Broken Antler Fen pазве ты не знаешь, я тебе не годюсь?

She was not waiting long when two women drew forth from the sparse woodland. The first to arrive was a silver agouti, her deep argent pelt reminding Kuo vaguely of angry stormclouds ticked with hints of silver smoke. But her fur seemed the only turbulent thing about her, her gibeon gaze warm and her tones cheerful as she asked after the she-dog's summoning. It was then that the second arrived, a ginger shadow in the distance -- any disdain that might've been visible on her gentle features undiscernible from the canine's vantage point. It was very clear to Kuo that they were not dogs, as she had thought, and she guessed that they were wolves based on the tales her people had told -- and those of the dogs she had met in this land, waxing fantastical stories of wildling giants living amongst the trees. It seemed the stories were true, and the Laika found herself just as fascinated with the woman before her as the wolf found her.

"Приветствия," the piebald greeted, a small smile of her own unfurling upon her lips as she lowered her bespeckled ears and tucked the feathered curl of her tail as best she could in instinctive submission. Her natal clan's ways were not so different from their fierce ancestors' after all, there had been an unspoken hierarchy -- an order that was kept with the flash of fangs, warning snarls, the occasional clash of bodies and tearing of flesh. "Ah, that is to say: privetstviya. Hello," she added, grimacing a tiny bit as she realized the woman probably didn't speak her language. "I am Kuo."

"I hope I am not intruding. I smelt that there vas a group here and I thought to see if perhaps you are in search of more comrades," the she-dog explained her presence readily, her tail giving a hopeful wag -- never having experienced the prejudice some wolves held for "lower" canines, it didn't occur to the once-priestess that she might be turned away for being a dog. They were different animals, sure, but she just saw Maia as a bigger, wilder version of her own family back in Yakutia.