Northstar Vale The Animal I Have Become

Most often, if Saena was not familiarizing herself with the surrounding mountains, she was traveling with the pack. On occasion she dipped away and struck into the taiga, chasing ideals she no longer believed in and dreams she no longer had a grasp on, but these occasions were becoming fewer and fewer. She found solidarity in her partner and in her pack, and the need to be alone with her thoughts waned by the week. So when one wolf, the black one with the white toes, broke away from the group as they tracked an elk, Saena rose her head to watch him for a time, then unabashedly followed.

Her posture never faltered as she tailed Zephyr at a distance: ears erect, eyes up, chin lifted slightly. Her gait was rolling and graceful, but also imperial; she knew her place among her wolves. She acknowledged that Zephyr had a place among them, too, in keeping herself relaxed as she strode after him. A more stiff-legged gait would meet any wolf she was unfamiliar with, until a hierarchy was properly established, but she felt confident that Zephyr and she knew that she was higher and he was lower. He was also a male, and so rank did not concern her so much with him. Keeping rank among the men was Warbone's job. Saena was higher than Zephyr by default, Zephyr being below Warbone and she being a female (and so far, the only female).

Saena uttered a low sound as Zephyr turned to prowl along the edge of the vale, calling attention to herself if only that he might know she was behind him. Of course, he probably already knew. Wolves were incredibly intuitive that way. She picked up her pace, seeking to close the distance that she might know him and his temperament better by engaging him properly.