Dawnlark Plains Meat-Cute

As Leto trotted through the unfamiliar plains she found her mind wandering. After travelling for some time she planned to find somewhere to settle down, but this left her with plenty of questions: what kind of wolves would she meet? Would she be any good at hunting in a new territory? What would the weather be like?

The many possibilities left her feeling excited. She hadn't interacted with many wolves outside of her own kin, and she was sure that they must be great - there was no reason to anticipate any issues in her mind.

A breeze carried itself through the tree’s, a rare occurrence during the dry hot season. A grey wolf with slim features ventured throughout the woods on her lonesome, not seeming all that aware of her surroundings.

Kaaya had been wandering around for quite a while now — you know, since she left her home 3 moons ago. She didn’t really have much reason behind it, just curious, she supposed.
 It had been a long while since she’d encountered other creatures like herself. Wolves weren’t all that friendly even when she did run into them. Territorial, she guessed.
 
 She wasn’t all that interested in them anyways, but perhaps they could be of help on her journey if she managed to run into the right one.

Leto had left her own home approximately one moon prior. Due to her constant movement she rarely noticed other wolves when they did happen to be nearby, and her odd mannerisms tended to drive them away when she got close.

She hopped through the grass, finding the sight of the light dusting of snow shooting into the air both comfortably familiar and amusing. Tripping over her own feet she tumbled forward, landing flat on her back with the same wide smile remaining on her face.

Her ear twitched, the sound of a sudden thud came from not all that far away. What was making all that noise?

She kept on her path, eventually coming to a clearing dead in the middle of the trees. The sound of faint laughter led her farther inside until she found the source.
 "A wolf?" She muttered to herself. She was right, it was a wolf. There sitting alone in the center was a bright colored she-wolf who was seemingly playing by herself. Her pelt reminded Kaaya of a silver moon, and she stared in awe for a moment. 

The wolf was a lightened cream color, with darker tips and bright eyes. She was beautiful.
 It made her want to stay for longer, and she found herself taking a seat beside a tree to admire the stranger.

Feeling eyes on her Leto was quick to sit up. She whipped her head around to search for the source, soon settling on something in the tree line. Standing, she was quick to begin approaching - not an ounce of worry in her step.

While the image wasn't clear right away, she soon realized it was another wolf. Her ears immediately perked and her tail shot up to begin wagging, her pace increasing to a trot. "Hey you!" She called out to the stranger, likely to keep their attention on her so they wouldn't run off.

She blinked, a bit taken aback by the straightforwardness of the she-wolf. She stared at her blankly, thinking about how she should respond for a bit before finally opening her mouth.
"..Hello.” She replied. Bracing herself for a hostile interaction, her body stiffened a bit.

 Kaaya had experienced quite a lot over the past few days, and she wasn’t quite feeling up for a fight. She glanced behind her, mapping out a clear escape route.

Leto slid to a stop just a bit too close for comfort, taking in the unfamiliar she-wolf's scents with her nose practically pressed against the side of other's face. She ran a few questions through her head: how did her pelt get so dark? Why were her eyes so bright? Could she hear with those small ears?

After a moment that was likely uncomfortable for the other as Leto was greeting her as though she was a familiar friend, she settled on a question and took a slight step back. "Where did you come from? You were hidden in the trees so well."

She stared back in confusion, wondering what she was going on about.
"A far ways from here." She started. "I come from The Great Lakes." A brief moment went by before she could think of a question to ask the obviously impatient wolf. 

"And.. you?" She finally mumbled back.

"Up around the Baffin Islands - it's pretty cold up there. Have you been?" Leto asked, wasting no time before continuing to analyze the stranger, mindlessly brushing up against her as she moved to look at the rest of her - almost looking like she was sizing her up.

She was glad to have kept the stranger around for this long, and the excitement may have caused her to act just a bit too eager.

"No." She shuffled back, staring back at her curiously. 
"But what brings you so far away from home? I’m sure you had a pack back there, no?" Her mind buzzed with curiosity. Why had the wolf decided to depart all by her lonesome? Was she similar to herself?

The more she thought about it, the more she felt needy for answers. This was the most interesting wolf she’d encountered since she’d left, and she wasn’t just going to let her go without more answers.

"Only my own kin - my siblings all left moons ago, and I was expected to do the same" She responded. "But isn't that normal?"

Admittedly Leto was far from happy to be on her own - making this interaction more than exciting for her. She hated the silence that came from her lack of companionship, so this was nice - even if it would be short-lived.

"I'm sure you must belong to a pack if it's so odd to you?" The she-wolf inquired, tilting her head.

She shrugged. 

"I suppose you could call it that." Her tone was dry as it shifted towards a mumble. "More of a traveling band of lunatics." Her brows furrowed for a split second before she glanced back up.
 "Perhaps we have different traditions." She finished off the reply after a brief moment of silence.
She found herself staring once more before she finally thought of another question to ask. "So do you always come off this way, stranger? I don’t even know you’re name." She teased, tilting her head.

 She’d asked for a reason — she was genuinely curious about her. What else would this unique wolf carry on about?

"Oh, right!" How could she have forgotten to introduce herself properly? How rude!

"Leto - that's my name." She said with a smile, feeling a bit embarrassed. But now it was her turn to ask. "Could I ask yours then? It only seems fair."

She tilted her head as she waited for the she-wolf's answer.

"Kaaya. Kaaya Ayad." She dipped her head in greeting. "Your name is beautiful. It suits you well, bright eyes."
 The wolf — no, Leto was gorgeous, just like her name. Kaaya glanced over her shoulder, watching the drizzle of snow droplets land onto the edge of their pelts. Sure, the trees offered shelter, but there wasn’t much else they could do.

 She stood up, outstretching her hind legs. 
"I’d hate to trample on your fun." She began. "But my journey is far from over. If you wish to chat for longer, why not join me until we reach the end of the forest?"

Leto smiled at the compliment, questioning what sort of intentions 'Kaaya' may have. "Bright eyes?" She asked, snickering. She hadn't heard that one before.

"And you aren't ruining my fun at all - I'd rather spend my time with a beautiful wolf like you than on my own." She responded, a smug smile on her face.

 She nodded agreeably. If she was going to have a short-term companion on her way, she wouldn’t be a bad choice.

"Then let’s go." She grinned, dragging her tail beneath Leto’s chin before walking off. She glanced back at her playfully once more before almost completely disappearing into the trees. 

Leto was quick to follow after her, tail held high. She wasn't too concerned with where they were going, much more interested in the she-wolf herself.

"So, what brings you to the Teekon Wilds?" She asked, eager to continue their conversation. She couldn't help but want to know more about Kaaya, but knew better than to bombard her with too many questions all at once. She needed to space them out.

"Curiosity, I suppose." She replied, rolling her shoulder.
"I was never a huge fan of staying in the same place for long — born a traveler, I suppose." She reared over onto her hind legs to climb atop the log lying in their path. 

"My mother always insisted on me staying. Learning their ways.. but we had separated views. Always knew there was more to life than whatever that was." She slid down onto a lower branch, leaping off and sticking a clean landing. Her head cocked over her shoulder to look up at Leto — who wasn’t far behind, as she waited.

"So I left." She huffed.

She turnt around, snagging a piece of bark out of her fur. Her attention drawing back up towards her companion afterwards. "And you? What brings you here?" She tilted her head. "What’s your story?"

Leto brushed up against the she-wolf as she caught up with her. She took a moment to gather her words before responding.

"My pack was just me, my parents, and siblings so I knew I'd have to leave eventually. My littermates left before I did - I held on for a while."

She let out a sigh, "I understand why they wanted me to leave - living my life and all that, but I do miss it. We used to do a lot of travelling too - following herds of the bigger prey that lived up north. Caribou and such."

"Think you would go back?" She turned around to continue walking. "If you could, I mean." Her head shifted backwards to look at her.

 Kaaya often asked herself the same question. If time could be turned backwards, would she choose to stay? There really wasn’t much of an answer to that. Perhaps she hoped Leto had a better one than hers.

"Probably not.. I mean, I can understand why I needed to leave you know?"

She followed after Kaaya, taking a moment to further reflect on the question. "Leaving meant that I would be able to have new experiences; a chance to explore as far as I could run, to start a family of my own.. that sort of thing, and that all feels pretty important to me."

"Huh." Her tone was thoughtful. "You and me aren’t all that different. What a fateful pair we are." She said, laughter mixing into her words.

The trees above them blocked out most of the light, only small rays being able to squirm through the cracks and shine down onto her new friends pelt. It only seemed to add onto her beauty, and she couldn’t hope but wish the forest went in for just a bit longer.

 "So tell me, what’s your plan after you depart from here? Will you continue on by yourself?" She asked, lifting a branch to let her pass by.

"Most likely not." She responded, passing underneath the branch. "Once I find a wolf that I take a particular liking to I'll settle down with them."

"Preferably one that already belongs to a pack - that would makes things easier for me."

Leto looked back to Kaaya. "What about you though?"

 She followed after her, thinking for a moment.
"I guess I’ll keep on moving. Until I find what I’m looking for, atleast." 

"Though I don’t really know what that would be." She scoffed. 

Her tail flicked away a firefly. It was the first time she’d ever spoken of her goals with another wolf — atleast, the first time it’d gone well. "So you want to join a pack? Whatever inspired an ambition like that?"

"I prefer living in a group, that's all." She responded with a simple shrug.

"It's much easier that way - a lot less lonely too."

She knew from the moment she left that she was far from suited to a life alone. She could care for herself perfectly well, but she couldn't stand how it made her feel.