many years ago, or perhaps it simply felt a lengthy time to mira- her mother, her idol, had been struck down by fate. she had been an empty shell that a legend once inhabited. hydra was perhaps the only creature mira had ever come close to feeling a sense of 'love' for; without her, the serpetine girl's heart only grew colder. she had abandoned the mountain and the scarce remnants of her family and home. though never would she admit it to others, for a time she battled with suicidal thoughts, but after months of fighting them off they subsided. she always came out on top in battles, after all. 

she had been traveling when she stumbled across a land that was familiar in a distant way, and had realized that she had, after two years, circled home again. 'home' as it once was- but now, nothing of the people that made that place home remained, as far as she understood. the mountain did call to her as the grand shelter she should take, to find her place atop the world as she should've been- as she should've succeeded her mother, years later at an old-age death for hydra, not the tradgedy that was. despite the haunting memories of her mother's crumpled corpse, that dream of ruling the moonspear still persisted. and its purple silhouette was visible against the sky above all the land as the grandest peak of them all, the one she deserved.

for now, it could wait. she could be patient. 

her heat had begun, in the morning when she awoke she had felt suddenly aware of it. in the year prior it had come for the first time, and she had either fought off or murdered a couple poor bastards who had approached her with interest. she disliked muscular, smug males- she felt that they would attempt to tie her down, to domesticate her into a less fearsome version of herself, or boost their ego by climbing atop of her. she refused to succumb to their wishes or desires and instead bested them and spilled blood. she felt that she could do it again, and so did not hide away in fear, instead she continued through the forest, slightly aimless but sniffing along the earth for the potential of a hunt. 

an ear twitched and in an instant she felt that there was someone or something nearby. without hesitantation she turned on her foot to see what it was following her. 

just behind her, a wolf had been not far off. he was thin, yet much taller than her. that combined with the fact that he was male and she was in heat, made her irritated. she stood her ground wordlessly, top lip curling slightly in a silent baring of her teeth, a warning that she was far from friendly. what did he want? 

it was then she noticed too, from his soft chuff, an unusually familiar face. he stood off to the other side. dark pelted like herself, but not one of her siblings, and yet something about him... and his scent... in trying to place him, her bared teeth faltered and her attention was temporarily stolen, her uncle's face becoming clearer in her mind's eye.