Alpine Lake And then walk until our feet are torn

WC: 826

--------------------------------------------------

When he spoke and referred to the North, she opened her mouth slightly and nodded, smiling. So he was from the land the other man had been from, and she did her best to recall his name...He had had a sister, too, whom she had met, who had also been able to describe where they had come from with flawless effort. She had to distract herself momentarily, from searching for his name, in order to find it- and as soon as she did, it came to her tongue. Kodlak. He had told her about the snowy North, and how beautiful it was, and had enchanted her with simple, spoken word. It was only now that she was older that she realized that she had admired him so much, and had wondered where things might have gone had the handsome northerner stuck around. He’d been just as wild as his name, and he spoke a different language as well.

”I’ve met wolves from the North before; they called themselves the Jorrvaskr; one, his name was Kodlak, and he told he of the lights that dance in the night sky,” She said, and searched his face for any signs of recognition. ”He called me ‘shield maiden,’” She confessed, smiling despite herself. How charming he had been, and kind. This wolf, Rosencrantz, bore himself in much the same way- but was perhaps colder to the touch than Kodlak had been. He’d been more respectful of Niamh’s rank, and had generally been softer toward her than Rosencrantz was being at all. It felt, to her, like he was still challenging her strength at every step, but she wasn’t easily ruffled by his comments.

He asked what they saw in her and she smiled faintly. Previously, she might have simply shrugged and made some comment about how she didn’t know why they’d chosen her or what they saw in her. Her best friend was the one who’d recommended her for the rank, and now her best friend had a mostly bum hind leg, so it was only natural that Niamh be chosen. Of course, she couldn’t just say that, and she wanted to keep up the guise that the Redhawks were a stronger pack than what he seemed to expect, and that there was indeed more to her than what met the eye. In truth, the Redhawks were a dysfunctional band of wolves, but at least they loved each other, and seemed to somehow keep the group together by mostly being related to one another. But that wasn’t exactly the best pack description.

He didn’t relax, as she had. Then again, Niamh had a home to return to, where she could retreat underground in her den and clean the ice and snow from her pelt and warm herself back up in no time. This fellow had nothing, and she felt slightly selfish, keeping him out and standing in the storm the way she was. It didn’t appear as though there was much for shelter nearby- not at the apex of the little incline and along the edges of an alpine lake. Perhaps if they had chosen to rove away from the lake and down the side of the incline in the lee of the storm they might have found somewhere for shelter...But Niamh was busy pretending that she didn’t mind the harrowing onset of sleet a bit...And was actually doing fairly well at it. Aside from having to squint, and occasionally lick the moisture that dripped along her cheeks and lips away, the storm didn’t seem to have much effect on her.

”The general gamut that leaders need to have,” She responded simply. She wasn’t going to go through every quality that she had, after all, but was content to inform him that she did have basically the whole package without a moment’s hesitation. If he chose to believe otherwise, then it was nothing off her plate- she was simply doing her job, and was out searching for her brother, regardless. By this point, there was no way she’d find him in this storm, and had at least come to the area to see if she could find nothing other than a body. It was another place for her to check off her list, in the very least, so she could tell herself that even if Ambrose had travelled this way- at least he hadn’t died here.

”Why is such a capable wolf as yourself out on their own?” She asked. Surely there had to be some reason that the wolves who had trained him and turned him into such a machine had forsaken him- or that he had forsaken them. Was he seeking to start his own empire in a different region? Had he performed some treacherous act that had resulted in his banishment? She figured he might not tell her the truth- but it was still worth asking.

--------------------------------------------------