Duskfire Glacier Autumn was soft

I would really like for Samani to meet @Veteran maybe? If you've got the space for another writing opportunity with me... ^^;

The journey of the Moonglow wolves had led them across a vast stretch of wild terrain.

Young Samani had devoured every inch of it in her gaze. The ache of her paws was nothing compared to the beauty of the world around them. She was not worried for their people. She had faith that they would journey to a new terrain and would share the winter with wolves who would hunt alongside them, would feast on their hard-earned spoils.

Samani had not understood the urgency in discovering illness in their prey. The young wolf had observed, but she did not grasp why it was so important. The wolves of Moonglow had still been welcomed at Duskfire Glacier. Surely, the trouble could not have been too terrible…

The peachy figure prowled across the glacier that day with glittering eyes. She wanted to meet some of the locals.

I will always have room for you. <3

After having spent several days camped out with the Moonglow wolves, Veteran knew the peach of Moonglow by sight and by name. So taken had he been with her fair and delicate countenance, he had yet to work up the courage to approach her on his own. Of course, he told himself that he was just so busy with his manly hunting tasks, and that was why he hadn't yet found the time to speak with her. There was always something going on in camp into which he could throw himself at any moment, and he had so far managed to find some way to occupy himself intensely when the Moonglow beauty was nearby.

Now however, they were not within the hunting camp of Moonglow, surrounded by the appraising eyes of her entire extended family. The girl was on Veteran's turf today, and so he was feeling quite a bit more confident. He saw Samani traversing the Glacier, following a trail that he had laid himself, and his pride swelled. He galloped (or more accurately, bounced) out to meet her, friskiness in his gait and his ice-blue eyes glimmering with excitement.

The moon child heard the thumping of eager paws before she turned to see the dark figure who bobbed toward her. The blue in his eyes reminded her of clouded summer days. The skies over Moonglow had been so vivid with color. Samani felt herself realizing nostalgia for the first time. The glacier boy continued to make his way toward her with eager steps and a winning expression.

The moon child bowed her head respectfully to the boy. They were visitors in his land, after all. She wondered what he was doing but did not elect to ask him. Instead, Samani drew her gaze back up and regarded him with a careful stare.

Hello, glacier boy, she said.

The jade of her eyes fixed on the scar that stretched across his face. She thought of the story Kigipigak had shared with her and frowned thoughtfully. Did this boy lay his father to rest, too? Were all men intended to receive marks mistaken for bravery? Samani thought to ask and held it on the tip of her tongue.

He had bounced up to her with every intention to engage her in play, but the wild excitement in his greeting contrasted sharply with the restrained, comparatively formal reception Samani gave him. He deflated a little. For some reason, he had expected the easy, casual camaraderie he found in Wayfarer's companionship. He hadn't realized Samani would be such a priss, although he probably should have expected it of a princess. 

"Hello, moon princess," he returned, swallowing heavily. His mouth has gone strangely dry. He didn't know what to say. "Whad'you think of the glacier?" he asked finally, after he could come up with nothing else. He hadn't run up to her expecting to have a civilized conversation, and he was wholly unprepared.

The young man was formal with her, which brought a peculiar smile to the moon child’s features. Her slender muzzle curled into it before she laughed – an airy thing that lingered on the air. He wanted to know how she was liking the glacier. Samani realized that she had not seen very much of it. Their journey had been a long one and she had been quite tired until that time. After having rested, she’d decided it was wise to visit the wolves there and learn from them.

I haven’t seen much of it, the rose admitted, one ear swinging to splay atop her head. You can show me all of it? The jade of her eyes was sharp on him, searching and questioning. The young girl was pleased that she had found another wolf who was closer to her age. She believed it would be nice to spend her time with him, to learn of his home from him directly.

Oh, you can call me Samani. She did not need to be spoken to as moon princess, no matter how she had liked it.

Oh wow, she sure was cute when her ears did that thing. Veteran's heart squeezed. 

"You can show me all of it?" 

Could he ever! A thousand times, yes!

"Hmm.. I guess you could join my patrol," Veteran allowed, faking some hesitation in an attempt to be cool and coy. He shot her a brief glimpse of his winningest smile. 

"Samani," he echoed, as if he were just learning her name for the very first time. In reality, he had asked it of someone the moment he laid eyes on her in the Moonglow camp. "I'm Veteran," he returned. "C'mon! My favorite part of the patrol is up that way." He nodded toward the spot where the glacier ended, and the patrol path turned south. 

Walking and talking would be easier-- he'd have somewhere to look, something to focus on that wouldn't make his tongue feel all dry. Once they were on their way, he asked, "What's your home like? The Or-burrows Spine?" He butchered the name not of his own fault, but because his mother was the one who had described it to him, and she had no memory for names. It was one of her most annoying qualities, in Veteran's opinion.

The boy said that she could join him on his patrol. Samani thought of this for only a moment before she nodded her head. She did not believe her mother would be displeased. She would say that she was getting to know the wolves of the glacier. Besides, this was the first child she had crossed paths with who was not a member of their village or a resident of their ulaq.

As he talked, she followed and nodded her head. He said that his name was Veteran, which was a name that did not sound like the others she knew. Still, she did not comment on it. She saved the name inside her head with the image of his features – the blue of his eyes and the scar that stretched across his forehead.

When he asked about the spine, Samani smiled and laughed gently. He did not say its name correctly, but she had enjoyed his butchering of it. Moonglow is nice. There are places to see the stars, places to look at water, lots of tall stone to protect us, the moon child answered. Samani thought of her home with fondness in her heart. She missed it, but she was thrilled to be experiencing new things.

How did you get that? the moon girl inquired, pointing with her nose toward the scar on his head.

"Oh, the stars!" Veteran said excitedly, delighted to find something they had in common. "I love the stars." He smiled over at her. If they walked his whole patrol route going clockwise, they would end their tour near his favorite platform on the Plain, which was perfect for watching the northern lights. His heart beat a little faster, thinking of sitting under the lights with Samani, watching the colors flicker across her dainty features.

He thought he would very much like to see Moonglow someday, especially if the moon princess could be his tour guide. Before he could voice this thought though, Samani asked about his scar. 

"Oh, um..." he faltered. "It was really stupid," he admitted, heat rising in his cheeks. He might have made up a heroic story, if his present company had been anyone other than Samani. As it was though, her presence flustered him to the point that his imagination was unable to race and build as usual. 

"I picked a fight I probably shouldn't have." A pause, and he added, "It was my sister. Half-sister. Ex-half-sister." Could sisters be exes? He wasn't sure. "She ran away from home a moon ago," he explained. 

Their patrol brought them to his favorite spot on the glacier: the eastern edge of the ice, which ended abruptly and looked out over the permafrost hollows down below. Veteran loved being eye-level with the treetops, and occasionally there were animals down below that he could watch. He could probably sit at this edge for hours watching the Hollows, but there was always a patrol to which he needed to return. Duty would never cease to call, he was beginning to realize.

As the two figures walked through the glacier territory, Samani listened to Veteran talk about how he’d earned his scar. He spoke of a sibling who he had gotten into a fight with. The moon child found this curious, for she had experienced a few scuffles with Kausiut. In fact, Samani had found that Kausiut was not nearly as well-behaved as she should have been. The young girl was prone to causing trouble with her direct nature and peculiar tendencies.

My sister can be… she wasn’t certain how she would word it, so she faded with her speech and then offered him a small smile. Siblings can be hard. That was better. Samani loved her sister very much, so she wasn’t quite sure she would rest easily if Kau ran away. The peach thought to ask Veteran how his sister’s departure had impacted his life, but she wasn’t sure that he would like for her to ask such personal things. In fact, they had traveled through a good portion of the pack and had only talked about his scar and his sister’s retreat from their village.

Samani wasn’t the best at starting conversations.

What do you do for your village?

Samani began to reveal something about her own sister, and Veteran tore his gaze from the hollows below to refocus on Samani. She seemed to be on the edge of saying something less-than-perfect, but she caught herself at the last second. Of course. The perfect princess. 

Veteran nodded along to her comment on siblings. "Especially sisters," he added, wearing a lopsided smile not unlike his mother's. "I've seen your sister, I think.." he started, brow wrinkling as he recalled the twisted, one-eyed, hobbling little creature he'd spied in Moonglow's camp. Their pelts were similarly colored, and yet Samani's reminded him of morning sunbeams on fresh-fallen snow, and her sister's reminded him of dirty sand. 

She was back at her questions, perhaps as a way to divert him from the more sensitive topic. Luckily for her, Veteran was fairly easy to distract. "I'm a mercenary," he answered proudly. "I'm going to be a guardian when I grow up!" That reminded him, they should get back to their patrol. Reluctantly, Veteran pulled himself away from the view of permafrost hollows, directing them back to the patrol path. 

"Moonglow wolves are hunters, right?" he asked her, turning the question back on her. He'd heard this much from his mom, but logically they couldn't all be hunters, right? It stood to reason that princesses might be put up to more delicate tasks. Veteran could not recall if he had seen Samani with the hunting parties in the valley.

We are alike, Samani said dryly, nodding at the boy’s remark about her sister. They had many similarities. Most would not be able to decipher that there were differences until they drew closer to Kausiut and saw that her figure was marred. Samani thought it made her look like a vicious creature – a wolverine, or badger – but she would never admit such a thing out loud.

Veteran said that he would grow to be a guardian. The moon child regarded him thoughtfully, nodding at his figure with a thin-lipped expression. Samani did not fully understand what it took to make a guardian or a mercenary. She imagined that he would do a fine job. The young man seemed as though he was filled with motivation, after all.

Many of Moonglow’s wolves are hunters, yes. I would like to be a hunter when I am older. Maybe to hunt and to offer counsel to those who need it. Samani thought of her conversation with Inutsuk and wondered if it was a path she could follow easily.

Can you show me what you know about being a guardian? the young figure inquired of her company.

"We are alike," Samani said of her sister, and Veteran hesitated to agree. He really couldn't see much likeness at all, save for the coloration that they both must have inherited from Sun Man. 

"You like counseling people?" Veteran asked. "My mom's the alpha, and she has counselors. Or, no-- she calls them advice-ers," he amended, butchering the word advisors. "She's always saying she needs all the advice she can get." He laughed off the remark, although he did wonder if that might pique Samani's interest. Maybe she would want to stay a little longer and meet Mom. Veteran wanted to show Samani everything about his life, if she was willing to see it. 

Oh, she wanted to see what being a guardian was like? He was so up for that!

"Okay, let's play Guardian And Stranger!" he agreed quickly, panting excitedly. "I'll be the Guardian, and you be the Stranger." Did she know how to play? He would explain, just in case. "You go up that path until you can't see me anymore. Then turn around and come back down, and pretend you're a stranger coming up to the pack's border." He pointed her toward the path that led up to the Frostfire Ridge.

The girl felt her cheeks warm as Veteran went on to speak about his mother and her own counselors. Samani was not certain that guidance was an area that she would enjoy. She had not been given many chances to test her ability to keep a level head or to offer words of advice to others. Then again, she did not imagine there would be many wolves who would seek the word of a child. Time would help her discover her strength for such thing, if it existed.

It did not take long before Veteran was willing to show her his skills as a guardian.

Samani eyed him carefully. Her lips were curled in the faintest of smiles. She was to be the stranger and he would meet her as she walked along the path. These terms were perfectly agreeable. Samani nodded once and hurried up the pathway until the dark-furred boy could not be seen.

She paused there, drawing in the scents of the glacier. A fondness filled her chest.

As the moon child made her way along the path, she had assumed the role of a sneaky intruder. She slunk along the way she had seen the hunters do. Her jade eyes shifted from side to side, searching for signs that she might be caught in her devilish attempt at intrusion. Samani did all that she could to keep from looking at the blue-eyed boy.

As Samani hurried away, Veteran took the opportunity to find a good lookout spot for himself. He settled on a boulder that raised him above a bend in the path. When Samani came into view, he watched her skulk along the path, his ice-blue gaze fixated on her liquid movements. He almost forgot that he was supposed to be stopping her. 

"Halt, stranger," he called out, perhaps a bit belatedly. He puffed out his chest and drew himself up to his full height. "You're approaching Duskfire Glacier territory. What is your purpose?" He suppressed an excited tail-wag as he awaited her response. This was his favorite part of the game: the part when Samani would reveal what kind of "stranger" she was going to be. Would she get scared and retreat? Would she be a potential joiner, or an ally coming to visit? Or.. would she attack? Veteran really hoped she attacked...

Just as Samani had assumed a role, so had Veteran. The dark young man stepped forward with his head drawn back and his chest pushed out. The moon child could not help but think that he cut a different image. She was curious about it and wondered if he would teach her the ways that he had learned. Of course, that was for another time. She realized that she wasn’t playing a very good trespasser.

Hairs bristling slightly, Samani jumped back a few steps. She had seen a fox do it and had thought it looked sharp. It placed a small distance between them that would allow for Veteran to do what he wished. The young girl wasn’t sure if she was intended to say something.

I’m looking for a fight, she tried to snap at him. She didn’t feel that she liked baring her teeth quite so much as learning about those who did it regularly.