Shadow Mountain i've got fire in my soul

Making references to signs of struggle from the Ocra/Ithrik threads.

It took him days to climb the mountain, but there was a certain ease that came along after a while. The physicality of the struggle, the familiarity of it, made him keep going. A few times there were odd stains on the stone ridge - strange smells, like prey almost but also wolf, but sour, like you'd expect from a rabbit overcome with adrenaline. Larus was unaware of the lone wolves that had recently passed through the mountain's corridors to Little Goat's peak; he didn't know of the woman they had with them, nor that the foul smelling mess of old blood and dirt was from her trauma. He saw the stains and found them odd, and then again he found some signs of struggle and that wolf scent along another path, and it was at this point he chose to go the other way.

Whatever Larus had found, it was none of his business. He was climbing along the lower reaches of Shadow Mountain hours later — but again, there were wolf scents. It seemed as if the mountains were crawling with wolves but he had not encountered any yet; was this a blessing? Maybe. He wondered, though, if he belonged among them. If these slopes were part of his home, and these wolf scents were supposed to perfume him in some way, marking him as a wolf of... Some place.

The mountain had no answers. The trees stood tall and silent around him, the birds were silent. He was left with questions and confusion, and the empty road ahead.

Maegi was here in the most worst place in her opinion. How did she get here, was this a sign. Was she supposed to just leave her here or did the Night Mother have bigger plans for her. Moonshadow once again sent up another prayer. "I don't know if you can hear me, I hope so. Please give me strength in the days ahead fore' whatever plan is for me, I pray that I will be strong enough to handle the task."

Wasn't sure if she was praying silently or out loud, so took some liberties.

The young man found it easy to keep up his pace on the mountainside. He wasn't driven to exhaustion by the altitude, nor did he find the rugged terrain all that difficult for his body to handle. It was curious, but he had long since abandoned hope that the mountains were his home. Larus couldn't recall anything about these mountains in particular so he opted to just keep going, and he held a desperate hope that answers would follow. Perhaps over the next ridge, or the next, or across the entire range - maybe in the valley below, but he had no idea what drew him this way to begin with.

Soon enough he thought he heard the sound of a voice on the wind - he paused in his stalking, peering around until he caught sight of a bird beyond the trees. It was soaring above them and calling out in shrieks, and soon was gone. The sound penetrated the treeline and made him feel quite uneasy - but nothing came of it. The bird went on its way, the calls dimming. After that Larus was mindful of the time. The birds of the forest had grown quiet since the passing of the hawk, eagle, whatever it was - and then there was yet another voice. It was different, because it was most assuredly a wolf, and instantly Larus sought the source.

Perhaps this stranger would have answers for him? Maybe they knew of him, or from where he came — he was giddy with the thought, and almost overtook her position along a narrow ridge without thinking. He would have passed her by entirely had the light been fully dimmed, but with the aid of the setting sun he caught her silhouette as she stared at the sky. The tail end of her prayer caught in his ears and he, suddenly feeling incredibly awkward for invading her space during this moment, took a step back and chuffed a soft, oh, um, sorry.

She turned and faced the stranger who had spoken. "Oh, I didn't know anyone was there." Did he hear my prayer?  She thought to herself for a brief moment. "I'm Moonshadow." Was he another wolf from Shadow mountain? Her heart ached to thinks so because if he was, she might be dead by sunrise