Swiftcurrent Creek LET HER GO, BOYS | join

It was not the ocean -- it was not the seaside whose embrace was a constant comfort. It was strange, and different. It was fresh, and invigorating. He'd drift through the treeline, and upwards ; away, away from all that he'd known. A new adventurer, spurned by wanderlust, he'd taken his way along the coast. He'd been alone for what felt like years (but that was impossible, he was much too young to feel so old).

I suppose, to say he was alone was the wrong turn of phrase. He was independent. He traveled with none, but there lacked a lonesomeness. His heart had been taken, it's warmth stifled by the call of age and life. It was the same disillusionment most would experience, that the elders of their kind would recognize. His place was no longer among the familiar, toothsome grins of his parents, or the constant grip of his siblings. It was empty, far from fulfilling. And there, in this new, strange land came a sense of welcome. There, cresting a bluff and gazing into a valley, he found another sensation. Perhaps, it was his hope it was fate speaking to him. Or, perhaps instinct. This was not the coast, this was not the sweet murmur of ocean-kissed winds or the briny haze of dawn.

It was light, it's flirtation was a gainful prick and tingle. He felt the corners of his lips pull upwards in their canine smile. And he'd descend into the valley. His lungs, nostrils, filled with the many scents of others.

Like a young man, burned out and weary, he'd pause (with the weight of his baggage slipping free of his shoulders). The brumous, near gelid stare passed it's reach across the territory. He knew it to be claimed, and held by some group or clan of wolves. And it was not an immediate impulse, to join their ranks. But there was something to their home, their little valley that spoke to him. It whispered, murmured lovingly to the lost boy and he knew. A yip, a call barked out from him. His arrival announced, and he'd ready himself. He'd certainly passed through their borders, and there came some anxiety through this knowledge. But, he was confident. He was calm, collected. They would come for him, and with luck and by fate's good grace, they too would welcome him.