Lake Rodney Heartbeat Rhythm

The maiden voyage

Sunlight glittered over the steady rolling of the water. Buzzing insects, hungry for their colonies, made the rounds over every blooming flower within range. On both sides the clarity of the air revealed mountain peaks. Their summer, barren faces showing little of the life that swarmed them.

Amun put his paw on a fresh bear track in the mud. The monstrous size of the beast who had come before made his sides tingle. He lay down in the reeds and sighed. All of this was unfamiliar territory. He hadn't eaten in days. The meager months since his escape had left him sore, hungry, and lonely. Around him were not just the scents of bears and fish, but unmistakably wolves. Loads of them. His sisters had told him before their separation to steer clear of them, but Amun wanted more.

Listening to his heartbeat, he breathed slowly and pondered the idea of seeking out the wolves of the area. He closed his eyes. "Eiros, where are you?" he whispered.

Recruiting was required as their numbers seemed to dwindled. There was discomfort to be away from the woods for too long but this was a responsibility of her new job. To protect and serve the woods she had to make sure there was even anyone to protect. An ear flicked with a mixture of irritation and anxiety. Things would get better. She’d be damned if they did not.

There — just up ahead — was someone. She noted that they looked crumpled into the earth though. This had not been what she had hoped for. Worry lined her mind and seeped into her silver gaze. There was no obvious sign of sickness nor scent of blood. Could only simply drop dead? Did she truly wish to know the answer?

It was a gentle whuff that escaped her as she carefully moved towards the stranger, then settled on the reeds in such a peaceful way. Perhaps she could spot the subtle rise and fall of his sides if she gazed long enough.

A sound swiveled his ears, but Amun's dreary mind was slow to catch up. His gaze rolled toward the noise, and then he startled, raising his head and lasering focus onto a stranger. This was a moment he had feared; his heart beat in his throat and he swallowed a dry lump as a black and dangerous-looking she-wolf approached him.

She sat. He tilted his head and chuffed back. Amun sat up and peered rather rudely at her, staring very openly. He hadn't seen a fellow of his species in weeks. A fish splashed about in the lake suddenly and broke him back to reality. He blinked. "Uh, sorry, I uh, didn't expect company is all," he admitted, a bashful quiver in his voice. "I'm Amun." He bowed his head subtly as he said it.

Ah.

She soon discovered he was not deceased and did not seem ill. To find she was unexpected was not a surprise. The Morta had not even expected herself to be here, to stumble upon the strange male in a new place. Even if she had wanted to comment she didn't exactly possess the proper capacity to do so. He provided relief in the form a topic she knew how to grapple though. Greetings.

Jakoul. She uttered back with a careful sway of her tail, hesitantly moving closer to him. Should Amun react poorly she would halt her advance though. He smelled of the land and himself, lacking the busy scent of a pack creature. In usual blunt Jakoul fashion she took it upon herself to investigate. Amun, She breathed softly to hopefully solidify his attention on her. Where from?

"Jakoul," Amun muttered under his breath, interested and perplexed by the name. As she moved toward him, he found she looked poorly. The she-wolf had a thinness about her that unnerved him, although he couldn't see ribs through her shadowy fur. He wondered silently if she and her family were having trouble finding enough food, as he was.

The question was complicated to answer. "76 Northfolk Rd." He said it so quickly that it took him a moment to realize the statement meant absolutely nothing to anyone anymore. He had traveled hundreds of miles by that point. "Uh.. east of here, I think. It's hotter there," he yawned slightly, anxious. "I left with my sisters but we got separated a while ago."

The thought of them without him made him frown. He was wildly protective of his family, although he knew they would be annoyed that he thought they needed his help. Amun lacked their mental strength. "What about you?" He cocked his head slightly like a pup begging for scraps - one of his ears flopped sideways as he did so.

Even if she had been better versed with the common tongue, she would not have understood the words he spoke. Numbers even claimed the name of where he came from. She offered only a blink before he said something more recognizable. East. Her eyes wandered to look back in the direction of which she had come from. Perhaps he lived upon the other side of the mountain? Regardless, she learned he had left wherever he had come from. Separated from someone. The thought caused her lips to tug down ever so slightly.

Then the question was turned to her. She was beginning to learn that should be expected when conversing with strangers. It was always a game of back and forth.

Blackfeather Woods. Her tail offering a sway behind her, obvious fondness for the place she had named. What do? She questioned as she copied his head movement. Did he have a task now or was he simply...roaming?

Blackfeather Woods. Amun didn't know the names of anywhere around here. He wondered if the Woods were north or south. Were the wolves there friendly? Was she born there? So many questions.

It only dawned on him the second time she asked a question that English might not be her first language. He noted an accent, but couldn't place it. Two of the wolves he had grown up around had spoken other languages, but they had never really interacted with him or his family. "Uh." What did he do? Other than slowly starve, not much, was the answer. He chuckled at this irony.

"I just got here. I don't really know anyone. I'm.." What the hell was he doing? "Looking for a better life, I guess," he shrugged. "I'm not exactly much of a hunter, but I like doing it!" He might have been the worst sell in the history of wolfkind.

There was something gentle about the air around him. She did not feel fretful or at danger and he spoke with the uncertainty of youth. Although it was a shame for him to not know others (she had been there once, not that long ago) perhaps she could help his transition into the wilds.

When he mentioned hunting there was a certain liveliness to her silver eyes. If it was allowed from Amun, Jakoul aimed to move even closer and gently brush her nose over his shoulder. She was prepared to give him his space should he not react well to her gesture though. The Morta did not wish to make the rogue uncomfortable.

Come? She asked softly as she gazed upon his face with an evident kindness. Handsome, healthy and most importantly — enthusiastic. He was a fine creature, that much she could not deny. Blackfeather home. Help, teach, protect. It was not what she requested of him but what she was willing to offer him. In an odd way perhaps Amun would be her project. To see if she could truly do what had been done to her when she arrived.

There was something charming about the she-wolf. A quiet, raven-like quality made her seem wise. She reached over to him and gave Amun a quick brush. He leaned into it ever so slightly, and as she pulled away he forced himself to breathe - he realized he had been holding it for a while.

Amun hadn't been touched by anyone in a long time. The feeling of warmth at once hit him, and he blinked quickly to prevent his eyes from watering with utter joy. A smile washed across his features and he exhaled sharply, as if about to laugh as she spoke her next words.

The last thing he had ever expected, especially considering his sisters' warnings and his previous poor experiences, was to meet a creature as kind and trusting as she. Like a dark angel, Jakoul plucked him from doom and gave him hope. "I..." Words. How did those work again? "Of course! Definitely. Yes..?" His bashful smile erupted into a grin as he literally leaped up at the chance. His tail wagged quickly behind him, so hard that his bum wobbled. His ears sat back submissively. "Yeah!"

feel free to fade with your next post and i can set something up for them at BFW following this? <3

She thought little of his leaning into her touch. As a more primal creature, she welcomed any body language. She merely saw it as an acceptance of her actions and not as something deeper. The lithe woman was unaware that perhaps he was lonelier than he had spoken of.

The reaction to her offer was met with the heavy sways of her tail. She had not expected it to go so smoothly. As he chirped his agreement with the situation, Jakoul moved close again to brush her side along his own — to mark him with her scent and the scent of Blackfeather. A pre-measure before they headed back so there was no ill upon him when they reached the woods.

Her head motioned for him to follow as she drew away from him. Amun. She rumbled with a newfound warmness in her soft voice. Home. A clear indication of where she intended to lead him now.

Yay! Sounds good

Jakoul brushed herself along him while he wiggled near uncontrollably. He danced on his oversized paws while his tail flopped back and forth to his sides. She spoke his name, the slithering smoothness to her voice at once calming and satisfying. The excited young wolf bounded behind her.

She was a thin creature of few words, but every glance she cast his way and every calm breath she took made him feel at ease. Amun didn't know what awaited him at Blackfeather Woods, but he was hopeful that he had found a new home. He wondered what his new family would think of him, what the Woods looked like, smelled like, felt like.

The shadowy she-wolf had a bouncy shadow herself behind her. As they left the lakeside, a trout launched itself after a bug into the air; a satisfying splash celebrated the catch and Amun's turn of life events.