Cedar Sweep Keep moving, she said.

[Set Out of Pack Lands] @Hemlock  but all others welcome, too!-


So that was what he did. He kept moving. His sister hadn't been wrong when she had told him the wilds were full of danger, having already encountered two bands of rogue wolves, and even a rabbid coyote. The wolves he outran, his built airways more than on par with endurance dealing in both sprints and long distance, but the coyote was an entirely new experience.

Anubis was otherwise in a good mood. A few bouts of fishing fed him well, the unnamed aquatic organisms who were unlucky enough to be trapped by dark jaws giving him enegy that lasted him this long. Champagne crisped jewels scanned the lands he had wandered into, slim muzzle downcast as he sniffed for any tell tale signs of prey he could feed upon, next.

Things were....a bit odd, in the Strath. Hemlock wasn't unhappy, exactly, she had a purpose and a strength with her tending to the Fearghals - both adults and children. She also had Amphitrite to keep her company, and then young Sirius to help grow. He was, in every way, a weed at this point. Growing taller, growing stronger, growing smarter. It was time, she felt, to begin his education and so Hemlock was roaming the Sweep, collecting a few herbs here and there to begin teaching Sirius about the sort of magics that she knew. 

She'd eaten with the boy before she had left, making it easy to avoid any of the animals she caught scent of - she instead could focus purely on the plants and what they smelled like, finding only the most useful for her young ward's education. 

The shuffling of brush ahead of him, followed by distinct 'snap's of pulled and plucked shrubbery indicated he was not alone. A boar, perhaps? That could not be so, as usually snorts and other rude noises were accompanying such noises. This was something smaller, behind the brush.

Well small meant prey-able, so the Sekket slipped into silence, using the sudden ruffles of leaves and such to cast over the barely audible crushings of grass underpaw. He slinked around the bush, taking a chance to hope he wound up behind the prey's line of sight, and downwind of the breeze, rending him as nothing findable in the gusts of gentle winds.

Golden eyes saught purchase on a form, and a flash of scarlet drew him home. A fox? No, he couldn't eat a fox. He may have been a bit hungry, but the Prince was never desperate enough to eat something like that of a fox.

Standing up back to his full height, almost 3 feet, no including the regal stalks of his auds, he addressed the company.

"Hello."

A small whiff of the fragrance from the fiery coated form before him awashed him in confusion, as it was the size of a nimble fox, but his nares swore it was wolf. Regardless, he held his tail aloft, friendly and swishing, posture that of a poolite companion.

just so you know she is a bit bigger than a fox :3 think fox, half step up is the red wolf, then your common grey is a half step above that

Sounds nearby alerted her and made her uncomfortable. She froze, allowing the herbs to fall to the wayside as she became more defensive. She turned when she heard another approach, lip curling for a moment as she tensed. The male was larger than she was (no real surprise there) and still the woman lifted her head proudly, unwilling to be seen as any sort of lesser creature. "Hello," She offered in response, tongue briefly seen over her teeth. 

The male did not have a scent she could place; not unlike her own scent so mingled with Teaghlaigh's that they were on in the same. "Are you out hunting?" She asked, assuming he had business in a nearby area for him to be so close to the Strath. There was no lack of pride in her, the scarred female not backing down or hiding anything about herself. It had been one payoff since winter's folly; she had come back with nothing to lose and everything to gain. 

ooooooooooh, sorry on the assumption, I went by your profile. Gotcha.

He looked down at her, the sun basked golds finding fresh emeralds to meet. Anubis was suprised a bit at the flash of teeth, but only after reconsidering the curent circumstance, did he understand such a minute threat. It was a warning, and her posture reaffirmed it; if he were to pull anything over her, she would not hesitate to defend herself. Plus, a tall lupine such as he would only be intimidating to near anyone smaller, so for defensive measures, she probably kept herself steeled in not handing him such a pleasure. Not that he wanted anyone afraid of him. Yet.

Anubis swiveled his left ear, half heartedly tracking a rabbit that had summoned the courage to forage itself, before it swiveled back to catch the voice of the woman before him.

"I am. I was considering going for something light, but I don't mind sharing a bit of time in conversation. I am new to these lands, and was voyaging a bit. Tasting the Lands before I find somewhere to settle."

He allowed a second to go by, manners of giving her a flash of time to process his small bit of info, before he spoke again, lightly tinged accent from a place of hot sands lacing on the syllables of his words.

"I am Anubis, son of Sita and Osiris Sekket. Who might you be?"

No problem! It's hard to imagine 'small and petite' for what they mean lol

For Hemlock it was a misfortunate for any male who encountered her. She was jaded, certainly, and to many distinctly distant. For strange males? She was outright defensive in the first go. Few tried to push through her exterior, Palisander was the only one so far as she found herself greatly missing her mate most days. Some would suggest the pain would subside in the future days but there had been no end in sight so far for her grief - she had left behind all memories of him, after all, and had lost the only home they had known as husband and wife. 

Hemlock drew in a deep breath, pushing those thoughts down again. She could not lose sight of what was happening in the here and now, after all. "I am Hemlock Kali," She offered, head tilting proudly a bit. "There are only a few packs in these parts - most are scattered among the terrain. You will find many to choose from - but I will warn you to lay your alliances carefully. Few are forgiving of transgressions." Her own Teaghlaigh included in that lot. They would not suffer fools or seem weak. 

The Prince nodded his head at the words, showing he knew full well just how deadly a misstep was into the wrong terrain. He remained vigilant of the warning signs he came across, if any, and stuck to them. The obstacle was just finding all of them.

The name returned in his mind, and with a light chuckle, the handsome devil barked lightly down to her. "My sister and I knew a Kali once. Was her best friend for years. Two seperate litters, and you wouldn't be able to tell, as they were inseperatable."

Anubis chose to share the tidbit, hoping it would relieve the female a smidge of any pent up worry she may have had over just being held hostage conversationally by a stranger. Uncannily, the woman held near same features, though more black was layered across the previously mentioned Kali's scruff, trailing over a short haired body of beauty, incarnate. She was also who his parents had considered his bride to be in the arranged marriage, but the End came too soon for that. Briefly Anubis wondered just how inseperable Kali was, that fated day.

"For future reference, who is it your pack is Bonded with, miss Kali?"

The Prince needed to know, just as one needed to know whther the wolf they were conversing with were someone they could relay battle plans to, or see bleeding at their paws in the Fields of War.

It was no surprise to hear of other Kali; but she had a feeling this was not a trickled wolf from Awenasa. Surely he meant that they addressed themselves as Kali as she had been born Isley and then reappointed herself as Hemlock. It was not, by far, their name to claim but still she had rarely encountered it and not somehow been associated with one of its wolves. "Many of my people were loyal to a fault," She offered, nodding gently at his words. It was a good trait that had for the most part never steered them wrong. 

"Hemlock is fine," She said - hearing Miss seemed almost foreign, there were so few that worked on such manners and propriety around the area. She was withdrawn and guarded, sure, but so few seemed to be that way. "My wolves are with Teaghlaigh." Hemlock stated, pride in the word itself. She was beyond proud of them, after all, and they were hers through and through. "Are you alone?" She did not immediately smell others on him - but that did not mean that he did not have companions out scouting just as he was doing. It was how she and Palisander had operated, after all. 

 

Anubis wondered if her people had come from his bloodline, as he referred to the Egyptian gened lupines. Though he could not hear the dialect in her speech, such a thought was comforting to him, and regardless of his misunderstanding along with her own, he grew fonder of the woman before him.

He nodded his own agreement to the words, knowing how loyal the Sekkets were to their own. Royals however had to remain just, so any under them, whether bloodkin or not, would still receive the punishments they deserved.

"For now, yes, I am, Hemlock," he stated as he used her given name; a sign of good fortune and respect of her desired title. "That is until I cross paths with my sister, again."

His sister, last he had seen a month ago, was pregnate and with a wolf her brother didn't recognize. They were mated, yes, but Anubis could see she was not happy with him. Constantly he fought the urge to track him down and kill the bastard, as Anubis had seen the scars left on the nape of her neck were fresh and ferally inflicted, but after pulling her brother aside, she begged him not to, lest they hurt her children. Teeth gritted, he let the walk free, that day, with her promising to return to him.

oh geez, I'm so sorry about the wait on this! we can always fade out and do another thread at some point if you'd like!

Hemlock gave a stiff nod when he mentioned his sister; she missed her own siblings fiercely but her place was no longer in Awenasa. It hadn't been for almost a year. It was something that surprised her to consider; she had not seen family in that long, and it was such a fixture in her life that without Teaghlaigh to provide that anchor she would surely have perished. "Hopefully you will not be separated for too long, I know the pain that comes with an absent sibling." Or three - but Gotham was no doubt to her as his sister was to him. 

He was special, in a way, and Hemlock was more curious about Anubis and his history. It seemed there was a great deal in common between the two, even if they had only just met. She wondered where the similarities would stop, if they would. It did not take long before the two parted, and Hemlock was at least a little bit more settled in herself. It always helped to find someone who had similar stories as her own.