Blacktail Deer Plateau Pack Search for a She-wolf

Aliac had been running for miles, since being brutally forced out of her birth pack by it's new alpha. She had been on her own for about a year now and was now in search for a new pack who might accept her in. Frost was nipping at her paws as she ran through the snow covered ground. The sun was setting slowly as she felt it's warmth hit he fur for a split second. Aliac was beginning to loose hope until she caught the scent of a pack nearby, she was close to it's border it seemed.

Grayday was up on the ridge with his daughter, sniffing around the borders with his good eye to the valley floor. Every so often, he would pause to lift his leg or scratch at the ground, and the girl that trailed him would copy the motions as best she could.

He paused, though, when an unfamiliar scent caught his attention. They got a lot of traffic along their river border and the valley floor, where wolves stopped by to take a drink before moving on through the bottle neck and into the coast. But rarely were they near enough for Grayday to smell them so strongly.

"Over there," said his daughter, nudging Grayday's chin until his face was pointed toward a pale, blurry figure. 

With a grunt of thanks toward Easy, he turned to face the interloper more fully and adopted a dominant stance. Easy stood just behind him, looking on with sharp, anxious eyes.

"Is there something you need?" he called out, hoping that if this was another intruder, the presence of a strong male would dissuade her from trying her paw at Morningside.

Aliac's ears pricked up at the voice and she turned her head in the direction of both the sound of the voice and the scent of the wolf. It is obvious to her that he must be the alpha of this pack. Carefully she thinks of what to say before she spoke. "I don't mean to be a bother, but I am in need of shelter." The young she-wolf stood up in a non threatening way. She did not want to make a bad impression of herself.

Grayday exchanged a glance with Easy, silently asking her opinion of the wolf. The girl, having very little experience, gave a tiny huff as if to say, I guess...

The male looked back down at the shewolf. "Come up here," he said in a commanding voice. In the past, he might've gone down to meet her on neutral ground, but his missing eye made navigating the slope a slow and difficult task - he'd rather the woman not see his weakness right off the bat.

Aliac was astounded by his response, hesitantly she does as he said. The young she-wolf slowly traveled up the terrain, towards the wolf until she was in front of him. Aliac made sure to keep her distance so that she might not make herself seem as a threat. "I am Aliac." She starts off by introducing herself to the wolf.

He tracked her movements as best he could, and quickly came to the conclusion that she was of little threat to him and his. What remained to be seen was if this meek young thing could be of any use to Morningside.

"Grayday," he replied. "And my daughter, Daw- @Easy." He shot the dark girl a contrite look for having almost called her the wrong name before turning his attention back to the loner. "We're looking for strong hunters and medics to get us through the winter," said Grayday, moving closer to Aliac and passing a critical eye over her pale form. "What kind of skills can you offer us? What are your strengths?"

Aliac thought for a moment as she evaluated herself before speaking. "I am very fast and clever with words, I was the daughter of a hunter and she had taught me well. As far as medicine goes I am not very skilled." To Aliac she sounded like an imbecile with false hope. As she finished she looked at Grayday.

Grayday made a noise of acknowledgement but, for the moment, made no response to her words. Instead, he infringed on her personal space, looking over her with his ears pushed forward atop his head. A cold, wet nose trailed along the length of her body, testing her scent for signs of illness and the texture of her coat for malnutrition.

"You seem healthy enough," he said to her. "Been keeping yourself fed?"

Easy stood to the side, less anxious than before, but still nervous about what the woman might dodo if she became offended by her father's intrusion.

Aliac was confused at first by the males reaction but then after long thought, his actions began to make sense to her. It was clear he did not want weakness in his pack. The young she-wolf nodded at his question before she spoke. "Yes, the best I can." She had been struggling more than ever this winter to find food. To her it seemed the animals were a lot smarter this year.

Grayday stood back to observe her a moment longer. She was young and healthy - in her prime. She'd not directly professed to any great skills, but Grayday had not been terribly skilled at her age, either. These things came with time.

"Okay," said the male. "You can stay with us, but you'll need to work hard and get along with the others. If you can do that, you'll have yourself a home. If not, you'll have to go. Does that sound agreeable to you?"

After he spoke Aliac's excitement grew at his generosity, but she kept it contained and nodded. "Of course I can do that, thank you very much." The young she wolf was determined to make a good impression, being a lone wolf was lonely.

Grayday gave her one last critical look. "And I expect you to put on some weight," he decided. Skinny wolves didn't survive the winter.

"Come on, we'll show you the rendezvous site. It's where the pack gathers at the end of the day."

They were long past the days where he'd keep newcomers from the children while they settled in. They were old enough, now, to do as they pleased around the territory, as long as they checked in with an adult every now and again.

Grayday began walking toward the rendezvous site, tail swishing idly behind him.

Aliac nodded at his request. Nervousness flooded through her as she followed him to rendezvous site as he called it. She was nervous that they would not like her, fore she has had a rough time fitting into her birth pack. Nevertheless, she put those negative thoughts out of her mind.

The rendezvous site was empty, as it often was at this time of day, but evidence of the pack's existence littered the area. Pup toys, bones, tufts of fur, and an assortment of dens were scattered around them, all liberally covered with the scent of the pack.

"You can sleep here," he said to Aliac, but he guessed that she might keep her distance at first, since she seemed so shy. "We have a kill off to the east - our scents will lead you to it, probably - but it's almost done with. We'll have to get a hunt together soon. My older daughter, Dawn, is in charge of setting those up. You can talk to her or my wife, Catori about where you'll be best put to use. In the meantime, try to get to know everyone's scent. We've had trouble with trespassers, lately, and there's some trouble brewing down south in the valley."

He gave her a friendly look and a wag oof his tail. "Any questions?"

Aliac makes sure to carefully listen and hang onto every word that Grayday said. She pondered for a moment. "No, I beleive that you've covered all of my concerns. Thank you again for your hospitality, I will try my best to serve this pack well." Her words just flowed out softly as she bowed her head out of respect before looking up once more at him.

Grayday gave her one last wag of his tail. They were a friendly bunch, so he hoped Aliac wouldn't have too much trouble adjusting. It would be sad to have to kick her out of the pack just for being her shy little self, but Grayday didn't want any weak links around his family.

"Well, Easy and I need to get back to our patrol. You're welcome to come along if you like, or get settled in on your own."

She thought for a moment and thought that this will help her get familiar with the territory better. "I think I'll go with you." Aliac said with enthusiasm lacing her voice. She knew that being in a pack will be hard but she was spirited and open to new experiences, and indeed this will be a new experience for her.

Easy was keeping unusually quiet. Grayday guessed she'd be a bit shy around strangers for some time to come. Hopefully meeting a friendly wolf like Aliac would help bring her back out of her shell.

They moved back toward the borders, though not to the place where Easy and Grayday had left off. They'd swing back around to that section another day.

"So, how'd you come to find yourself alone in these parts?" asked the male, narrowly avoiding a tripling hazard with the help of his daughter.

"The alpha who had taken over my birth pack drove me out after beating my father for leadership...." She trailed off and hopefully he would catch onto what happened to her father afterwards. She didn't want to say what happened in front of his pup. "I was considered a threat to his leadership so he put me out about this time last year."

A familiar tale - one Grayday was glad had passed him by. He couldn't imagine losing his home and his family in such a way - especially at such a young age. Aliac couldn't have been much more than a pup at the time. 

"That's a shame," said Grayday with a heavy sigh. He, personally, could not picture Aliac being a threat to anyone. "Have you been on your own since then?"

Aliac looked down at the snowy ground, then quickly looked back up. She refused to let that tragedy in her life bring her spirits down anymore. "Yes, I have." The young she wolf then pushes that memory back into the far reaches of her mind.

Grayday gave the girl a compassionate look. "Well, you're here, now," he said simply, lifting his leg to freshen his scent on the border. Easy did the same a few yards ahead of him - she'd wandered off while the adults spoke. "As long as you're loyal and hard-working, you can be here for as long as you want."

The girl reminded him a bit of Moonstone, who he'd quickly grown attached to in her early days among the pack. But like Moonstone, Aliac seemed to have a checkered past - Grayday wondered if this would go the same way as Moonstone's stay upon the Plateau had gone.

"If you need to talk to someone, just let us know," Grayday said gently, moving further along the border to sniff at a new scent. Coyote, but it had only come a few yards into the territory before circling back out and down the ridge. Probably chasing a rabbit or something.

Aliac saw the expression on his face, she wasn't used to such kindness and it joyed her to be able to experience it. She too caught the scent of the coyote. She watched him remark the border, she was still new to the ways of a pack wolf and this practice confused and intrigued her. The young wolf looked at Grayday and nodded. "Thank you." She says once again for the third time today. .