Blackbeak Bluff Stars are shining bright,

Umbra had healed nicely, though there was a visible mark upon her shoulder. Like teeth, a reminder to what she had lost at the cliff, and something the seafang would wish to bring back. This was a cliff, but it was not her cliff; yet, could not return to it. The area was near another, pesky individuals, she was nothing without a group to back herself up.

The kraken was also nobody here, who would follow someone such as herself? She huffed, and held a scowl upon her dark features. She needed power somehow, somewhere.. Should she lower herself to join a measly pack? Be at the bottom, again? It displeased her so, and disgusted her all the same. 

Expand all options, before then.

The saying "Walk on the beach" usually describes something that can be done with ease, though Wraen with her experience in walking the shores would beg to differ. While there truly weren't any obstacles that would hinder the path she had decided to take, the open field of vision had a bit of a deceptive quality - you could see an object or a place from miles away, you would think it is near, but then you could walk and walk, and walk and never get to that point.

Wraen had fallen prey to exactly this kind of mirage and by the time she had arrived at the place she had wished to see (and it had been nothing, what she had imagined it to be), she realized not only her own exhaustion, but how far away The Sentinels were and that it would probably take her much time to return. Oh, well - if she had come this far already, she might as well enjoy the view, which she did, until she spotted that she was not the only one here for the spectacle. "Good day to you, fellow wanderer!" she called out to the dark-pelted wolf in the distance.

Umbra lifted a brow at the sudden friendliness she was greeted with. So far since coming to this place, she was beaten, then offered help only to be nearly attacked again, and ended up alone. Though there was Sunhawk, who was friendly in his own way, but their circumstances didn't led to the best marriage counseling. Now she was stuck with him, one way or another..

This was a rare occassion where she was alone. Though not for long it seemed.

"Greetings," she answered nonchallantly, perhaps rather cold with an intimdation to her presence. Naturally so, the seafang was never the friendliest of wolves, or else she wouldn't have been so beat up. Though she knew she wasn't on claimed lands, or Umbra wouldn't have stepped even close to the cliff.

"What brings you here?" the kraken inquired.

Wraen was met in an apprehensive and somewhat reserved manner, which did not surprise her, when on the second, closer look she observed the bite marks and on the other's body. Some seemed to be still fresh. She wondered idly, who had battered this fine specimen of a wolf so badly and whether it was someone she should be aware of as well, but decided not to ask this yet. Not all wolves liked to speak about lost battles or admit their defeat, she did not want to be impolite.

"Just passing through or rather..." she briefly looked over her shoulder, where the sentinels lied, but were not visible. "...happened to come here, while on a stroll along the beach." Not very informative, but let this person be left guessing, whether there was a horde of battle-ready warriors hiding somewhere among the trees, ready to protect their weak subject. "Wraen's my name - may I know yours?" she introduced herself.

"I am Umbra." She greeted cooly, following her gaze over her shoulder. Was she expecting someone? It didn't come to mind that the other presumed the seafang was not alone, because she was always alone. Even with Sunhawks company, none of it mattered, because she counted him just as baggage, not a companion.

"Do you live near these lands?" If it was just a stroll, like the gray-slated man did, she presumed this fair-maiden was also a common wolf to here. She smelled like others, but the kraken could not detect a variety of them, only just a few companions, if not none.

"Nice to meet you, Umbra," Wraen dipped her muzzle politely as she said this. "Near is a relative term. But - yes - I live on the shores, way back in a forest," she explained in that annoying way of hers, when she did not reply to the question directly, but rather toyed with words and gave the next closest answer. 

"What about you - are you a permanent resident somewhere in the vicinity or are you on the move to forge something of your own?" she asked.

"With others?" A brow of raised, as she directly asked if Wraen was from a pack or not. Perhaps it was wise to know more of who was around, especially since there was one so close to her cliff. 

"I choose a cliff further down." It wasn't a home, not yet, not until she gains more might, a force to her name. But it was where she chose to live, with our without others, it was what she wanted. But the seafang was denied.. She might as well take a peak, later, to enjoy what would be hers eventually.

"I am travelling with my sister and a good friend. Some would consider three a pack, I think that one needs a bit more to call themselves that," Wraen clarified, not wishing to give an impression that she had knowingly misled the stranger. Something told her that lying to Umbra would not be a good thing.  

"So, you are starting a pack, am I right?" she asked. "Or is it just you and the cliff for now and the others are joining you later?"

"It is a pack, if you count it as one." A group of three was just a pack as any other, it was a group of wolves, that is what defined what a Pack was. Though they were only few in number, Umbra could only imagine how hard it would be to defend the territory, as she had with the cliffs previously. Only one wolf, and she could not hold her ground.

"Maybe one day," but at the moment, she was no one, and trusted no one, "but I am alone," Sunhawk did not count. He was not a companion (at the time), so she truly counted the situation was a 'lone wolf.'

"I simply liked it." She liked it, so the kraken claimed so.

"One very often is the best company," Wraen remarked and chuckled. "When we are on our own, we are at our best behaviour and the most perfect beings. Those pesky others spoil that effect," she joked, though there was a grain of truth in it. 

"Well, being surrounded by people, does not always mean that you won't feel alone. Quite the contrary - I have held a leadership position twice in my life, been a pack wolf several times and there have been moments, when I have felt more lonely among people I know and consider my friends than anywhere else," she shared. 

"Where did you live, before you came here?" she asked.

me, not completing her past, makes it mysterious instead LOL

"You are a strong wolf." Umbra easily deducted, as Wraen spilled a small part of her history. However, unstable. A wolf who moved around a lot could not be too loyal, but also quick enough to crawl their way into the ranks. Impressive, but worrisome to others. The kraken wondered if there was more to it- but did not ask.

"It is something I prefer not to discuss with strangers," the seafang said rather coldly, but buntly. It is a story shared between comrades, not someone she just met.

Wraen would have been amused to hear Umbra's verdict of her character. Unstable - maybe, but only if your ideal was to stick with that beautiful story of "she became a beloved queen and lived happily ever after and nothing wrong ever happened". She had believed that once - when quite young - and for some wolves it held true, but her experience had taught her different. She had seen, how power corrupts a good person, she had seen, how best friends turn their backs on each other, how lovers grow apart after a while. And in Firebirds she had learned that for each leader there is an appointed time and place to be there and that they must know, when to step back to let the pack grow and shine. Umbra would learn this in the following years. 

"Fair enough," Wraen did not protest and respected the girl's wish for privacy, but did not offer any thread to continue the conversation. It was for Umbra, if she wished to continue or not.

"You know much of these lands?" As Umbra didn't divulge her own history, she didn't inquire about Wraen's. Though she was curious if the other was born here, as she claimed to been through a lot. Perhaps some exchange of information, the best that the kraken could provide was the wolves near the coast.

Wraen was tempted to reply with a "It is something I do not discuss with strangers", but bit her tongue. First, it would be rude. Second, after all, who would her telling about these lands hurt? At most it would be just an entertaining story to Umbra without any practical value. Just because one knew the lands, did not mean that they could describe the map so that others could follow it precisely. You had to feel the pattern of the map yourself and it wasn't something others could feel it for you.

"Quite a bit. What interests you?" she asked. "Mountains, valleys, seashores - there are places of all tastes here."

"I am used to the shore," Something she was willing to share, being a sea-fairing wolf, but not specifically where on the shore Umbra came from. She was not used to the plains, the forests, and especially so any mountain areas. There would be a time the seafang would explore it so, but she held priorities elsewhere at the time.

"This place is bountiful?" The kraken asked with a raise brow as the woman mentions many places.

"Yes, if you know, where to look," Wraen replied, smiling cryptically at the dark stranger. She was not going into more details, because centuries old rule beholds that no decent hunter reveals another hunter their best hunting grounds. 

"And there are fierce competitors at some places. Some tend to kill first and ask questions later," she smiled, thinking about the three-headed beast of Moonspear and having a feeling that - perhaps - Umbra would find a common ground with the resident beast. 

"In the end we all are at the mercy of Mother Nature - last year it tested us with earthquakes and massive floods, herds were gone for many months and there was hardly any wolf around here, who did not starve," she reminisced about her time at the helm of Firebirds - how it had come and gone and left her with nothing again.

"Seems rather cursed." Umbra wasn't too much of a god or devil believer, but hearing the land with earthquakes, droughts and rainfall; that seemed like a bad sign. Though when first graced herself to this land, it was raining for quite some time. She remembered the storm and the claim attempt to the coast- only to end in a failure.

Definitely cursed.

"If you believe such things - definitely," Wraen agreed. She was a wolf with all four paws standing firmly on the ground, even if most people got the wrong impression of her, because she tended to reference gods and the divine, even magic in her conversations. 

"I took it as one more obstacle that I needed to conquer and come out alive. The earthquakes went away and here I still stand," she smiled. "One of the things I learned as a leader is that there is no way in predicting the future. Nor avoid it. You take all events - good and bad - in a stride and do the best you can with what you have got."

"You seem like a sealord- a leader." They talked like a monk, someone who experienced a lifetime of things. Umbra has had her own issues in the past, but more war-hungry then of a lifetime of issues. She didn't have friends, only enemies, and those she scorns with a passion.

"I suppose you will have your own pack eventually?"

"I doubt it," Wraen shook her head in response, though this did not mean that she was not open to a possibility that a twist of fate would happen that would throw her in the leading role again. It had happened twice already - not because she had had any ambitions to become one from the get go. Far from it. Rather... she had taken the position, because someone had to, and hadn't had any grudges, when the time had come to pass on that mantle, crown and sceptre to someone else.

 "But life's full of surprises, you never know," she sighed and felt that this would be a fine moment to conclude their conversation and part ways. "I should start heading back to my group. Once again - it was nice meeting you, Umbra, and good luck, wherever life takes you!" she wished the other wolf. Then stayed long enough to hear if the other had anything to tell and made her way back to the Sentinels.

It was definitely an eye-raiser to the kraken when the other denied their own pack. She would think with someone with expertise under their belt, it would be but a simple task. Perhaps the loner life was more suited, but with so much experience and skills to give, Umbra thought it was a pure waste.

Each to their own, she supposed.

"I as well, Wraen," there was only few that the seafang could say she particular liked. It was a nice conversation, for the wilds of this world, "farwell."