Moonspear World is our playground

She could feel the sadness and nostalgia looming just out of view, constantly threatening to swoop in and knock her feet out from under her. To stave it off, Wildfire never stopped moving, never allowed an idle moment. She rose just before daybreak each morning and spent hours exploring the territory, trying to meet her pack members and do whatever she could to contribute. She went well past nightfall every evening, until she literally dropped from exhaustion. She dreamed sometimes, though she never remembered them. She never tried, just like she never looked back or stopped moving. If she did, everything might catch up to her and break her.

Feeling decidedly weary but in relatively good spirits, she spent this particular cold November day circling the mountain's base, trying to get familiar with the exact boundaries. The young she-wolf reached the furthest northern fringes of the territory overlooking Silverlight Terrace and paused, wondering where to go and what to do next. Before she could stop it, her mind wandered, due southeast of here to be exact. She thought of her parents' faces and her lip quivered.

Abruptly, Wildfire broke into a run. She blitzed west, into the uncharted hinterlands behind Moonspear, running as fast as she could... and then running even faster. Her heart felt like it might explode but she refused to slow down or stop as she curved back south to circle the mountain. Tears streamed from the corners of her eyes but Wildfire told herself it was because of the cold air blowing past. Breathlessly, she reached the pack land's western base and began to climb, ignoring the screaming in her tired muscles and the burning in her lungs.

Yesterday's training left him a little sore but it was nothing he could shove off. He found it difficult to stop his knightly routine, training was something that he does naturally now when he is on stand by. It would be much better to figure out what exactly he should be doing. He can't be a Knight anymore, he failed to protect Rain and she was saved by others. Even though he was a brave wolf and would face any danger, facing Rain was strangely very hard to do knowing that he failed her.

Nishu's loyalty was not broken which is why he remains close and stays within the packs. Even if he failed he was starting to see that quitting the Knighthood was currently impossible. He has to finish and only then could free himself so he could no longer farther bring shame to the Knight title.

As he was wondering around the mountains from afar he spotted a young wolf dashing at full speed. He didn't see anything else moving and wondered what it was all about. After a little thought perhaps there was trouble. It was best to go see so Nishu followed at full sprint tailing the young wolf. He was catching up as soon as he was close enough he shouted. "Hey! Stop! Why are you running!?" He said as he continued to follow without much difficulty.

She was lucky she didn't twist her ankle all over again sprinting pell-mell up the mountainside. She made it a little more than halfway up before Wildfire's breath expired. Breathing noisily, she braked to a halt on a small outcropping and collapsed, her pink tongue lolling from her smudged muzzle. Blood pounded in her ears as the tears dried on her face. She felt a strange sense of exhilaration, then that began to fade as she slowly rotated to look out over the view. She had run as far and hard as she could, now the only thing she could do was try to achieve some zen.

Then a welcome distraction arrived. Wildfire jumped slightly when the voice called out from nearby. "Oh, um, just getting some exercise!" she called in a falsely chipper voice, blinking her amber eyes hard as she took in the stranger's appearance. He was huge. His silver fur reminded her first of Floki, then of her aunt, uncle and cousin back home. She felt a knot in the back of her throat and tried to swallow it as she added, "Who are you? I'm Wildfire."

Another young wolf was confirmed could say she looked like a fox if he had never truly seen one but that wasn't the case. Still what she said as her reason for running didn't feel like it matched her expression. Then again even Nishu pushes himself to the limit when exercising so the reason was reasonable. The sprint has his blood going but was yet out of breath.

"Wildfire huh? I'm Nishu. so you were just training right?" He asked. Of course doing your best was good but pushing too far can be harmful. "An advice from someone who often trains, only push yourself beyond your limit if you are ready for long period of being sore. Which would mean you gained something." Nishu did find it interesting to find a young wolf training and would encourage it at the fullest. Who knows maybe she has the potential of being a Knight.

Her right ear flicked as he said his name: Nishu. It seemed like a soft name for such a burly wolf. He asked her if she was training and Wildfire opened her mouth to answer but clapped it shut, waiting for him to finish talking first. Her lips twitched faintly. She wouldn't mind being sore and exhausted. Physical pain was preferable to the emotional variety.

She mentioned none of that, of course, though she did say, "I was mostly trying to work out some energy. But if I get fitter, that's okay too." The Omicron winked one amber eye. "So, are you originally from Stavanger Bay or the Sunspire?" Wildfire wondered, motioning for Nishu to join her on the outcropping so they could get to know one another.

An energetic type? If it wasn't aimed at getting stronger then what was she trying to do?  Nishu couldn't imagine doing exercise for anything besides training. He started to suspect that maybe there was something wrong. It was easy to tell that he wouldn't get answer right away. The best to do would be to tag along to have a chance to figure out her reasons.

"Getting stronger will always come in handy later." He said, attempting to encourage exercise. "I actually come from far away but I was a Knight of Sunspire not long ago." Then just followed as he thought of his current troubles. He was a failure of a Knight and as much as he wanted to be free of the title he had already realized that there is no way for him to be free. He had to live with his failure but how could he recover from it? A mistakes stays forever.

Sorry, short post is short!

He hailed from the Sunspire, professing himself a knight. "A night?" Wildfire repeated, misunderstanding him if only because she had never heard the term knight in her young life. "I'm sorry, I don't know what you mean by that," she admitted, then cocked her head to show that she was listening and hoping for an explanation.

"A Knight is someone who protects and serves their leader or master. They usually have several arts mastered. These arts range from healing with herbs to combat, basically anything that is useful. In my case I have mastery over combat and squad leading." He said trying to explain what Knights are. It was getting a little easier to explain since most of the time he keeps having to explain. He didn't mind, he wants the world to know what knights are.

Of course he did leave out some details, mainly something kept within the order. "So, what art are you trying to master? Every wolf goes for at least one job so surely you have something in mind." It would be nice to be aware of everyone's ability even if they are young. Nishu would never underestimate the potential of young wolves but that didn't mean they were ready to face true problems. It was always better to train and prepare or else situations are more likely to go for the worst.

A night knight sounded a bit like a Warden, only with a twist. He declared himself a master of combat and leadership. Wildfire wondered if he was one of the leaders here, though before she could ask, he questioned her about her own specialties. She smiled modestly. She didn't have just one, she had three formal apprenticeships to her name. Granted, she was on the verge of dropping one, possibly even two, from her repertoire.

"I'm an Outrider," she replied. It was her most recent trade, yet the surest fit. "A Warrior and Naturalist too. I'm not as dedicated to the other two as I am to the first. I guess I'm a wanderer and scout by nature," Wildfire quipped. They had some overlapping interests, so she amiably suggested, "Maybe we could train together sometime, spar or something."

Nishu chuckled at the end. "Spar? Do you believe to have a chance of victory?" He asked with a grin. Nishu fully believed that at her current state there is no way he could lose. Although he was curious on how she would try to take him down, surely not by force, that would be impossible. Nishu guessed that he may weight three times more than her but it was a very rough guess. What could she do to help her win. For some reason he ended up trying to figure out how he would take himself out if he was her. He had yet to figure a way.

He looked at her. "You'll need to grow a little more before your chances appear. If you grow up to be a challenge then I'll take you on anytime. But no matter what you'll need to train if you wish to reach my level." Nishu had already done his estimations. A pup could always grow into a warrior and that's what he liked about them. To see them get bigger and better with his own eyes. It sounded like something he would enjoy watching, maybe he should keep track of how Wildfire does.

His question caught her off guard, despite his smile and laugh. "Um, not necessarily. I just like to do it to practice," Wildfire said with a few slow blinks. She had never met someone quite like him and she couldn't think of a word to describe his character. The closest one she could think of was confident and it didn't feel quite right; he was a bit more than that...

When Nishu tossed out a few more underhanded comments, she realized he was patronizing her. "I'm done growing. I'll be an adult in just a few weeks," she informed him. "Size is important but it's not everything," she added. "And that's what I'm saying: practice is important. Whether or not I win, I learn." She almost mentioned all of her spars with the much larger Nightjar, but of course the mere thought of her brother put a lump in her throat, so she wouldn't go there.

She found her desire to engage with him waning, partially because of her current emotional state and also because she wasn't quite sure what to do with his pompousness. It was pretty clear he looked down on her. She had never come up against this sort of thing, so Wildfire didn't know how to feel or what to say. She might have been small, not to mention the lowest-ranking member of the pack, but she could still fight. And she wanted to learn and improve. But perhaps she would seek tutelage from someone other than Nishu here.

He listened. There were ideas he supported and some that he didn't. There were words that made the young girl likable. Practice is important but it's also a good way to grow better. The will to learn is a powerful trait, something everyone should have in his opinion. Even if he wasn't good at some of the arts, he tried to learn them even if he failed to at the end. Still it would bring him closer to finding where his talents are.

He kept his confident grin. He whispered "I'll let you in on a little secret." He waited a little bit before telling it. "I'm still growing." He said calmly. "Even if I reach my limit in size, my skills should still be able to grow even more. So then maybe I'll be able to take on a bear by myself one day." He wanted to say that maybe he could actually take one on but he knew fully well that no matter how strong a wolf can be, taking on a bear alone was suicide.

"Anyway I do agree with you that practice is important, it can even be the factor that determines weither you live or die in a situation." He started to wondered if he hadn't practice would he still be alive today? The answer to that was likely a no. There's already been times where he should have died.

Nishu mentioned a secret and Wildfire waited a bit pensively. His first several words earned yet another round of slow blinks from her. He was still growing...? She quickly cottoned on to his actual meaning. She bobbed her head. Everyone had room to learn and grow, even the oldest and wisest wolves. She immediately thought of her father, an Alpha and master of three trades. And then Nishu's mentions of bears made her think of her Aunt Finley.

Wildfire felt a sudden and overpowering urge to cry. Her amber eyes began to well and she turned forcibly away. "Sorry," she said in a quiet voice. "I'm actually having a kind of off day. Can I catch up with you another time, Nishu?" She waited as long as she could for a response, then pardoned herself, skittering up the mountain to find somewhere private. After that, she was done running; she would let it all catch up to her and brace herself for the inevitable crashing and burning.

Thanks for the thread! Let's have another sometime, when she's not in such a weird mood. :)

Until next time!

Nishu thought to have understood Wildfire. To him she appeared as a strong determined wolf who was on the right path but her actions after she nodded did not follow that. He ended up getting a little bit confused, he really did believe she was out here training but only after she turned that he realize there was something bugging her. First thing he question was himself, did he cause this? Among the words he said he figured that maybe she was upset that she couldn't beat him, then again what she said would make that idea false. He didn't think wanting to win was the problem anymore but thinking on wasted a bit of time.

She was already starting to leave before he realized it and quickly rushed a response. "Um ok, until next time then." and as she left he gave a little advice he'd hope she would follow. "Don't push yourself too hard." then she was gone.

He couldn't help but suspect that there might have been something she came across. With no task currently at hand he decided to follow the path Wildfire came from in search for clues that could pose a problem. Maybe find an answer to why she suddenly acted different than he expected. He set off on to a hunt for clues, it should keep his mind clear from the idea of his failure.