Following his visit to the tall mountain peak, Ovaltine wandered south and west, letting his paws carry him to yet another swath of claimed land. Another mountain, surprisingly close to the last one, and he was again keen to soak up whatever knowledge they could provide him with. The stench of their markings was enough to make him stay far enough away so that he would not sound the alarms, but he lingered again, this time letting his whole body fall to the floor of the earth as he began to groom his front paws.
As he awaited the (almost certain) patrol, he pondered on what this summer would bring. Ovaltine had no intentions of settling down here, but it would make a nice haunt until the weather drove him south to a warmer climate with more abundant prey. Besides, he had found that most wolves did not take kindly to the scavenging type such as himself. They preferred those that stuck around, pledged their loyalty, and pretended as if nothing could ever take them away. Ovaltine was a realist, and he thought such things were silly.
You would have thought everything would return to normal when Saena came back, gotten their old happy stress free life back. No, nothing would be the same afterwards. It was the same thing as going back in time, you couldn't go back to your childhood and here, you couldn't go back to the time where Junior was in the Rise and they were a carefree pack. Or as carefree as a pack could be. In the beginning, Arion knew he was never going for the warden trade, he had a wanderer's heart and patrolling had never been what he loved. But things were different now, the pack needed protection from the dangers lurking beyond and though he still wished to be an outrider, it had to wait.
Patrolling was what he did often now, whether it was alone or with his packmates. He renewed the scent markers everytime he patrolled, and looked out for loners. This time, a stranger's scent drifted towards him and immediately, Arion made for it. The wolf was a respectable distance away, but it didn't stop his hackles from rising as he watched with fierce golden eyes. "What is your business here?" he asked coldly.
A hostile pack member approached, and Ovaltine immediately took several strides back with the harsh greeting. He was about to turn around and high-tail it out of there (he lacked confrontation skills), when the other asked him a question instead of outright chasing him off. "Nothing hostile, I assure you," Ovaltine replied calmly. He had no reason to piss off the locals. In fact, he intended to charm them in any way that he could. Friends were far better than enemies to a wandering soul like himself. In fact, he had never understood hostility. Sure, he'd had to save his own skin a few times, but he had never instigated such atrocities.
"My name is Ovaltine Driftwood. Does this place have a name?" he asked. It had been his go-to greeting for the past two years, and he saw no reason to change it. More often than not, he was granted an answer. It lacked the directness of asking the interrogator his or her own name, and allowed them to reveal as much or as little as they wished. If they had no interest in giving out any kind of information, he would simply be on his way.
His hackles smoothed back down along the strong curve of his spine when the stranger backed away immediately, a part of him hoped that the other wolf would simply run away and spare him from explaining anything, or gods forbid, chatting with him. But no, the gods would not grant him the mercy as the agouti male assured the ebony dusted Greek that he wasn't hostile instead of moving away. Then he made to introduce himself as Ovaltine Driftwood and asked for the name of the pack lands.
"Redtail Rise," Arion answered shortly, although he no longer expressed an outwardly hostile stance, it was clear by the way he was tense and alert that Ovaltine was still unwelcome by the borders. "Why do you stop by the borders, you are a loner yet you do not seem to wish to join the pack? What is your business here?" he inquired once more, his falcon like gaze still fixed firmly on the stranger's face.
Ah, there it was. The other relaxed, if only the slightest, and answered the question about the name of his home. "I seek knowledge of the world around me, that is all," Ovaltine replied truthfully. "If it does not please you, I will be on my way." He was not sure why it was so many immediately assumed that he did not wish to pledge himself (even if it was entirely true). Perhaps it was something about the way he held his stance. Or maybe he spoke in such a way that made it seem as though he was only dropping in. Oval was a non confrontational wolf, and he did not wish to stir trouble where he could avoid it.
"if you’re willing to answer one more..." Ovaltine trailed off, "I made my way through a field not long ago, just south of here. Have the locals blessed it with a name, too?" He had not asked the wolves of the great mountain about it, for the thought had slipped from him then. Besides, if it bordered Redtail Rise, perhaps it was these wolves that had honored it with a label.
Knowledge, it was what they both seeked but while Ovaltine had the freedom of a traveler and a loner, Arion did not, being in a pack came with benefits, protection, family, a new life but with it came a set of duties. Patrolling, hunting, the pack had to come first no matter what and right now, Redtail Rise needed protectors more than ever. He could not go on week long travels as he had once done before Saena's absence, no, if he had to go, he could only scout out the surrounding areas and be back before long. Arion dared not leave the ridge too much, they had wolves sure but few of them were trained in the arts of the warrior, they needed him if battle approached.
"If I could, I would have departed the Rise with you to accompany you on your search for knowledge, but my pack needs me more than I need adventure, and therefore I must stay. If you grow weary of your travels, however and wish for a home, you may come to the Rise. You will have a fair hearing," the Greek did not know why he invited the man to the Rise, perhaps it was because they both seeked the same thing and that a traveler's heart beats true beneath their breast. Either ways, the words were spoken and could not be taken back.
"I cannot be sure, but there are flatlands near here called Dawnlark Plains."
The informant (for lack of a better name) nearly implied that he would rather be traveling than be tied to loyalty. Ovaltine's face twisted into a sad smile, though he did not pester the man on that subject. He seemed to have chosen his fate, and that was none of the drifter's concern. Then, in a blink of an eye, he offered Ovaltine an open invitation of sorts. Now why would he go and do that? "I appreciate the gesture," the loner replied, though he had no intention of taking him up on it. This was not the first hint he had been given by pack wolves, nor would did he think it be the last.
His ears swiveled forward once more as his informant gave the field a name. "Dawnlark Plains," he echoed, "Pretty." There was something decidedly quaint about the name, though Ovaltine couldn't quite pinpoint it. Not wishing to leave without at least grabbing a name from the helpful lad, Ovaltine questioned him once more. "Who should I ask for if I ever decide to take you up on that offer?"
The loner was polite, it seems, or he was not the man Arion thought him to be. For if Ovaltine was similar to himself, he would not even consider the offer. Traveling and exploring was his heart and soul and giving that up for a pack was preposterous, before he arrived at Redtail Rise at least, for when he found a new family, things changed, priorities changed. But the stallion knew that if he had not stopped by Teekon Wilds, he would still be wandering and gathering knowledge, without any attachments whatsoever.
Ovaltine deemed the name Dawnlark Plains as pretty but the Greek merely shrugged in response, he had no use for prettiness, to him, names were names and nothing more. But perhaps the Driftwood was one of those wolves who were prone to sentiment, he did not blame them though, it wasn't there fault that they were born like this.
"Just howl for the Alpha of the pack," Arion said with a brief smile. "She'll come soon enough."
Thanks for the thread! One more from you and it'll be EXP worthy. ^__^
Ovaltine smiled faintly. He had gotten no name from him, but he supposed it did not matter. The male had no intentions of settling here anyway. If he had, he would have stated so up front. With the knowledge procured, and his curiosity satisfied, Ovaltine gave the informant a farewell.
"I shall. Best of luck in helping your pack." Briefly, the drifter waited to see if the Redtail Rise wolf had anything else to say. If not, he would be on his way, unaware that he was about to fill his brain with all kinds of information about these new lands.
However much he liked the loner, he would not tell him his name. For to Arion, his name, the name he preferred and used most often could only be said to those he trusted and to his packmates. Names were dangerous things and just saying the name of an evil creature, for example, Kronos, might awaken him from his sleep and bring chaos to the world. At least, that was what his father taught him and what Janus's own father taught him, and on and on and on.
"Good luck on your travels, Driftwood," Arion said with a gentle tilt of his head. Once he was sure the loner was gone on his own way, the chocolate nobleman continued on his patrol, though this time his heart wasn't really in it. For he remembered the days when he himself had been a drifter, a wanderer with no ties anywhere and Arion knew he still yearned for those days.