Sawtooth Spire sometimes it's all confusing in a world so loud

As Wylla reached the peaks encircling Sawtooth's idyllic valley, she paused to look out over the world, painted in evening shades of pink and orange, and was surprised at the wave of nostalgia that crashed over her.

One glance at the jagged foothills reminded her why she never liked the Spire. For all the beauty and seclusion offered by the peak, those foothills still made her nervous. It was too easy to imagine Isa, Anselm, or Emmerich losing their footing and falling to an unpleasant death. No thanks. No amount of nostalgia could make up for that.

Rolling her eyes at her own paranoia, Wylla lowered her head and began to prowl along a familiar towpath that would eventually bring her to Windholme.

mobile so forgive the length. I try and make it longer, but my phone screen makes it seem longer than it is. Hope you don't mind little old me.

When Reyson had first seen the spire he had been fascinated. It's beauty didn't call to him no it's rugged ferocity did. It blinked at him with jagged teeth and broken rocks. He wanted to conquer it.

First pawstep was easy. As he continued upward his muscles burned. He relished it. Pain only lasted so long. He enjoyed pushing his body to it's limit.

It was mid step he caught another scent and then noticed the small she wolf. He sniffed hadn't smelled another pack, but perhaps in his excitement for training he has misstep. He bunched his muzzles ready for anything especially when caught sight of her visage.

There was someone else here on the mountain.

Wylla smelled him before she saw him. She lifted her muzzle and drew the air in through flared nostrils. The scent was mostly unfamiliar with a vague hint of what might be Mereo, but they were close enough to detect when the wind blew the right direction, so that was no guarantee. She curled her lip up and whipped around to face him.

The first and only thing she noticed about Reyson was the size of him. Between that and his relative proximity to her home in the hollow, she needed little further evidence that he was a potential threat. The fur along her neck and back became jagged bristles. Her yellow eye locked with his pale blue ones. Though diminutive in comparison, the ambivalence display was unmistakable, but Wylla tossed in a warning growl for good measure.

I need to keep better track of pack areas heh. Slight attacking of Reyson is fine, as long as it won't start a war.

Reyson tightened his shoulders further, and lay his ears to his skull. He looked around, he really hadn't smelled another pack, but in his excitement it was clear, that he had missed something. Even if it were only in his excitement that he had. That was no excuse. Quietly he cursed at himself. Second time in so many days he had made a stupid mistake. Perhaps, he was not as healed as he thought he was mentally.

He didn't growl back, but he did curl his lip slightly. I apologize if I stumbled on your land. I was merely training.

He tucked his tail, but didn't bow down. He wanted to be ready for anything. This wolf did not seem friendly and if he had stumbled upon her pack or her home. It was her right to protect it, but he was a fighter, and the fighting spirit was not always a quiet one.

He backed up a step, but he had to be careful. To go to close to the edge would spell certain death, and he refused to die that way. If it was her or the edge of the cliff, he'd take her.

He's not trespassing at all, Wylla just has babies in the adjoining Sleepy Fox Hollow and a yearling daughter who frequents Sawtooth Spire, and she's kind of a bitch even without all that!

Her thoughts ping-ponged rapidly; how long had this man been loitering around here? Had he run into Phaedra? Had he done something to her daughter? Did he have eyes on the hollow and was he planning something?

He apologized. It appeased her only a little. The fur on her back shifted, but she refused to flatten her hackles completely without some clear indication this guy wasn't a problem, and so far, he wasn't giving her any reason to trust his intentions. Wylla lifted her nose and sampled the air again, picking up the faint smells of baked rock and sand and wolves.

You from Mereo? she growled in a tone that said he'd best hope he was. He was big enough to match Kallik, which meant he was also big enough to be... Or are you some Saints fucker?

Ah i see. :) 

Reyson had not frequented this way. He just had a break from duties and wanted to explore the mountain, conquer it, or conquer himself, He wasn't sure which idea was more pleasing. He had felt adrift since coming here, lost. 

The femme was calming down, but Reyson was not stupid. He had been on the receiving end of too many teeth when another was calming down and then their ire exploded. She sniffed at him, catching his scent on the wind, and he still didn't move. His own body still poised, still hard. 

I am. He tilted his head. No, do they hurt others? If these wolves were dangerous, he would like to know, share that information with his own pack. 

Do my leaders know of them? If she knew Mereo then she knew the leaders, or at least higher ranking wolves than he. Did she already share this with them. 

He waited patiently, Blue eyes assessing the area around. He could go up or he could go back down, but he would have to get around her to go up. She currently had the high ground the advantage.

Katniss noticed one of her new packmates seemingly arguing with another wolf whom she didn't recognise. She didn't smell the scent of a pack from the wolf, but she did smell the scent of milk and could tell that the wolf was either a mother or around younglings, hence her seeming aggresive-ness. Katniss padded up behind her packmate to back him up if things started to get tense. She broadend her shoulders and held a dominant stance, yet her eyes stayed neutral. She dipped her head to Reyson.

From Mereo. Good enough. Wylla let her fur fall the rest of the way flat and relaxed as much as was possible for her, which wasn’t much. There was no telling if every Mereo wolf was a good one. Yup, which was true on both counts as far as she knew. They used to live in your canyon.

Then there was another wolf, and Wylla’s guard went up once more. Too many wolves frequenting the spire for her taste. She didn’t like the thought that they could look down into Sleepy Fox Hollow and see that there were pups there. It was a ludicrous thought — they couldn’t see much detail aside from the glint of the river from this height — but she was paranoid at the best of times.

The growl built in her throat again as her gaze bounced uneasily between the pair of wolves. One wolf, she could handle. One wolf, she could converse with. Two wolves was a real threat, no matter where they came from, and they were blocking her immediate escape. Another wolf might have relied on the tentative alliance between existing Mereo and forming Paleo, but not Wylla.

Her gaze was sharp on the pair, especially on the newcomer standing like she had any sort of authority here, and everything about her screamed fuck off.

Reyson's ears perked up at the mention of these wolves, and though it was on the tip of his tongue to ask more. He saw the uneasy stance the she wolf returned too. He mentally cursed, but kept his mouth quiet. Katniss was young, and still learning and she hadn't meant to cause an issue. She was just helping out a packmate in her mind he imagined.

Reyson made a split second decision, knowing that Wylla could easily rip open his body if he went to near, he moved just a hair his eyes on Katniss, and his shoulder towards Wylla, hoping she saw it for what it was a show of good faith. 

He spoke softly. Could I meet you again on neutral ground of your choosing? I'd like to know more about these A small smile curled up one side of his face. Saint's Fuckers. Even if my leaders know I'd like to know more too. And Katniss and I, He motioned towards the girl, Will leave you be now.

He would only wait moments for an answer and then he would be sure to get Katniss out of the area, and himself too.

Katniss nodded at what Reyson said. she dipped her head awkwardly to the wolf, and then looked at Reyson, confused about the conversation, but not really caring. She didn't want to be attacked and would get out of there if need be.

Exit Wylla!

Wylla did not respond to Reyson, or even spare him a second thought. The minute she was assured they would not surround and attack her, she pushed past them on the trail back down the mountain, to the hollow where her children were tucked safely away from such potential threats.

Perhaps she would remember Reyson's words later, perhaps not. The detail that mattered most was his allegiance — she would be certain to remember that, if only to remind Mereo that they were not alone here in the mountains and their members should take more care.