Is there any better time to pounce on a bespoken man at his moment of doubt and vulnerability?

When Kausiut found Rodyn, she observed the man for a good moment, before deciding to call out to him and invite to stop by and make her company. She had been unable to fall asleep on this moonlit evening, therefore she had entertained herself with attempting to draw maps with the same eloquence Sandulf had. It turned out that, while her crooked paw was of little value for its main and primary task, it was quite handy, when she draw lines in snow. They were far for perfect and quite abstract in their nature, but Kau watched her creations with just the same awe she did as a kid, when she played with the assortment of treasures.

She let out a half-bark/growl to catch Samani's fiancees's attention and waited for the man to come, if he decided to do so.

Rodyn responded right away and Kau took it as an encouragement to approach him. She half-hobbled, half-hopped through the snow, until they were within such a distance that it was comfortable to both of them to talk to each other.

Her first instinct was to scan him quickly, just in case he had any food at hand - he did not, which was a little disappointing, but Kau decided to forgive him. After all this day had not been to bad for her food-wise. She had been able to track and hunt some smaller rodents. Far from satisfying her hunger, but enough for her to not hold grudge against other able-bodied people, who walked around with nothing.

The man mentioned Sandulf and Kau nodded in agreement. "Map," she told him the one most important thing that she had gained and learned from the encounter. "Samani?" she asked, tilting her head to the side, wondering, where her sister was and why the groom-to-be was on is own at this time of night.

It is interesting, how we sometimes (or often) base our ideas of, who people are, on our perceptions that might be entirely incorrect. Kausiut was not kind or welcoming. She did not possess empathy in that capacity to feel it. Rather her actions were driven by pragmatic calculations and necessity. She was neither evil, nor a psychopath, but the absence of these extremes did not make her a good person either. Maybe it was a good thing that Kau tuned down her own personality and did not talk much, letting others create an imagery of her. What they wanted to see in her.

Samani was sleeping and he was patrolling. "Join?" she asked on an impulse, because the latter activity did not seem to require much effort - save for being observant and call, when needed. This might earn her a different standing in the Moonglow than it was now.

Rodyn did not decline her offer. She let him lead, where the path did not allow for two to go side by side, and occasionally she stopped to check the marks left by him and read messages left by others. The world of scents was much more easier to navigate than the complex social construct that living in a pack was. Molecules never lied or deceived, they were simple and straightforward.

He asked, what she had liked about Walrus hunters. Kau needed to stop and think. "Trees," she beckoned to the forest surrounding them. "No," she shook her head. No trees. Just the shores, cliffs and the ocean. "Sight. Far," she looked all around her. No obstacles. Unlike here.

Kausiut nodded eagerly. In the beginning she had hated the feeling of being so exposed. For the first few weeks on the shores she had moved in a half-crawl, jumping at any sound and bolting to the nearest safe place, when the stress of the surroundings had been too much to bear. Over time she had grown used to it - with the help of fellow hunters. And after a while she had grown to enjoy it. There was a sense of freedom that Kausiut could not find here. Trees towering over her felt more as obstacles than friends.

Kausiut remembered vividly their first outing to the shores. Samani had loved it, she had absolutely hated it and had refused to budge. She had forgotten many of the details, but the cold, exhaustion and frustration had remained. Now, probably, she would share the same view. It had taken Kausiut longer to connect to the side of her, which her father had contributed to. "You?" she asked and this could mean many different things. Did he also like the shores? Did he like to be able to see around?

Not for the first time Kausiut observed that in most cases she needed to contribute very little to the conversation. In the presence of an attentive audience people themselves were willing to spill the beans and fill the silences between questions and answers. She memorized this for future use. If a well-chosen single word or a couple of them spoken in the right way could induce a flow of words in return - that was a gain. She could spare her energy and take from the other's speech only that, which was needed to keep the conversation going.

"Sand," she could sympathize - she lifted her crooked foot. Soft sand was bane of Kausiut's existence, but at the Walrus hunters their shores usually consisted of packed sand that gave solid ground to stand on. "Home. Here?" Kau asked, wondering, if Rodyn felt here as home or whether he and Samani intended to go somewhere else. If he had told this to her beforehand, she had already forgotten.

So, they too did not feel exactly like home there. Except there was more assuredness to Rodyn, when he claimed this indirectly. Kausiut did not have to look for an answer of "why" very far - he and Samani were not dependant on anyone, while she - the wayward sister - had to make her choices wisely with her own well-being in mind. Long-term. Moonglow may not feel right, but it provided safety and food for a cripple she was. It was a fair bargain for the likes of her, but then it also did not feel fair for her choices to be limited in such a way.

"Where?" she asked, wondering, what kind of place the pair would claim as their home.

Rodyn suggested Kausiut coming with the two, when the time came. She appreciated the idea, but she did not like the uncertainty of that kind of future. She preferred guarantees of safety and food to stay alive. But this did not exclude a possibility of maybe visiting their village later and then making a decision to move there permanently.

"Anaa?" she wondered, if Kukutux knew about the plan of the two and, whether she approved of it. Mom had never restricted anyone - at least not that Kausiut had felt it in any significant way - but then this was a little different. Samani - after all - could be an heir to the Moonglow and therefore mom might have vested interest in having her to stay.

Kausiut nodded in response and for a while after that she walked in silence, stopping here and there at places, which caught her interest. And for the most part observing, what Rodyn was doing as a guardian and she repeated, though not all the reasons for the actions were clear. But she figured that not everything had an explanation and people misunderstood or did not understand her far more often than the other way round.

A sound of movement made her stop in her tracks and scan the area carefully and suddenly she found herself face to face with three roe deer in the distance. They had stopped as well and was watching the two wolves back. There was longing in her heart for that ease of movement that other able-bodied wolves had. In her mind she could see going after the trio, maybe with not an intention to actually catch them, but rather to enjoy the chase. As beautiful as those images were, they always served as a painful reminder, that she would never be able to do that.

Kausiut cast a glance at Rodyn and sighed. He had been very good at understanding her so far and - perhaps - he would read this moment of disappointment and sadness just as well.

Rodyn felt sorry for her and, while Kausiut had somewhat purposely evoked that emotion, now that it was expressed, she did not like it very much. One thing was feeling pity for yourself - you were allowed to wallow in that time from time, but witnessing others acknowledging her weakness openly... that did not sit well with her.

She furrowed her brow, thinking and then replied with the same line she had given her mother. "Crawler," she pointed to herself with her crippled paw. "Fly.Not." Those, who are meant to crawl, do not fly. And what's more - she smiled, thus showing that she was fine with it.

Nah... claiming that Kausiut was a wolf embodiment of Pollianna was far from truth. She was fine with her state, because she had been forced to admit her defeat in fighting it. Fine did not mean that there weren't days, when she did not hate her own vulnerability. Did not feel anger, envy or hate at people, who did not have the same constraints.

But it seemed that Rodyn liked the very much improved image of Kausiut he had formed in his mind. Funnily enough, Kausiut had not had to put much effort in doing so - he had done all the work. Oddly enough for a creature, who had not strived for approval from others, it felt nice to be liked. Both for selfish and personal reasons.

She shook her head, when he suggested she knew about the deer more. Not at all. They were creatures out of her reach and therefore deserved a fleeting glance not lengthy contemplation. "Look,"she paused searching for the rights words. "See.Not." Looking is not seeing.

Fun? Kausiut had been asked this question before and still it mystified her. What did this word mean? It was something you did - certainly, but among all the names she had for the simple everyday activities, "fun" was not among them.

She shook her head - no, Kausiut did not do fun. Then - instead of asking for a lengthy definition she decided to find out the meaning in a more clever way. "You?"she asked, waiting for, what Rodyn would tell her. Maybe then she could deduce, what he had wanted to find out.