Arrow Lake I

it happened right here.

ego stood firm in the midst of his nightmare -- awake, isolated, looking down at the snow -- all the while experiencing a budding seed of revulsion as he surveyed the cold, empty spread before him and compared it to the warm, bloody, summer scene he recalled constantly in his head. the picture had been warped over time. he couldn't remember the gory details even if he tried. but, it had happened here.

that much he could never forget... right?

a new and vacuous chill pierced through the numbness. it wasn't beyond him that diaspora's borders were here no more, but until now, he had been able to suspend his disbelief and go on reckoning that his memory simply wasn't serving him correctly. it had become more plain the further he'd gone. the boy couldn't deny it at all now.

so he lay down, around about where he remembered last seeing his father's body, and did not move again; the snow quickly piling on.

Kyr has a thread with Ketzia and may join the new group but I'm keeping that part vague for now as it's not progressed far.

 

Vallkyrie had amazingly so made it through the months on her own, traveling as a rogue even now with winter having come and after the disaster which made the prey flee earlier then usual.  The huntress, after leaving her birth pack, had turned survivalist on her own. The gods would not offer her this luck forever and so knew it would be time soon for her to make official roots.

She clung around the flatlands and mountain chain she was already beginning to learn. As open water greeted her, she thought she might find prey here. After all, it was a lake within the mountains. Surely ram, goat and whatever other rock dwelling animals would use this as their source of water. If anything, maybe she would come upon an unlucky fool that misstepped coming down here. 

Vallkyrie had thought she found one, too. As the youth laid on the ground, snow atop, she thought she found food. As she drew near she realized it was a wolf, a young one and frowned. Had the teen lost his pack and froze here, too hungry to continue on? Then she saw the rising of his side. 

Are you okay?

are you okay?

the boy's large skull flinched upward at the voice, and he turned wide, haunted eyes on the unfamiliar she-wolf as he came suddenly into wakefulness. the cold -- the aching numbness -- had suffered him to sleep, yet  adrenaline was quick to wash all unpreparedness away; keeping ego from noticing how painfully stiff his body had become while lying there.

his hackles continued to flare due to the startling, but a thunderous growl died on his lips, and his expression grew self-conscious as it seemed to occur to him that there wasn't any immediate danger... that this wasn't then. his posture deflated swiftly after, and he was able to take in the other canid without a veil of fear pulled down over his gaze; able to see her as more than a threat.

she was raven-dark -- her slender breast cloven by a river of white only about half as striking as her frost blue stare. though not quite as defensive as before, the young male still sounded terribly irritable when he asked her to repeat herself:

"what?"

As the youth lifted his skull, turning to meet Kyr with a cold stare and a growl, it was apparent how young he was. Large, yes, but he didnt look even a year old, likely born just this past spring. No matter how large, an inexperienced child didnt stand a chance out here in the winter by himself. Hell, Vallkyrie,  even as an adult, didnt stand much of a chance. But she wasnt even truly into adulthood herself yet either, was she? 

She kept back, stiffened in her placement, cautious of the young one. His growl eased but his hackles still raised, clearly and obviously caught off guard by her arrival. The fear thus did end, then, after a moment of realization she meant him no harm. Not a child. Not someone who did no harm to her. She had a certain manner of ethics she had grown by and continued by. 

His creamy muzzle then lifted, speaking but a single word of question. I had only meant to see if you were alright. She spoke, her paws shifting and yet still, she did not regret her approach. He just may have needed someone here for him. And the young woman could be it. I could explain all the reasons, but I think it's obvious it's not safe out here on ones own, even more so for the young. Not only was it cold, he was sleeping out in the open, alone, away from pack territory, as a pup, cold, alone... Though her eyes were as icy as the world around them, concern lay obvious in her creased brow.