Blacktail Deer Plateau Silent Forest, Dreams of Winter

A dense forest to the right, a rushing river to the left. Rain trots between them with her gaze focused on the trees. She had been following the river for a long while, passing nothing but flat lands shadowed by mountains. This forest had been her goal once it had come into view, a symphony of color against the dying land.

Cold bites the pads of her paws as she steps into a freezing puddle left by the river. Winter was pretty much here, nipping at her nose and fogging her breath. She can envision this forest covered in the coming snows and takes a sharp breath in.

Winter, Rain belives, is the most beautiful time of the seasons. Not to mention the bite of the cold makes her giddy. Stopping to gaze into the thick trees, she sniffs the air. A pack scent taints this area, clinging to the forest. She steps to the edge of the territory, silently scanning between the truncks for movement.

Psst, its me, Mara!

Kesuk stood by the river, glaring at its smooth, ice rimmed surface. She was never, ever, touching that thing again. She looked up from the dark depths and spotted a grey she wolf sniffing the air. Kesuk wondered what she would do if she noticed her. Kesuk turned swiftly to head into the trees, but her paw slipped on an icy rock and sent the rest flying, scattering even more rocks. The result, a huge clatter that would scare off prey from a long ways off.

Kesuk's head snapped back up, her icy colored eyes locked on the female.

Mara! <3

A clattering sound of rocks breaks the calm silence, startling Rain. Head snapping in the direction of the sudden sound, she spies a brown wolf standing frozen and watching her. Resisting the urge to laugh, her lip twitches and she teases, "Were you trying to sneak up on me?" If it weren't for the rocks then Rain would have never noticed the wolf. That fact bothered her a bit, the brown wolf could have easily ambushed her.

Rain! My keyboard for my tablet sucks so i cant do a heart!

Crap. The grey she wolf turned her head and tried to suppress laughter at her situation.

"Psh, no! I was trying to sneak away from you." Kesuk tried to remain serious, but the wolf's laughter was contagious and soon she was giggling like a little pup, her legs spred out, close to topling over.

Well I'll make a heart for you! <3<3

At the wolf's clarification of her intentions Rain right out laughs. "Away from me?"She inquires. "Am I really that intemidating?" Making her ears droop she says,"I'm supposed to be an outrider for the Sunspire. Perhaps I should tell them to send a friendlier looking wolf." Gazing at the stranger from the corner of her eyes she adds, "Or I could just trip over some stones when making an entrance."

Yay!! All my dreams are now fulfilled! And after this post I have to go to sleep :'(

"Ha. Ha. Ha. Very funny. And your not that intimidating, I don't really have a reason for leaving." Kesuk laughed. She stood up a little better and made her way over to the outrider, careful not to trip again.

"I'm Kesuk. I used to be part of this pack. Its the black tail deer pack if you didn't already know." Kesuk clarified in a friendly voice.

"Rain," she replies. "And used to be in the Blacktail Deer pack? Would you mind if I ask why you've left?" Laughter fades replaced by a seriousness. She will never be able to understand why a wolf would choose to leave its pack. The loyalty she feels towards the Sunspire binds her to them till the day they disband, no matter what.

Kesuk knew the she wolf was going to ask that.

"Our Alpha left a while back. He was really the only reason I was in the pack, so when he left, I felt like I didn't really belong here anymore. I had gone up into the mountains but my love remained here. I couldn't stay away for long, so here I am!" Kesuk explained, remembering the meeting where Peregrine had dropped the devastating news.

"My old Alpha was Peregrine, the Alpha of Red Hawk Caldera now." Kesuk said to Rain, with a hint of sadness in her voice.

"An alpha decided to move to another pack," Rain says flatly. "Never will I begin to understand that." Rain can understand why Kesuk left then. Even she knows what it is like to lose an alpha. Though in her original pack, the alpha had disappeared. [I]Just like the pack I'm in now.[i] She doesn't believe that the same situation was a coincidence though. There is always a reason for something, though she cannot guess what that reason could be.

"Well, I guess I will congratulate you on your return. I hope that things get better for you," she says sincerely.

"I think it will be, the new Alpha is very understanding. We have cut off connections with the old Alpha and his new pack so I think everything will go back to normal soon." Kesuk said happily, thinking of her future with Koda.

"And may I ask, what pack are you from?" Kesuk questioned cocking her chocolate brown head to the side and studying Rain with her frozen blue eyes. The she-wolf was very nice and Kesuk could have Dante remember that as to stay friends with Rain's pack.

"I do hope that things settle down. It should be easier with you guys cutting off all contact. That was a smart move by your new alpha." Rain smiles encouragingly.

Kesuk goes on to ask her about her pack. "The Sunspire," Rain answers with a nod back at the mountains towering in the distance. "You will never have to worry about any trouble from us. We are a quiet pack for the most part."

Kesuk was in luck, she had always wanted to meet a wolf from the mountain pack. She glanced up at the mountains in wonder before turning her attention back to Rain.

"Wow! That's so cool! I've always wanted to visit the mountains, they seem so, I don't know, majestic!" she said happily, giggling slightly at her terrible choice of words.

"What's it like up there?" she questioned eagerly, her tail wagging.

"The Sunspire is different from the mountains I am used to," she explains, gazing into the air. "There are many cliffs and steep drop offs. A dangerous and colorless landscape for the most part, but there is a beauty in that danger and a mysterious feeling in the wide range of grey and white." Rain's glance falls back on kesuk. "Not what you may have been expecting?"

"No forests? Huh, I always imagined that the mountains would be covered in scraggly forests." Kesuk huffed, her image of the mountains was all wrong, but they didn't seem any less amazing.

"I bet the views are spectacular though." the chocolate furred girl mused, her icy gaze meeting Rain's.

Rain nods in agreement to Kesuk saying, "I imagined all mountains with forests. My homeland was that way." The scent of pine trees are dug up from her memories. She takes a deep breath, closing her eyes.

"Hmm?" Rain questions, nearly missing kesuk's statment. "It is beautiful. Standing on the ledge of one of the many staggering cliffs, you can look out over the fields of the Kintla flatlands to spot the light green of the Heartwood, and to the right the dark green of the Neverwinter forest."

Kesuk closed her sparkling blue eyes and imagined the scene sprawled out in front of her. That was the kind of thing she was looking for, but she couldn't leave Koda.

"Wow." she breathed, imagined the fresh air and the powerful winds that must blow through the cliffs.

Realizing how long she had been speaking to her new friend she knew she should get back.

"It was really nice meeting you Rain, but I really should be going. Do you need anymore information?" she asked, tilting her head.

Shaking her head Rain says,"No, if you need to head off then go ahead." She smiles at the wolf adding,"It was nice to meet you too." She waves her tail in farewell and turns to go. "You should stop by sometime. There are a few areas on the mountain outside of my territory if you want to see the view." With that she trots off down the river side making sure to slide once on the rocks for Kesuk's sake.

Kesuk laughed out loud when Rain faked a slip on the rocks as she turned to leave. It would be wonderful to go into the mountains, just for a visit. She flicked her ears in goodbye to her new friend before turning back to the trees. It had been refreshing to meet a new face. And maybe, just maybe, if she and Koda decided to go into the mountains anyways, she would have a friend there already.