Moonspear Curiosity of the Wolf

Down from the mountain, Dirge had set out on the late hour to mingle in the cover of the forest. There was an ever growing itch to break away from the woodland for the spread of open plain beyond Moonspear's claim, but he continued to deny it. A day trip would have been nice, a chance to range and explore and fill in the gaps that had been left from his summer's passage. There was the idea of the glen where he had first met Charon, or perhaps the old forest of twists and turns beneath a distant mountain where he had encountered Hydra. But whatever lied east past the river he did not know, and perhaps that was for the better. Winter on an open plain did not appeal to him; the wind was cutting to his ears already.

He wove about the borders, favoring a stretch that served as a neutral point of comings and goings. There the tracks left by the others was distinct, the various sights and smells now familiar to him in an instant even if he did not have faces and names to go with them. He was more aware here this time, for if Jarilo lurked he decided he would not be caught unaware this time. He wondered though, if anyone was out at all, or if the cold and the pressing wind has driven them to find warmer climes until such passed.

It was over a narrow rise between stump and stone that he spied someone. It was brief, a flash of butterscotch and cream that disappeared through the trees just as quickly as it appeared. It gave him pause as he tried to spy her out again; the guard hairs prickling along his shoulders and spine raised a quiet alarm. There had been the arrogant beast that had been dispatched by Hydra—the corpse he had seen, but the story untold in words—and suddenly, he wondered what exactly to do. These things, things he should have known had been a rare issue in the past... but this was a different place, full of customs and requirements he was only learning. But they were all driven by the same primal designs, and so Dirge rallied his confidence and broke from the trees quietly. Like a knave, he stole across the terrain to better observe and find what unfolded.

hello~!