Lost Creek Hollow Joining

After having knowledge that a few of the packs were full around this new land, Shikoba stayed on the move. Two days passed of far traveling in snow but she had found one border of another pack. The earthy one felt a bit worried about this pack, would they be kind to her? Would they accept her if they could?

She couldn't wait longer, she needed to find a pack that was open and fast. What pack wouldn't want a skilled hunter and warrior? Feeling a bit more confident in herself, she opened her jaws and released a long howl, tinges of her accent and different pitches were threaded into it. It was a long call until she ended the song and stood back far away from the border to make sure she was not seen as an intruder.

Surely, someone would come to see her, right? Until then, she staid in the snow. Her fur bristled the slightest bit, a shiver escaping her dark lips. She wasn't raised to be in the snow, she was raised to be in a hot terrain! Hopefully it would be warmer in the spring or summer.

With the cougar's assault on Ilya, Mordecai found himself at a crossroads. The feline may as well have been stalking and picking through their ranks, though he hardly knew to what extent it was truly canvassing the land. There was truthfully a part of him that desired to find it and put it down, but he knew in his own ability it was an improbable sort of tactic. Nor would he put any more of them to its claws and teeth, given that they had their fair share of wounds healing.

And Luke, where was he? It had become more and more obvious to him in the days that the blue-nosed beta was absent from their lands. Whatever search he had made for him within the territory had been in vain — where he lingered before, he did not now, and Mordecai did not dare venture after him. Not with pups, not with their injured, and certain not when he was the only one left in commission to stand as a visible figurehead.

For a change of pace, he was thankful when a howl rose along their borders, though he felt the pierce of anxiety drawing him tense. The last time that had happened, there had been Ilya laying along their borders. This time, he did not know what entirely to expect though he made haste to them all the same. And there he found another unfamiliar face and fortunately, no one from his ranks lying in their own blood.

Drawing himself into a posture befitting his rank, he drew near to the she-wolf and cast his solitary gaze to give her a proper once-over. She was atypical to many who had come along his borders; travel-worn and in the winter, cold. Maybe hungry. Probably hungry, for all he knew and had been through once upon a time. No words slipped from him as he felt them unnecessary; he was confident as to why she was there and only left an expression inquiring into such.

The rusty woman tried to relax her body in the snow, however t was almost impossible. She was freezing to put it simply. If the leader was kind enough to let her join the rankings, she would be more than happy to dig a den and get to know the pack. Maybe they would teach her more of the mother tongue of this land?

The spirits had answered her prayers of warmth and kindness though. Another wolf was spotted, he answered Shikoba's call with silence. The Native wolf didn't mind though, the less words the better.

He approached calmly, his body posture matched to a high ranking, perhaps this was the alpha male of the pack here? The woman felt pleased that she would meet the alpha first. She could hopefully leave a good message with him about herself.

Instinctively, she let her body bend itself in a full bow. Respect had to be shown or she would never be accepted. Her stature was lowered and her tail was tucked neatly against her left hind leg. Hackles were lowered, practically flat against her back. This was a greeting she did to her parents and grandparents everyday. Collecting her body together, she strode forward meekly and cautiously. It was only a few steps before she stopped again, this time to speak.

"Pack? I help with hunts and wars. English not good, I learn more though. Name is Shikoba." The native woman spoke gently, her accent was flaring and her sentence was choppy. It at least made sense to her own ears, but would the mal understand her? Hopefully he didn't mind wolves who were still learning English.

Timely, she adjusted to his presence and he found himself easing that she was not some sort of harbinger or omen coming to neatly perch along their thinning woods. But even that was still a nagging sort of feeling lurking around at the back of his head, never entirely gone though he had worked to busy himself constructively. The pressure remained, yet was forced to temporarily vacate his mind in order to sort through the accent that greeted him.

Canting his head ever so slightly, Mordecai felt the beginnings of a frown creasing his expression. He had nothing against foreigners, at least those that spoke a different tongue than the commonplace likes of his own. They had been prevelant in Sedona and to a degree in the Wilds as well. But this one was far different than he was used to, and for a moment his silence held fast.

"No war here," he said, simplifying his own vocabulary. There was slowness, a steadiness there that she would understand and he hoped would be appreciated. Couldn't fault her for learning, anyway. "Can you defend?" That had been a question that had come out over and over again, something that perhaps they desperately needed in spite of his better attempts to believe they were fine and dandy in their isolated neck of the woods.

Shikoba awaited patiently for the man to answer her choppy sentence. A small frown was etched onto his lips. Did she say something wrong to him? The female took a step back in fear, worried he was angered by her words.

However he did respond calmly and slowly. She liked the way he spoke, it was easy for her to understand. There was no war here, a small relief for the woman. She didn't enjoy wars, but a few soars weren't very bad. His next sentence was a question that she could understand too, somewhat at least. Could the native defend the pack? She gave him a thoughtful look, her eyes shot to the ground. She was thinking hard on what words she could say. She finally thought of a sentence and slightly lifted her gaze.

"Family is pack. Shikoba's family dead. Shikoba will defend family with power of Earth Spirit." Shikoba spoke with a bit more confidence. She wanted to protect a new family since she lost her first one. They would never be hurt, she would die for them.

Though he sensed her uncertainty of him, his gaze did not leave her form. Instead he watched for the nuances that would clue him in to what she was debating, whether it was what to say or how to say it, or even a response that could have fit the situation. Instead what he got was more than what he had asked, as her own response seemed to hint at a history mirrored by more than he could have imagined. His own life had been full of fortune, but he deigned to reason that the same fortune had begun to run out.

It was however, her last statement that gave him pause again, though the duration was not more than a few seconds. It was something to contemplate, though why he did not entirely understand. Earth Spirit? At best he wondered how it fit in with all the other beliefs he had been exposed to over the years. "So you'll be loyal then," he murmured, though mostly to himself. It seemed unnecessary to ask — only time would tell if she adhered to such a disposition that so many others had lacked.

"Come," he said then, this time loud enough that she would hear it. Mordecai turned back towards the depths of the woodland and waited to see if she would join him. "Are you a healer?" he opted to ask, perhaps to spark a little conversation and politely pry into what else she may have. Perhaps if she was so invested with the earth, maybe it made her similar to Harlyn. But they had miles of border yet to pierce through and he suspected in time he would make a better decision whether to allow her in further when they crossed that point.

The Native woman's answer must have been correct, the man seemed pleased and invited her into the territory. She gave him a deep bow of the head as thanks before she started to walk behind him. The land that peeked into the territory border looked quite broad and very beautiful to the brown colored eyes of Shikoba. It reminded her of the forest she grew up in. Her attention though remained on the man in front of her. He was the reason she was here now.

He asked another question to the earthy woman, her ears were pricked forward in curiosity. Was she a healer? The rusty colored fur upon her body bristled from the cold wind that blew within each hair. Her eyes shot down again to look at her paws as she walked. The Mother Earth had many things, good and bad, that would help her children. Shikoba's knowledge of Mother Earth's plants was a bit short, but she had some at least.

"Some good things on healer. I better at defender and hunts." Again her sentence was choppy and broken up but still somewhat made sense. Her siblings were better with plants than she was, but she indeed has knowledge of what was good and what wasn't. 

However her strong field was protecting and hunting. Lots of the game was larger and quicker where she lived, the game she observed in the land was a bit smaller but quick. Although she didn't look very intimidating, she could pack a punch. Her father was a righteous hero in her eyes, the chief everyone loved. Hopefully she would reflect his values and similarities in the time of now.

So, perhaps she had some skill that qualified her to be something of a healer. He considered the possibility that perhaps she would learn more, assuming that Ilya would heal and continue to learn herself, and that Harlyn was willing to teach. Still, he could not help but nod to her words as they moved along, knowing that it was good that she could hunt, and of course that she could defend.

"We need defenders," he told her, "there's been a cougar lurking about. Big cat, mean," he added on, the latter of sentences an afterthought to simplify things. He imagined she could fill in the blanks from there, as his tone carried a certain feeling to it — the cougar had been the reason for his scarring. Though they were long healed, there was still a certain newness to them that would eventually fade away. His steps slowed to a natural stop.

"Can you... handle that?"

As the pack man and the foreigner walked together, Shikoba's words seemed to be useful. Perhaps they needed more healers in the pack? She could muster up her memory of plants and such, but sometimes her actions were better. Her attention was brought out of the thought when the man spoke up once again.

They were in need of defenders. There was a sense of urgency in his voice, where they being attacked by others alike themselves? The native woman kept close attention to his words. There was a.... kooger? No wait, that wasn't right. A big cat, a cougar! A mean one too. Shikoba wondered about the cat, why not pick on some other species? Wolves never did anything wrong to the other animals besides hunting and setting up borders.

His last question held her attention the most. Would she be able to handle it? What did he mean, handle it? Shikoba's eyebrow ridge quirked itself in a confused manner, but filling in the blanks she was able to answer. "Hopeful in self. Never have deal with big cat, but Shikoba will. Shikoba will handle cat with help from family?" The native woman hadn't dealt with many mountain cats, she knew her father did before and came back with battle wounds.

Her last sentence was more of a question. Would this new family help her out with the cat? She wasn't very confident in just herself, numbers were better than just 1 alone. Maybe the man would help her defeat the ravenous feline and put peace within the lands?

There seemed to be a miscommunication between them, but he understood the premise for the most part. His brow furrowed thoughtfully as he tried to find a way to convey that he did not mean for her to go after the feline. But he came up short in the first few fleeting moments of silence following the fade of her voice and cast his gaze out to the forestry around them.

"We don't have plans to go after it," he said, once again slowly. Every word punctuated. He didn't know if it would get across verbally, but his tone may have worked. "We just want to keep our home safe from it. It's already attacked three of us," and for all he knew, it may have been coming around on a fourth, or even fifth. It was a morbid strain to go and get lost on but it lingered for a moment and he felt the urgency closing back in on him.

He moved along. "If it comes here, we will fight it." Ilya had been attacked well outside of the territory he had discovered. Luke had been as well. The only time the feline had seemed brave enough to come close to their territory had been when it had come at him, though he thought it to be following the coyote. He knew nothing of the arrangement between the tripod canine and the argent beast.

Shikoba stayed quiet after her answer. She was willing to chase the feline out if need be, she would do it if they told her she had to. Her mind already started to create ideas on ow to exterminate the feisty animal until the man spoke of not going after it. His words were again, nice and slow. Much easier for Shikoba to understand and really tune in. It was quite a relief for the native woman though. She didn't wish to go off and fight the cougar without help.

The male continued his sentences slowly, stating that he wishes to keep the home area safe. Shikoba started to miss a few words, so she filled in the blanks into the sentences. Keep home safe from cougar, no going after cougar, attacked three others, comes here we fight. 

Shikoba nodded her head at the man's words. She couldn't agree more, keeping the feline away was needed. Attacking only when necessary, also agreeable. What caught her attention the most was that the crazy cat had already attacked three of the members in the pack.

The earthy woman felt a bubble of rage pop inside of her chest as heat ran towards her face. How dare that mangy cat casted from the shadows attack her new family?! However, she remained quiet on the outside. She wouldn't blow this chance yet, the man could change his mind if he saw a spark of anything he disliked in her.

Picking her words carefully, she opened her jaws to speak. "We stay and protect family from cat. If cat come, we defend as one. Cat won't come if we strong?" 

Apologies for cruddy post, tired as heck right now

no worries! i'll go ahead and title you up. :)

"Right," he said, nodding with the summary she constructed. She seemed already commited to the cause, so to speak, and Mordecai wasn't sure whether to be wary of her resolve or proud of it. Still, it was that kind of moxie that they needed. Not that he doubted the loyalty of the wolves that were housed within the forested walls of the woodland, but there was nothing but a long list of those that had abandoned them without word. He remained uncertain whether or not they would return and for the most part, he did not anticipate seeing them again.

Sighing to himself, he grew his solitary gaze away from the tawny Shikoba and once more back to the woods around them. They had come to yet another stop, this time at the point where he thought he would have come to his decision. "I guess that about does it," he said, "my name is Mordecai, welcome to Lost Creek Hollow." A smile followed his statement, more sure of letting her join them then than he had been previously.

Thanks for letting me join, I'm excited!

Shikoba continued to walk in silence behind the pack leader. Her statement about exterminating the unwanted cat seemed to please the man. His response was short but Shikoba didn't mind. He had stopped again, she took a few steps closer to the man and held her attention on him.

He started to speak again, Shikoba had to fill in the blanks with his sentence but understood it no doubt. A smile graced his features as he welcomed her to the pack of Lost Creek Hollow. He also gave his name, Mordecai.

In thanks she dipped her head, unbelievably happy that she met his expectations. She would make this pack her family, she was sure that she would do everything for this pack. This would be her new start at a new family to love.

I'm gonna go ahead and wrap this up and archive it — feel free to presume that Mordecai showed her some of the more important locations like caches and water and so on. He probably would have continued to warn her about the cougar too. :D

She didn't say anything, but the happiness was evident in the way it radiated from her being. His gaze came back to her for a visual confirmation, and a smile spread across his face. Mordecai reached out to give her a nudge to continue on with him. The very least he could do was show her to some of the more important things before going on his way. Hopefully she'd integrate with them well and stick around, but even he knew that only time would tell.