Gyrfalcon's Keep a guiding light to keep me from foundering

Reef's search for fungi lead her away from the sea and inland. She was born on the coast and, like so many other wolves who were, she had been taught how to suss out a number of different provisions from her surroundings. Mushrooms were among them. She knew the earthy delicacies grew in damp and dark places. Often that meant caves but a stony mount flanked by a tight stand of trees caught her eye. She was sure that somewhere among those rocks and boulders and beneath the canopy of the forest she would find mushrooms.

She was not wrong. Reef had the good fortune of locating a narrow fissure in the keep which was shielded from snowfall by the sprawl of evergreen branches. There was little room to spare and at times her shoulders rubbed the walls. Determined and unconcerned about tight spaces, the small girl pressed on, eventually finding a small cave set off from the chasm itself. Growing in clusters were the pale slender mushrooms that she had been bid to gather. Reef laughed in joy, and soon found her way back into the relative brightness of the timber, her mouth full with a couple clumps, each sporting several dozen individual stalks.

She set her find down at her paws and grinned up at the sky, as if thanking some spirit or deity for favoring her in her search.

Foxglove had decided to remain at the coast for now. For practical reasons, because there were at least three packs located along the shores, which meant hunting parties, hidden caches to raid and tidbits of feasts left lying around. She was a small wolf, who did not need a lot to keep going and, ever since she had begun to scavenge daily the mix of sea-weeds and various trash that was washed on the coast, she was pretty sure that she would not kick the bucket just yet. 

Now and then she would catch a scent of another lone wolf and follow them from a safe distance, curious to see, who they were and what were they doing, and also see, if they left any edible stuff behind. This time she had watched a small she-wolf, making her way accross the rocky path and looking for hidden stuff in the caves. When she disappeared in one of them completely, Foxglove overcame her natural wariness of people and drew a lot closer to the exact spot than she would usually do. 

A moment later the she-wolf emerged, holding something in her jaws, looking as glorious as if she had just visited a cornucopia. Though in clear view, the dappled she-wolf sat down, only her extended muzzle and quivering nose indicating that she was hard at task at getting the smell of, whatever the girl had found.

Reef did not believe there were any gods deciding her fate but she did believe that luck had a role in everything, and enjoyed taking a moment to bask in good luck. The way she saw it, her know-how had put her on the right path but just because there was water did not mean there would be fish. Things were always in motion and who knew what things would put you where you need to be when you needed to be there.

"Oh, hello!" She smiled as she noticed she had been joined by another wolf. She could not help herself; her warm eyes openly admired the unique splashes of color that characterized the female's coat and the way her face seemed to be two faces in one. "You are very pretty," she complimented. "I'm Reef!" She realized then that the girl seemed to be curious about what she found, and she happily informed. "These are mushrooms. I am trying to join a pack and their leader likes these."

Foxglove was taken aback, by the other's radiating personality and to stomach it better, she turned her head to the side and licked her lips few times to ease both herself and tell the other that she was not entirely comfortable with the situation. It occurred to her that had Junebell been present, she would have known, what to say and how to receive compliments. Her counterpart, who was the ruling mind in the body at the moment, was clueless at what to do with all of the cheerfulness.

However, the mention of mushrooms sparked her curiousity again - she looked briefly the other wolf in the eyes, then got to her feet and slowly approached the she-wolf, then leaned down and sniffed at the odd, slimy things. Didn't smell like anything she had eaten before. Didn't smell nice at all - Foxglove scrunched her nose and sat down. A questioning look and arched eyebrows in the girl's direction - are they really edible? - she seemed to be asking.

Reef gracefully reclined on her haunches and tipped her head to the side as the other wolf drew forward. She had took note of how her exuberant character had unsettled the stranger and made an effort to be calmer.

"I think so," Reef said as she picked up on the unspoken question. "I have never had these ones exactly..." She trailed off in thought to consider what Ingram had told her. She remembered clearly that he had said these were Wylla's favorite but had he said favorite to eat? "Hum," Reef began again. "They could be for medicine."

They could be poisonous, she thought, but the optimist did not entertain that thought long.

Medicine? Foxglove furrowed her brow, having not heard the term before. Her idea of healing oneself was very simple - you ate some grass, when it felt like you needed to aid you digestion, and it either came back out with stomach contents or through the other end, having traveled all the loops and folds of her digestive tract and collecting trash along the way. To imagine that anyone would eat this stuff willingly was crazy.

But the girl did not look insane and, if you could trust the facade of the building to put it eloquently she did not seem lacking common sense either. Foxglove said nothing, but sat there, expressing a polite interest in anything else the girl would have to say either on the matter or perhaps other subjects. She even wagged her tail to emphasize her good intentions. Food was of most interest to the dappled loner, of course.

Her companion was a rather quiet being. But friendly, so Reef did not mind although she was not sure what else the girl was looking for. She felt the wolf was interested and attentive but could not read any other specific questions on her split-color face. Maybe she just wants the company. Reef reasoned. She liked company. Most wolves did.

"So... do you talk at all?" She asked softly, canting her slim head and offering a polite smile, wagging her tail amiably.

Few weeks ago Foxglove had discovered that her initial choice not to talk with people in general had turned into an ability to talk. There were not many occasions, where she would really want to share her mind about things, exchange pleasantries or have a small-talk, but it was not very nice to know that you had a word in your mind, pressing against her skull to get out, but the mouth and vocal chords had no idea, what to do. 

Therefore she shook her head and yawned again. Not wanting to delve deeper in this subject, she got to her feet and looked at Reef, then turned a pointed glance in the direction of the seaside and made few steps in the intended direction and then looked over her shoulder to see, if the wolf was interested in following.

Reef let her ears droop a bit. She could not help but wonder why the wolf did not talk if she could understand Reef just fine. She wondered if the wolf had been able to talk before but had suffered some misfortune. But curious or not Reef would not ask. She simply smiled and openly accepted her companion's quietness for what it was.

"Oh, I would like to," she started to say, "but I have to get these mushrooms back to the pack. I don't know how well they'll keep you know? I hope I see you again sometime!" Wagging her tail, Reef stooped to pick up her mushrooms, and then dipped her small head in a polite farewell before she loped happily down the shore toward Grimnismal.

Last post for me :)