Greatwater Lake no one told you when to run--you missed the starting gun

Maybe @Wraen?

It was snowing, but there was only the barest of flurries in Blackfeather Woods, shielded as they were by the thick, dark canopy. To get the true essence of the weather, one must venture outside the forest, and that is exactly what Maegi did. The pale girl hobbled past her borders and headed to the massive lake just north, hoping to take a sort of evening stroll.

Trepidation sat in her gut like food gone wrong, but why should she worry? She was the apex predator in these lands, after all, even if she was small and crippled.

The Melonii padded along the shores, icy flakes settling upon her pelt. Every once in a while, one would land directly in her eye, and she'd find herself blinking rapidly, trying to rid her vision of the irritant. It was cool out here, though, and peaceful. Her winter coat hadn't come in yet, so she still shivered, but after the humid summer on the island, it was quite refreshing.

A winter wonderland, bathed in moonlight. What could be better? She wished Mou was healthy enough to join her out here.

Snow had been an unexpected surprise and one that Wraen did not deem as actually pleasant. The winter had sneaked up on them sooner than expected and, while the pack was faring well, they had not made their move to the new location yet. This was not good news, because, if it continued to snow the passageway through the mountains to the Rising sun valley could become very dangerous. 

With these thoughts in mind she had left Sunspire for a hunt and to check out, whether they could organize yet another group hunt. The kids had grown up and needed more food now than before. As per habit she went to the Greatwater lake first - during the summer she had gone after waterfowl on many occasions and had never been left with empty paws. Today, however, instead of finding plethora of ducks along the shores, she spotted few in the water, more in the distance, where the little island lied.

Too cold to swim over - she observed the birds longingly, then turned and spotted a white she-wolf walking in her direction, and curious to see, who this stranger was, she went towards him or her. Maybe they would be interested in a hunt together?

A form of various gray hues approached, coming toward Maegi with determination in its step. It was a woman on the smaller side, with the scent of many wolves layering her pelt--none of whom she recognized. She also smelled like the mountains, and alarm bells went off in her head, thinking of the wolves who had taken her captive. But she kept her calm, steadying herself and preparing to flee, if needed.

"Hello," Maegi greeted, the quaver barely audible in her voice (but still there). "Can I help you?" It was a neutral tone--not overly friendly, but not hostile, either. Out here was fifty-fifty: the wolves were either allies or enemies, and it could swing either way. She began to size up the stranger, wondering where she had come from. Was she one of them?

A year spent among many wolves had taught Wraen to be a little more perceptive on moods and emotions of others and adjust her own accordingly. Depending, of course, what she wanted to gain. The girl's wariness of her unannounced presence made her slow her step and also take a neutral-positive stance seeped with good-natured curiousity and readiness to respect personal boundaries and reservations of the other party. 

"Depends on what you have to offer," Wraen replied, smiling. "I was thinking along the lines of a hunt, but there is no pressure on this matter at the moment. The other is natural curiousity of anyone that I have not seen around these parts often. I am Wraen - who are you?"

She shifted a little, feeling a bit more comfortable when the woman spoke. "Maegi," she answered shortly. "I'm not a great hunter--it depends on what you had in mind. I can fish, a little." Her face twisted ruefully. Hunting absorbed most wolves' lives, but she had never been interested. She had always surrounded herself with skilled hunters; she'd never starve.

"You're from the mountains?" Maegi asked, though it was more of a statement. "I smell them on your pelt." The wariness was back, but less than before. This Wraen would have a chance to explain herself and where she came from. Maegi didn't remember seeing her on the crag where she had been taken, nor did she smell like those wolves. Still. . .

"Caught scent of the rocks and mud?" Wraen arched an eyebrow, as she asked this. "I never notice it nowadays, but this must be evident to anyone, who does not live on a pile of big rocks," she leaned down to have a curious sniff at her paws, then turned to have a whiff of the fur on her sides, but did not find anything unusual. Anyway - not that she was seriously trying to do so, this was simply means of gaining the sympathy of the other girl.

"But - earnestly speaking - I am from Sunspire. Me and my friends settled there mid-winter and have called the place our home for the past half-year," she explained. "Pretty regular bunch we are, nothing too extraordinary. What about you - around from here or just passing through?"

The unblemished corner of her mouth quirked in a small smile as Wraen sniffed herself. "Bad things happened to me in the mountains," she explained, blinking slowly. "I know that smell very well. I'll never forget it." At least it seemed that this alpine wolf was innocuous. After all, even Serem, who had wrapped herself in pleasantry, quickly revealed her true, sinister nature. If Wraen was evil, Maegi should know it by now.

"I've never heard of it," she remarked. "I live in the woods, not far from here. Do you know a wolf named Skullchaser?" Best to just come right out and say it. If Wraen had any idea of his whereabouts, she could use this opportunity to track him down. Bring deadly pink with her, too. . . She enjoyed the notion of watching him twitch and drool to death.

"I am so sorry to hear that," Wraen replied with honest sentiment. "Ever since I moved here, I have often traveled through this mountain range, but never encountered bad people," she added, though it could be that she was simply lucky. 

"Skullchaser?" this name instantly brought to her attention the old warrior wolf that had joined their ranks recently. Splitskull was it not? And she had wondered then, why the odd choice of the name. Perhaps he and that guy were related somehow? She did not want to undermine Terance's or Rannoch's judgement, but they had been wrong about people before too. After all... even the rugged guy had disappeared without a trace few weeks later.

"No, I have not. Though I few weeks ago we had a gray and grizzled old warrior knocking on our doors. His name was Splitskull. What did the guy, who assaulted you, look like?" she asked.

Maegi cast Wraen a jaundiced look. It wasn't that she hadn't met bad wolves, it was that they hadn't been bad to her. But. . .semantics. She shook her head at the description given; the name was too far off as well. She would remember Skullchaser forever--the sound of it was burned into her mind for life.

"He was gray, but not old," she responded, feeling a bit deflated. It would have been nice to have some lead. "He had very cold dark blue eyes. That's what I remember the most." She could see them now, drilling into her, as if peeling back the layers of her soul, one by one. Maegi shuddered, and looked away, gazing over the lake.

"He was part of a group of wolves there. I'm not sure where--I was knocked unconscious down here and they dragged me up." Vague, blurry images flashed through her mind. Feelings. Pelt against stone. Cold. . .cold. A splitting pain in her skull. She shook it off once more, blinking a couple of times before staring at Wraen again. "I guess I'll just have to keep looking for him."

"It could be that he got around with a false name," Wraen suggested, but this had probably occurred to Maegi too. The rest of the description could apply to a great share of wolves here, there was nothing too specific, but she kept this to herself. It was worrying to know that there was a dangerous group of wolves living or having lived in the vicinity of Sunspire and they had had no knowledge of it. Could be that they had left already and the girl had not specified, when exactly her encounter had happened.

"Is that really safe - looking for the guy, who hurt you?" she asked, because Maegi did not look much like a fighter.

Well, yeah--Skullchaser probably wasn't his real name, anyway. But he hadn't been old, nor grizzled. He was a young, sick man that needed to be eliminated--and apparently Wraen didn't get this. Her face hardened further as the woman asked the question; she didn't even bother to shake her head. The answer was written indelibly over her countenance.

"I don't care," Maegi said shortly. "He deserves to die, and I will kill him." She looked down at her scrawny figure, then back up with a wry expression, as if intuiting what Wraen had really meant. "There are other ways to kill things besides teeth and claws, you know." Things she knew too well. Too well.

The crippled girl dropped a bomb, that made Wraen's eyes widen in surprise and also take an inadvertent step back, as if the would-be-killer was going to attack her as well. Perhaps, a braver person with less imaginationi than her would have asked the next logical question - are you serious? Her mind, however, picked up the intensity in Maegi's voice that did not make her doubt for a second that she had meant every single word. 

"Oh... umm... well, if that makes you feel any better," she mumbled and shrugged. After all, it was the girl's personal business, but somehow Wraen had hard time shaking of the idea that this was not really the right way to handle things, even if that bastard deserved everything that came his way.

"It will," Maegi responded, her smile cold. She glanced away from Wraen, then, as if the man lurked in the shadows, ready to strike. But it was nothing--only a gust of wind, rattling the leaves, or the water lapping against the shore. Just her imagination, running wild as usual. Though wouldn't it be something, if he showed up now. . .

The girl turned back to the mountain wolf, shrugging. "I'm up for that hunt if you still are," she said, feeling a little self-conscious. Her stomach was rumbling, now, and while she could just wander home and grab prey from a cache, maybe a meal caught and earned would taste all the better. And gods knew she needed the practice.

"Let's do it!" relief for the change of subject was evident in Wraen's voice, as she said it. She certainly did not want to linger on the subject about killing people. Not only because it was morally unacceptable and repulsive to her, but also because she had nothing else to add to the matter. While hunting would not really change her doubts on the other wolf's motives, it would help lift the tension.

"I thought I caught a scent of something good there," she pointed towards the plains. "Might be worth to check out," she added and led the way.

My last post here. Thank you for the thread!