it. In the grand scheme of things, he supposed it didn't really matter, but he was rather curious about her kind. They seemed so... different than what he was used to. As if they had an entirely different way of thinking. "I would like that," he said with a nod. "It's nice to learn about new ways of life."
Kivi sighed when the male closed his mouth and refused to say the words. She needed to think fast, and come up with something so he would say them. "If you really must know, it means I like you" the female said tried her absolutely hardest to keep a serious face. She was messing with him, but on the outside she looked like she really meant the words that just came out of her mouth. She waited to hear him say that stupid phrase and then she would tell him the true meaning. She was an evil genius, or at least Kivi thought she was.
Yet again another smile formed on the wolfess's face when he said he would like to learn about her people. There was so much to cover she didn't know where to start, so she decided to let him pick. "What would you like to learn about?" She realised she probably should have given him a list of choices to pick from, but for now she kept quiet waiting for his answer.
She gave him the meaning. Kero lifted a brow at her. "Now why would I say a thing like that?" he mused out loud. "I mean, you're tolerable at best. Like seems to be pushing your luck a little too far." He teased her, still not saying the words simply because he'd forgotten them already. He wasn't able to tell where one word had started or ended, which left the whole phrase running together into something intelligible. He couldn't remember it.
Lifting to his paws, Kero circled around in the water before seating himself once more. He turned his gaze out towards the lake and watched a couple of dragonflies dance around the surface. "I'm not sure..." he drifted, trying to decide what he wanted to know and realized he didn't know where to start. "If you were to describe your kind, what would you say?"
The female gave a huff when he said she was tolerable at most. She lifted a paw and began to grow it. "Please...you know if irresistible. I bet you followed me in that mountain cave, and then followed me here." Kivi raised her eyebrows and gave the male a you know I'm right look. She actually had no idea why he was at that cave or even why he was at this lake, but she said nothing. It was simply none of her business what he was doing here.
She watched as he got up and circled around and then sat again. Ok, that was not weird at all, the wolfess thought in her mind. When he asked how she would describe her kind the first word that popped on her mind was sexist. "Well we are a highly sexist culture where men are looked upon as warriors and hunters, and females are meant to provide children and be the wise ones." Kivi was the exact opposite of many Dotharan female's. She would not take crap from any male, and Lavakho was the perfect example. He had doubted her skills, so she showed him what she was capable of, defeated him, and earned some respect. Simple as that.
"Ahh yes. It was your sheer magnetism that attracted the iron in my soul." His sarcasm dripped. He had half a second to wonder if the wiggly eyebrow thing would be too creepy or appropriately placed. He settled for something in the creepy range as he realized the moment had passed and it was too late for anything. So he did nothing, and merely watched as she tended to her paw.
His question was asked and she was quick to reply. Sexist. Okay then. That wasn't quite what he was expecting, but it might explain why she was so determined to prove herself by making reckless decisions when it came to barging onto someone else's territory and challenging on a whim. "Does this mean you have a dozen little ones at home?" he asked. Since the women were supposed to be barefoot, pregnant, and keeping a clean house. She didn't appear to be doing any of those things, but if the paw grooming was any indication, she did keep tabs on her appearance.
It was clear there was sarcasm in his voice, and Kivi stared at him pretending to be angry. How dare he be sarcatsic about her beauty...she was very proud of her looks, and Kivi I was certian if she wasn't a warrior and a strong female she would have people begging at her feet to be their mate. Of course that was all in her dreams and unfortunately for Kivi she was stuck in reality.
When the male asked if she had a dozen little ones at home, Kivi's eyes shot open. Had he just called her a whore? "Do I look like someone who has a dozen children at home...hmmmm" she snapped at him. Kivi kept cleaning her paw and if he said the wrong answer she would reach out and smack him.
She mocked offense. Kero grinned, adding another tally mark to his jerk card as he made an ass of himself. It was easy. Really. She'd opened herself up for that one and sliding in was irresistible. So was her pretending to be angry at him. Kero laughed at her and ran his paw through the water, attempting to soak her with another wave. If she wasn't stalking him at the spine, he was drowning her in water of some kind.
"Hey. I've seen those hips," he said, implying their girth might have popped out a few. A sleazy grin slipped across his muzzle as he fanned the flame. "Besides, if your options are wise or childbearing... You're not exactly the sharpest stone on the slope." Twist the knife. Just twist it.
Kivi closed her eyes when he splashed water at her. He was practically asking to be slapped. He let a growl rumble in her chest...he just had to make one more wrong move and that would be enough to send her over the edge. With his nests reply the wolfess was not exactly sure how to take it. Was it suppose to be an insult or compliment? Kivi forgot all about how to take the statement when a lightbulb turned on in her head. "Ohhh so you've been checking me out" she said and waited for his response with a smirk on her face.
Once again the female stopped licking her paw and looked at the male when he spoke his second statement. Was he now calling her dumb and a whore? She glanced at her paw and bit down on her tongue. Control yourself, deep breaths, is what she kept reminding herself to do so she wouldn't attack the male.
She growled, letting him know he'd struck a nerve. Meanwhile, he was feeling overly satisfied with himself for being a bonafide asshole. She dished it back all the same, silencing her growl as she countered with a verbal attack, or suggestion. Something. Honey... he'd been checking her out since the moment he'd laid eyes on her in the dark of that cave. "Childbearing hips are the most attractive feature in a female." She could do with that what she would. He'd go right on being male.
And provoking her.
Standing up in the water, he shook out his pelt as he rose to his feet. She was staring at him with eyes that were slowly growing cold and stubborn. "What?" He rolled his shoulders before glancing at her. "Girl, you've got a death wish. Ain't no body gonna call you smart for that one."
Kivi finally finished cleaning her paw and set it back down in the shallow water. Kivi realized she had really just spent all that time cleaning her paw, when she could have just washed it in the lake. It seemed the male just had to keep bringing up childbirth stuff, and so Kivi gave up on trying to tell him she had never had young. If you couldn't beat him, then joining him. "Well thank you." This male said childbirthing hips were the most attractive thing in a female, but Kivi had never had children so what...she had natural looking childbirth hips? Him answering her question was practically him saying that her hips were attractive since he seemed to believe she had youngsters. All of this confirmed one thing. He was checking her out.
A grin appeared on Kivi's face but quickly disappeared the next time he opened his big mouth. He just had to ruin a perfectly good moment didn't he? "I didn't ask for a death wish. I mean it's not like I was going to kill you alpha or anything. I just wanted to fight her and be over with it but she's the one that ordered me to be killed." Kivi had not gone to the Spine with intentions of taking the alpha position, she just want to fight the alpha. Now however she had a more serious matter and next time Kivi came in contact with the dark leader, she would try and kill her.