The lesson was learned, and it was not to be forgotten. Sequestered always within her very core.
What are you doing so close to the Bay's borders?
the creature's voice intoned further hostility, but the bitch no longer crouched beneath him; she studied his face and saw a staunch resolve, as if he opposed any answer but the truth. It shocked her somewhat that his voice was so clear and clean - hardly what was expected from a creature so untamed. Then again, Aupaluktok had barely considered what a wolf would truly be like. Man had been afraid of them and that had been enough reason for the devoted dog.
Aupa mirrored the beast's behavior as she took full height. It was unnerving to consider this wolf was a full head taller than herself - but it should not have unnerved her so. Other dogs tended to be larger than her diminutive stature simply because of her sex, all of which she found quite agreeable. But this hulking, long-bodied and long-toothed creature was so far removed from her genetic history, all she could see was a potential threat - an enemy which was rightly feared by dog and Man. She swallowed her thoughts and, in a crisp if a little demanding voice, spoke as clearly as her frayed nerves could muster: I don't understand,
she admitted, shunting her triangle-ears towards him expectantly, I didn't do anything wrong.
The dogs she had known would fight over meals sometimes, or their place upon the team, but never over... Trees. Land was of no importance to the bitch or to her comrades, although they did tend to become confident with a route once it was learned; the land belonged to Man, its roads built by their will alone and trecked upon by their loyal hounds. Such thoughts were reflected in Aupa's demeanor as it shifted, her chest puffing and head raising as if to assert some sort of unspoken superiority; but she was still dwarfed by the feral creature. I was only wandering.