Silver Moraine and they called him, "Lemon Boy"

It was more work then she imagined, living alone. For the first time she had to be aware of other packs, strange wolves, stranger animals. She was far from the creek now, the land that stretched in front of her completely unfamiliar. Head high, she walked forward with her mind elsewhere - there was too much to look forward to for Leonore to focus on the now.

A sudden drop in the land, and the girl was quick to lose her footing; tripping, rolling, and landing on her back after the short fall.

Ouch. At the very least the snow cushioned her from the rocks below, she was not hurt - just a bit embarrassed.. though surely nobody had seen.

The glacier loomed, a beacon that draws the Tartok woman away from Chieftain's woodland camp and further into the taiga. Lanzadoii land. All of it. The concept is strange, foreign, but Nagruk is beginning to see the benefits of it.

She is leaping deftly from rock to rock when a scuffle and a flash of silver catches her eye. Roving closer reveals a girl; she is tiny and thin, not much more meat than bone, and she is almost quick to move on when a thought catches her.

"Get up." Voice gruff, but not unkind, her dark head blots out the wintersun as she leans over to stare pointedly.

The voice of a stranger cuts through the brisk winter air, ruining any hopes Leonore had of keeping her little fall a secret. She hops up at the given command without question. Sorry. She blurts out the word without considering why she is saying it.

Suddenly feeling rather shy, she stares up at the strange woman through a bowed head. She is large, though Leonore is not quite sure she competes with Frederick, and smells of a pack that Leonore does not know. It should be expected given this was her first time venturing outside of the valley, and yet the pup still finds it strange. Her world is expanding for the first time.

The girl is quick to obey, much to Nagruk's approval. What had landed her in such an unfortunate position to begin with is swiftly investigated. Drag marks in the snow, white blanket disturbed on several rocks in a pattern distinctly that of a clumsy youth.

She descends from height to greet the girl in full, ignorant of any personal space as her nose comes to trace the furs of her spine. "Where is pack?" For no obvious scent clung to this one. "Or is girl here alone. Bad choice if so." Her lips pull back in a grin as she thinks of Chieftain's proclivity for young girls.

The questions do not feel so strange to Leonore, and yet as the fur on her spine stood up at the sudden touch and the stranger gave a grin, she could not help but feel discomforted. I left home. It was the simple answer, the truth. I want to find where the water ends.

What she truly did not understand was why the other claimed it was a bad choice to have come alone. The previous stranger she came across had a rather negative perspective on her solitude as well. How can it be a bad choice? Her curiosity bubbles up, leaving her throat without consideration of whether or not she wants to hear the answer that will come from it.

Her investigation comes to a close, and Nagruk pulls back as the girl speaks once more. The call to disperse was felt by many of their kind, but the size of the child here is what unnerves her greatly. She speaks of where the water ends - the glacier? The riverlands?

Nagruk is unsure what she means, choosing to address the concerns voiced then as she says: "Bad men live here. Take young girl to keep as slave." Part of her considers capturing the girl as a prize to Chieftain, but decides against it given her small stature. Saatsine did not need another mouth to feed, another body to slow them down as they march. Besides, Nagruk has morals, even if they are kept well hidden.

She stared at the stranger momentarily, considering her words before replying. That's stupid. As she saw it that was only a scare tactic, the kind parents used to keep their mischieveous children inside the den. I know how borders work; I just don't touch them.

It was as easy as that in her mind. Set on continuing a head she began to scamper up the other side of the moraine, much more careful of her foot placement now.

The girl is a fool, Nagruk thinks, lips peeling back in a snarl as she stares hard. The taiga itself would have its way with her if Saatsine did not and, though she cared little for the strange child's safety, she wished not to see her caught and broken under Chieftain's wing.

"Sun Clan has no borders. Roam all land as its own." She begins to follow with large strides of her own, uncertain for how long she is willing to play the part of this child's mother. "You be stupid. Not even know what you looking for besides water's end. Taiga eat you alive," she scoffs.

She pauses now, looking back with a frown. Sun Clan is stupid then. That isn't how things are supposed to work. Not as far as she knew, at least. How am I supposed to get to the other end if they think the own the whole Taiga? This is the quickest way through. Going around would waste time.

Leonore had heard stories of the sea, of salty water and strange shelled creatures who washed up on the shore. The wind told her it was north - it was the scent it carried. She wished to go.

Ears flick to catch the child's words above the crunch of snow beneath her paws, and it is with a great laugh that Nagruk agrees. "Stupid, yes, but is way things work." It's not like she had the power yet to change the mind of a Chieftain so tangled in the long march of his caribou, no matter how she wished.

A question then, a valid one, and Nagruk begins to understand. At the other end of the taiga there lies the ocean where Saatsine will witness the birth and expansion of their herds, but the trek is long, the opportunity still there for one of their clan to intercept. "I go with you a way to where river cuts land. Then you go alone." She means for the girl to make a choice, though her voice is firm.

Leonore is still wary of the situation, but the offer is tempting. She stays silent momentarily, the look in her eyes making it clear that the gears were turning in her head.

On one paw, she did not want a babysitter. On the other.. she could probably use the help. It was pretty normal for wolves to travel together anyways, right? ..Alright then. Okay. If this woman could get her through the Taiga safely, she would take it. What's your name? Mine is Leonore.

If you want to write out the trip please feel free to tag me! I'm happy to have it happen BTS too <3

There is no doubt the girl is cautious, and for good reason. Her parents should have taught her to be wary of strangers. But Nagruk is patient, a rarity she can afford given her desire to explore the taiga herself.

"Nagruk," she answers then to Leonore, a delicate sounding name for a delicate child. She tucks the knowledge away for another time, trotting past her temporary companion towards the edge of the moraine at a pace just too quick for a young wolf to keep up comfortably.

bts is ok!