Silver Creek There is a house build out of stone

WC: 780

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She went into the woods, still clutching the bundle of herbs- mostly roots- as she made her way away from the shocking discovery she’d made at the creek and toward the small den she’d dug specifically for herbs. This was where she would keep her findings, and visit that if ever she needed to treat another wolf in the pack. She was doing this eagerly, hoping that she could earn herself a trade and better her position within the pack. Naturally her biggest hope was to be given a suitable husband, and her eyes had already landed on one that she admired the most. Of course, Oryx could only hope that she would be given to the champagne-eyed male, but at the same time...She doubted she would be selected to be the wife of one of the actual Odolf brothers. So she tried to distract herself from those thoughts, to avoid getting her hopes up, but it was impossible to do so. He’d won her over so completely, so easily.

 She’d already begun to picture herself on the day that she was chosen to be his mate. She could picture some sort of ceremony where the wolves were all gathered, and Grayson, the leader, would announce who he had chosen to be mates which himself and his brothers. She, selflessly, first pictured who Grayson might choose for himself...Perhaps one of the females who had come with the Odolfs, or perhaps he had taken a shining to one of the new recruits- of course, Oryx did not picture Faeryn or Quicksilver, as both females had already made themselves into something akin to a danger by taking on the male’s role, and fishing. Unless there was some rule that allowed the females to fish, rather than hunt, she couldn’t understand why they would risk it. She remembered the female who had sat by Addison’s side at the meeting- the dark female with the pale socks...And without a thought, placed her at Grayson’s side. She wanted to place Addison somewhere...But they would need more males who weren’t related to them for that. She pondered possibly placing her at the side of the coywolf male she’d seen, but she didn’t so much like the look of him, and didn’t want to place Addison with someone who had such horrible, sunken eyes. She instead pictured a valiant male, one new to the family, but just as noble as the Odolf brothers. It was the very least she could do.

 And then the moment came. Oryx couldn’t help herself but smile privately as she reached her herb cache, and bent down to enter. It was small enough for one wolf to fit in, and her little collection had begun to grow in there. Not literally, of course- the plants were all simply stalks, dried leaves or roots. She divided them up based on which kind of plant they were, and she felt good as she finally got to relax her jaw after carrying such a mouthful of roots back to her cache. Her fantasy continued, with Grayson speaking her name and how she would look in front of the others, as she drew herself up alongside Harrison. She replayed that moment over and over again in her head, until it filled her dreams. But dreams were nothing but thin air when she awoke, and she had to remind herself- almost cruelly, so as to discourage her fanciful nature- that she shouldn’t dwell on such a pairing. How would she feel, then, if she wasn’t chosen? How would she feel if Faeryn or Quicksilver was chosen for him? Would she be able to support the union, as she would be expected to? She would have to stop allowing herself to dream and daydream...But it was so lovely, and so delicious a feeling that she couldn’t help it, from time to time. 

And so, in order to better her chances, she did as she was told; she avoided the borders, as it was the man’s job to mind the safety of the pack, and stayed deep within the territory, only going close to the borders as she needed to scavenge for herbs along the banks of the creek. She would seek out more, perhaps down in the fen where the ground was softer and she thought she might be able to find some herbs she did not yet have. With hopeful thoughts, she left her small den, gave herself a thorough once-over to make sure that she was clean and tidy, and then set out with a flowing, purposeful stride to go off in search of more herbs to add to her collection.

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She had nothing against the wolves of the creek - she had sensed the tension between the women though, and she knew many saw each other as nothing but rivals, rivals until mates were selected and their places were secured; the nymph blamed none for their defensive attitudes, their selfish thoughts, because she was part of this mess, too. Not that she'd planned to be, but she was here, and that was that. Besides... perhaps whatever this was would fill the hole that had grown like a void in her chest, where clearly something was amiss.

The seawolf had picked up on Oryx's scent near the creek when her fishing had come to an end, and primarily out of curiousity she had begun to track her, identifying her as one of the wolves from Addison's meeting... and from the encounter with the strange, dark male. Faeryn did not rush to say hello, but when a coat of shadows emerged into her vision, the blue sylph picked up her pace and adjusted herself to pad smoothly at the she-wolf's side. "Hey," a mellifluous voice flowed from her muzzle, plume of silver waving fluently behind as she moved. "Mind if I join you?"

She was entirely unaware of any negative feelings cast her way.

wc:400

 

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Oryx’s mind was set on finding some more herbs, so she did not immediately notice Faeryn’s approach as soon as she perhaps might have, had she not been so distracted. She was aware that Emerson too was a medic, and had been stashing herbs away, so perhaps she ought to investigate pursuing another trade that suited her, but she wasn’t sure exactly what she could do. She was so used to hunting for herself that that would have naturally been her next choice- but that had been pulled off the table slightly. It wasn’t that they were forbidden to hunt...But each time they did, it hinted that perhaps they did not trust their men to take proper care of them, and she did not want to do that. She wanted her man to feel that she relied on him to take care of her, to feed her and keep her safe. She wanted him to feel masculine...So she would remained as effeminate as possible.

She toyed with the idea of creating stories to tell the pups once they were born- whether they were hers or otherwise- when she finally caught sight of the pale female whose pelt garnished a slight blue tint in the daylight, and even moreso- she assumed- after dark in the light of the moon. There was something otherworldly about Faeryn’s beauty, and even about her name, which seemed to suggest that she wasn’t a wolf at all, but some faerie-like creature that had chosen the body of a wolf to live in, while still remaining an almost legendary, sylphlike essence. That essence, however, was perhaps a bit more forward and progressive than the pack had outlined, and this had been noticed by Oryx. Naturally, Faeryn had marked herself as one of the wolves she might be best to avoid- lest she get interrogated as well, if Faeryn crossed too many borderlines. Still, she couldn’t avoid her pack-sister, and welcomed her with her usual sheepish shyness which would have perfectly covered up any reluctance she might have felt.

Respectfully, she bowed her head and sidled sideways as an invitation for Faeryn to join her. ”You are welcome,” She greeted quietly. ”It is a fair day, is it not?” She asked, knowing that it was best to keep their conversation as see-through as possible, and perhaps as dull as possible as well.

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Oryx was as small as herself, with the feminine grace of a feline, though she held herself with a certain lack of confidence - perhaps she wished to be invisible, but in the day her coat would allow little disguise; it was a sleek black, smooth fur that the Renoda imagined would shimmer in the sun, glittering as though her coat was the night sky, drabbled in little stars. Around the back of her neck was a scarf of white streaks, like rain that had fallen and frozen stuck to the hairs of her nape. There was no denying that she was a beautiful she-wolf.

The girl accepted Faeryn's request to tag along, and the sylph breathed out a small sigh of relief from blackened lips - fitting in amongst these women was proving to be a slight challenge, something she'd not quite anticipated. But... if she was to experiment and hopefully find her place, then the wolfess had never expected the task to be one of ease; besides, there came a time in a woman's life when she might long for young of her own, and the sea nymph (though she was in truth a fighter) was willing to settle down at the side of a man and bear her children. She simply wanted to discover if that would be the missing piece of her puzzle, and wanted to experience what she could so that perhaps, if she was to die in battle, or crumble at the jaws of a terrible winter, she would have tried so many things. If the seawolf was happy in life, then she would be happy in death, too.

"It is," she murmered in response, watery gaze flickering up to wash over the sky. "...Do you happen to enjoy watching the stars?" Faeryn inquired, head inclining in Oryx's direction with genuine curiousity glimmering in her eyes. This land would never replace her beloved island, but the gentle ripples of the creek's water aided in soothing her spirit. She recalled lying beneath the canopy of black while the moon shone down silvery beams to glisten on the sea's surface, stars reflecting as milky dots of white and gold, salty air filling her leathery nostrils and setting her wispy tail to shimmer on the sand.