Greatwater Lake a string of pearls

There was a strange sense of peace to the sound of lapping waves. There was something that Siv could not entirely explain – though she’d never had to – about her affinity with the water. Skuld Shore had been a good birthplace for the fiery female. She could not have asked for a better upbringing, either; Siv’s mother had been a good caretaker, and had trained the troublemaker well enough. Her childhood had not been without difficulties, however. When Siv’s father had left her with only her mother to care for her, it was disheartening news. Siv’s mother had never spoken ill of the vagabond male who had given her life and purpose. In fact, he had been a popular topic for nightly stories when the young girl could not fall asleep. In spite of his absence, the honey-hued girl had grown to admire him for his adventures and escapades. She would often lie awake wondering where in the world he could have run off to, and what lively things he was accomplishing. Her body was sprawled in the sand, paws stretched out in front of her in hopes that the water would brush against them before returning back to its mass. She watched with bright eyes, blinking tiredly against the autumn sunlight that streamed against her agouti pelt. Part of her had not wanted to leave the lakeside when she had discovered it, which had been the result of her plopping into the sand with a contented sigh. Then, she came to realize that it was no place to call home, but it would hold her interest for a considerable while longer. The further away from the water she was, the more anxious she got.

Saēna lingered away from home for several hours after Junior was gone. She still couldn't face Blue Willow yet and the knowledge that she would return to a betrayed people was weighty. Staying here in the flatlands was avoiding the problem, but Saēna was pretty good at that. She'd evaded Blue for nearly a month after their argument, after all.

The creek she followed continued into the sprawling east but Saēna turned south instead. By Junior's word, Fox and Peregrine were that way, and the fiery little female was the last one Saēna wanted to see. She'd never been this far east before, having gone south on her little journey, and didn't know what to expect, but when she discovered a lake, she was momentarily breathless. It was huge!

Her attention remained on the choppy water as she circled around its edge, only leaving when her foot thumped against something warm. The petite female looked down to see to reddish fur in a lump on the ground. For a second her heart constricted as the name Kisu crossed her mind, but she swallowed down the well of emotion when she realized that Siv was too small to be her real father.

Saēna backed up a few steps and said, "sorry, didn't see you. Are you all right?"

Siv wondered how many wolves actually called the Teekon area their home. It seemed vast enough to house a solid number of packs, but the honey-furred coyote mix had only come across a small handful of wolves since she had arrived, and only a select few of them had belonged to packs within the wilds. She liked the idea of a pack… the thought that there was a potential for more than just aimless wandering that amounted to nothing more than moving on from one place to the next. Siv lacked purpose. Her hopes had been in finding her father, but since she had left Skuld Shore, she had not come across a soul who had heard of the man. Her chances, she knew, were slim. Had she been less bull-headed, she would have given up already. Unfortunately, there was an ache in her stomach at the thought of actually locating the man she had heard so many stories of. There was a short sound, like something rustling nearby. Siv’s ears perked forward just as a paw landed on her shoulder. Surprised, she reeled in the opposite direction… but only managed to roll onto her back in a lazy manner, blinking at the stranger who now stood above her. It would have been comical had Siv not actually been scared by the appearance of this wolf. Once she realized that she was not in any danger from Saēna, the coywolf drew her tongue out and offered a sheepish grin. “Oh, boy, yeah… I’m swell. Probably shouldn’t just sit and daydream where there are frequent flyers, eh?” she responded with a cheerful expression. Feeling slightly dizzy after having stared at the female upside-down for too long, Siv then rolled back to her stomach and rose to her paws to shake the sand from her already dusty pelt.

Try as she might, Saēna couldn't suppress a quiet giggle when Siv looked up and finally relaxed. Saēna drew back her foot and held it aloft well away from the coywolf, hopefully calming any frayed nerves. "You probably shouldn't," she said with a warm smile that proved she was (mostly) just bugging Siv.

She rarely spent time examining others closely so her inspection of Siv was somewhat more thorough than her inspections typically were. This was due to Siv's narrow, tapered features. Having been raised with mostly purebloods, she couldn't recognize a hybrid when she saw one but she did notice that tapering was rather extreme on Siv. Saēna spent only a moment longer looking, though, for fear of making the other uncomfortable.

"Do you live around here?" asked Saēna mid-sit. "Are there a lot of... frequent flyers?" It was a lake, so she supposed there were a great many ducks, loons, and geese that flocked here in earlier autumn. No doubt they were already on their way south, accounting for the absence of raucous birdcall.

The warm smile that swept across the she-wolf’s face was welcome by Siv. It did, if anything, put the coywolf at ease around this stranger. There was a teasing comment that seemed to accompany her smile, and Siv chuckled softly in response. Life was made interesting by mistakes, however; even if it was one so small as resting in the sand on a sunny day. After having flipped herself so that she faced upright, Siv too got a good look at the girl who had stepped on her with a wandering paw. One thing that she noted – something that she quite enjoyed – was that this stranger had rusty-colored ears as well! She was a pretty wolf. These markings fell underneath her eyes as well as along her tail. The rest of her body seemed to be composed of a rich off-white coloration. Siv had never really seen another wolf who looked so uniquely marked. She liked it, though. A question seemed to fall from the lips of the bypassing stranger, and was quickly followed by another question. The Savoy girl flicked her ears forward and frowned. “Oh, no, gee, I don’t live here… that’d be just peachy, though if I did. I kind of live all over hell’s half-acre right now,” Siv answered with a sheepish smile and a shrug of her narrow shoulder. “It’s a great place to watch for things, though. Saw a big ol’ moose come out of the trees over there just before you showed up,” and she gestured with her muzzle towards the tree line that was probably more than a hundred yards away. “Tons of birds, too… you could join me if you wanted?” it was proposed quite suddenly, as though the idea had just burst into her head and demanded to be asked. Siv then glanced to her company with a welcoming smile and a nod towards the sand.

Saena seemed rather dumbfounded with Siv's admission that she only came here to watch prey. She had to think about it for a second, but Saena assumed after some time that Siv must be a Gamekeeper. She herself wasn't much of a Gamekeeper, so watching prey initially seemed like a rather boring pastime, but when invited she settled down nonetheless with a muttered, "sure!"

Of course, she didn't know what to expect. She glanced sidelong at the auburn female, noting her somewhat brighter red ears and her brilliant blue eyes. She watched for a moment, waiting for some sort of cue, but quickly grew tired of wondering what was going on.

"So, how do we get them to appear?" she asked. As foolish as it was, Saena was expecting to be able to somehow summon wildlife from the surrounding area to entertain them. She briefly thought of a very large bear lumbering out of the woods, doing a little jig, and then heading back off to wherever bears went when they weren't busy. If a very large moose could appear, then a very large dancing bear could as well, right?

The female seemed to accept the offer after only a moment of hesitation, joining Siv in the sand beside the lake. The coywolf’s tail thumped against the earth with a few good smacks before she turned her attention on the surrounding area, waiting for the next string of life to leak through the trees or flutter across the expanse of bright blue sky. While it may have seemed odd for the pale-furred female, it was not necessarily out of the ordinary for Siv to be… well, out of the ordinary. Drawing her lengthy ears towards the words that followed from her companion, Siv frowned thoughtfully at the question that was presented. How to get the animals to appear… that was a perfectly good inquiry. “Well, gee, I was just waitin around for ‘em. But, we could make a game out of it,” the Savoy girl chirped with a wide grin towards the other girl. Siv was all about games, and certainly when they involved other forms of wildlife. Sitting up straight, she squinted towards the trees that bordered the lake with a considerate expression. Then, she drew her narrow muzzle towards her company and nodded her head once or twice. “Alright, super,” she began, “we could go for an animal scavenger hunt. In the trees over there,” she motioned with her muzzle in the direction she was referring. “That’s where the moose came out of. If we head in there, I’ll bet we’d find all sorts of crazy critters.” It was a thought anyway, but Siv wasn’t sure her present company would be up for it. It would certainly be more exciting than sitting around beside the water just waiting for something to happen.

As a kid, Saena's interests were a mystery. Even her parents didn't know what she liked to do, for her tastes and behaviours seemed to change daily. Now that she was older and somewhat more stable, she was discovering her identity. She loved to spread gossip, though it was in the guise of telling others what she believed they needed to know—she thought nothing of her big mouth. She also liked to look at the stars and clouds and try to guess what would happen with the weather but so far she'd been far off. The other day, though, she'd accurately predicted a windstorm from the way the clouds streaked across the sky, and was rather proud of the accomplishment.

Little did Saena know that watching animals would become a third favourite task. She wasn't cut from the same cloth as Gamekeepers, for she wasn't terribly interested in hunting beyond what was necessary for life, but she would find them fascinating. In order for that to occur, though, Saena would need to agree to Siv's proposal... which she did with a bright smile. "Sounds fun," exclaimed the juvenile as she gained her feet and trotted toward the indicated origin of wildlife.

<style>.rocks1 .ooc {font-style:italic; color:#494a43; } .rocks1 p {padding: 0px 9px; margin:0px; text-indent:25px; } .rocks1 b {color:#a76045; letter-spacing:-.1px; } .rocks1 {background-color:#cfcbc7; background-image:url('http://i.imgur.com/2wNHM0b.png'); background-position:bottom center; background-repeat:no-repeat; } .rocks1 .float {float:right; width:0px; height:10px; } .rocks1 .text {font-family:georgia, serif; font-size:12px; color:#4c4c4c; letter-spacing:.1px; word-spacing:.1px; line-height:18px; width:460px; text-align:justify; padding: 20px 20px 310px 20px; } .rocks1-border {width:500px; margin:0 auto; }</style>

Saena seemed to agree to the proposed scavenger hunt without a hitch, so Siv cast her a wide grin and jumped immediately to her paws so that they could scope out the wilderness together. The coywolf girl wasn’t really that exceptional at watching game, but she did find other animals quite interesting. Her passion would turn to something that would eventually lead her to actively seek out a Gamekeeper trade within a pack. Until then, she would remain pleased only to have company with which she could create games with. Saena seemed to be the perfect person for it! As they trotted towards the edge of the woods, the Savoy girl had started to think of different animals that they could set out to search for.
The coywolf peered into the shaded forest with squinted blue eyes before darting her gaze back to her present companion. “Alrighty… let’s see,” she mused for a moment, wondering what types of animals would seek the seclusion of the woods that surrounded the lake for a home. “How about we look for either an elk or a fox,” she suggested with a swift nod of her narrow skull. She imagined that it would be a difficult task, but not impossible.

Is it cool if we fade here? :)

Saena followed Siv to the trees, but she didn't peer in like the lone wolf did. Instead, she glanced out across the lake, only turning back with a quiet hm? when Siv gave them both an objective. An elk or a fox.

Saena was no Gamekeeper, but she knew foxes were common enough. Swallowing down the animosity that rose in her with that word, the rust-spotted female nodded and moved past Siv into the trees. She didn't know if they were splitting up or sticking together for this hunt, so she moved slowly enough that Siv could easily keep up. Her ears were pinned forward and her eyes shifted left to right, until after what felt like an eternity she spotted a bushy tail disappearing in the bushes.

"Hey!" Saena called after it, picking up speed in hopes of seeing the fox before Siv did.

Foxes were elusive enough creatures that it would pose something of a challenge for the two wolves. Siv watched as the female moved past her and headed towards the trees that surrounded the water. With a flashing smile, she trotted in pursuit of the female. With wide blue eyes, the coywolf female sought any signs of wildlife in the area. Two wolves would pose a threat to some of the creatures who called the woods beside the lake their home. Nonetheless, it was not long before Siv watched her wildlife-seeking companion bark out a surprised “hey! before she darted off in the direction of whatever she had seen. With a wild chuckle, Siv kicked her heels up and took off in pursuit. Her spindly legs carried her swiftly through the trees and brush.

The two females chased after the rust-furred creature until Siv’s legs had grown weary and her lungs were heaving from the long stretch of racing. With a few short goodbyes, the coywolf female bid her companion farewell and disappeared into the trees in hopes of returning to her home.