Two Rivers Isle paper shields and wooden swords

Alone on the Isle, Ines set about doing what she knew best: the next thing. There was no use grieving for the family she couldn't find, or the ones who wouldn't stay. And, if she'd found mom and dad, what would she have said, anyway? The days of giving them a piece of her mind already seemed distant, childish things.

At the end of matters, they had left her and Matteo in charge of the Isle, and it remained her charge. It wasn't her fault it had crumbled, after all, and now that the cowboys were gone, she could finally start making the land into something admirable again.

Surely it couldn't be that hard, right?

Right. And first things first. She'd build from the ground up, starting by marking her claim. And so she set about the borders, keeping one eye open for any passersby she might share news about the Isle with, neighbours she might meet -- or even wolves she might try her paw at recruiting.

According to Towhee, there might be another settlement to the south. There was some fraught history with its residents, not just with Towhee but also Fennec. Despite this, Meerkat intended to stop by and introduce herself at some point. They may as well make nice if they were going to be neighbors.

First, she decided to go hunting, a task which she did much more often these days. Meerkat was even getting pretty good at it, though she tired of the usual small game. She ventured beyond the copse’s borders in search of something else. Perhaps she would find a grouse in the thicket.

Meerkat made it all the way to the far side of the thicket without rustling up a single bird. Snorting softly, she prepared to turn around and plod back home. But then she caught the sound of running water and she realized she was quite thirsty. She picked her way through the trees and came upon a smaller riverbank, where she dipped down for a drink.

The day was slow going -- no one to chatter with except the birds, and it was moments like these she missed @Matteo the most. She hoped he was well, wherever he'd wound up. Perhaps he had gone with Iseul to that pack along the sea. She'd wondered more than once. He had been close with her, after all, much closer than Ines had been.

She wondered these things, until she caught a streak of blonde dipping down for a drink at the river's edge. Sunny fur made sunnier in the afternoon light -- but that was about all she could tell from here.

So of course, she closed the distance.

Good water, isn't it? she'd tried to remember whatever mom or dad or Iseul said whenever they came upon someone on their boundary line, but she drew a blank and settled for the next best thing: faking it till making it, you know it comes down to us straight from the glaciers?

She didn't know, but she doubted this wolf knew, either. A salespitch was a salespitch, after all. Anything to make the Isle strong.

She lapped greedily, the noise concealing the sound of footsteps. When a shadow fell across the water, Meerkat started a little, swiftly raising her head. Droplets of water dripped from her chin as she peered at a young she-wolf on the other shore. She looked about the same age as her daughters, her palette immediately reminding Meerkat of Orca in particular.

It is, she agreed almost automatically, then blinked as the rest of the words registered. Does it?

Meerkat resisted the urge to look around as if searching for a glacier. There was a mountain off to the west, perhaps that was what she meant. Meerkat wasn’t particularly interested in fact-checking the youth. She was much more curious about the young lady herself.

I’m Meerkat. I live in the copse, that way. She gestured behind her. What’s your name? Do you live nearby? she asked with a friendly switch of her sandy tail.