Sleepy Fox Hollow is a mystery

anyone welcome

The way forward. She sought comfort in it. The woman could do without her tribe, her way of being... if only to focus on what she could do. Zola vowed never to lose herself. She would not submit to the ways of these foreign beasts. The wolves here were strange, doing strange things... She had come across borders that were smaller than the tribe's. One could almost walk right into their camp. Yet she did not. Her respect for their ways perhaps did not extend to them respecting her.

She knew if she was brash and foolish, the world would eat her up.

So she kept moving, attempting to feel warmth. Attempting to push dark thoughts from her mind. She kept going to exercise, to not grow fat and lazy. If she mourned her Africa, she kept it to herself. There was no way back to her knowledge. She had been thrust into a strange world. A world that was only spoken in passing by elders or the released kin. They had been here, given tags from the humans and then released back into the wild.

She saw the humans watching them at times. No humans watched her here. She did not know why this was yet she was spared the tag. Her ears were free of holes. Her pelt did not itch from the metal. So she kept going, wandering the Hollow she had found herself in.

It was peaceful here, too quiet. The skeleton tress clawed the sky as the winter settled in the Hollow. Kirigina hope to feel a breeze, any breeze, to cool her down. Panting heavily. Teekon Wilds, even in Winter, was still too warm for her. The fur adorning her in its masses was thicker than an oak.

Wait, there's a scent... A female scent... Was someone here? The stranger's fragrance carried well in the cool air. Kirigina didn't expect to hide her own.

Footfalls. Zola shot up, on look-out as her body tensed. Amber eyes became narrowed as she saw a shape wandering a bit further ahead. "Nani yuko hapo..." she grumbles to herself, thick accent only appearant if another was right in front of her. Sounded like a lot of mumbo jumbo to anyone else.

The woman falls silent, watching and waiting. They seem to have noticed her. At least catch the scent of her perfume. Zola waits, willing to fight if need be. The female's scent does nothing to distinguish friend from foe. In the wild here, they were all foes until proven guilty.

Finally Kirigina spotted the woman with the lavender perfume, a red beauty Kiri had never seen before. Then, she was new to Sunspire Mountains.

"Hello?" she said warily, she could see by the woman's poise that she was on alert and Kirigina hoped not for a fight.

"I'm Kirigina, I mean you no harm." she called out. She sat herself down casually, to show she was no threat, and waited to see if the other would respond.

Her eyes would squint, as if expecting an ambush or not believing the ng'ombe coming from the other's mouth. This one spoke like human too. She could make out, faintly, some words she knew. Harm was one of them. Zola further glared, ears twitching as the woman sat down. They made no means to attack.

Why? "Mbwa mwitu wa ajabu" she utters, again more to herself. The time she had spent here - she knew the natives did not speak of her tongue. They spoke like human. Zola wondered if there was a connection there. The earthern woman lifted herself from her position and approached. 

Bold as it may be, she stared down at the foreigner without fear. A paw lifted to gesture to herself, pressing it against her chest. "Zola" she says clearly, introducing herself "is land yours?"

"Not mine." she answered, though had a realisation that this woman did not speak like her, she spoke a strange tongue and her English was off. It reminded Kirigina of home, in Kamčatka, where she herself spoke another language. But that was becoming a long time ago.

"Kirigina," she indicated to herself, to express that this was her name. "Traveller? Me also."

I love that Zola speaks Swahili! I grew up with the language!

its a beautiful language!

Kir... Keer-ree-geena? Zola scrunched her face at the name, not understanding the language involved and too proud to sound it out lest she look a fool. "Taken" the woman raised her lip, knowing full well she'd have to explain to others as well "against will. Humans find, then I escape. Dis land... odd."

She was an unwilling traveler, a novelty. Her ears were longer than this wolf's, but Kirigina was wolf. There was some comfort in that. They were related not by blood but by distance. "Where is Africa?" she asks the woman before her now. Her paws worked against the ground in frustration. "dis land is cold."

Kirigina felt a pang of sympathy for the she wolf, for she too was far from her homeland. Though, unlike Zola, Kirigina left willingly. Though she regretted her choice, at least she wasn't torn from home by the humans. She'd seen human in Kamčatka, hunting her kind for fur, and had a strong dislike for them, but she couldn't comprehend how Zola felt for she had never felt it herself. She just wanted to go home.

"Africa is across water, like my home. Far away from here." she said with empathy.

It was odd to her that Zola found here cold. Kirigina was roasting in her thick fur, she loved the ice and Teekon Wilds had smaller doses for her to roll on.

"You are foreign, like me, stranger here"

She knew it was a long shot, but she had refused to give up hope. It was something she clung to as the humans crated her across this ocean. She could feel boat rock, hear the laughter and be fed scraps she was not entitled to. Zola dipped her head, eyes darkening as Kirigina proclaimed what she suspected.

Ocean was large mass of water. She could not swim it. Humans would not take her back. Her eyes squinted but no tears rose. She was strong. She would survive. "Must go on" she would say, the other woman admitting she was a foreigner here too "must survive dis land." For there -

was no one else to count on right now. "I not hope I go back to Africa" Zola went on, having passed the stages of grief easily.

"Must survive this land" Kirigina repeated to herself thoughtfully, seeing the hopelessness in the lady's words and face. Teekon Wilds was not as extreme as their homes, as hot as Afrika or as cold as Kamčatka, yet to each it was. It was a strange land, where vegetation flourished even in the freeze of winter. Not as dry as their homes, from drought and ground freeze. And the damp played in her lungs. She was quiet for a moment, mulling over this woman's pain.

Then she blurted it out.
"You want help and company?"

She did not expect to be offered assistance. Zola blinks a few times, bewildered a stranger would give her pause. The woman wanted to say no - for it was unfair to Kirigina. Zola did not even know if she could survive here. Perhaps she would travel south, to find warmth. Would Kirigina? She did not think so. "A bit" instead, she attempted to meet the other wolf half way "then we go separate ways."

Because she had no idea where she was going. Again, not fair. "I escort you to next place" Zola began "make sure you safe. Then I go." Her words were not room for discussion; these were the woman's terms. If distancing herself meant the other wolf would be less attached when they parted... Well, Zola was trying to think long-term. She was a survivor. She needed to go on without her tribe.

Kirigina accepted Zola's terms, knowing there was no negotiation. Teekon Wilds was hard for a stranger. She hoped perhaps being together for a bit could help them survive these lands, where new wolves can be a danger and hunting can mean a chase. "Ok Zola, which way?"

"Mmm" the woman sniffed the air, a pink tongue rolling from her lips "first, we eat" she smelt food - even if the smell was strange and unknown to her. She shifted to look at Kirigina. "no use roam on empty stomach." If Zola was going to protect Kirigina, she needed to have some food in her belly. Not the scraps the humans had fed her.

She needed to be tip top shape. "What prey is dis?" she curled a lip at the unfamiliar yet also familiar smell of rabbit. Small critters existed on the savannah, and some rabbit breeds yet she never did care to hunt them. Meerkat if she was hungry. Zebra if tribe was hungry. Never eat before elders and young. "is musky. Smell... like good fat on it."

Kirigina could smell it too. It was certainly fresh, rabbit was around here.
"The rabbits are fat for the winter. They are good easy prey." In the cold the scent travelled further, but it wasn't necessary, they were close enough. She sniffed again and moved in a circle to see which direction was the strongest. She settled on a point and signalled to the other she wolf.

Easy prey. Not something Zola wanted, but she would take it. Sniffing around the base of the tree, she followed the scent. Hunting was the same, despite where she ended up. Instinct took over, the will to survive following.

Making sure Kirigina was in sight still, she'd try to track down the rabbit. Her nose led her to a burrow where the prey must be inside. She huffs, flopping her arse onto the snow. A shudder of cold and she exhales crisp air.