Northstar Vale the sand was shim'ring in the morning light

forgot to tag anyone @Takeshi

Why was it that every time Maiira returned to this land, there seemed to be some kind of natural disaster? Perhaps she should have stayed away for good. Clearly, the gods of this land were not happy with her—didn’t like her, yet she stayed. Was she to bring a curse upon all who spoke to her? Perhaps she should have stayed away from this valley. She would curse this pack with her presence…

Or perhaps she would discover exactly why the gods disliked her so… and break the curse. Perhaps she only needed to appease them somehow. Give them an offering or two. In the meantime, it behooved her to join a pack, although she tended to be a loner. She needed somewhere safe to practice her craft and discover how to stop the incessant downpour of rain.

She tilted her head back and howled, but what came out sounded far closer to a coyote’s yip-yip-yip-yowl than a true wolf’s howl. It had been long since she had spent any time with the more imposing part of her bloodline, wolves, and her voice betrayed that fact. Perhaps whoever came to her would simply come to kill her. There were many who hated coyotes, though Maiira did not understand such hatred.

Yoink.

Leaving her daughters in the sole care of Akavir was harrowing. It wasn't because she lacked trust in him, he was a good man and could keep the girls safe while Ibis roamed freely and got some alone time; it was the loss of Viinturuth that really bothered her, but she had to try and keep distracted. Maybe he would return to them. There was always the possibility.

As she roamed she caught the sound of something odd in her ears - almost like a howl at first, but then childish yapping, which made her initially think something was wrong at the den. Ibis froze, her short coat bristling, and calmed herself enough to determine that the sound came from the opposite direction - nearby, perhaps at the borders.

She was much closer than she realized, and made the quick decision to investigate. As she drifted beneath the vale's cool boughs she grew nervous, and that feeling strengthened when she spotted something wiry and red sheltered beneath one of the larger oaks. As much as she wanted to shake off the uncomfortable wetness of the rain Ibis chose to ignore the nagging feeling and approached the stranger.

Hello. Were you calling for help? If so, it was an odd - but effective - summons.

A small, pale wolf greeted Maiira soon enough. One that seemed… familiar, somehow. What were the odds that she would have immediately met someone she had known from a year before? She squinted at the woman, trying to think, and was silent so long that it probably made things awkward, although she didn’t notice such things as social awkwardness.

“Maiira… remembers this one’s face…” she began, musing slowly in her strange, lilting voice. “Though not your name. Maiira apologizes.” She dipped her head. “She has met so many… Names sometimes escape her.” The coywolf searched her brain for another moment or two, then seemed to suddenly switch moods and become incredibly chipper. 

“Regardless! Maiira is Maiira and she is here to join this one’s pack, yes?” Her tail whipped side to side behind her, her ears perking on her head. “She can offer her services in hunting small animals or fish. And she can listen to the earth, the mother, and interpret her signs, if such a thing interests you?” Not all believed in the gods, or in magic, so Maiira knew she had to be careful, but she also knew that honesty tended to be the best policy. If this pack was going to have a problem with a witch, then she should know now, and not later, after she had joined.

What came next jarred her more than anything, as it was so different from the norm but also vaguely familiar — as if she'd had this conversation before. Deja-vu washed over Ibis while she listened to the curious manner in which this person spoke; she did not consider them strange for any other reason, as she was not prejudiced in the manner that some wolves could be. As a small person herself she presumed this wolf was like her - born at a time of struggle maybe, or merely predisposed to being thin and wiry, but entirely wolf.

The name plucked at something deep in her memory, but she could not connect the word with the face, and neither could the stranger place Ibis. They might have met some time ago. Much had changed for Ibis, and the days of the Emberwood were long behind her now - a lifetime she'd surpassed.

I am Ibis, and this is the Reneian Empire. She answers softly, dipping her head.

A hunter is always welcome, Ibis comments. The mention of signs intrigues her, and again Maiira is like a ghost from her past, a fragment of Uaine Gorsedd revived and placed before her - fate's effort at reminding her of her brief triumph perhaps. I am sure your skills would be a blessing. Maybe you can find a way to end this awful weather for us? It has rained for so very long!

Ah, but Ibis catches herself. Does she still hold enough authority to welcome a stranger among them? She is no longer the Queen after all. As she contemplates this, she shakes out her damp scruff and settles against the tree trunk.