Great Bear Wilderness Evening Flowers

All welcome, but a special shout out to any FG wolves!

Her efforts to find and reunite with her family had not gone according to plan. While Keyni had been successful in meeting up with those of her blood once again, her return had not exactly been welcomed with opened arms. They turned her away almost instantly, questioning her motives for her sudden reappearance. Then with a gnashing of teeth, drove her out, forcing her back into the unknown wilds.

She had escaped unscathed, for despite their disdain of their youngest, they were not so cruel as to blindly spill the blood of their own. With a calm, heavy sigh, the tundra mix turned northwards again. She should have known she would have been met with such hostility. With such rejection. Though they were family, her beliefs and their own did not mix. They didn't understand her way of thinking, nor did they accept it, being a line composed of hardened warriors, and she, a peaceful but solid young woman of the mind and spirit.

Calm jade eyes fixed on the familiar earth at her paws, just beginning to brown as the grass died. She had returned to Teekon again, where before, ever so briefly, she had tried her luck. She had ran with a pack for several months, until nature ultimately stepped in, cutting off her ties from the group. Her thoughts went to them for only a second, wondering if they perhaps still were alive. But no. She shook her head, dismissing that thought. Taking it as a sign that her place there just simply was not meant to be. These wilds were vast and somewhere within them was a place for her. She knew it, as she bent down at a stream to drink, her own reflection staring calmly back at her.

There was only one person, who Norah truly loved, it was her mother, to whom she had been her favourite child. She had looked nothing like her, the queen of the Black forest, elegant, beautiful, smart and dangerous, wrapped in the fine silk of kindness. Respected and feared, never said so much as a harsh word in her life, but you always knew that beneath that beautiful facade hid will of iron. Helga knew well, what society expected from her, but she also knew, how to get her own way, without anyone ever suspecting it. The very heights of her artistry was to make people believe that, what she wanted, was what they wanted too.

Norah was the only person, who saw through her and, when left on their own, she would challenge her mother on it. So their bond had formed not so much on the unconditional love between a mother and a child, but because one strong woman had recognized a worthy opponent in the other. And it is better to keep them close and nurture them than make an enemy out of them. Time from time - today too - Norah's thoughts travelled those may miles back to her true home and wondered, what Helga was doing. She missed her a bit - conversations with her had never been boring, they were invigorating and though she had collected a considerable life experience by now, Norah knew that there was still so much she could learn from her mother. 

But she was drawn away and out of the memory lane, when she came to a stream to see a young wolf like her, standing there and watching their own reflection. Norah waited a polite moment to let the other reminisce in peace and quiet and then asked: "Did you lose something?"

After quenching her thirst, letting the icy water glide down her slightly dry throat, Keyni lifted her eyes to the horizon in front of her. The sun was low, she noted. Just as it should be, for this time of year. Distant clouds seeped in, hinting at the possibility of starless night ahead. 

Her charcoal tipped ears flicked in response to that of a feminine voice addressing her. Turning her head just slightly so as to intercept the other female in her line of vision, the tundra mix let a beat of silence pass between them. Nothing of her conveyed hostility or tension. Just a calm but highly tuned sense of humble self-assuredness. Finally, her expression softened, but not quite into a smile. A gentle shake of her head followed. "No..." Came her own soft, smooth voice. "Just...lost in my thoughts." But thanks for asking, she wanted to add, but refrained, silently dissecting Norah's true intentions.

"That's the best kind of getting lost I can imagine," Norah replied, her tone genuine, because she truly believed that. "You can vent and make more chaos there - inside your head - and then you can bring some stuff to order. Or... you can even find gems that you never thought were there," she finished the verbal spell. 

"Are you from around here?" she asked the next best thing after sharing some creative and complex philosophical nothings to break the ice between them. "I may not run with my pack long, but I do know that you smell nothing of Moonspear, know those guys?" she tilted her head to the side, when she had asked this.

Finally, Keyni allowed a true smile to surface onto her features. The way this wolf spoke, her choice of words. It all settled so perfectly with her. Jade eyes gleamed with an unspoken understanding. "Truer words never spoken. You are quite insightful." She complimented with a tip of her head. "I find that it is indeed, within the sanctuary of the mind, that one evolves."

Having enjoyed the weaving exchange of mysterious chit chat, Keyni received Norah's question with a soft shake of her head. "Not formally, no. But I am not entirely un-familiar with this Wilderness. Many months ago, I briefly shared a home with a pack called Asterim Grove." And on the subject of packs... She furrowed her soft brows in thought, but the name Moonspear did not ring a bell. "I can't say I have." 

"So, I have heard," Norah said, when she was praised as being insightful. Usually modest, when it came to hearing compliments in general, but, when one hit true and to her liking, she did not force herself to be humble. "Hopefully you have already found something in that sanctuary of yours?" she asked, but in such a way, that the question did not require answering, if the other person did not wish to do so. No pressure. 

"Now you do. There is not too much I can impress you with my present home, because I myself have not been long part of it," she told neutrally. "But there's a bit of challenge getting in. First at joining and then the rest of the time afterwards," she referred to the fact that with an exception of puppies, none of the adults had shown any interest in her. Family and the deeds associated to it was at the very core. Outsiders - she felt - were convenient as long as they were useful. 

"What do you plan to do now?" she asked.

She let just a beat pass, sharing a sense of knowing with the pack wolf. "Yes, I certainly have." She then replied simply, leaving it at that. Norah shared what she could of Moonspear, and from the sound of it, it sounded like a tightly run pack. "And, do you find that sort of challenge to have been worthwhile?" She questioned. Just because a pack was challenging in its structure, did not mean it was ill-fitted. Keyni was curious of their reputation.

Turning her gaze ahead, one could see she was deep in thought. Carefully considering her words, and even her future. "I plan to stick to a relatively small area for now. Scout it, learn what I can of the resident packs before making a move. Though I haven't much time, with winter so close."

"As long as it keeps my interest, I am in for the whole game," Norah replied and added a toothy grin. Yes, Moonspear so far had proven to be rather boring to her, but she was not going to give up yet. First, because of winter and the convenience of having safety and enough food. Secondly, sometimes the most mundane settings could catch fire, if you sniffed out, where the kindling was and knew, how to make a spark at the right moment. 

"Winter's close," she agreed, though this was no news and was expressed, because weather was a nice filler, when a conversation hit a bump. "That Asterism grove - is it still a thing? Or there is a reason, why you would not want to return?"

"Maybe once I get settled, I will pay you a visit sometime." Was her comment. Keyni found Norah agreeable enough to fall into the category of individuals she could make easy friends with. But this was their first meeting and Keyni never was one to rush things.

Sitting there, side by side with the other woman, the scene was a calm one, given the atmosphere between them so far. Keyni shook her head. "I can't be certain. I have yet to run into anyone from that group since my return." She crossed one pale front leg over the other, catching Norah's eye. "While I can't say I hold anything against them, I just didn't feel a certain connection while I was there. But at the very least, I would want to pay them a visit and check in."

"Connection is everything, no doubt about it," Norah agreed, the sentiment was somehwat sincere. She knew to be true, but she had never truly aspired to connect much herself. She made new acquaintances easily, but never let them through the doors of her heart. She kept them at arms length and utilized them as long as they were useful to her. Once that was outlived - oh, well, tough luck!

"What is that you are looking in a pack then?" she inquired. "What kind of people you prefer to have around you?"

Expressing her agreement in a gentle nod, Keyni hummed to herself. It was one thing to be a part of a pack. Just another foot solider. Another body. But it meant little if you didn't form bonds with those around you. To her, you had to be in sync, to know the personalities and quirks of every wolf, to be truly integrated. Keyni had that as a child in her natal pack, but only with her immediate family. And she had soon discovered that her nature and theirs, did not mesh.

"Strength, sound values. But most of all, those who will accept and embrace me for who I am. I want to feel needed, not just like a stranger. Individuals I can call friends. I would even go as far as to say to find a new family within them, in time." She admitted with a faint smile. "My real family and I...we never were all that close."

"Too bad one cannot choose their own relatives," Norah remarked, though she had nothing against her own mother. They got along well, as long as they did not live in the same pack together. Sometimes she idly wondered about her mysterious sire Mahler, from whom she had inherited her good looks and of whom her mom spoke rather respectfully - something special shared only among few men she had met in her life. 

"I wish you all the luck in finding, what you are looking for," she drew the conversation to a quick conclusion, unable to come up with anything else that she would want to learn from this girl at present. "I will be on my way now," and with this she gave one last respectful nod and took off.