Duck Lake gold slugs

@Luke

She didn't say anything to anyone, not even Sart. Reggie just slipped out of the woods (for the first time since Reek had brought her there along with her sister) and began cantering due south. She found herself on the edge of a swamp and paused, peering dubiously into the marshland. The young coyote then turned and began to lope west to avoid the wet fen, her gait swift and fluid. She felt exposed out here in the open but staying on the move gave her a small sense of security.

A winding creek cut off her path and she turned south again, trotting beside it for several miles. She grew weary but pressed onward, shifting her route away from the stream and heading east simply to avoid the glare as the sun began to set. Regipre squinted when she saw a glimmer off in the distance and picked up speed, galloping toward it.

It was a lake. She dug her heels into the dirt and stared over the water for a long moment, then dipped down her tapered snout to take a long drink. Her stomach rumbled with hunger but it was nearing dark. It would be safer to find cover for the night. She could hunt in the morning. Regipre turned away from the shore, her golden eyes combing her surroundings for someplace to take shelter.

The blue-nosed wolf was not a creature for whom feral instincts ran strong. He relied more on his intelligence and his social abilities. That was not to say that he did not possess basic instincts, but when Luke caught a whiff of coyote near the lake, his first reaction was not that of the typical primordial wolf, for whom coyotes were a rival. His reaction was to pause, to consider the scent and note its youth, and then to be led by curiosity to find the creature to whom it belonged — not to kill, but to observe.

He spotted the whelp as she turned from the shoreline, perhaps spotting him at the same time. When he had left the hollow, it was to scout for a flight of migrating ducks coming into the lake, in a bid to score some bird meat for the hollow's caches, but now his thoughts were elsewhere. He cast a glance in either direction, but he could see no other coyotes; not that he had expected to, for her scent had been isolated. She was too young to be on her own; compassion tugged at his heart.

With his body held low in a friendly, inviting fashion, and his tail waving behind him, he loped gently toward her. He came to a stop some distance from her so as not to crowd or alarm. "Hey there," he greeted softly. "What are you doing out here alone?"

Her eyes clapped upon the figure of a white wolf with an oddly colored nose. Immediately, Regipre began to slither backward, away from him. She wanted nothing to do with the strange wolf. But before she could make a break for it, he spoke to her. Reggie's eyes had been skittering every which way, trying to decide on a direction to run away, when he spoke to her. Her eyes zoomed back to him, her ears falling backward and her expression blank as she took in his friendly demeanor. She didn't trust it at all.

"Nothing," she answered, unaware that she had spoken in the Dothoran tongue. It was none of his business what she was doing here. Why couldn't the wolves just leave her well enough alone?

She distrusted him and was noticeably worried about his presence. When she replied, it was not in a tongue he knew. He shook his head. "Sorry, I don't speak that language," he winked, before allowing himself to flop to his side and roll onto his back. He twisted back and forth, scratching his spine and lolling his tongue. He meant no harm, and the best way he knew to display that if she could not understand the words he was speaking was to place himself in as harmless a position as he could.

The wolf's words seemed to contradict themselves. Her eyes squinted and she gave him an incredulous look. Of course, she had no idea she'd spoken in another tongue. Tomahawk had blended the languages while raising her pups and Regipre simply didn't know the difference.

"Leave me alone," she enunciated quietly but clearly, even as she watched the wolf roll over and begin writhing in the grass. She stared, that look of incredulity still clinging to her face. The prairie wolf recognized the playfully submissive behavior and didn't know what to make of it. All Reggie knew was that she believed body language above spoken word.

Still, she didn't trust him. Voice both dubious and slightly reluctant, she asked, "What are you doing?"

"Aha, so you can speak the common tongue," he quipped as she quietly told him to leave her alone. Unfortunately for her, he was not inclined to take that order so quickly and continued to roll without care in front of her until she spoke again. He shuffled onto his stomach, meeting her face with his warm gaze. "I am rolling," he said with a grin, before he laid himself over and started to pull and scuff one side of his body through the grass. "Winter will be here soon, and the ground will be covered in snow," he commented, surely awing her with such a remarkable observation. His long limbs reached out ahead and behind him, his nails digging into the soil a bit. "I mean, snow is great to roll in too, but might as well get the grass rolls in while I can."

Once more, she shot him a puzzled look, not understanding what on earth he meant. He reminded her of Sart, especially because of his strange behavior. Her sister was a lighthearted airhead. Regipre loved her but sometimes her sibling could be very dumb. Perhaps this wolf was just simple too. In that case, maybe it made him less dangerous.

Reggie stiffened at the reminder of winter. She didn't know about snow but was suddenly too stressed to ask. Her face did not betray her inner turmoil. It remained expressionless even as she realized she would have to return to the maple forest, no matter how much she hated it there. Reek had really ingrained in her that he was her only hope for survival. She was beginning to wonder if it was all a lie too but she didn't feel certain of that yet.

For a long time, the young coyote said nothing, simply watching him roll about in the grass. She was not in the least tempted to join him, though after a while she broke the silence to say, "You're not nasty." It would probably strike him as a total non sequitur but it was a significant observation for Regipre.

With grass, leaves and twigs weaved into the fur on one side, he alternated to the other to see that it too received the same decoration. He did not mind the silence, aware that the coyote pup merely observed him in his play. The blue-nosed wolf figured that the longer he kept up his harmless display, the more likely she was to feel at ease with him. Her comment suggested his ploy was working, at least to some degree.

"Hmmm?" he hummed as he rolled to his stomach and faced her. "Nope, I'm anything but nasty. Why, have you met some nasty characters in your short life?" He did not doubt she had, for her kind was not favored among his.

He rolled on his belly to face her. Reggie stared at his blue nose. She was curious about it, though not enough to ask. In response to his question, she barely bit back a snort. From the Khal whose name she no longer recalled to the majority of the wolves in Phoenix Maplewood, she had yet to meet a truly kind wolf. Even Reek had lied, which was pretty nasty in her book.

"Everyone," she said simply. Her ears splayed and she corrected herself. "All the wolves." Her mother, Papref and of course Sart had never done wrong by her. Hell, even the male coyote (Devil) hadn't trespassed against her in any way. It was just the wolves. "They treat me like..." Well, they treated her like she was a lesser being, a slave. And for the longest time, she had believed it was her place.

But Regipre was really starting to question that, even as her distrust in wolf-kind grew day by day. "Trash," she eventually said, once more unaware that she had spoken in a foreign language. It was the best term she could come up with to describe how the wolves seemed to view her, at least until another occurred to her: "Vermin."

She paused for a long time, almost ponderously, before saying, "I am not trash. I am not vermin. I am a gift." Originally, she had been a gift from her mother to their Khal. But none of that applied anymore. And she certainly wasn't a gift for Reek or any of the Phoenix Maplewood wolves. No, she was just a gift of the natural world now, a wild creature, an autonomous entity slowly becoming aware that she had worth.

She answered him. His expression was compassionate, with one side of his mouth drawn into a warm, understanding smile. The response was as he had expected. Though she interjected another foreign word, it was not needed to paint the picture, and he did not inquire about it. It was an unfortunate tale, and he wished he could reassure her, but he knew he was an oddity among his own breed. Not all wolves were bad as he demonstrated here and now, but it would serve her better to believe that most of them were, to continue to be suspicious and distrusting, and so he did not speak the words he immediately felt on his tongue.

She ended by referring to herself as a gift, and his smile broadened to a grin, his tail sweeping from side to side. "You sure are," he nodded. "It often takes folks years to realize their worth after being mistreated. You must be a fast learner," he winked, and then offered her an introduction. "I'm Luke."

He concurred with her. Regipre looked at him, unsmiling. If she had ever smiled, she couldn't remember it. There had never been an occasion for it. Since the very day of her birth, she had been treated like nothing more than a vassal for the wolves, to be used or discarded at the discretion of the superior canines. Even her mother and father hadn't been particularly warm or affectionate. The only source of light in her life was Sart, a thought which reminded her that she must return to Phoenix Maplewood. She could not leave her sister alone there.

The wolf gave a name and even though she was beginning to shed her serfdom status, Regipre replied almost automatically. "Regipre." She said nothing more, though she wondered if Luke would try to carry on a conversation.

She returned with her own name, and he smiled as he rose to his paws and tossed most of the debris from his coat with a thorough shake. He arched his back into a stretch then, his forelegs reaching out ahead of him and his shoulders rolling. His head canted from one side to the next as he carried his stretch into his neck. "That's different," he commented, suspecting it was part of that foreign tongue of hers. "So, Reg, do you have somewhere to go?" He was not sure what his leaders would think of him bringing a coyote home, but he would find out if she had nowhere to go.

When Luke rose and stretched, Reggie took a step backward. She didn't think he meant her any harm, yet the movement was more subconscious than anything. She just didn't trust wolves much these days, nor did she particularly want to be near them. Even the gentle Luke was no friends of hers.

"Yes," she answered, "I'm going home." The word "home" tasted bad but she didn't feel like saying its name. The less information she provided, the better. She had already said too much during this brief encounter. "Bye... Luke."

Regipre gave the white wolf a lingering glance, then turned and swept away. She didn't intend to go as far as Phoenix Maplewood, considering the darkness. She would just get away from him, then find somewhere to curl up for the night. She would make the journey back to the woods in the morning.

She had somewhere to go. Or so she said. "See you," he called softly as she turned and left. He was not sure if he believed here entirely, but he could not force his compassion on others if they did not wish to have it. So without much further thought, the white wolf turned and struck an easy lope along the shore of the lake to scout for the ducks, which had been his reason for coming out here in the first place.