Firefly Glen Fear in the Unknown

She had been scared back into leading a life of a loner during her last encounter with the wolves of this land. Selena thought that the spirits wished for her to follow them to something great, but instead she found a dark spirit. One that took the shape of a bear and had an aura of death and destruction. 

At that time, almost a year ago, Selena had retreated quickly to fight against the very winds she had trusted. Now she lay curled tight amongst thick vegetation as quick grey clouds zoomed above her in the night sky. She was cold, but it was manageable. Spring was taking it's time to fully embrace the earth with her warmth, but Selena was patient. 

The outcast had dug a small hole to nestle in for the evening. The heat from the earth's core was comforting and the hole was just enough for her body to fit into. Selena felt comforted, embraced in a sort of hug. She would wait  patiently to see where the spirits would have her go next.

To be honest, Dwin felt somewhat betrayed by Dee. Almost two weeks ago her sister had left without saying a word neither to parents, nor anyone else from the family circle. Just got up and walked off. In the light of the recent events (attack by another wolf) she had first felt an inclination to track her sister down and bring her back home, where it was safe. But she was still recovering from malnutrition and got tired quickly. In the back of her mind she could relate to that inner feeling of Dee's that you had to find something out there in the world that you did not have at home. Still - it had made her no less worried or annoyed. After all Dwin had bid goodbye, even if she had not been entirely honest of, where she had intended to go. 

So now, when she found herself in a glen not far from a pack that her own home was on friendly terms with, she tried to tell that she was definitely not looking for that traitor of a sibling. That she had just happened to go somewhere and just happened (by accident and while looking for something else) to search meticulously for any traces of Dee's scent out there. She came up with nothing - of course - and this made her feel frustrated. Not very characteristic of her. "You... you... chicken," she spat and kicked up some dirt, wishing that there had been a more insulting name for Dee. But even while angry and disappointed, she could not bring herself to call her anything worse. In the end - she was all the good and nice, and kind that Dwin was not. 

"Oh," she was distracted from her thoughts, when she caught a strong scent of another wolf-being around. It was not yet visible, but the scent signature was there.

She heard the stranger before she could smell her. It wasn't until the winds changed in her favor that Selena knew there was someone else so close by. The little "oh" that had been muttered sounded to be much farther away than the scent suggested. 

The girl popped her head up, oblivious to the danger she could be in if she were to run into the wrong wolf at the wrong time. She didn't much care to think like that. It was no fun.

"Hello?" Her dark gaze searched for only a moment before double taking a slim figure of light shades. Her polar opposite. "Are you okay?" She didn't really know what else to say, but figured this would be appropriate since the stranger had sounded somewhat startled by something. Still, Selena lay in her dug out nest, looking like a meerkat popping up from the earth.

Luckily Dwin was neither the wrong person, nor the timing was bad. She also jumped, when someone addressed her and seemingly materialized out of thin air. She stared at the dark she-wolf, taking time to collect herself and then figuring out, what to say. Was she okay? "No, not exactly," she shook her head, though not entirely willing the enormity of anger that seemed to be building the more she dwelled on the idea of Dee leaving the way she had. 

"You? Ain't you kind of alone?" she asked, wishing to change the subject and not have this stranger on the receiving end, when she was going to explode. "It is not very safe here - my sister," her jaw clenched at the mention and the memory. "She was recently attacked by some bastard."

The girl said she wasn't okay and Selena frowned, giving a sympathetic nod as she listened to what had happened to the stranger's sister. The fur on the back of her neck stood up as anxiety gripped her chest, suddenly overcome by the feeling that the two were being watched.

"Yes... I am alone. I'm sorry that happened to your sister." The wolf paused, taking a moment to lift herself fully from the hole she had dug and stretch out stiffened legs. "I'm Selena. Sorry to ask but, if it is dangerous out here why are you alone? Are you not worried?" This girl seemed a bit younger than herself, still growing into her own. She liked her energy and Selena found herself drawn to the girl's warm aura.

Dwin would have loved to say something along the lines of - "Danger? DANGER? I eat danger for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And have fear as a midnight snack". In reality she had been so angry with Chickadee that she had completely forgotten about her own safety, until Selena had challenged her with that question. She shifted her weight uncomfortably and looked around, but did not see anyone. 

"Well, yeah, it is not safe for me either. But - if something happens to me, it will be my sister's fault," she said spitefully. At least that would make her feel guilty and sorry. And then she would die of sorrow and be buried in a lonely forest and there she would be a ghost that would haunt the place and wail in sadness for eternity. In the back of her mind Dwin realized that she was not being fair to Dee and on the day her sibling would come home, all anger and hurt would be forgotten instantly.  She simply needed an outlet for the myriad of emotions boiling in her heart. 

"Why are you here out alone?" Dwin asked. In case this girl too was looking for a traitorous sibling, then they could vent about them together. 

There was a lot going on behind those green eyes. The dark witch plopped herself next to the young one, her tail thumping rhythmically against the dirt as she listened politely.the stranger's words were so heavy with hurt and spite, Selena couldn't help but frown. 

Growing up, if Selena ever found herself on the outs with one of her own siblings... well, she wouldn't stand for it and would have to make things right immediately. Even if she deserved the apology.

"Well, I sure don't want to see anything happen to you." Selena spoke softly and carefully, hoping to ground the emotionally distraught girl with some simple conversation. She didn't need to be alone in this state.

"I'm just a traveler, I guess. I'm glad you came by to tell me this place might be dangerous though... I was about to settle in for a snooze. Should we move?" 

"Yeah, whatever," Dwin replied impatiently and shrugged, only to realize moments later that she had sounded like a total jerk. Both in terms of her sister and to this stranger, who had offered a figurative shoulder to at least wipe your nose on. "Sorry, I did not mean to be rude," she apologized. "It's just we had made a deal that we would go together and she left without saying a word to anyone," she explained, but here I have to add that her take on the situation was very subjective and Dee - had she been present - could very well argue that no such promises had been made. 

"I dunno," Dwin shrugged. "I mean, I traveled for few moons before I returned home and nothing bad ever happened to me. Dee wandered outside once and got mauled," she could really not take responsibility of, what would/could happen to Selena or what she should be doing. "Just be careful, I guess. Did you come from far away?" 

She let the comment roll of her back and instead looked clouds above them She honestly didn't expect an apology, nor would she ever demand one. The girl felt pain, and she didn't know Selena so she owed her nothing.

"It's okay." The woman spoke softly, her shark eyes drifting so her peripheral could catch a glimpse of her temporary comrade. Selena decided it was best to put the topic of this girl's sister to bed. 

She nodded at the advice of the stranger and decided to settle onto her belly once more. She was tired, and the winds were dead so she could only assume she was not meant to leave. She was to listen to her body now. "Yes, pretty far." Selena lolled idly on her side, rubbing her snout with her paw in hopes to relieve a sudden irritating itch. "I had to leave my family. Not enough food for everyone sort of situation."

"But shouldn't it be the other way round? If you are part of a pack, you are more likely to take down the big game. Where there will be plenty of food for every one," as she said this, her mouth filled with saliva, just thinking about the abundance of flesh that came with taking down something as big as elk or moose. The problem was, however, that, while Dwin loved the taste, she was not as keen on hunting the beasts. Before them she was keenly aware of how small and weak she was. Conflicting feelings. Same as wanting to eat that pizza very, very badly, but also knowing that it would fight you viciously and potentially smother you. 

"I mean I had very hard time finding food, while I was away. Mom was right telling that the weather did not favor small game hunts," she admitted. There had been a great deal of other useful and reasonable things her mom and dad, and other adult figures in the family had told her, but she had dismissed them until she had proven them to be true on her own. "Do you have a lot of brothers and sisters?" she asked next. 

It should've been the other way around.

Selena agreed inwardly with the young one, but outwardly shook her head no. "The large game we used to hunt- deer, elk, all of that, they began to migrate more and more south. The packs the took over the territories around my family were over-hunting as a tactic to starve the other packs out. It affected the smaller packs first, the family packs." She wasn't much for having stoic grace when it came to things that made her upset, and so she sat like a wilting flower, her voice soft and slow. 

She was still processing the change and grieving the comfort she once had. Spirits knew that there was more to it than that, but that was just what her mother told her of the situation. At the mention of small prey and the difficulty of catching it, Selena snorted in agreement. She found herself starved for food whenever she wasn't around a body of water. Luckily she was pretty good at fishing, so she fancied herself a pescatarian as of late.

One may expect the next question would have upset the girl further, but instead she smiled fondly at the thought of her siblings. "Yes. One sister who is my age and three younger brothers." Selena cast a glance to a rustling in some distant bramble, but disregarded as nothing was visible and no further movement went detected. "What about you? Just you and your sister, or are there more?"

"But if they over-hunted to starve others, did not that mean they starved themselves as well?" Dwin asked, puzzled by the history and wondering, why the hell any pack would do such a thing to others. There was only so much meat you could stuff in your belly, even if you ate and hunted every single day. Then something funny occurred to her and before Selena went on to tell about her family, she interjected: "Oooh... did that mean that in the end they were very round wolves? That they rolled around like pebbles rather than walked?" She grinned at the very idea of rotund creatures, terrorizing the local population.

"Well, my family is kind of big, but not all of the people are around. I have tons and tons of grandaunts and granduncles and aunts and uncles of my father's side - if you ever happen to run accross a person, who has a family name "Blackthorn", you can be sure that they sit on some branch of my complex family tree," she explained. "I have two older sisters, but I did not see them much around. And there is a half-brother and half-sister from my dad's previous marriage - Elfie and Weejay," she told. "If by any chance you ever meet anyone by these names, tell them to visit the Redhawk caldera. I would love to meet them," she added - quite a childish hope, but more odd things had happened in life. 

"And I have two brothers - one has gone off to have adventures on his own and the other - Jay - is my best friend and comrade in arms," it was good to have him at least. When she had dreamt about growing up, the fact that her siblings would disperse had not been factored in. "You are also welcome to visit - Brecheliant is the name of my pack and if you tell anyone there on the borders that you know Dwin, you will get a tour," she suggested.