Wapun Meadow Once upon a time...

indentA night full of terrors had left the Primrose girl exhausted. The rain had been her worst enemy, and the darkness her dungeon. She had been afraid for so long, feeling alone in the world, but all she could do was keep walking forward to find the right place to start over, a helping hand that would give her the chance to get back on track. She'd had it all back in Highmere where she was the princess, but now, exiled from the place she loved and away from her family, she didn't seem to be strong enough. She had strayed for so long, fought against the hunger and the cold, but that night she'd found a shelter safe enough to spend the night.

indentAnd the morning came. A blue eye peeked out from a hollow log to find a world full of color. The flowers were back from their wintry absence and the vast field abounded in life. It was beautiful to watch how the rising sun lit up the meadow from above. Her head was fully outside now, and then her body followed with delicate movements. She belonged in the picture, just as lovely as the colorful scene. "Better days will come..." she convincingly professed in a low whisper, and with determination she set foot to find fresh water.

Days had gone by since Saena left Blacktail Deer Plateau for the last time, but somehow it felt like an entire lifetime. Although she was alone, she could rely on her hunting skills and the return of spring to keep her from death's doorstep. Her other trades, particularly Naturalism, went unappreciated in pack life, but now that she was a stray, the light-haired woman found these skills very useful. Traveling long distances didn't take much of a toll on her, and being able to predict when rain or sleet was coming ensured that she would find shelter long before it became a danger to her. For days, she'd survived very comfortably by herself.

Her wandering feet had taken her in a wide circle around the back of the Sunspire range, and this morning she came across a field of fresh, new wildflowers. Remembering a time when she'd ran through a field of flowers near Silvertip Mountain as a pup, the lone female yipped joyously and romped her way deeper into the field, bounding and twisting in the air in solo play. Her shortened tail shook back and forth. Though she often missed its former luxurious length, she knew it made her look pretty spunky, and when it wiggled it was pretty damn cute.

She frolicked like this for a time, uncaring who saw her, until she came to a sudden stop with her eyes trained curiously on another wolf. Arabella, what with her rare perfection of coat and form, had managed to blend in with the serene backdrop enough that Saena hadn't seen her until she was close. Now that she had, the pale wolf craned her neck and sniffed the air between them, flicked her ears uncertainly but showing no tension, and asked, "are you alone?"

indentIt was when the delicate Primrose decided she'd stop for just a moment to breathe in the sweet aroma of a mauve flower that she caught the scent of another wolf. She turned around to find the origin of such scent to find a petite lady, pale as the winter, but with ears as intense as autumn red. She was beautiful, the girl, and Arabella greeted her with an amiable smile and an inviting swing of her tail.

indentThe yearling came with an answer, one that made Bella realize that Saena was the first wolf she'd seen in days. "I have been for quite a while, yes..." the damsel answered with a nostalgic tone. "I'm Arabella... Arabella Primrose." she offered returning to the friendly smile.

Poor thing, thought Saena with a slight droop in her lips. Life without a pack would be depressing. Being alone right now was liberating for her, but only because she'd spent the better part of two years under another wolf's management. This was a step toward what she believed to be her destiny, so it was hard not to feel excited about it. Within a week or two, she was likely to change her mind, probably just like Arabella disliked being alone.

Then again, Arabella had never said she didn't enjoy it. It could as easily be by choice. Taking a tentative step forward, the woman sniffed more eagerly, gathering what intel she could from the other loner's aura. "Did you disperse to find a new start?" she asked, unable to believe that such a pretty, cared for wolf could be exiled or chased out for any reason. It had to be willful in Saena's ideal picture of the world. "I'm Saena," she said, "just Saena." It didn't feel right introducing herself as a Blacktail when she no longer had any ties to that pack.

indentArabella studied the young woman. She didn't seem like she had had to struggle to survive for as long as she had, she seemed perfectly healthy and in good conditions. She had to be part of a pack, but her scent suggested she hadn't been around many others for a while either. "It is really nice to meet you, Saena. What a pretty name you have..." she said with a friendly smile, but hiding a nostalgic wave of emotions that made her think back of her perfectly peaceful home and her evil step mother. "I didn't do it willingly..." she answered, her face turned somewhat sad, and suddenly her tail wasn't swinging. "But I do hope to find a new start with a pack... I wouldn't like to be a loner forever, I wouldn't survive for too long on my own." Sadly, the world was far from what Saena's ideal picture of it was. The world was unforgiving, and being a loner wasn't the only way to learn that. Arabella had suffered the evil of the world, that came to her family in the form of a vile woman, a family wrecker that destroyed the fair princess' life.

The lone female's face fell and Saena felt the corners of her lips drawing downward, as well. It seemed that exile was the case. She couldn't help but wonder what Arabella had done to be sent out on her own, for surely the blame had to lay somewhere. She had the tact not to ask, but suddenly the fair lady wasn't so innocent as her appearance made her seem, and Saena wrongly assumed she had something to hide. It wasn't a bad thing, necessarily, but it was intriguing nonetheless.

Deciding to focus on her own story instead of the lone female's sad exile, the Blacktail bobbed her head and said, "I plan to do that, too, only I'm planning for the pack to be mine." There was no hesitation in the yearling's breath as she admitted this; if she felt any trepidation about striking out and trying to gather those who would follow her, it wasn't visibly apparent. She did, of course, have some reservations, but who wouldn't?

indentArabella glared with interest at the young wolf. Forming a pack was a thing Arabella had always considered to be tough and a lot of work, but Saena was just so sure about her words that the fair wolfess couldn't help but being picked by interest. She blinked with curiosity and tilted her head to hear Saena better.

indent"Your own pack?" She exclaimed with an mildly unbelieving tone in her voice, "Aren't you too young to be an Alpha? How old are you, Saena?" she looked up and down at her, noticing her petite frame and youthful aura in spite of the very mature way she seemed to carry herself. "And do you know where you're going to settle down, if I may ask?" she questioned, truly fascinated by the girl's courage.

A mere few weeks ago, the hot-headed Saena would've perceived Arabella's disbelief as judgment and would've lost her head over it. She was able to think more clearly now, and though part of her still scoffed at wolves who thought age meant anything (it did, whether she believed it or not), another part of her had come to accept this sort of adversity. It was why she'd left the plateau in the first place, though not in those exact words.

"I don't believe age makes a good or bad Alpha," she explained, "nor do I think you can be too young. Well, I mean," she corrected herself, "obviously a puppy couldn't lead a pack, but a yearling can, don't you think? I mean, we do the same things older wolves do. I'm a yearling, myself, and not to toot my own horn, but I have three trades under my belt as well." Of course, in saying this, Saena had mistakenly lumped Arabella into the yearling category as well, likely because she wasn't keen enough to pick out the subtle differences between a yearling and a mature adult wolf. Arabella's beauty and soft voice did little to help with Saena's little illusion.

"As for where I'll go, well... I actually haven't decided that yet," she admitted quietly. "I've only been gone from home for, well, about three days. I know I want somewhere high up," she finished somewhat sheepishly. As though to convince herself as much as her companion, the female glanced at the horizon and said, "I think I'll know it when I see it."


The two talked for a while longer—in the end, Saena didn't invite Arabella to join her, probably because of her previous comment about being too young, although the woman would never really tell—and parted, with the strangely fragile-looking princess heading somewhere to the north while Saena went south again.