The Sunspire but don't let me go, i got all these people

maybe someone she hasn't met yet?

she stalked forward through the brush, eyes wide, tail still -- the only sign of her passing the skitter of leaf-litter underfoot. the noise was was enough that her quarry, a fat summer-fed rabbit, sharply lifted its head from the carpet clover it had been grazing. its ears alert, its rounded mouth and nose twitching...

and then it froze, catching sight of two sorrel eyes peering through the thicket.

it bolted, and coelho darted after. yet the cunicular and fleet steps, the wildly zigzagging patterns, all worked in its favor and the rabbit leapt swiftly into brush and coelho was left aggitatedly pacing where she had seen it last.

This looked lonely.

Wraen was returning from the cache she had instilled for Seabreeze's and Olive's use, replenishing it today with some pieces of rotten meat she had scavenged from an abandoned carcass down at the plains. Her early morning raid had brought her just enough food to keep herself going and very little for the hungry mouths back home. But - maybe her packmates would have better luck and - perhaps - another hunting trip at dusk would be more lucky. 

It would have been more lucky right now, were she not so lost in thoughts - a rabbit dashed right past her - and she realized this only, when the fluffy tail had disappeared in the undergrowth. She looked after it longingly, then turned her head in the opposite direction, hoping to see another rabbit, but caught sight of Coelho pacing. Now that her cocky, dark friend was out of the picture, Wraen felt little to no reason to either dislike or mistrust the coywolf. She had not proven to be useful to her knowledge, but also had not been a nuisance. In summery - a budget class, harmless pet. 

And feeling that there was some relationship mending and improving to do, Wraen announced her presence by a quiet chuff and approached the girl in a friendly, but confident manner. "It ran that way, if you are looking for the rabbit," she offered.

the girl zig-zagged in frantic steps after the fresh-laid scent of the rabbit, but it was long gone and her hopes fled swiftly after the fleet hare. a chuff caused her to freeze and ever so slowly, coelho lifted her head -- a chill clawing its way down her spine. she carefully looked up, first spotting claws, then narrow legs, then a steel chest and finally, a familiar, authoritative face -- oh shit -- instantly her gaze fell to the ground and her tail clamped to her stomach. even her ears fell, like stone in water -- and the submissive girl visibly wilted under wraen's confidence.

"s-sorry," she stuttered, her throat bobbing in a quiet gulp. "it was too fast for me.."

Wraen frowned, when Coelho lost all her livelihood and stammered out needless apologies in her presence. Had their first meeting really traumatised the coywolf so much that she would always be on the brink of wetting herself, whenever beta would come near? After all there had been a time, when the hunter had been the happy-go-luckiest person in the world, a peace-maker, someone, who tried hard to keep everyone happy and suffered, when they weren't. Where had this person gone, Wraen could not say, but she did not like to be treated like a hostile bully, even if the person in question had every reason to feel that way towards her.

"Well, these things happen - besides rabbits are excellent sprinters and not all are keen on ending up as someone's lunch," she replied. "And you do not have to fear me - I know that we started on the worst terms - me, at least, but you are part of the group now, and if you let me - I would like to be your friend."

wow! smack me if i am ever this belated!

coelho quivered on the spot, trailing the invisible pathway in which the rabbit had made its fateful exit. wraen's softly spoken words caused the girl's ears to rise and her gaze to carefully glance over the wolf's stern features -- had she said friend?

her tail thumped in excitement. friend was a special word for coelho, and she liked that very much. "friend? i could be your friend," she yammered, ears flat and a wide grin on her muzzle. "i'm glad to be part of the group."

There was something very amiable and childlike about Coelho, when she reacted to the offer of friendship. And there and then Wraen decided that she liked this I-am-not-a-coyote-I-am-a-wolf girl and that she would do all that was in her power to make her feel welcome and needed in Sunspire.

"Then the deal is sealed, so to say," Wraen replied with a light chuckle. "Now, why don't you tell me a bit about yourself - you are an unusual wolf and your story must be extraordinary?" as an aspiring historian of Sunspire wolves, she was both curious and thought it neccessary to know everyone's tales. Even if they were short and brief, and vague.

there was absolute elation buoyed in coelho's expression; all past slights (if they could be called that, coelho was quick to forgive) were forgotten, and her hind end wriggled with the furious pass of her never-still tail.

her movement quietened at the mention of speaking of herself; coelho was friendly as any - perhaps too friendly -- but she rarely divulged much about her past. it was not out of protection, nor was it because she was hiding some clichely dark secret; it was simply because so few asked, and she was loath to be the subject of attention.

"hoo.. hm..." her eyes flickered as she tried to summarize her life into something spoken within thirty seconds. "maybe not extraordinary.. but i'll tell, if you tell. deal?" she looked to wraen meaningfully, skipped a beat to make sure the promise was delivered, and then delved into explanation. "i don't know much about my family, but i wasn't born here! i grew up in the seahawk valley, and i lived near a beach for a bit. have you ever seen a beach? the waves are so cool. i miss the beach, even though i like it here... anyway! my mom was cool and all but she didn't stay around very much, and i didn't know my dad on account i think he died or disappeared when i was young." coelho shrugged, unaffected by the tragedy that had crept into her life early: "i had a brother but i haven't seen him in a long time. i hope he didn't drown, but i dunno. i was part of a pack for a bit on the coast, but they ended up moving back to their home, wherever that was. and then i found myself walking! it's crazy how far you can walk when your mind gets to thinking. next thing i knew i wasn't anywhere i had been before, and by that point it was too late to turn back.. and after a bit,  i met bronte, and he showed me how to hunt inland things better, i'm not very good.. and then he brought me here.." she fell silent as she thought of bronte, now gone from her life. a brief look of remorse or fondness crossed her visage. "anyway that sums it up, i think, besides bits and pieces.. what about you? were you born here?"

"That sounds fair," Wraen agreed and sat down to listen. Coelho's way of telling was not the easiest to follow, here and there the audience lost her, because there were hardly any names or particular descriptions to hang on to. In time she would find out that the Omega's story pretty much reflected the girl's whole personality.

"Okay. I deduce that you have had quite an adventurous life. An... in response to your question - yes, I have been to the beach. If you walk up North here, you will hit the oceanside," she beckoned in the general direction of the said area. "I was - in fact - born here not too far from the coast in a pack called Donnelaith. My parents were respected members there. I have in total five sisters and three brothers - two out of each are my age, and the next come from subsequent litters."

"Terance - the beta wolf here - is my sibling and of the same age. Maia, who joined us this year, is younger," she thought she should mention the names of these two, because it could be useful for the little wolf in the future. "My family left this valley, when I was young, we travelled for almost a year, until we found the perfect place to settle down. And that is, where they all still live now. At least - that is the last I heard."

"So - yeah. That is the short version of my family history," Wraen finished, though there was a lot and a lot more to tell.

coelho couldn't help glancing north at wraen's mention of a beach: for a moment she looked along longingly, though her long ears were still trained politely on the woman that spoke of such things that coelho held close in her heart.

the brief family history that followed was eaten up attentively; coelho knew who maia was and her eyes lit up in mention of the girl's name; terrance, coelho did not know quite so well, though her tail skipped a few times as she thought of each of them.

"that must be nice to be so close to your family." coelho inferred absently -- she missed her family, but there was no envy in the girl's voice -- only a sense of admiration that they still were so close. "how did you guys come to sunspire?"

"It is kind of a long story," Wraen replied, not wanting to bore Coelho with the whole "it began with Terance and my older sister Sarah leaving and then..." until that cold winter day, when she, along with her brother, Rannoch and Liffey had left the Moonspear. There had to be a way to compress the story so that it would still make sense. 

"In the beginning Terance and I joined Moonspear - it is a pack located accross the valley - which is led by Charon Ostrega. He was a friend of my mother's, therefore we were welcomed in the pack ranks," she told. "There we met Rannoch and Liffey and about half a year later we together decided to found a pack of our own and came here. Unfortunately Charon and the rest of the group did not take it lightly and we have been enemies ever since," she concluded. 

"Therefore be very careful, if you happen to travel in the area of the western mountain ranges. Our name will bring you only trouble, if you happen to come across any of the Moonspear wolves."

coelho didn't mind long stories, though admittedly, she lacked the attention for ponderous ones. her ears flicked forward as she watched wraen think -- surely whatever morsel of information the silver-clad wolf imparted, it would be anything but boring.

she listened rapt as wraen spoke, a story that was concise and not at all uninteresting. moonspear - it was a name she hadn't heard before, so she frowned, trying to imagine where it might be in the mapped out world in her mind. somewhere far, no doubt, for coelho had not run across any moonspear wolves in any of her jaunts yet.

she frowned at one detail; a friend taking poorly to a move - it didn't sound to her like this charon was much of a friend at all, but she wondered if there was much more in the story she was not yet made aware of. "most of my dealings are eastern - i have not met any wolves from moonspear yet - a stroke of luck, i suppose, given what you just told me. that's really sad that you guys are enemies now. is there no chance of reparation?"

"Hard to tell. I met Charon few months later and he was very hostile," Wraen recalled the accidental run-in into her former leader. "And his daughter - their beta - is a sour grape too. She is so hell-bent on looking at us as traitors and enemies, that she would spin facts to make us look even worse," and to think that once Hydra had almost been a friend. Now, looking at all of this from a distance, she could see that the Ostrega girl was not worth it. She was poison.

"No... on the second thought - I do not think so. The bridges are burned there for good," she added after some contemplation. "Are you hungry? I can offer you lunch, since yours ran away," she asked, feeling a bit hungry herself.

"all troubling.. but hopefully they present no future problems.." a question was on the tip of coelho's tongue, yet it lost its earnest when wraen continued, and then offered a chance at vying for lunch. the girl could never say no to food; her ears folded back in a brief dip and she smiled warmly: "food is always good."

the talk about moonspear had been enlightening, for the scout hadn't learned much of them up until wraen was kind enough to explain. coelho would give much thought to moonspear, it's irate alpha, and its hellbent beta for some time -- but for now, her tail swayed in excitement and she stalked forward on needle-thin legs, eager to put such dark matters behind her.