Noctisardor Bypass The things that stop you dreaming.

For @Leila

While the bi-coloured pup settled in over the first week since her acceptance into the pack, Paarthurnax had left her well alone. Leila had been an interesting child, unusual in appearance and exotic with her foreign tongue, and Paar could not debt that she was curious to know her background. It would be too sensitive a subject to bring up, however, and she knew it would be important for the girl's recovery to be patient, so made a mental promise to let her be until she was ready to speak of it on her own time.

It was midday when Paar sought her young ward. She had not been permitted to stay with her and Shadow but instead expected to find her own den, though the crimson healer was not entirely sure where the juvenile had set up camp. Unprepared to physically go looking for her in their vast territory, Paarthurnax lifted her muzzle toward the clouded sky and requested Leila's presence, before taking a seat to await her arrival.

The storm, it was the same storm. The sky, so angry. The rain..so cold. Unforgiving. Not nice. And so much of it. Leila was stuck on the same log, but this time, her little foot slipped, and she fell into the vast liquid that swirled around her. She saw faces..her family. Mom. Dad. Siblings. They were drowning. And now..she would join them.

Leila felt something pull her from the cold depths of the water. A beckon. A call. For her. She instinctively kicked her limbs, and headed for the surface that seemed years away. She kicked..and kicked..she almost had no strength left, but she kicked..and resurfaced, pulling herself not only out of the deadly floodwaters, but out of the dream itself.

She sat up, in the middle of a rose bush, where she had made herself at home. She took a little piece of squirrel that she had killed the other day, and finished it off, half way filling her little belly.
Then, carefully navigating through the sharp thorns and petals, the little girl left her little spot, looking for the Call that had saved her. Was it a lady's? It felt like her moms. But Leila knew it couldn't have been, because her mom was dead. And the only one she knew who could match the voice, was the sun blessed female that had shown her kindness on the day Leila was starving. And that was Paar.
Leila followed the Call.

She ran, not very fast, her body began showing itself more built for endurance than speed, but she found the female sitting in a meadow, waiting. No doubt for her. She bounded up, and wagged her little tail, wanting to lick the Alphess's chin, being biologically programed to be humble, but she knew she was not tall enough for such an act. Instead, she settled for nosing the base of the flare colored wolf's paw. Stepping back, she spoke in her melodious tones.

"Buenos tardes, señora Paar."

It hit her that the lady didn't speak her language, so she dutifully tried in hers.

"Happy time, Miss'us Paar."

Paarthurnax relaxed as she patiently awaited the youngster's arrival, and looked around the meadow. Fall would soon be upon them, claiming what was left of Summer's bright colours and replacing them with reds, oranges and dull greens. The heat would disappear, and their land would be gripped by frost and biting cold, the promise of a Winter to come. She did not fear for Noctisardor Bypass, for its numbers were strengthening with every week that passed, but her time in the North had taught Paar that the cold season was incredibly harsh on nature compared to that of the desert.

When Leila appeared over the brow of a hill, the crimson healer smiled warmly. She welcomed the girl to her with a beckoning yip and, sweeping her tail across the grass at her rear, Paar reached down to affectionately bump her nose between the youth's velvet ears. She then plucked a gnarled little twig that had gotten tangled among the tufted fur at the base of a lobe, and she found herself wondering what she'd been getting into.

"Happy time indeed," she chimed, reclining to look down with fondness at the unusual young female. "You are settling in well?"

Paar reached down, delicately removing the twig Leila had gotten caught in her fluffy fur from the rose bush. Leila was grateful for the small groomlike action, and stated her appreciativeness.

"Gracias, señora. "

The female returned her greeting, and asked a question in the English that Leila was to learn if she was to settle in the lands.
She had caught onto a bit more from living in the lands, 'you', 'set', and 'well' sticking out to her. The lady was asking If she had been doing good so far on the lands.
With a happy wag of her little tail, the ivory and obsidian doppled little girl looked up at the tall and slender smiling Paar, yapping happily, a massive amount of spanglish spewing from her little maw.

"Sí! Shadow es teach english a mí and I learn food famila first, and hunt no first, and me last por comida!", yipped the excited little wolfette, her little frame hipping amd hopping as she talked, showing her happiness at her lessons with her mentor.
She looked up at Paar, a wife wolf smile placed on her decorated face.

The young she-wolf chirped happily, releasing her excitement in a muddle of tainted English that Paar struggled to understand properly. Leila's enthusiasm was lovely, however, and she could not help but grin fondly down at the mottled girl as she hopped on the spot. She couldn't help but wonder what had happened to her family, and admired her coping mechanism; she seemed to know that others cared for her despite being practically strangers, and found great comfort in that.

The lithe beauty gathered to her nimble white paws and stepped aside, beckoning the juvenile to follow with a soft bark. She loped carefully over a fallen branch and trotted gracefully between the foliage, her tail lashing merrily, and glanced over a cinnamon shoulder to look upon the youngster's leggy frame as she followed. "Hungry? I know where the best rabbits are," she called, and escorted her little companion to a warren where she could show Leila how to slay her prey swiftly.

(I didnt think you were comming back, ermagerd)


Leila looked at the sun graced beau who walked through high grasses and over logs as if the forest was her nature that she had been born in. Admiration sparkled from the vibrant blue green eyes as she kept up with her bounding little paw steps.

"Yes, I have hunger!"

Leila could feel when a sentence was off a bit, and all in her head, alarms told her the entire word structure was wrong.

"Hunger is mine....tengo hunger..I am hombre...I am hungry!" Leila's tail threw another tornado wind storm into the surroundings, and she quickly stopped it, knowing the beautiful duo were going on a hunting trip.

Once again Leila responded with great enthusiasm, and Paarthurnax beamed happily. The girl's good mood was certainly an infectious one, and she loped with a happy spring in her stride as she led her young ward in the direction of the warrens she'd spotted in the meadow.

Together they hunted, though the lesson was far from a success. The prey was simply too fast for Leila, who needed to work on perfecting her skills by working with her own senses. Time and training would be on her side, and Paar had great confidence that the youngster would thrive beneath she and Shadow's guidance.

When at last she snagged a young rabbit, Paarthurnax presented it to the juvenile. "A gift," she offered, nudging the limp, still-warm body of her catch in Leila's direction. "Perhaps you'll return the favour some day." She reclined then, content to lay in the sunshine while the youngster helped herself to her prize.

Leila found herself appreciating the fire pelt woman so much. Just thinking about her nearly sent the young girl into a flurry of explosive tail wags.
She fed her, taught her, spoke to her, didn't ridicule her, loved her, cared for her.
This was a female Leila was never going to forget.
She looked between the newly killed meal, and back to the Sun Lady.

"Shadow say food por family primera, then me. Yes? "

The teaching the father like Silver Man taught her stayed etched in her mind, and the youth looked up to Paar for confirmation on the matter.
It applied to all, didn't it?

"I bring favor a tí at time family no hunger. Family first, Shadow say."

Again, minty blue irises gazed innocently at the mother like exotic female, and Leila had a paw on the meal, and one on the floor, prepared to cache it the moment the Warm One gave the nod of confirmation.