Broken Boulder to break, to cleave, to mend

the Taiga was a wilderness of hardship. Heloise found herself attracted to the idea of working for survival. as she was a wolf, a wild beast, she was accustomed to such a life. yet sometimes people wanted an easier time with living. sometimes people did not know what hardship was. whatever had transpired at Diaspora and Stormrift (keeping it vague) she would continue to wander. as of right now she had no outstanding duties. she was free to do what she wanted.

part of her wished to chuff a greeting to anyone who may be nearby. surely it'd be a good interaction if they braved the Taiga? but her senses told her she was alone right now. the pale woman would stare at the broken rock. approaching now, she reared up to place a paw between the crack, feeling carefully within. finding nothing of use, she backed down. about to explore the tunnels beneath the area, she heard a soft snap behind her. eyes swirled about, yet she saw nobody. perhaps a bird.

turning back to the tunnels, she sniffed curiously at the entrance. no bear or badger scent... she was perhaps safe to explore within.

the future had dissolved into more fuzy uncertainty than previously, and she'd left the Hollow's territory behind in favour of the quiet solitude of travel to better sort her thoughts. she passed once, twice, the gametrail of some recently-passed prey, but could not bring herself to fall into the hunt and thus walked on. 

she moved without truly realizing where she was headed, no notion of the distance she'd travelled other than that the familiar burn of her limbs was comforting. it was only the looming sillhoutte of the stone that had her pause, realize just how far she'd wandered. she fell into a steady lope a moment after, usual care discounted as a twig snapped beneath her forepaw. she pressed on, and it was only when she broke into the clearing and caught sight of the other that she slowed, stopped, and let out a chuff of greeting.

her little adventure was interrupted, but she did not mind. company was a welcome thing in the best of times. Heloise looked back, over her shoulder, at the other. a female, with a pack scent she did not know. though she had only gone to Stormrift and Diaspora thus far; that was not entirely surprising. "hail" she would reply formally, twisting her body to face the other woman. pale gaze searched the stranger's frame, committing her features to memory.

judging by the Teekons' heavily scent, this one had been here for some time. perhaps a native to the realm? she could only hope. so far the people had not been very helpful, save for Liri, in giving information. they all sought their own goals. t'was almost selfish. but she could not fault them. they had their own lives to live, their own mission to accomplish. stepping away from the tunnels, she would approach carefully. though she would indeed do the usual; stop a few paces away in respect. her tail waved slowly behind her, contributing to her welcoming mood.

the woman greets her easily, and Dawn dips her head as the woman pauses a distance away. she thinks her at first one of Siarut's northeners, but at the white fur the similarities fade fast. she lacked their bulk and their fierce confidence, and is svelte and light. "hello," she offers now that the woman's broken the silence. "I'm Dawn." the woman's scent is a jumble of people and place that marks her easily enough as a traveller. she's lost her own desire for the unknown and twisting road ahead in recent, but that does not mean she'd grown past her desire for tales of the same. "are you new to the Wilds?" she thinks that wolves like Siarut, like the stranger, hail from beyond the northern edge of the Teekon, and this woman does not strike her as a native here.

ooc; 100TH POST WOOT

"Heloise cel Mare" it was second nature to give her surname, despite it having no meaning at all to the people of the Teekons. merely adding 'just call me Heloise' was a bit odd, so she opted to gift her surname too. "a pleasure, Dawn" she added with a faint smile. a very universal name, but none the less loved. popular in some parts of the world, surely. "yes. I have been here for a few weeks now." she would confirm with a dip of her head.

she had no reason to lie, especially to one who was giving her an audience. "and you? are you a native here?" she asked, though having a guess of the answer. from the pack scent to the heavy Teekon smell... Dawn had been here longer than Heloise. it was a good idea to gather as much information as the other woman was willing to give. if the pale beast was going to settle here, she needed to know what she could.

"likewise," came her reply then, muzzle twitching into a smile. she confirmed her suspicions, and the huntress paused only a moment before proceeding. "where have you come from?" the 'whys' were better left for aquintances and companions, not newly met strangers, and in her experience others where more likely to elaborate on places and travels than people and events. her brief exodus from the wilds had led her nowhere exciting, nor had she been in any shape to explore. only her desperate drive to find the missing, and then the burn of her own failure, had accompanied her there. 

"I was born south of here, in Easthollow." she offered. the name, in all likelyhood, would be foreign to the woman, but she offered it all the same. "I lived most of my life between here and the mountain range to the south." Blacktail was an exception, both in location and the simple happiness it had offered for so many months.

Heloise would pause, her brows furrowing slightly at the question. that would take too long to explain. yet she supposed she also had no reason to lie with that too. the past was in the past. "far away" she breathed at last. past bodies of large water called oceans, and brought to new realms by what humans (though not wolves) would call boats. "I was... raised far away" and left by choice. "the people who raised me lived upon a mountain, honing their abilities in solitude." 

she mentioned no parents, having that part of her life cut out early on. the monk-like wolves who took her in and trained her and raised her... they were more family than anything. perhaps they were the only ones left alive of her family. perhaps she had been abandoned by parents. she was not keen to dive into such things. her head briefly shook to rid herself of memory. "Easthollow... the name is familiar." heard in passing. a pack, then? 

"is Easthollow the name of your pack?"

 
she accepted the information the woman offered in silence. it was not much in terms of adding to the great map inside her head, but she was glad for it all the same. she is familiar with Easthollow, then, she has come from the south or at least been there. "no," she begins, "my pack was Morningside. my father led it before me. a few months ago, our territory burned and a sometime later, it disbanded. now, I am part of Lost Creek Hollow." she offers the information freely, and, for the first time, realizes the way she speaks of Morningside and its collapse is slowly, subtly, changing. perhaps, just maybe, it is the beginning of some greater change. 

"are you a wanderer? or are you looking for a home?" she's in no place to offer one, but should she be seeking, there are few better wolves that know the packs north of the mountains and their alliances.

so a former leader was this woman's title. Heloise's eyes sparked with interest and respect. there seemed to be few female leaders without leading beside their chosen mates. an alpha pair was a good thing, yet a woman ruling alone was quite rare. she had no idea if Dawn had done that, this was merely her personal thoughts. perhaps she was more inclined to respect women who had held their crowns over men. "burned" she would mutter to herself, her features taking on a sympathetic expression now.

"I am sorry" she would add in.

"I am part of Stormrift right now" Heloise paused before adding in boldly "though I am forming a pack. at least, the idea of one" the woman would think her odd if she had no plan or went in so recklessly. especially since she was part of a pack in the present times. her head would shake, chuckling. "I wished to see how the wolves of the Teekons lived first. I cannot hope to be a good leader if I did not know the structure." though she planned on leading differently.

the woman is interesting, and for a while still, Dawn remains and offers what knowledge she can of the Teekon and the wolves in it. but she's unable to still her paws long when the thought of her promise lingers still, and so after a few more moments of conversation, she says her goodbyes and moves south again.