Firefly Glen i look for high ground, for to build an ark

the mountaineer lingered at moonspear’s borders for some time, tracing the scent of his packmates which frequented the perimeter. most mornings his business was here, but today arcturus drove outward into the glen below.

he called for @Ying, his gaze somber and posture alert. the wilderness, he learned, had been a rather cold place of late. and he did not mean the fresh swath of heavy snow that had fallen last night.

sometime after dropping off fengmian.

Surprised, she walked toward the Glen. A short response was sounded, informing Arcturus that she was close. @Fengmian wandered somewhere nearby, likely within earshot of the coming conversation.

Hi, Arcturus. Ying smiled as she approached, tail wagging in swift brushes behind her. What you doing?

by scent, arcturus detected ying might not be alone. he glanced to the fen, wondering with a needling stab of surprise jealousy if the male whose scent mingled in with her own was a suitor.

he had no use for such small thoughts of insecurity and quickly pushed it aside. securing the borders. arcturus answered, tail waving easily behind him. we’ve had some trouble as of late. not from you, i assume?

Border maintenance, while not everyone's favorite activity, was one of Ying's preferred pastimes. She had grown to love it over the years; it was sometimes boring, but always necessary. The guardian quickly fell into step, deciding that she would act as a second defense.

I always am trouble, she told him, but never for my friends. Ying smiled and winked, bumping shoulders with her companion. What trouble? she asked, wondering if her small team could be of any assistance.

the beta's ears cupped forward as ying fell in step alongside him, sharing the burden of the load despite her lack of affiliation (at least, memberwise) with moonspear. he wondered if all wolves were so generous. he had taken a shining to ying, but certainly, he would not have devoted his time to someone else's borders so selfishly.

food for thought - maybe he was a selfish person.

he slowed his pace, nosing along a ribbon of ferns. "i believe that," the male rejoined, a sparkle of cheekiness to his yellow gaze. "unless you're a bird, right?" there was little break in the perimeters that he could detect, and so, he turned to ying with a rather serious shade descending his features. "it seems one of our own was attacked out here, by a black she-wolf." that was the extent of arcturus' knowledge, and he knew by no means that description was delineating. there were thousands of black she-wolves, he imagined -- but maybe ying had seen this one..?

Bright eyes glared at him, though only for a moment. Her flat expression soon shifted to one of concern as she listened to his explanation. I don't know her, Ying explained. She hadn't seen anyone who fit the description, despite having been in the area only days prior.

I can keep eyes here, she offered. Surely, one of the boys would be willing to venture into the Wilderness for additional support. If not, Ying would have to make the trip herself. Is everyone okay?

arcturus was not privy to the intricate details of osiris' attack -- he only knew that hydra was incensed, and dacio had returned wounded. these were troubling times, and he wondered if it might not be time he called for nightwalkers to aid them.

they continued round a bend of tumbled stones, arcturus pausing a moment at the ledges as he drew in the scents that littered its mossy face. voles, birds, and a rodent here and there -- but no intruders. good.

"i do not know." arcturus answered somberly, appreciative of ying's show of support -- and the concern that arced in those brilliant byzantine eyes. "some on moonspear consider this glen to be annexed under our rule and are territorial of strangers within it. i say friends can pass freely --" he motioned to ying warmly then, recalling how she had bumped him on the shoulder only moments before. "but enemies should be killed or chased away."

the problem was, who knew who was an enemy these days?

Luckily, there didn't seem to be much foreign traffic within the sub-territory. She kept her senses alert for any scents or sounds which might pass by, but felt comfortable with the relative calm. 

Ying kept her head low, sniffing the tracks left by Arcturus. She wanted to remember his scent; assuming he would be the guard watching over the Glen, she wanted to remember his patterns with marking. 

How do I know who is the enemy? Ying asked. She wondered if any of the offenders had unique patterns, colors, or a nickname as had Caiaphas.

arcturus was sampling a scent left by a fox when ying asked an age old question. a strange kind of sadness fell upon him -- how did you know who the enemy was? it seemed everyone had two faces -- and who you got on any given day was entirely based on whether you were of use to one of those faces.

he gave a defeatist shrug. "trust your instincts, i guess.." there wasn't much more he could say, both because he didn't know the true answer, and because he wasn't privy to the little details. "i know that one wolf is black, and the other dark with orange on his back.." which reminded him of towhee -- arcturus felt a stab in his chest. "then there was a pale wolf with a dark head.." none of these descriptors fit any wolves arcturus had seen recently.

A pale wolf with a dark head. She listened with open ears to each description, taking pause once Arcturus finished. Hydra had mentioned her meeting with Hua, but it couldn't have been bad enough to warrant an order against her...right? 

Ying kept this knowledge to herself, deciding that she would think more on it once alone. My eyes are open, she assured him. Later, after their meeting, Ying would find a place to dig a temporary den, were there not one already available.

Arcturus, she continued, How do you know Hydra? His demeanor was indicative of passion, rather than duty; Ying could only assume that he knew the Moonspearian Queen better than a standard subordinate.

arcturus liked to believe himself intrepid, and in some ways he was intuitive -- but he entirely missed the shade of doubt that flew across ying's face. his attentions were on his surroundings; taking stock of every twig, stone, and snowfall -- making sure no pawprints (of the unwelcome variety) were present.

he was pulled to attention by ying's inquiry, which by his count seemed .. well, he couldn't place it. maybe more serious than inquisitive, but not a casual question either.. "she is my sister." arcturus answered, surprised then to realize, she knew hydra independent of himself. "how do you?"

Another sibling? She thought that it made sense; the pair held a resemblance in both physical attributes and personality. Ying wondered who Hydra might be planning to pair her with, and silently hoped that it might be Arcturus.

She didn't want to share the details of their first meeting. Instead, she told him, We work together. It painted both wolves in a better light than admitting the whole truth. We are making something.

we work together, ying revealed. a black-tipped ear turned back as arcturus took in this news. making something -- but what?

his sister worked in strange ways. arcturus had come to understand hydra was pre-eminently the most intelligent wolf he had ever known -- but her shrewdness was sharp, and he found more than once he was cut by so cruel a blade. it seemed that whatever it was, ying preferred vagueness. arcturus took this in stride as he padded along the trail, nosing the undergrowth for a long moment before returning.

pine. pine-sap. pine-straw. the day old scent of an ermine. nothing here worth reporting.

"whatever you are making, it will likely be destined for greatness." the mountaineer commented dryly, knowing full-well that hydra and ying together was a terrible, powerful, incredible alliance.

Greatness was their only option. There was too much being sacrificed for these plans to fail, too much for either wolf to know. Ying hoped to further strengthen their alliance in the coming months, but was wholly aware that chance was the true determining factor. 

She didn't say anything else. Her tail flagged in silent gratitude, pleased to have earned Arcturus's approval.

ying was silent, but arcturus found they did not need words to fill the space between them. their company was sufficient: she, encapsulated by her thoughts of the future and what she was making, and he, drawn into abstraction by the present and what was tangibly before him: musk, pine straw, the old scent of ermine..

he nosed a patch with a huff, finding the scent even more stale here. for now, it seemed their perimeters were safe and their stroll was coming to a conclusion. he did not wish to admit it, but he had enjoyed ying's company and dreaded the familiar bend, where he would make for home and she for her den in the wilderness.