Stone Circle you show me a signpost for where I should go

Another formation thread for Kvarsheim; open to anyone!

Somewhere in the aspenwood was Inkeri, she knew that. The woman's scent had become heavier as the days paraded by, and the sunlight grew more intense.

When August arrived the grass would no doubt be withered. The trees would be partway through their transition. Sanja could not wait for autumn.

Today she basked in the shadow of a tall stone. It looked ot have fallen at some point, tilted over time, or perhaps been victim to a shuddering earth. There was crack spanning the length of it, thicker at the bottom.

Sanja wondered what sort of force could shatter stone in this way. Perhaps it was the same indellible energy that could move mountains.

@Bjarna for reference! :D

The child’s scent led her here.

Taktuq knew these forests, though she did not recognize the other wolf scents that roughed up the land. Not strong enough to call a pack - but strong enough to make the woman wonder.

She had left the child to hunt, and had been away longer than she had planned, too long, for in her absence the child had left. Not taken; hers was the only scent that led out of the Valley. Hers was the only scent that carried her here.

Taktuq had lost the trail somewhere in Pando Clone Forest, and her paws carried her now by subconscious memory towards the heart of her homeland. Nose low, and searching, until the soft shadows of the forest gave way to the sun, and she stood, blinking, up at the shadows of Stone Circle.

Her belly flipped. A wolf laying amongst the stones.

“Who are you?”

Cameo from Inkeri unless she is needed.

Inkeri stayed near the new pack lands and Sanja and the baby wolf, with white fur. She hunted and kept caches filled, and it moments of quietness she would hunt for @Anja and @Lucius. She missed them both greatly, but didn't know where they were.

With a new purpose she could simply put it at the back of her mind. Which was different for her. Truly. It was with these chaotic thoughts that she moved through the pack lands like a wraith. Though a voice caught her attention.

She followed it and came across another wolf Talking to Sanja. She stayed back behind, but a hopefully welcoming presence to Sanja who was nervous around others.

Behind her came a voice. Sanja was studying the stone, and was startled. When she turned she saw a gray woman whose expression was - well, odd. It was like they were offended to find Sanja here, when it should have been the opposite.

The scent of Inkeri grew stronger for a beat, as the wind shifted, so Sanja knew she was not alone. She drew courage from knowing that she had at least one friend nearby - and then thought of Bjarna.

Sanja. She said, and motioned to herself; not aware that she was answering the stranger's question. This was how Inkeri had communicated. It might work for this stranger too, she thought.

Then a sweeping gesture to the stones, the hills, the forest; Heim.

They were not alone.

Even as Taktuq kept her eyes on Sanja, her ear turned outward and tipped the side, catching the sound of the other who joined them.

Who were these wolves?

Their presence here troubled her, the way this woman, Sanja, sprawled so casually across stones she and her family had once held sacred - stones she held sacred still.

"Taktuq," she offered the other, with a gesture the same. The woman's eyes spoke of intelligence, though Taktuq did not recognize her accent, nor the word she spoke. Not in syllables, anyway. Her accompanying gesture told Taktuq all she needed to know.

Heat flushed her cheeks.

She mimicked Sanja's sweeping gesture. "This is my home, too."

Not one she had lived in for a very long time - but she felt defensive over this place, over this circle, over these stones. This is where she had been born, where her mother had died, and where they had buried her. How couldn't she feel something?

Thoughts of finding the wayward child momentarily slipped her mind.

The woman spoke of this place as if it were familiar, as if she belonged. Sanja moved to adjust herself and her growing belly, and after some fidgeting (as she could not find comfort) she settled to her haunches.

Taktuq... veiða? fiskur? Vera. She tested the woman's name, finding that she liked the way it cut the air with such sharp sounds.

It was clear the woman meant no harm to Sanja, and it wasn't like Sanja could force someone out in her current condition - nor would it feel right, if this truly was Taktuq's home. They could share it.

Vera. Her tail swayed in a friendly arc. Heim af Taktuq.

The other met her with confusing words and great friendliness. And though she understood so little, Taktuq knew what the other woman meant.

Warmth conflicted with her prickly beginning. It has been clear to Taktuq, even before this returning, that her family had deserted Stone Circle. Where, she could only hope somewhere away from Ursus. She had never found them. Had never known what had become of them. And they had never returned.

But where life had departed, new life sprung.

"Heim of Taktuq," she thought aloud, while testing the strange word on her lips, certain, now, of what it must mean. She noticed the curve of the other woman now, how her belly rounded with the signs of pregnancy. How Stone Circle lay fallen from the proud formation it had once been. How near Sanja stood to the Mother Stone.

A smile picked its way across Taktuq's face, and she found herself meeting the other with an equal sway of her tail. Another gesture to Easthollow - the remains of what it once was, the new things it might become.

"Heim of Sanja."

Share, she could. And share, they would.

There was, in an unspeakable way, an understanding between them. Time would tell if Taktuq proved useful and safe, both aspects being very important to Sanja.

She stepped towards the newcomer and made the effort to taste the air around them, as a way to learn more, and if permitted would draw so close that their shoulders might touch. Anointing Taktuq with a shared scent.

After, Sanja smiled to the woman and gave her space again. She continued on her way along the stones, then beyond, to scout further and to let Taktuq acclimatize without scrutiny. It was a good time to check on Bjarna.