Firefly Glen Knock knock! Who's there? Anxiety!

Using for Scout trade!

There were many packs to the south. She could smell them faintly - very, very faintly - on the breeze as she travelled from the grasslands on which her dark forest stood like a bastion of shadows to the wilderness that smelled of bears and forests and many wolves. She had no idea of what they thought of her dark pack, but had a worrying feeling that they were not well liked or trusted. Who would trust wolves that lived in darkness; who torture their enemies and scattered their bones and blood across their borders, who rewarded murderers and worshipped a Goddess of deceit and sex and a God of Death? Not many would. She did not even truly know why she allowed herself to settle among their ranks.

It was that thought that stilled her steps as she smelled a pack close to her. From the direction of the wind and the strength of the smell, this pack was to the southwest of this glen, perhaps on one of those mountains that jutted from the land. The pack's smell, though clearly from far away, was strong. She felt a knot in her stomach as she realized that their wolves must venture into this glen frequently and the thought that her pack was well hated intensified that knots rumbling in her stomach. She steered clear of the pack out of fear and tried to focus her mind on the surroundings around her, but that thought still lurked in her mind. What could she do if they caught her? She was no bigger than a yearling and she looked like a coyote. Even if they did "like" (what a strong word) Blackfeather wolves, not many wolves liked coyotes.

Anxiety sucks. She concluded, feeling her throat close up slightly at the thought of it.

She moved down the mountainside after taking care of her mending wounds from the bear, and with all that dredged up anew, she's left feeling surly. The bitter taste in her mouth from that whole encounter is still far too fresh.. and the smarting claw-marks over one side of her ribs surely do not help any either. She knows it should have gone better for them and at the very same time, that it still could have been far worse. They had not come out unscathed.

First she attempted to dissolve this roiling anxiousness in work. But the borders are dreadfully quiet, and still just as pungent as she had last left them last time. So, she lengthened her stride one notch and strode past them, heading for the open expanse of the nearby meadow just to their northeast. She makes work of such easy terrain and only keeps her gait measured so not to pull the scabs with real extension. However, with a little bit of time, she finds she doesn't need to go very far. Her sights are drawn towards something tawny ahead.

Amekaze's first assumption is coyote. Remembering the one on the borders not too long ago, it certainly wouldn't surprise her and her nape prickled accordingly. But the closer she got, she was able to discern that the scent said pack wolf.. and not a pack she smelled very often. Curious in more ways now, she now has to wonder of the small female's purpose here.. who still, honestly, mainly looked like a coyote to her. This kept her hackles stiff on principle alone.

She closed in with a fluid motion, one speaking not only of her confidence but of her presence here with her mountain looming not far behind her. But, she didn't erase all of the distance between them. The dark alpha paused a few meters off with a sharp green stare -- one that pointedly looked for an explanation of any sort.

for my ref -- i'm hesitantly setting this after the bear tangle in my timeline so i'll just be vague about some of the details..

Quiet crossed through the glen, making sure that she came no where near the mountain where that scent was the strongest. The valley was crossed with rivers and creeks, frozen solid in the cold of winter. They were many, the frost creeping away from their depths into the banks of the river, freezing the rivermud solid. The dirt crunched underneath her slight frame, her route slowly turning north as she skirted farther away from the mountain, but it wasn't enough.

A wolf came sooner than she had thought, approaching her swiftly with accusation gleaming in her eyes. She breathed in sharply, meeting the burning green gaze of the mountain wolf - the message given by the mountains in the backdrop was not lost on her. Quiet blinked at the wolf, a brief, uncomfortable silence that Quiet couldn't break. She lowered her head, her tail tucking in between her legs as she opened her mouth, a soft, apologetic squeak exiting her mouth.

She hadn't made a consistent habit out of leaving the mountain this winter, and in fact, her trips out have been few and far between and not because the season has been excessively harsh. She just had her priorities aligned to be protective of the mountain first and foremost, and perhaps more intensely than she had been in the autumn after their foundation. When she did leave, she liked to cover ground or see something worthwhile enough to be interesting -- which was why in any season but the winter, she liked to trek far and as wide as she could. Otherwise, she gets the feeling she's just better off staying on the Spear.

Nevertheless, the coyote-wolf shrunk her posture and Amekaze squinted at her curiously. Her own tail stayed arced over her rump because she'd leave no questions of her status. A small squeak was all she offered and the dark alpha chuffed back, although there was a distinct harshness in her tone instead. "You are of the dark forest pack?" she asked pointedly now that she could smell her clearly and without any interruption from the winds. She only needed what her nose knew to be confirmed.

The suddenness of this wolf's appearance prevented the little hybrid spy from hiding her scent from the mountain wolf, but she had not known if she was supposed to. Her natural shyness prevented her from learning more about the dark pack she currently resided in, a fact that she would soon want to change, but it was too little too late now. The accusing eyes of the mountain female prompted a nod from the svelte waif, who froze with apprehension, waiting for the response her pack elicited from her.

Of all the packs that had come and gone over her many, many moons in the Teekon, she knew the dark forest to be resilient and consistent if nothing else. They remained shrouded in their own degree of mystery, which she believed they wished to keep about them for their own benefit, and she would always naturally associate them with Meldresi -- the first of their wolves she had ever known. But even that encounter was nondescript and Amekaze rarely saw their wolves. Which was fine with her. She had no reason to.

"Are you scouting?" she asked, trying to keep her tone not nearly so clipped as before as she thought of her own scouts and their recent routes away from home. Since the coywolf wasn't speaking, Amekaze was beginning to get suspicious as to why -- not that this meeting had progressed very far yet, so it was just a fleeting feeling still. Was she being that overbearing to keep her in silence? She didn't think so, but maybe words just did not come easy to her. "Or tracking something?" she asked. Of course, she could go on and on, but these were vague enough directions so that the dark alpha could feel out her business here, if she had any at all.

The wolf once more nodded. She was not scouting on behalf of her pack, but for herself. She was unfamiliar with this land and its packs especially. If she wished to be a spy for her pack in the future, then it was imperative that she learn the land that surrounded her pack's borders. But this she could not impart on the dark-furred woman. It would go forever unsaid, but the suspicion in those green eyes gave her a sickening feeling: did she think that Quiet was spying on her pack?

Another nod. Amekaze nodded back, her eyes having narrowed marginally as she did until she blinked it aside. She was coming to understand and just a little more time would be all she'd need. "I see," she breathed as she contemplated this further. Naturally, other pack wolves anywhere she could find them inspired a certain measure of suspicion, yet so far, this silent creature was not giving her outright bad vibes. It was mainly the reputation of Blackfeather that preceded them, even into an encounter so neutral as this one. 

Nevertheless, the dark alpha moved closer to her, mainly for a more in-depth look. It was there that she noticed the details of her heterochromatic eyes, and the otherwise subtle influences of the husky in her bloodlines -- not that Amekaze knew it as such, but she could appreciate something unfamiliar all the same. This at least set her apart from the average-looking coyote.  "Are you always silent?" she asked, which she considered may seem rude if it were due to injury or defect somehow, but she was curious and it would only take a nod to tell her.

Quiet leaned back slightly at the sudden intrusion of her space. The flickering green eyes in front of her told her that the wolf was examining her more closely, and realizing the heritage that lay in Quiet's veins. They was subtle, her dog genes, but not completely missing from her figure. Quiet allowed the examination, then nodded once more to answer the dark wolf's questions. It was a familiar one at least, less interrogative than the others.

The silent stranger was still beneath her scrutiny, so Amekaze got what she needed to know and soon backed off. Her answer came too and she seemed to ponder this for a moment longer, but eventually concluded to simply leave it be. While the questions were certainly there (namely why she did not speak, among others), she did not have an easy way to ask them. Besides, her business here was probably about as done as it needed to be. She didn't need to say it that so long as she kept her scouting away from the Spear's reach, Amekaze had nothing to interfere with. Her tolerance towards any sniffing around too close to her mountain was only going to throw thinner with the more neighbors she had. "I will not keep you any longer, then," she chuffed in way of farewell, then turned to trot away.

The hybrid watched with silent relief as the wolf trotted away, disappearing into the distance. She hated interrogations, especially when the interrogator was faced with the realization that the one they were trying to get information won't - can't - talk. With a quiet sigh, the hybrid picked herself up and headed north and east, away from the direction of the intimidating wolf and her mountain.