Blacktail Deer Plateau Ullaaq

On the western side of the mountains, Issorartuyok gazed at the territory where he had landed and regarded it kindly. The plateau was tucked behind protection of stone that jutted high and offered a great many risks. The terrain itself seemed suitable for wolves and prey alike.

It was not cold enough for his thick northern coat and his paws ached from the roughness of the stone.

In the distance to the west, Issorartuyok could see another lone mountain with snow at its peaks. The scout Meerkat had mentioned this, he believed, and this brought him a great sense of satisfaction. The glacier would be near it.

Gladly will take action from the forming pack of Blacktail.

restlessness had seeded itself in the depths of asperas's black hole of a soul, the essence of a scout taken root within. the journey from the valley to the mountain remained a half-remembered fog, yet the unchild nonetheless remembered it as a catalyst. she had seen more then than any other time of her life — and, in perhaps her first display of natural tendencies of youth, she desired more.
slipping past the caretaker, now seemingly drained of life, was by now second nature to asperas. slipping past the borders unseen — that proved more challenging, to be sure. but the snakeling found freedom as surely as the bear-god's disdainful eye followed, and soon was on a path familiar yet foreign. through the tall grasses, along the river bend, down to the thinning fork of creeks where finally she faced her fear of the water —
and emerged wet-furred and sour-faced, ill-tempered and stutter-stepped as each yard of progress along the small verdured footpaths was punctuated by an agitated shake of her dark cloak. asperas arrived to the plateau damp and disheveled, too vexed already to be perturbed at the sight of a stranger. she barked a greeting — or rather, a demand for attention, but the two were much the same to the bearberry, who considered herself royalty in her home pack.

i couldn't resist

A bark sounded across the stretch of plateau and Issorartuyok turned his broad head sharply toward a shadow of a shape, wolf. The northerner regarded the dark stranger with a high stare. His brown eyes did not shy away, but the large wolf had never been quite good with children.


Not fully a child, however, this approaching wolf was merely fresh out of youth. It appeared the young girl was clawing her way toward being a yearling or would be before long. The gangly shape of her limbs was enough of a suggestion in that regard.

Yes.

The northerner’s rough voice sounded before he realized that was not a proper greeting. Not for anyone beyond the northern territories draped in snow.

What is it? Issorartuyok inquired next.

a tilt of asperas's head followed the greeting, accompanied only by silence. then another tilt to the opposite side, muzzle tilting and extending outward, sniffing, whiskers twitching delicately. the unchild's features were sharp with fascination, eyes bright with razor-edged intelligence as thoughts whirred well past the speed of sound. he did not smell like the wolves upon the mountain. he smelled unlike any wolf asperas had ever encountered before; of sweet summer greenery so varied as to be vague, of wind-scoured stone, of damp tree bark and warm soil. and distantly, faintly, something the voidsent could not identify. not yet. the scent of snowflakes and ice floes, cold running water and a vast pale emptiness.
who are you? asperas was careful to articulate in full, aware now more than ever that she was not among family. she knew that her father could take the half-count of words she offered and fill in the rest, and she did not care to speak to any of her packmates enough for it to matter. but this man, she did not know, and it was not in her nature to trust anyone to understand her. even the bear-priest had proven himself, in a way, before he had been granted his night-pearl's trust; even he did not possess the full extent of it.

Upon her closer arrival and his inspection of her, Issorartuyok found that her eyes were two different colors. Their differences were striking in appearance, as though they divided her in half. None of the northerners that he had run with had ever looked in such a way. Some of their eyes were splotched with blues or browns, but it was not like that.

Issorartuyok of the north, the large beast offered her upon request.

Uncertain in that moment why someone so young would have ventured there, alone, Issorartuyok sniffed at the air. The scent of wolf was there, but not strong enough for a claim. There could not have been a pack yet.

And you are? his tone was almost impatient.

issorartuyok. asperas mouthed the syllables, over and over, intrigued by the foreign feel of it on her tongue. head tilted once again, ears tall and attentive, she watched the stranger carefully.
then he returned the question, and the spiderling's ears fell, brow furrowed with immediate consternation. something like pain but not quite like it burst through the walls of her chest, wrapped itself round her ribcage and made its home as if it had been invited. asperas clenched her jaw and ignored the unwelcome sensation.
i don't know, she told issorartuyok of the north, and knew it to be true in the instant it passed her lips. her father, who seemed to know a great deal more about the bearberry than she herself did, seemed to give her a new title by the day. were they all her? or none of them? asperas knew only one thing with certainty. i hear. spirits. she looked to silvertip, pointedly, then to issorartuyok of the north. perhaps he would know her now.

The dark young wolf took his name and did not immediately offer one of her own. The northerner did not understand.

Upon his request for one, the dark wolf did not offer a name again, claiming that she did not know. Issorartuyok frowned at this and shook his head. It struck him as being very confusing. Why was this dark young shadow running along the plateau alone? Where had she come from?

Issorartuyok glanced to the mountain that she had looked to.

You are a shaman, he gave to her in his own tongue. It was all that made sense. The shamans were well-versed in communicating with spirits. Issorartuyok had never had a skill for such things, but he was not so bold as to say that spirits did not walk the earth beside the living.

cameo!

upon discovering that asperas had slipped the raven queen, merrick did not panic. but he could not have so many of his children away at once.
and so he followed, at a long distance meant to grant their snakeling her early-sought freedom.
by and by, her trajectory intercepted that of a stranger. merrick was silent, fitting himself to the shadows. too far to hear what was said, he existed only for the protection of asperas.

a shaman. yet another addition to her ever-growing list of titles, but this one felt different somehow. special. shaman, asperas repeated, testing the word, filing it away in her memory. she watched his gaze trail after hers, to the mountain she now called home.
ursus, the snakeling told him, pride in her voice. then it occurred to her, quite suddenly, that the bear-priest might take an interest in this issorartuyok of the north. something in his manner, the words he offered; he struck asperas as something... useful, perhaps. you come... a pause, for words were still slow in coming to the young cultspawn, a source of never-ending frustrations. to ursus?

The dark youth repeated the word, tasting its foreignness upon her tongue. The northern male watched her with an impassive stare, wondering whether she favored the sound of the term or if it was merely another word that had been shared with her – another word among a long list that carried little meaning to one of her age.

When the dark child spoke again, it was to offer her own peculiar word. Ursus, she spoke, and Issorartuyok regarded her steadily. He had never heard this term before and assumed it to be another name, one perhaps her parents had used.

Then she asked him to go there, to Ursus.

Issorartuyok was hesitant. The earthy brown of his eyes searched the mountain that concealed the glacier, his desired landmark. It would not do well to leave a child in the wilderness, he was forced to remind himself.

Very well. We go to Ursus and to find your parents. You know where it is, little shaman?

a moment of hesitation, and then the changeling was granted her wish. she had expected nothing less than victory, of course. asperas nonetheless stood a little straighter for it, long whiskers twitching in the manner of a smug feline. yes, came the answer, and she turned to follow her own trail back to the mountain, without so much as a glance backward to see that issorartuyok of the north was following. she did not doubt that he was.

what she did not anticipate was that this trail would lead her to her loving stalker of a father.

Yes, she spoke to him, and the northern wolf nodded his head once in a show of his willingness to follow. Issorartuyok did not know how this dark young wolf had managed to escape her guardian figures, but he could not help the creeping feeling of having eyes trained upon him. Was the child used as a test? Was she sent to lure unsuspecting travelers into the grip of savage fangs?

The burly wolf trailed closely behind the dark child. He watched the way that she tracked her way back, the course she set for them to follow. Issorartuyok only caught the fragrance of another wolf when it was much too late to flee.

Stop, shaman. There is another wolf, the northerner declared in a rough baritone. The chocolate color of his eyes searched the immediate area but he could not find where the aroma originated.

"what have you found,  bearberry?"
merrick poured from the shadowed underbrush, a column of rippled greys and redcream hackles, the immense scarring of his face tipped into a malevolent grin that crinkled the single eye;
"you will forgive my protectiveness," he told the stranger in a purr, "kids being kids, and all."
though he felt they both knew asperas was more than a mere babe, more than wolf or spirit or even the dark pelt that bound her.

another wolf, issorartuyok of the north announced, just as asperas caught wind of her father. bear witch, the voidsent told him, head turning toward merrick's hiding place mere moments before he emerged. only the subtle motion of her tail indicated her pleasure at her father's presence as she took in his questioning greeting. issorartuyok of the north, she answered with pride when the bruin-witch finished speaking. he say, shaman. her gaze turned back to the hulking wolf, urging him to tell more.

A one-eyed wolf stepped forth and spoke in a purring tone. The northerner did not like him. It made his spirit uneasy to stand so close to the wolf that the child addressed as bear witch.

When the cyclops spoke of the girl, addressing his actions as that of a protective father, Issorartuyok stiffened slightly. It felt familiar, it felt like a trap. The northerner fixed his chocolate gaze on the older of the two and nodded his head stiffly.

This one was only helping to return her to her family, Issorartuyok stated in a gruff voice. Parents were well within their right to protect their young. It was not Issorartuyok’s place to judge by how much, but he did wish to speak his intentions.

The girl sees spirits. She is what we call a shaman.

"a shaman."
the bearwolf looked slowly between the ursine princess and the man who stood almost protectively nearby. tension crackled around the trio. merrick thrived upon such things.
"she hears the bear, and all his voices. she has since she was very young," he told the stranger in an almost musical voice. "shaman indeed. more than that."
"maybe a god."
sacrilege; he did not believe it could be so. "do you mean to follow our shaman?" merrick asked, though his approving gaze was for asperas now.

The large northerner did not believe that he liked this one-eyed wolf, the protective father of the shaman child. Issorartuyok regarded the other man with a careful gaze, eyes never leaving his features, searching for something telling in the way that he spoke or positioned his frame. There was a nervous tightening in his stomach. There could be nothing good that would come from those wolves, instinct had told him as much.

No, only to return the shaman to her family. You had not been scented, but this one is pleased that we found you.

Issorartuyok looked warily at the one-eyed wolf and then shrugged his broad shoulders. This one will be leaving. May the seasons bring you plenty. The northerner did not wish to wait for a response from the other man. He did not want to be there any longer than he had to. The child was no longer at risk, at least not from the natural elements. So, the northerner slipped into the shadows and did not think to turn back again.

Just gonna close this out since it's been sitting for nearly a month and The Shadow has gone inactive. ^^;