Stone Circle ain't no use in trying

Without any companions to slow him down, Kincaid had put many miles between himself and the last place he'd seen Nine Lives. This knowledge sat bitter and heavy in his chest, but aside from that, he was in good spirits.

He'd hunted. His success rate had taken a steep plunge since the separation, but he was learning. Now he held a fat ground squirrel in his jaws, and although he was salivating around it in his hunger, he refrained from damaging it any more than he already had. For it was tradition, where he was from, to come to another pack's borders bearing a gift of goodwill.

Kincaid stopped a respectful distance away to drop his gift and howl. Then he settled in to wait, hoping he would not have to wait very long in the uncomfortable heat of the day.

Valette attention was caught when a howl echoed. The matriarch looked once more at the prey before her and then let duty call her away from it. She had only been watching the deer herd, she had not intended to go after one herself. The female turned to the borders and arrived quite soon after the howl in a casual trot.

Her tail was up to indicate her status in the pack, but her approach was natural more towards friendliness, especially after seeing the squirrel by the ruddy male's feet. The female dipped her head in greeting. "Hello, this is Easthollow. I'm the Matriarch, Valette," she introduced.

Although he had often been accused of being "uptight", Kincaid was perfectly presentable on the borders, adjusting his posture accordingly when he saw the dominant flag of the shewolf's tail. He was naturally more deferential toward females, having been brought up under the iron jaws of his formidable mother, and having spent the subsequent mating seasons experiencing both extremes of the mood swings brought on by estrus; the scars from some of these encounters still marred his gingery muzzle.

But it was July, and at the moment, Valette's femininity was only of passing interest to the male. He gave a gave a friendly wag of his tail and lowered his black nose briefly to his dusty paws in greeting.

It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, ma'am, he replied, straightening out and offering a friendly smile that pulled at the corners of his eyes and splayed his ears in relaxed submission. I'm Kincaid — I come down from up north with a friend, but I ain't got him t'lean on anymore, so I been lookin' t'join up with some other folks.

Kincaid ducked his had to push the ground squirrel toward her. I hoped you might consider me, he said, taking a step back so that she might lay claim to the kill without having to enter his space.

Valette watched the ginger male. She had not seen many of this coloring, except for Indra, she had been reddish as well. Not like him in coloring through. The female dipped her head in return when he spoke his greetings. The male, Kincaid, seemed friendly enough. He came from the north, just like her family heritage. She slowly nodded when he showed interest in joining Easthollow. She watched as he stepped back, leaving the kill for her. The female had not made a move for it yet. She was only accepting it if the male would become part of the pack. They had more than enough food, and the loner would need it more than her.

"I appreciate you showing interest in my pack, Kincaid. We have room for you at the moment. However, are you familiar with our pack? We might not be what you seek, so what would you seek in a pack?," she asked the male. Perhaps it would tick the boxes that was Easthollow. She could go in detail about Easthollow but for now, she let the male talk. It would also make her get to know him better.

Something about Valette sat just right with Kincaid. He felt quite at ease in her presence when she got straight to the point, no fuss no muss.

Her question, however, was not one he had come prepared to answer, reasonable as it was. A partnership, I suppose, he replied after a noticeable pause for contemplation. Someplace to lay my head. Company. Security.

A thought struck him, suddenly. He stiffened a fraction, his head drawing up and back in slight defensiveness. This ain't one them... sects, is it? I ain't gotta pray to no gods? He'd come across one or two in his days, and it wasn't an experience he was looking to repeat.

I'm a simple man. I can hunt. I don't look like much, but I can fight if I gotta. Long as you ain't after my immortal soul, I reckon I can fit in jus' fine, he said, feeling a bit uncomfortable about nearly accusing her of witchcraft when she seemed like a perfectly reasonable woman.

mobile post sorry!!

Valette nodded at the other as she was listening. She had to chuckle a bit at the sect comment. Because they really weren’t. She shook her head a little as he talked so he knew already that they weren’t. “We are a very familial pack. We are very communal and once you get from the newcomers rank you will be part of our family. That is also how we do things. Care and love for each other as a family.” She explained. If the male wanted more brawling and more rank challenges then he wouldn’t get that here.

“I do think you will fit in just fine as well. Especially hearing about your skills. We mainly hunt bison. It takes all members of the pack that are able to take one down. You being a healthy male will be a great asset to that.” She paused for a moment. “We don’t have gods we believe in but we do have a stone circle that is important for our family. Our past loved ones are buried there.” But she felt that was not so crazy or sect like.

Kincaid's ears slicked back in embarrassment at Valette's chuckle. He hadn't meant to be funny, but he was clearly quite pleased to have made her laugh.

The more Valette talked, the more sure he was that Easthollow would be a quiet, idyllic place to live. A whole lot nicer than where he'd grown up, to be sure. But he was uncomfortable with the idea of becoming family to these people, when he'd only ever truly been family with Nine — and he'd gone and left the man behind.

"All that sounds just fine," he said, his voice hearty but hesitant. "I am sure I can be an asset — and friendly, and communal and all. While I'm here I'd act as family, t'be sure, but I've got a wanderin' spirit, and I ain't too sure this is my final destination. Not while I've still got years and miles left to spend."

He liked Valette, and thought it was a shame he couldn't just agree with what she was asking. He just wasn't that sort of man, and perhaps not the sort of man that belonged in Easthollow.

"I understand if that ain't what you're lookin' for. If you could direct me someplace I might have better luck, I'd surely be grateful," he said, and then fell silent in anticipation of her verdict.

Valette listened and actually liked that the wolf was so honest. Most wolves would just nod and accept the terms but in the end, they wouldn't say long and abandon them. She would rather have a wolf be honest about the things they were uncomfortable with. "Understandable. I've had many kids over the years with the same wandering spirit, and they come and go as well," she assured him. "I appreciate your honesty, Kincaid. You are looking for a place to stay and we have the room. You also seem skilled and social enough to fit in our pack. So I do want to welcome you in our home. How about I say just as honest with you. If you grow out of your newcomer rank and become a part of the family, I can tell you and you can decide if you want to stay or not."

Valette appreciated honesty above all. If someone couldn't commit or would have to leave to travel or want a life of their own she rather just know. "The thing is, we have lots of family members all over these lands and even though we would like all of them to stay if some hadn't left then we wouldn't be able to grow. So if you do make it to become part of our family, don't see it as something constrictive but more as a place you can always return to if needed," she explained. At least that was her view of it. There were many wolves that had been part of their pack and then founded their own. It made for better alliances and for better protection against threats when having lots of good acquaintances.

Kincaid was relieved when joining a pack didn't turn out to be the sort of ball and chain he'd been fearing. Part of him wondered if perhaps Valette knew a bit about the urge to travel, but he didn't think it was right to pry when he'd only just met her. Instead, he gave a tentative wag of his tail and said, "I'd appreciate that, ma'am."

And then, with some of the tension broken, he felt comfortable admitting with a tired grin, "I ain't ever been in a pack before — not since I was little, anyhow — but I'd sure like to be a part of Easthollow."

Valette seemed like the sort of woman he could follow, if she was as reasonable and understanding as she seemed.

"I'll let you know if anythan' changes," he added with another wag of his tail, but he was planning on giving Easthollow his best shot. He didn't have many other options, at the moment, and he was not up to surviving all on his own right then.

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Valette dipped her head and offered him a smile. "Then I welcome you in Easthollow," she spoke. The female then howled to @Greyback and @Siarut @West Tyree that they had a new member. Those wolves were usually the ones that were also on border patrol and the ones that might be more likely to attack someone they didn't know. "We've had a trespasser recently, so I let them know you are been welcomed by me," she explained to him. She wouldn't want a new member to be attacked after all.

"Follow me," she spoke as she walked in the territory. "I lead this pack together with my mate Greyback. He is the Patriarch. The rest of the members are family members. You are the only Newcomer at the moment," she explained as she walked. She would show him around so he would get the general layout of their pack's land. She liked to give an introduction of their home. She would show him Stone Circle, already seen the distance, first. Since the hill would give a good overview of their area.

Kincaid howled along with Valette so that the others might know his voice, and then followed obediently after her, his features wrinkling slightly at the mention of a trespasser before smoothing out once more. His body, however, remained somewhat tense as he slunk after the matriarch, scrunched down so that he appeared a little smaller than he was. He did not want anyone happening upon them to think he was a threat or usurper, after all.

That, and he was quite nervous.

How long have you lead Easthollow? Kin asked her, making an effort to be personable, and to get to know Valette as well. And, well — what all are the laws in this land?

Valette was surprised by the personal questions. Normally new wolves were so focussed on their new home they never bothered to ask about her. It was a pleasant surprise. She noticed that the male's disposition was somewhat tense but respectful. She could understand this, after all he was entering the home of a pack. "I've been leading this pack since I was one and a half year old. I was the scout of Silvertip Mountain and when finding this place to relocate to they rewarded me with a higher rank for my hard work. I became Beta after we settled her and changed our name to Easthollow. A few months after relocating, a few months before I turned two years, Steady the alpha at the time, died. I took over and have been leading ever since. Which makes me, let me think.. three years the Matron of this pack," she spoke. Time flies. Now she thought of it. She couldn't really imagine her not being a leader.

She cleared her throat. "We don't have very specific laws, expect treat each other kindly. If there is a dispute it will be resolved. We greet strangers neutrally, though I am often more friendly compared to my family members. We do not allow trespassers. Wolves from Kaistleoki and Moonspear are allies. Though we are friendly with Whitebark, Reneian Empire, and Legion as well. Our neighbors Ursus we are tense with, they were the ones that trespassed," she explained. "Other than that we don't have internal ranks except for newcomers. The rest are part of the family." Then she thought of something. "You don't have breeding rights unless you are in leadership. We can make an exception for a family member but it will need to be discussed by the wolves leading. Currently those are me and my mate Greyback," she explained.

Kincaid did his best to memorize facts about the pack and details about their laws and allies. None of it was surprising, nor did he have any problem with what he heard. These were all things he could live with, bar none, and mostly things he'd been doing already.

Most notably, he found that Valette had once been a scout, just as he'd suspected. He liked her even better, then, and felt free to comment, "You know, I'd pegged you as a traveller," in a slightly more colorful and friendly tone than he'd used before. "You got that way about you. I knew someone once who said that it's scouts who make the best leaders, on account of they're always head of most everyone else. Then once they find where they're goin', they settle down and folks turn t'them, 'cause they've seen it all and they got there first."

He paused, and then allowed, "'Course, then there's folk like me, so I s'pose it ain't all scouts who end up that way." But he sounded quite amused as he made this observation, and not at all bitter or disappointed. He might've gone on, except it was at that moment that he noticed the stone pillars standing at the heart of the territory — what he had taken for a rock formation turned out to be something far stranger when seen from a bit closer, and he was not at all sure what to think about it.

"My lord," he said, his body language tensing a little once more. "Y'all did this?" How could they have? He supposed it was just one of those things; he'd run into plenty of unexplainable places in his time, and here was just one more to add to the list.

Valette was surprised to hear the male say that he suspected her to be a traveler. She had never thought that her being a scout would have such effect on her leadership. It was a very interesting way of thinking about leadership. "I never thought about it in that way!," she spoke. Kind of amazed now she thought of it. She had always felt that she had neglected her scouting trade as soon as she became a mother, and the sole leader. She had always been independent. She had too. She always felt that her mother's early death set her up for maturity and independence.

"Ah yes, that is true. You have some travelers who will never be able to settle down," she remembered fondly. She remembered her sister Nanook, who she felt would never settle until she did and what a wise woman she was. Valette sighed, she missed her sister. "Well who knows, Kincaid. Maybe the magic of Easthollow will make you want to settle as well," she returned with a grin. Then they reached the stones, and his reaction was much like any newcomer.

Valette shook her head. "No it was like this when we came here," she explained. "The only thing we added is the trail of small stones to that broken stone, the trail leads out onto Wapun meadow," she spoke. "That one broken stone we refer to as The Stones of Lost Souls. It stands for the family members who vanished without a trace, or are out traveling. We hope they come back to us one day by finding the trail,' she explained. She looked over the stones. One of the stones was an arch, the pilgrim stone, her sister's stone. The stone where the earth was still disturbed. "Each stone has a meaning to us family members. They all represent something. Don't worry though. We aren't a sect. It is just a way to honor our passed loved ones," she explained.

Something about the stones still made him nervous. There was a current in the air that he wasn't quite at ease with, just for the fact that it was unfamiliar. Still, he believed Valette when she said they weren't a sect; there was nothing wrong with having a culture, after all, and this was all that seemed to be to Kincaid.

"What do they mean?" he asked the woman, taking a step toward the recently disturbed earth and then quickly correcting himself. He travelled cautiously around the outside of the circle, just a few yards, to see some of the stones from a slightly different angle. Valette had said something about the magic of Easthollow, and he wondered if this must be its source, or else if Valette herself was a practitioner of the darker arts.

He looked back at her, and decided it must be the former. "I kin see how come you chose this place," he told her, edging away from the stones and back to her side. "But I should like t'hear about your travels one day, if you got the time. I'm always lookin' for new stories, and new places t'see. Just to visit, mind, as you've so kindly taken me on."

Valette noticed that the male was a bit uneasy around the stones. He couldn't blame him as Valette had never seen anything like it. She watched him a bit tensely when he moved to the disturbed dirt. "They stand for the wolf that is buried there. My sister recently passed, you would have liked her, a traveler but one that didn't settle," she explained. "We made her's the Pilgrim Stone to remember what she stood for. She was not only a traveler by heart, but also experienced the most incredible growth through her life's journey. Hence why she got this stone, the gateway. To remember her remarkable life and to take wisdom from her growth as a wolf. So we may grow as strong and grow as much as she did during her life.," she explained to Kincaid.

"We have the father stone, mother stone, warrior, sister, maiden..," she trailed off. Now it sounded that wolves died her by the flies but this was over a span as long as Easthollow had been here, close to four years it was. "Ever since we came here we started to give our loved ones back to the earth," she spoke. Valette dipped her head at the male. "It will be nice to share my stories. I will gladly tell you about these lands," she spoke with a smile.

Kincaid's ears pricked as Valette described her sister. It was clear to him that there had been love and admiration between the two, and Kincaid felt something like a dull echo of the woman's loss; this sister of hers sounded like someone he would've enjoyed meeting. "Sounds like she was one hell of a woman," he said, his words a bit simple, but his tone sympathetic.

He looked back up to the stones as she went on in an attempt to identify each one as she named it. Part of him was disturbed to imagine there were dead wolves lying just beneath their paws, but another part of him thought he'd be very lucky if, when he died, someone bothered to inter his remains somewhere half as hauntingly beautiful as this.

As intrigued as he was, he was glad when conversation shifted to a lighter topic — one he understood far more. "Well, I don't wanna take up your whole day, but I am mighty interested," he told her with a swing of his tail, inviting her to start then and there if she so pleased. "If you're busy now, I can surely come and find you some other time."

Valette gave a sad nod to the other. She just tried to remember all the good about her sister and what she stand for. That was something that made her kept going. Plus it helped to talk about her, remember her a good way. She gave the male a thankful nod. It really felt as the male was listening and understanding without freaking out. "She was, she was," she hummed back.

The matriarch smiled at the male. It was good that he was excited. Though, it would be another time she would have a story for him. "Another time. I have some young ones to look after soon. It would be good for you to meet some other wolves in the pack," she advised with a nod. Then the integration would be much easier for him. "I'd probably see you soon anyhow, to check how you are doing and feeling a bit at ease here."

Shall we wrap it up here? We can have another if you like!

"Of course," Kincaid agreed when Valette said that she was busy; he hadn't expected to steal her away for the whole day, after all. He took a step back to broadcast that he'd be fine on his own, and would not attempt to follow her to the pups she spoke of.

He gave a nod when she suggested he meet his fellow packmates, thinking that he'd just duck out for a few hours and take a look around before coming back to do just that. "I appreciate it," he told her with a crinkly-eyed smile. How nice it was that the matriach herself would take time to see if newer members were settling in. "I'll come find you sometime, if we don't cross paths."