OOc: Playing this vague while keeping an eye on current events. Dated sometime after the SC/NSV thread. @Tuwawi
When she felt ready. That was when she was asked to return; when she found confidence that her body was ready for the rigors of training commanded by her instructor. She had taken her time, doubting at first until she understood what she need do. Days spent running seemingly endlessly, and her training time with Raheerah awarded her with some sense of certainty that the next steps were hers to take. In her mind was only the promise of progress, the hope that her instructor would be glad for her physical progress. That he would look to her not with disappointment for her actions, but pride in knowing her potential was still present.

She felt ready for sure.

Once more the female walked the familiar creek side towards its claimed home. Her nose close to the ground and wits about her as she walked, lest she be victim of some surprise unwanted and unwarranted. She proceeded with the same care as she had with her party some days if not weeks before, but with a certain eager air that betrayed her. As precious as camaraderie was to her, she was glad for the opportunity to ensure that what was fashioned had not frayed.

Letting her shoulders roll forward, she stopped at the heavily scented border of the territory. The scent of the small Alpha was pungent if not bothersome, but too was the scent of whom she had traveled to see. Rather than announce herself immediately, the female lowered herself to sit just within reach of the scented marker. Trusting patrols to be as regular as they were within her own keep, she waited patiently for any that might wander by. She had traveled a little ways, and was certainly in no rush.

In the midst of her waiting, the female had taken to a mild groom, pulling the debris of travel from her digits as she waited. She was careful not to leave a bit of herself along the border, even near, lest she inadvertently imply some kind of rebellion to the Creek wolves. She hadn’t the mind, nor care, to invite such ill manners to the Teekon neighbors. She was there for a single purpose; to fulfill the potential seen by another and those she called brethren.

Freeing a stubborn splinter from a weather pad, she looked up with ears twitching to the tell of another’s approach. Her posture was casual upon greeting, retaining a neutral seated form as she waited to properly be acknowledge. The question of purpose, her signal then to rise to all fours to her fullest height though tactfully slouched in the shoulders. She was not there to create an impression upon another, at least not one to convey a contesting air.

“Good day,” she dipped her muzzle politely, her raspy chords hardly a whisper as she continued with her intention. “My business is with Njal of the Creek. We have an engagement. Is he present?”

“I am,” she affirmed minding the tone of her respond. Among her brethren there was a tone of bother in regards to the Creek, but only was it due to the initial introduction between their band and the Creek’s new Alpha. On a personal note, the woman had a present, albeit minute for the diplomacies between packs, as the intact nature of her personal relationships held precedence. As she had heard, if not seen in her days was a wanderer and pack wolf, packs disbanded and fell apart every day. What mattered were the bonds maintained in the hopes to rebuild. Allies were harder to keep than recruits. Such a mentality did not escape even her views of her own pack. It was a reality better addressed as a possibility rather than be surprised if it transpired while in her time.

When asked for her name, the female settled into a brief silence to observe her host. A trail beginning upon scarred muzzle laid a careful course about the scruff of the neck set ablaze by red then flowed along the rolling curve across full shoulders to the unkempt tuffs upon her back. Out of respect, her path ended along the flame ridge of the female’s back, satisfied somewhat by her initial impression. Like the Creek Alpha, this female was small but kept the assets of a fuller form then her superior. A more compacted state to suggest energy not needlessly exerted. A complement to Njal.

“I am Xi’nuata,” she offered in conclusion to her inspection, once more dipping her muzzle in the courtesy of greeting. “Is Njal…-“ she muzzle slipped closed for a moment, her lips wriggling slightly by their corners as she paused to think. “-busy, at the moment?” It was not her intention to appear impatient, as was told by her posture yet unchanged. However she had learned the value in attaining information quickly and concisely. If she was to wait for longer, she wanted to know before further entertaining another line of questioning.

A testament to the beige female’s ignorance of deeper relationship came by way of the blank expression upon her face, when given both name and relationship of her host to whom she sought. Perhaps a word of understanding would have been better uttered, but the intimate bonds let alone the title of such things was limited to a few words at best. To her, ‘wife’ was a word as distant to her as ‘shark’ had once been. There were no relatable instances that she might fall back on, let alone visual cues to help give her a clearer understanding. There was only friend, comrade, ally, enemy, and mate. Limited, certainly, but concise all the same. Without responding to it further, she simply allowed her shoulders to roll as she hunched a little more forward, settling deeper into her slouch. Her tail came to drape around her paws in leisure. Her heavy lids falling somewhat to half-mast as she waited.

“I do not understand the relevance,” she informed her host and candidly, having adopted a word she had heard her prior lead use once before. Her voice remained at its soft octave whilst speaking. Either he was able to visit with her now and continue their training, or she would need to wait for longer until the time suited him. How the nature of their engagement fit into it was absent from her comprehension.

“I am patient,” she continued. “If he requires more time to finish his tasks, then I am willing to wait. Enough time has passed that more would not discourage me.”

Despite the finite nature of the woman’s words, the Vale wolf did not perceive them a threat to herself. Rather than take them to heart, she imagined them to be no different than what would come from her own maw if she were to speak with another seeking an audience with her packmate. It was protection she found in those words and was both humbled and accepting of them.

Rather than contest, she simply nodded her head in understanding, retaining her relaxed posture as she again resumed care over her callus paw. This time picking at a small stem that hadn’t yet bent to her weight. As a personal thought, she found that travelling around the creek was more a nuisance than it was the cross by the mountains. At the very worst, she would suffer a small rock in her paw, but then it could have easily been dislodged by a gentle pat. The ground bore more obstacles, more sticks and leaves to walk over in attempted silence. With that thought, she wondered if her mentor might have a solution for that trouble.

Patiently she waited, minding her own person as she did, until the distinct sound of footfalls alerted her to an approach. Sure enough, by the summon of her host, her mentor revealed himself in confident stride, acknowledging first his 'wife' then her second, but in passing. In either instance she remained silent, observant in the interactions between the pair, though withdrew from her personal chore to listen attentively.

By the tone of the vibrant female, she was not pleased with the Vale wolf's intentions with her companion. Though for the life of her, she couldn't imagine why. Sadly, she did not understand the political stress that come with her appearance nor the true vision of the Creek leader. To her, this was a matter that did not need the care of another. She would do no harm and pose no threat, just as she was certain the same was of her mentor. She was transparent in her intentions.

Quietly, she observed the two as Njal explained their arrangement in greater detail, but it was with a skeptic's tilt to her crown. Join their ranks? If she recalled correctly, he was quite adamant on pushing her away from the Creek on their first encounter. From neutral grounds no less! But rather than correct him, she remained dutifully silent, simply waiting for either the female to speak, or for Njal to begin his assessment and lesson. She was in no rush though she was growing restless with the wait. Had she traveled all this way to hear a conversation, she would have done better to listen to the chatter of the woodland birds.

OOc: Poor thing doesn't like being ignored...

“Pardon…”

A testament that even the lengthened of patience wore thin, the female took it upon herself to let her silent voice be heard. Her ears remained neutrally kept to either side of her sizeable crown, yet her eyes had harden from shifting liquid to hardened stones. While her posture remained relaxed as her visage, there was a noticeable backing to her tone suggesting not anger but…disappointment. Her eyes were directed to neither wolf, but the ground as if transfixed but some unseen force that elicited bother.

“…but please do not speak as though I am not here,” she continued. Her voice soft, near sullen as if reciting a dreaded request. “I have lived a life where my presence was ignored, spoken of as if I were no different than a tree among the forest. I have not traveled here to be regarded like that again. I have come to learn from one that knows more than me in the hopes that I can aspire to something more. If this bothers you, ‘wife’ of Njal, I would rather you say this than neglect my purpose further.

“As for my pack… those I run with, I believe they reserve more care and courtesy for the borders you protect, than your ilk that run freely across our own in disregard. I will not stand here willingly as you speak bitterly towards them. We have done nothing to deserve it, while we have every right to speak of you and the Creek with resentment.” Gingerly, Xi’nuata raised her muzzle and let her eyes rest on the bridge of a scarred nose. Her eyes remained averted yet her attention on the flame-hued female was apparent. “And yet I do not. You have done nothing to earn the anger of me or my pack. You are one of many- two of many, and I see you only as that. If you cannot see me in the same manner, then I will leave without contest and adopt whatever mood towards the Creek you’d rather me take…”

Anger was no longer become a rare notion for the woman, as it seemed that with relations to the Creek, it was all she felt. A single trespass had undone what neutral passes had once built, and strongly. And by the silent seethe of the Njal’s wife, the transgressions of their kin was approved of… not disciplined. How this was possible, was truly beyond her, but it did not ease her disappointment for the situation.

Her ears were bent forward to the words of her former mentor, though her eyes remained fixed on the woman ablaze behind him. Her understanding of the title ‘wife’ was nil, however she assumed by their care it was a close companionship. Though she questioned in her silence how that possibly could have been when the more rational of them was bound to the blind and raging.

Only when he verbally announced her unwelcome did she looked to the shorter male and relinquish understanding to indifference. She said nothing as he approached, gesturing with his muzzle for her to move on. The flicker of the turn of his expression was caught, then just was quickly dismissed as she turned toward the creek along the way of the mountain. It was disappointing that the actions of one- no two, could inspire a change in the lives of those effected. Yet at the same time it inspired an encouraging thought. One she had every intention of sharing once she put the way of the Creek behind her.

[Exit]