Sunspire Mountains can't bribe the door on your way to the sky

aw

On a particularly quiet morning, without a particular hurry , Maera Sveijarn made her way through the slopes of the Sunspire in search of something in particular. Well she didn't know what yet exactly but she was just sure that it'd be here that she'd find the perfect 'treasure' to set in her impromtu den not far off at the base of the mountain.

From afar she might look as if she were tracking down some big juicy breakfast, but in reality, Maera was simply scanning over the ground, her nose still hovering over the dirt as she searched, but not exactly for something to fill her stomach, but rather her home.
Yeah, Maera is weird like that.
Deal with it.

Rowen yawned and stretched,  the leaves that had fallen upon him over night began to slide off him. He twitched his toes feeling then ground beneath them, slowly he shifted his rump up stretching his back before his stood up effectively. He slowly shifted ever body part and made sure to stretch every muscle even flicking his fluffy red tail.

His tummy rumbled it's annoyance, and he frowned slightly, he was hungry, but he had not found a good meal in a day or two now, nor anyone to help him take down any prey worthy enough to call a real meal.

He tried to ignore his hunger as he began to walk aimlessly, he had no home and no attachment to any place in particular. Something caught his attention Rowen's attention he veered and followed his nose, after serval longs minutes of traveling Rowen found what he sought, his nose touched his ground and he began to dig gingerly after an hour of carful digging Rowen had unearthed two weirly round and bumpy objects. it looked much like brains to him, only he knew some wolves valued them much more; they also tasted good if one was inclinded to eat them. 

They had been called tuffles by the wolf he used to trade them too. That wolf gave him whole rabbits for one. Those were the days Rowen missed, he missed his old pack but those days were gone and he couldn't dwell on them, it was to painful.

Carefuly Rowen picked up both objects in his mouth and carried them off; maybe just maybe he could someone to share them with. If not for food they could be consdered pleasent to look at. 

Rowen caught another scent and slowed his pace, this one was the scent of a wolf, Rowen's heart rate picked up and him whined loudly to anounce his presence to her, he did not want to be attacked. Setting his mornings prize down he scented the air and waited for her to make the first move, hoping that she was freindly if not anything else.

Just gonna PP Rowen out since she'd inactive now :)

Liffey was strangely unwilling to leave the Vale those days. Well, not so strangely when she stopped to think about it - she did have a very handsome boy there to spend time with within the walls of their shared home. But, she eventually had to accept that she had an obligation to the pack that drove her out into the Wilds to get to know the lands around the ones they had claimed. Their claim on the Vale was new, and the territory itself was as well. Only a couple of their number seemed to be at all familiar with the Sunspire mountains, and one was hardly a pack member at all in Liffey's opinion.

As Liffey slunk along the rise and fall of the land, she considered that there may even be one additional plus side to her getting away. Her relationship with Rannoch had blossomed into something incredible, wonderful, and potential consuming. As much as she wanted to give into the overwhelming wonderful of it all, it was not lost on her that she had a need to stand on her own and prove her own worth outside of him. In that, it was good for her to get away and stand on her own four feet. Even if she did spend the entire time thinkig of Rannoch...

A flash of red around the bend a mile or so ahead grabbed her attention suddenly. Liffey had never been much of a hunter, but she thought she recognized a fox's tail in the flicker of color, and so she strode forward with sudden purpose. As she rounded the bend, it was to see a small red wolf pause and then disappear further down into the mountain's edges, leaving one behind. Liffey's platinum brows listed over her brilliantly orange eyes, taking in the appearance of a young female who was her inverse - fiery red across her frame, but silver in her eyes. Liffey let out a friendly chuff to announce her presence, a smile slipping across her muzzle as her tail began to shift back and forth through the breeze.

lol thanks bebe

Maera was so fixated in her search she didn't even notice when the first wolf scurried by. To be honest she would have probably not even noticed the second wolf if she didn't hear her chuffing. Yeah, that was how 'lost into her own world' she was now. With a quick movement of her head that broke the trance she had put herself under she came to look at the stranger. 

"hey!" she barked, her tail also wagging whilst she gave her a quick once over with her hazel eyes. She was young and alone, and for a second, Maera saw herself reflected in her. She wondered if like she had been at her age, this girl was a loner, but quickly the scent of others entwined in her own told Maera she wasn't. Continuing with the mini flashback, Maera then missed not only being the female's age again, but being back where she had been at such time. 
In the coast.

She made a note of paying a visit to the coast as soon as she could - that if she didn't find any other pack on her way.

She didn't know if she should introduce herself or wait until the girl greeted her back, so with a soft hum Maera simply waited.

The other girl turned to look at her and for a brief second, Liffey felt that old, familiar flicker of anxiety in that single moment between her greeting and the stranger's response where things could go in any number of different directions. The Blackthorn had come a long way since her shy youth, but that didn't necessarily mean her social anxiety had disappeared. It was there still, writhing just beneath the surface. She had only learned how to force herself past it, not how to free herself of it entirely.

Fortunately, it became quickly apparent that this would be a friendly interaction. Liffey spied the wag of the girl's tail and felt relief settle the tightness in her chest. It hung loosely upon her now - still not entirely gone, but quiet enough now that she could ignore it. She closed some of the additional distance between them before pausing. "Hey," Liffey called back with a smile, "I'm Liffey. Are you from around here?"

Everything in Maera's demeanour gave away that for some reason, the fiery Sveijarn was in a pleasant mood. With her hazel eyes fixed on the greyscale girl's face and her tail wagging contently she allowed the other to cut the distance between them. "nice to meet you Liffey" she barked with a quick nod.

"Im Maera" she barked in return, this time not bothering to give out her last name as well. Plus this Liffey girl hadn't given one either, which could mean she didn't care to give it (so why should Mae care?) or she didn't have one (which wouldn't be weird but rather a little uncommon). Anyways, there was not much time to wonder about the other's last name or whatever before a question was launched.

"i was born around here, yes" she barked, always feeling a certain pride when referring to the Glacier even though it was very much always mixed with a little nostalgia as well. "a place called Duskfire Glacier, right over....." she barked, her nose trying to point the direction towards it but failing as she found herself a little disoriented, she had never been on this mountain before "around there somewhere... i left long ago" she explained, her shoulders slumping as she sought to meet her gaze with Liffey's own. "what about you?  also a local?" she asked. She was young, almost as young as Maera had been when she had left the Glacier behind. 

The girl introduced herself in turn, furthering Liffey's assertion that this would be a good exchange. She answered the question, piquing Liffey's interest. She didn't know of the territory Maera spoke of, but but her imagination was immediately captivated. Her gaze followed the gesture of the fiery wolf's nose and she made a quick mental note to stash away with the others that kept the Wilds firmly mapped in her mind.

"Yeah, I'm from Redhawk Caldera. That way," Liffey answered, doing the same as Maera had only pointing in almost the exact opposite direction to the West. She reasoned that she ought to be polite and allow Maera time to inquire further if she wished, but Liffey couldn't help herself, and so asked, "What's a glacier? I've never seen one before." She was usually a very sensative, perceptive wolf. But caught up in the intrigue, Liffey failed to notice the visual cues that hinted at the wistfulness in Maera's visage as she spoke of her former home.

Maera was just as clueless as Liffey seemed.
Though she had been born within the confines of the Teekon Wilds, she was pretty much a stranger. She had nothing but a vague memory of her actual birthplace, Swifcurrent Creek, where there were more flowers and friendly faces (Bazi) than at the Glacier. To be honest, the only place Maera knew in the entire Wilds was that, the Glacier. Though there was no telling how it was now. She preferred not to think about it.  

"hmm didn't know of the Caldera" she commented, her ears pricked in mild curiosity as the name itself was intriguing. But effectively, before she could ask about it and its meaning she found herself thinking back about the Glacier. "its like a huge mountain made of snow and ice, really cold" she tried to explain, her hazel eyes moving upwards as if somehow she'd find the answer in the clouds (something i tend to do lol).

"are you still a Caldera wolf?" she asked then, her nose certainly picking up the scent of other entwined in her own fur, which was a tell tale that she wasn't a loner like her, but that had a pack to back her up. Still, being unfamiliar with every and all packs of the area, except from Moonspire, Maera couldn't tell the difference between one and the other by scent alone.

Liffey wasn't surprised to hear that a caldera was an unknown landmark to the other female. No one ever knew what a Caldera was. The rareness of it gave her no little tingle of pride, however. She didn't really want to be different or stand out from others. She had spent her whole life up till now wondering if she was being respected the way she was in the Caldera simply because her parents were alphas. She had never known if she was actually worth anything on her own. Liffey didn't want to be special for any other reason than because she was Liffey. Even though she wasn't at convinced that that was a thing.

The explanation of the glacier was intriguing. She tried to imagine it, but the image came out as the Caldera only desolate and cold and terrible, as it had been the past Winter. The romanticized depiction that had tried to settle in her mind was quickly dismissed then, as were the rest of her questions about glaciers. "No, I left my pack to settle with a different one in Northstar Vale, to the North of here," she explained, gesturing with her muzzle towards the home she had fallen so instantly in love with.

"oh" was all that Maera could seem to respond at Liffey's pacient explanation. Slowly she was discovering that perhaps there were more packs than she had thought. Made sense, it was summer, the food was not scarce and life in all its forms seemed to be thriving. Families would also be growing around this time a year.

With her hazel eyes blinking at Liffey, Maera tried to recount the packs she'd heard of and wonder how many unknown ones were still out there. So far she knew of Moonspear, the savage wolves that belonged to Blackfeather, the Caldera and now, the Vale. "do you know of a pack by the coast?" she asked then, wanting to know if perhaps she'd come across any surprises as she continued her journey to the sea. And though Maera couldn't know if the young girl had travelled even far enough to know, she figured that at least she'd have a better knowledge of the region than she did.

Maera didn't give much of a response to her statement about the Vale. Liffey didn't much mind, though she did pause to wonder where to go from there. She had never been great at steering conversation. Hell, she'd never been great at conversation, period. Fortunately, she did not have to mentally flop about for long as the ginger-pelted female was decently quick at coming up with a new topic of conversation.

Liffey canted her head slightly, her brow furrowing. "I don't believe I do," she responded after a beat, "I havent actually traveled up to the Coast yet, though. Why do you ask?"

The silver girl said no, and Maera felt the air of her lungs flow out in a slightly dissapointed sigh. Not at Liffey, but at the fact that she would not be able to give her the stories about the coast and the packs that lived there that the Sveijarn craved to sate her curiosity. It seemed she would have to go see for herself. 

"i think i'd like to go" she confessed, feeling a bit weird about spilling this to the stranger even though she seemed nice enough for Maera to eventually let her guard down on. "maybe  even stay" she added, a bit more confidently as the tip of her tail began to wag. 

"would you like to go sometime though?" she asked, her hazel eyes genuinely interested in the young girl's response.

The fire-coated girl admitted her desire to go to the Coast, and perhaps to remain there with - presumably - the pack she had asked after. Liffey smiled, understanding perfectly the desire. It was a very similar longing that had lead her to follow Rannoch to Northstar Vale. Well, that and a little something extra. She wondered only briefly if there was  a boy out by the coast that was motivating Maera, but she dropped the thought rather quickly. Maera didn't strike her somehow as the type to be swept away by a handsome face. But then again, Liffey never had been before this either.

"I would love to see the ocean someday," Liffey replied, a smile spreading across her muzzle and her tail wagging gently. "And it'd be nice to go with a friend. I do so much of my exploring alone, so that would be a nice change." She didn't even think of it when she named Maera a 'friend'. There was no reasson in her mind to do so. Shy as she was around strangers, she fell easily into open book status the moment she determined she felt comfortable around someone.

The pair made tentative plans before parting ways, Liffey happy to have made a friend and excited to see her again in the future.