Bearclaw Valley people passing through me, yes they do

blackfeather's night-cub had never been this far east before, but that did not stop her jaunty walk or her curious nature as she passed through kintla flatlands into the rising sun valley. she had no idea she had just traversed into a different region - as far as she was concerned, the trees and stones still looked the same to her.

she had absentmindedly trailed the scent of a fox, and then had lost it, and had found the scent of a woodchuck, and then had lost that too, and then had excitedly chased after a hare -- and, well, you get the picture.

suddenly she looked up and realized she was near a large valley flanked by tall stones. it looked impressive - and foreboding - to her; her tail lifted in quiet challenge and she scowled into the entrance of bearclaw, as if daring whatever inhabitants within to come out and chase her off their doorstep.

Nunataq had settled in her new home so well that she rarely travelled west-ward to revisit her old residence at Bearclaw valley. Only, when she set out to call Arlette out for some adventures, but there were easier places to access Easthollow, where her friend lived.

But sometimes her scavenging or hunting missions took place in the vicinity of the familiar area and she would venture inside to see, if everything had remained the way it had been, when they had left. Last time had been particularly lucky, because she had found an old cache and had feasted on it's rotten/frozen/mumified contents. Stomach-ache and diarrhea that had followed afterwards, had already been conveniently forgotten, when Nuna decided to try out her luck this time.

However, instead of finding something dead and edible, she found something living and wolf-like. A stranger! And, while she did not live here anymore, she still considered this place as hers, when she was here. Therefore she alerted the dark-pelted wolf with a bark and approached her with a suspicious look in her eyes, as if she being the owner of the apple garden, had caught the thief, who was stealing them.

the nightcub had been staring into the darkened depths of bearclaw when a silhouette emerged. she tensed, flickering her gaze to just beyond the figure as if expecting more wolves to outpour from the darkness.

but it was just the one: a wolf tall and gangly as she, and likely of a very similar age. astara might have approached her with interest then, except she had caught the suspicious glint in the yearling's mercury gaze. it set astara on edge, and she hunched her shoulders defensively in response.

the mouth of bearclaw remained hidden and steeped in shadow -- astara was determined to investigate, but the current guard that stood vigil before its gates posed a problem. with her ears forward in confidence, astara drifted towards nunataq -- her body language a strange mix between anticipatory excitement to meet a new friend and defensive because that friend had barked at her.

The other's careful movement, encouraged Nunataq to walk towards her and do some more proper investigation. After all she was more entitled to do so, because this had been her home and still was, when she happened to be around. At a distance that she deemed safe and comfortable, the masked girl stopped and sniffed the air, catching the scent particles emanating from the shadow wolf. Preliminary analysis satisfied her, therefore she dared to take two steps closer and maybe more, if the stranger allowed to do so, with an aim in her mind to reach the rear end and be done with the greeting ritual.

Rambly - sorry! I am sleepy.

the night cub took it as a good sign she was not immediately met with aggression. she watched as nunataq came towards her, feeling rather than commanding the slight rise of her hackles along her back. it was instinctive to feel protective when meeting a stranger, and so nunataq was regarded with a cool sweep of her eyes.

she too, sought to inspect this stranger; she sniffed and pulled away, her fur somewhat settling. there was little she could tell of the stranger besides what had been given to her visually -- her scent only told astara that she was not alone.

she did not smell like the valley they stood before, however -- astara twitched her tail and with a resolute shrug, began to enter the valley.

The black she-wolf was a bit tense, which Nunataq took as a cue to cut the introductory phase short and retreat. Had she been her younger pushy-do-not-know-what-boundaries-mean self, she would have been all over the stranger, but now she had grown up. And the fact that she did not like to be inspected at a very close proximity or even touched by others had something to do with her courtesy to others. Simple, really. I don't go at you, you do not go at me.

When the other had lost interest, Nunataq went to the side, left a little mark and did some nice hind-paw acrobatics that would make a ballet dancer jealous in order to whisk some snow up. And the same thing she repeated, while she either followed or kept herself nearby the stranger, during it's exploration mission.

a scuffle behind astara caused her to pause, and as she turned around she caught sight of nunataq, snow flung out behind her in a pale spray. her ears pinned, for she understood the language — and she made no move to defy it. 

nosing along a belt of jack pine, astara detected the heady scent of bear. her body froze as she deciphered the smell — she had never encountered such a beast, and so, had no idea of what it was other than a scent to be investigated. 

she briefly glanced to her mute companion, wondering if she could scry from the wolf’s reaction whether the scent was danger or prey.

Unfortunately for Astara Nunataq was the wrong person to turn to, when it came to experience with bears. She hadn't had a single bad encounter with them, had not seen any up close and, while occasional piles of droppings, pee and scratch marks left on the trees in Bearclaw valley had sparked her interest, in general the girl did not give a damn about the four legged, sharp-clawed and teethed carnivoran mammals.

Therefore, when the dark girl's gaze met Nuna's briefly, the mute girl paused in her endeavour to unearth a tunnel left by mice in the snow, cast a superficial look around, shrugged and returned to her previous activity ardently. Boy, did the spot smell deliciously.

astara learned little from studying nunataq -- the indifferent shrug seemed to suggest the scent was of no danger, and so the girl scratched at the earth quietly, sampling the sundry scents of damp-ground with several sharp sniffs.

while nunataq foraged in the upturned earth for mice, astara continued trailing the new scent. she glanced behind her once or twice to see if her new companion was following, but did not pause long each time she did so.

the scent meandered through bearclaw, and just as the ground gave way to a natural depression, the scent grew thicker. astara paused by a band of winter ferns, noticing a collapsed hollow delved into the earth. it was here the scent was most prominent --practically exuding from the dark hole like rancid breath fogging a mirror.

she sniffed around the hole attentively, her ears firmly cupped forward in interest. whatever the scent was, its owner was clearly within -- all one had to do was step under the threshold of rotted tree limb and frozen earth, to see just what it was...

Nunataq's interest in the tasty spot lasted only so long until she spied that the dark, mute stranger had found a different kind of sweets in the candy shop called Bearclaw valley. And part of the fun with new smells was, when the other person took notice in it too. The second rule - new was always better.

No wonder, she left her spot and bounded towards, where Astara stood, did a lot of sniffing and then peered inside the dark hollow curiously. Frankly speaking, it stank - which says somthing, because Nunataq's threshold for stuff she considered truly disgusting was very high. She scrunched her nose, sneezed and then retreated from the hollow.

Not exactly concerned or afraid, but with a look in her face, that invited the other girl to do something more fun than exploring a stink-hole.

while nunataq seemed disinterested, astara was fascinated -- this scent was like no other in blackfeather or beyond, and intrigued, the girl stole one last glance at nunataq and then delved within.

a few feet inside the tunnel, astara felt a shift in temperature -- it seemed to grow in warmth, and a rancid smell emanated in the air. the light was feeble at best the further she went in, and gradually all light was extinguished save for the distant, feeble glow of the den's mouth.

she slugged on, crouching as the tepid air grew -- and a noise she had not heard before rose from the earth. it seemed as if breathing -- but the breaths were long and exaggerated, each inhale longer than two breaths of her own, each exhale a shuddering, snorting affair. she froze, for the ground gave way suddenly beneath her, and she was looking at what appeared to be a blackened, massive roadblock.

nosing the strange obstruction, astara's hair stood on end -- for the scent came from this shaggy rock, and it moved and shifted with each dragging breath. it occurred to astara rather belatedly that this monolith was alive -- but as she stared in wonder, her legs did not move.

The dark one did not seem to be phased by Nunataq's suggestion, making the mute girl frown first and become offended second. She was used to be in charge and being obeyed, when it came to interacting with wolves her age. However, before she was able to reinforce her request at leaving the place, the cub had already disappeared in the dark mouth of the hole.

She huffed, wanted to follow and see, what kind of treasure was hiding there, but decided against going in there. If the stranger came out of the place with some valuable stuff, then Nunataq might as well wait out here and steal from her. If there was no treasure to be found, then - she would have saved her time.

nosing along the furred obstruction, astara belatedly became intimately aware that this thing was alive --  just in time too, for it groaned in its sleep and shook the cave as it rolled over, causing a clatter of debris to fall from the ceiling as it moved. astara, frozen in fear, detected in the darkness the fierce wedge of its massive head -- astara, for the first time in her life, had come face to face with a bear.

the beast muttered, still deep in sleep as it brought its massive paws over its equally gigantic head, each claw on its broad paws easily the size of her entire muzzle. still she was frozen, nunataq entirely forgotten as she stared at this imperceptibly huge, shaggy creature.

and then her senses found her, and with a silent panic she turned around and fled from the den, leaping out of the mouth like a scalded cat -- never once looking back as she ran, and darting past nunataq like a shadow fleeing the sun.

Nunataq had indeed saved her time, because a while later the dark-pelted youth flew out of the stinky den as a rocket, fled past her and disappeared in the woods. The Jalapeno was left alone and feeling a little confused, because no one appeared to be chasing after her. She peered down in the cave, then turned her gaze to see, if the other mute girl was still around and if so, should she seek her out again. Eventually she decided not to. On her way back home she briefly stopped at Easthollow to find out, if her albino friend was around and about, but after not finding her, she returned to Lost Creek Hollow.