Strolling through the snow . . .

[Grhym]

He had left without saying a word, though he had left a rabbit at the makeshift den for Lelu, as a thanks from him from before. He was strong enough to head out towards the Grove; the wind and the snow had slowly drifted calm. With one last look to Rahiel’s mountains, he had sighed sadly, hoping that she had found company, or would in the coming days. That was before the clouds had descended onto her realm and his heart went out to her fully. He missed her, and he hoped he would see her again before long.

Grhym didn’t bother hiding his path in the snow as he made his way to the grove. Lelu had still been sleeping when he left, she needed it, and he wasn’t far. If she wanted to follow, she could easily. He had dug out the entrance with ease. Now he wandered quiet and alone through the frozen trees, casting his bright amber gaze upward. A raven peered down at him.

“Hello, friend,” he spoke softly. The raven cawed. “Where there’s wolf, there’s raven.”

Especially in loner territory, they were very frequent. When a kill was made, whatever the lone wolf couldn’t eat, the ravens would. Likewise, where the ravens congregated, loners would generally find a feast. The two worked as one unit. The raven above him bobbed his head and flapped his wings before swooping down in front of him and arcing up just before touching the ground to land on the nearest branch. Ghrym smiled wolfishly and shook his head.

“What is, my feathered friend? The winds unkind to you?”

The raven cawed again, but this time, it was something more of a shriek and it made Ghrym’s fur stand on end. As though on cue, more ravens and other birds rose from the branches farther away, creating a blanket in the sky of feathers and beady eyes. He turned his head to the side and looked back to the raven still sitting on the branch.

Ravens were curious creatures, spirits of higher intellect and stubborn secret keepers, that Ghrym had learned, had always been their strengths. He liked the ravens, even if some other wolves might think his mind had “gone to the birds.”

“Mind explaining to me why your brethren suddenly took leave of their homes? Did I just ruin something?”

The raven swooped down again and dove into his side, where a scar remained from his fight earlier this year. The raven hopped backward on the ground, blinking up with dark, beady eyes as blood seeped through Ghrym’s coat. He snarled slightly, but the raven remained motionless.

“Ouch! You blasted . . . what was that for?”

The raven ruffled its black feathers and took to the sky again, circling a few times before flying south, the direction of the previous Blood Fang territory.

Blood Fang. . .

He turned to glance at his side and licked it casually.

Something clicked in his mind and he looked to the gray skies again, his blood dripping from his muzzle.

Were the Heus back?

His stomach felt tight again and he looked around him. It was Shadow! They would die in this frigid cold! He pricked his ears forward, the direction towards the Blood Fang packlands. He was fairly far from them yet, but still . . . he back tracked some and trotted a different direction, sniffing the ground for life. He jumped when a fox leapt into his path and then with a snarl watched it dash away again. He had never been fond of foxes. They were greedy. But that one was on the move. . .

He stopped in his trek, feeling safe within the trees. Sitting down beside the river, he gazed at the frozen ice when a black feather dropped down next to him.

“Now what?” he said in a grumpy tone.

[Vithali]

Vithali was not about to let the winter cold get her spirits down. Despite the fact the wind was really cold and the snow was deep and her small stature kept finding the deepest sections to fall into, she felt that she was making out pretty well. Just because she was utterly and hopelessly lost didn’t mean anything; everyone was lost until they got where they were going, that was the way of life. At least, that was what Ash used to tell her and Ash knew everything; all old wolves new everything. Optimism gave her features the look of a wolf wandering around in spring, which was exactly what she was feeling.

She was prancing through the snow, lifting her large paws up as high as she could to avoid getting stuck. The prints she left behind might fool any by passers into thinking that a larger, much heavier wolf had wandered through, but this was initially the last thought on her mind. She had given up caring if she was trespassing on pack lands. When she started out on her daring quest, she had made sure to howl every so often, hopefully finding a pack that would accept her but she had never gotten a response. But no matter; there had to be another pack out here somewhere , right? Right! Content with this self-gained knowledge she closed her eyes and trotted blindly along. She liked to close her eyes while she traveled, she could always imagine the most wondrous things and her own special place she was walking in. Ash was always there, standing like an ever present guardian in the shadows. He was smiling, always smiling at her, but he never said anything. Even if it was her daydream, he never said anything. Perhaps it was because his voice came out as her own (which was just creepy) or perhaps . . . perhaps it was because he never did say much anyway, and ever since winter had taken him away to a place where she could not follow, she never heard him speak much anymore.

But this was her daydream and if she wanted him to spea-

Oof! That smarted!

Her eyes sprang open as something very hard and solid met her nose and she stumbled back, heart leaping to a racing level. She saw the frozen bark of an old tree for a only a moment before she suddenly found herself doused with heavy, packed snow that had fallen from the upper branches. Struggling for a moment in a rather awkward position, pulling a muscle somewhere and twisting something that probably shouldn’t have been twisted, she popped her head out from the deep snow bank and looked around, a little dazed.

Wow! That had been cold!

Her nose was still tingling slightly from the run-in with the tree but that was the last thing on her list of things to whimper about. Her eyes were to busy scanning the white wonderland about her, noticing that trees had sprung up everywhere about her and there was a large river in the distance . . . a river . . . in the middle of winter . . . frozen . . . her eyes lit with an excited realization. Whining now as she tried to hurry up and get out of her snow bank, she all but fell face first onto more even ground and was scratching with anticipation as she struggled to gain use of all four paws. In seconds she racing again towards the frozen water, her excited yaps and whimpers destroying the obvious calmness of the place that she was completely oblivious to. River . . . Frozen . . . Frozen . . . River . . . At the last second something brown and small dashed in front of her and without even thinking twice about what it could be, her direction changed and she charged after it with a grace that equaled that of a dieing fish. Her rump slammed unmercifully into another tree as she sped after the small, rodent like creature. She yapped at it playfully, her paws throwing snow everywhere.

It was gone quickly though and unable to find it now, she turned her head back around. She was going to do something before . . . what was it? Something with water. Was she thirsty? No . . . Her gaze landed on the lake again and her paws carried her off before her brain had time to register what she had just remembered. She loved sliding on the ice! Ash had always told her off, telling her that she was going to break something but he wasn’t here! Not that she was happy about him not being with her anymore but . . . She skidded to halt suddenly, a million red flags going up in her head as she remembered Ash telling her something . . . about the ice. She was supposed to . . . to . . . Ah! What did it matter? Ice was ice . . . it was all slick anyway. She leapt onto it without a second though, automatically crashing down onto her shoulder and sliding halfway down the slick surface, an insane smile plastered on her face . . .

It was then she heard the sound of cracking and her ears pricked knowingly. She knew what that meant . . . her claws scratched harshly on the surface as she scuttled to get off, for a moment, going no where as she ran swiftly in place, stumbling over her paws as she leapt and charged towards the ground, her eyes intent on her goal . . . She plunged into the snow, looking back at the cracking ice behind her. Water had already started seeping up on some places and she laughed boldly.

“Well,” she said to herself, coming back to her feet. “That could have only ended in disaster . . .”

Trotting away again, she resumed her journey, feeling much more refreshed now. With a yap and a leap, she leaped over the snow, losing herself in large areas of deep snow from time to time.

It was so fun being lost. . .

[Lelu]

Lelu awoke to find Grhym had left her a rabbit and gone off somewhere. She ate the rabbit, munching quietly on its flesh to feed her grumbling stomacher. It felt good to feed her stomach something and she would find Grhym to tell him thanks. She bonded out of the den and started to look for Grhym.

It wasn't long before she found Grhym. He was chatting with a raven, which was odd, but so was she. The raven swooped down and hit him where it hurt. She saw blood ooze from what most have been a scar from earlier this year. She flinched, watching the raven sit for a few minutes, while Grhym said something to it, probably asking why it had done that. Then, it took off, flying in the direction of... Blood Fang? Lelu looked at the raven curiously.

She watched the black wolf back track a little bit. Then he trotted off in a different direction. Lelu ran after him, only to get herself lost among the trees. She looked around, smelling the air to find Grhym. She quickly picked up his scent and... Someone else's. Lelu tilted her head, curious. Maybe she should find out who it was.

She ran towards the river, nearly running into Grhym in the process. She joyfully said, "HELLO, GRHYM! Do smell that? There's another wolf nearby!"

Just as she said that, she heard the ice cracking. She looked down towards the river and saw a red, brown, and creamish-white colored wolf on the ice. Lelu's heart nearly skipped a beat as she watched the wolf run in place for several minutes, stumble over its own paws, and then leaped to safety. The new wolf trotted away. The wolf had apparently not noticed Grhym and her.

Lelu didn't give Grhym a chance to say anything. She darted after the new wolf to greet her.

[Grhym]

When Ghrym was alone, strange, philosophical things happened.

Mostly he thought about time. Time was so strange and such a weird concept. To acknowledge the fact that something would not exist yet but would soon was spine tingling . . . or maybe that was just the cold. He placed his paw on the fallen feather, looking up at the tree tops above, blinking at the quiet sky. There was no raven anymore, but still that blasted message wasn’t anything good either. He sighed and brought his hind paw up to his ear to scratch. It stretched his side and though it hurt some, it felt good too. Darn ravens anyway . . . for such wise birds they could sure cause trouble.

He bent his head down then, studying his marred reflection in the glassy frozen river. He turned his head to the side.

“My soul, lad,” he said with a sigh. “You look much older than you should . . .”

Such was the life of a loner . . .

He nearly jumped out of his skin when Lelu suddenly appeared beside him, yelling her greeting. He came to his feet with a startled yelp.

“Lelu, my friend, I do think you gave me a few gray hairs there . . .”

But he stuck his nose to the air anyway. Indeed, there was something . . . another wolf or . . . no, not coyote. Definitely wolf. He pricked his ears and focused suddenly on a figure coming across the ice . . . and his stomach turned cold as heard the sound of cracking ice. Apparently the other wolf had heard it to and was now hurriedly going nowhere, her claws getting no traction on the ice. He nearly rushed out to help her when finally she found her footing and catapulted into the snow. He was about to speak to Lelu before he realized that she had gone already, intent on speaking to the new wolf, who was blissfully trotting away now, as though nothing had happened.

He sighed. Well, he might as well go too . . . Stretching his side once more, Grhym took off at a steady lope, knowing full well that Lelu would catch up to the small wolf before he did.

OOC: Sorry for suckishness . . .

[Vithali]

Vithali kept her eyes open for a time, her tongue lolling out of the side of her mouth. It took her a few moments before she realized that she had been going the same way she had been coming which, for all it was worth, was a very confusing notion at first. She didn’t want to go this way! But her momentum was already going forward . . . forward . . . forward . . . stop – Nope! Forward . . .

“Ah!”

Ooops snow bank . . .

She dug her way up to the top as her small form sunk into soft, white snow around her. She grunted as the snow broke under her paws and she landed on the frozen earth, looking up at a white, cold tunnel. Gritting her teeth, she stuck her rump in the air and began to wiggle it, preparing herself to pounce . . .

One . . . Two . . .

WOAH! What was that?

Instead, she charged at a glimmering sun spot on the snow, ending with her mouth full of snow and the entire bank collapsing on her.

She was still for a moment, and then gave a slight whimper. Now this just wasn’t even fair . . .Frantically she began to kick and dig, using whatever strength she had to push herself up and out. Before long, she had her nose and the tip of her muzzle sticking out, sniffing the cold air. Home free! She continued to dig, pushing herself upwards until finally her front paws were free and she could haul herself onto more stable ground. Once she had her entire body out, she shook her thick coat, throwing chunks of snow everywhere, though some still clung relentlessly to her fur.

That had been soooo cold! She shivered a little, trying to warm up quickly, which generally wasn’t all that hard for her to do, being small and fluffy as she was. Her large ears swiveled behind her then and she picked up the sound of running . . . well, that was odd wasn’t it?

And then she turned.

A big smile lit up on her face as she noticed a wolf running towards her, another one trotting close behind. Before she knew what she was doing, she was angled in the play position, her cold forgotten, her tail whipping in excitement with a heart beat to match. She slapped the ground with her front paws, calling out with a small “wuff” sound. Other wolves! Oh, happy day!

Then it occurred to her . . .

Was this their land? She froze and slowly came up to attention, her tail still twitching, Her ears flicked back and forth, her eyes looking between them in turn. What was she supposed to do again? Avert her eyes? State why she was here? ALL AT ONCE?

Bird!

Her gaze was suddenly caught by a raven that flew over head and her face broke out into a small again until she suddenly remembered . . .

Wolf!

She looked back at them and then something reminded her about the tail and she looked back at her wagging limb, turning her head to the side. Was she supposed to raise it or tuck it?

[Lelu]

Lelu ran so quickly that she almost ran into the newcomer. She tried to stop herself from running into the new wolf and used her paws to go around the newcomer. Lelu succeeded, but slid into a snow drift.

"AAAAAAAAAAACK!" she cried as she hit the snow bank. The snow collapsed on top of her, leaving only her nose sticking out. She giggled happily as she shook her head to get some of the snow off. She looked at the new wolf and cheerfully yelled, "HELLO! I'm Lelu! Who are you? Where you coming from? Are you going to stay?"

Lelu started getting out of the snow drift, but suddenly realized she was stuck. A tree root probably decided to grab her left back paw while she had been talking to the newcomer and didn't let her notice until now. Lelu struggled for a minute before asking, "Could you help me? I'm stuck and can't get out. Please?"

She kept struggling to break free...

((... Meh...))

[Grhym]

Grhym’s tall, dark, slender form emerged slowly from the tall trees, his eyes bright against his pitch black fur. He smiled slightly as Lelu darted ahead of him, her small frame blending in with the white snow. He stopped and silently regarded the new comer, not wanting to scare her. He quickly determined that she was of little threat and would actually make a good friend for Lelu. His sasirel blood gave him a guarded appearance as he watched her work her way out of trouble. He stood back, letting Lelu make the first introductions. He would translate later.

Sniffing the air, he placed her scent in his mind as he had done with Lelu’s for future reference. He kept his ears pricked forward and was smiled at the small fae when she turned and finally noticed them. She bent slightly and seemed . . . distracted . . . and perhaps fearful. She probably thought this was their territory.

Yet he couldn’t help but laugh when Lelu started speaking, so innocent and full of energy. His gruff voice surely carried over now and so he carried his tall, lanky form over to the both of them, shaking his head at Lelu. Somehow, in a short span of time, they both had somehow managed to get themselves into some sort of trouble. What had he landed himself with?

He bowed his head politely towards the newcomer.

“Welcome.” He said with a grin. “My name is Grhym – I see you’ve already met my companion?”

He kept his eyes on her for a moment to see how she might respond before strolling easily through the snow towards Lelu. He began to dig, unwilling to pull incase he break her paw.

“Do not feel the need to submit here. You are in Raven Wing - a neutral ground in these parts.” He turned and continued to dig. “So stranger, what’s your name and story?”

His claws suddenly scraped against the earth and he saw the tree root that had caught Lelu’s paw. He sighed in the frosty air and shook his shaggy head.

“By my mother’s blood, Lelu, what did you do?” he whispered, nosing at the tangled tree root.

[Vithali]

Vithali jumped in the air as the other wolf joined her, sensing the energy and excitement. Her mind instantly went back to play mode as she danced upon the deep snow, jumping back when the other female slammed into a snow bank. She flicked her large ears back and winced . . .

That had to hurt . . .

She trotted happily up to the wolf as she pushed her way out of the bank and wagged her tail, tongue lolling to the side as the other wolf began speaking. But before she could respond, she noticed the arrival of another and she stepped back haphazardly. He was very tall and completely black, his eyes bright in contrast. He walked with large strides, his long legs carrying him double the distance her small ones would. She cocked her head at him, unsure of what to make of him until he spoke to her, shaking his head at his companion whom she now realized was stuck.

Lelu and Grhym – Lelu and Grhym – Grhym and Lelu . . . she forced the names with the face into her head before responding, happily stepping back to let the big black wolf help his companion.

“Hi, I’m Vithali! I dunno if I’ll stay, I’m kind of lost and I don’t where I’m going or why I’m going there really because I guess I can’t really know till I get there but I know I want to join a pack, preferably a big one with lots of young wolves because I love to play but I can work hard too. My other pack kicked me out but I want to try again because I really like to work – I don’t know if I’ll stay here cause here seems so final, I mean . . . what’s over there or there? you know what I mean? Don’t get me a wrong, I’m glad I met other wolves but – hey, are you going to join another pack? What is this place? Are there other packs around? I heard howling earlier and . . .”

She stopped her incessant rambling for a second, blinked and then trotted around to the other side, her fluffy body sinking in the snow that Grhym had just dug out.

“Oh let me help!” she said enthusiastically, tail lashing with excitement.

She settled down next to the tree, pawed at it and giggled.

“Awe that’s easy!”

She took a thick part of the root in her mouth quickly and lay down, holding the rest down with her large, white paws. With an intake of breath, she began to tug, her jaw locking on the tree root. When it didn’t give, she stood and growled as she yanked and pulled, wagging her tail as she felt the root starting to give between her strong, sharp teeth.

“Hol’ ond us a ‘econ’” came her garbled response as she braced her feet wide apart and gave one more last solid twist and tug . . .

“OOF!”

The root had snapped and she had flown backwards at a tremendous speed against a tree, which in turn made more snow fall on top of her. Looking up at the tree as though it were an enemy, she clambered to her feet and shook her thick coat and trotted back up to Grhym and Lelu, smiling so wide that her tongue lolled from her, bits of tree bark still clinging around her mouth.

“See!” she sang. “That wasn’t so bad!”

[Lelu]

"By my mother's blood, Lelu, what did you do?" Grhym asked after digging Lelu out and now was nudging the tree root.

"I didn't do anything! The tree came up and grabbed my paw!" said Lelu, saddened and energetic at the same time. She was quite confident that it was the tree's fault. Trees always gave her trouble for their entertainment.

The new wolf, Vithali, had been talking before she noticed Grhym digging her out. "Oh let me help!" she said enthusiastically, and a few seconds later, Vithali said, "Awe, that's easy!"

Lelu watched as Vithali take the root in her mouth and pull at it. For several minutes, it didn't give and Lelu thought to help free herself when Vithali said with the root in her mouth, "Hol’ ond us a ‘econ’." Lelu watched as she gave a solid twist and tug before flying backward into a tree with an "OOF!" and snow covering her. Lelu almost giggled at the sight of Vithali with bits of bark around her mouth.

"See. That wasn't so bad!"

Lelu grinned and said, "THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!"

Her tail waged quickly and grinned at Vithali and then Grhym, happy that they had helped. She was also happy that she had managed to make two friends within two days. So happy!

[Grhym]

Grhym stepped back easily as Vithali offered to help . . . after finishing her long, wordy, but some-5 second speech. He chuckled slightly. She was not a threat, unless he were an impaient wolf. But otherwise, he felt he could rather enjoy her company, and with her and Lelu together . . . he shook his head at the thought. Both were much older than pups, yet still retained the innocence of such. It was refreshing to see after all the years of blood shed and terror the past had brought. He winced after Vithali flew back into a tree after successfully freeing Lelu, but she seemed well enough so he didn't worry.

After Lelu's excited "Thank You's" were exchanged, Grhym sat and regarded the two of them.

"You are in Raven Wing." he repeated himself calmly. "A neutral ground. There are no packs here."

He was interested in the fact that she claimed to have been kicked out of her last pack and was searching for a new one. He had heard the howls earlier, but everything was quiet now. He wondered if there were others now? There had been one with Rahiel, and one coming from the direction of the Moorland.

"The only help I can give you for now, Vithali, is to head Northward, and then West. Check out the Moorland; there may be a pack reforming there if you are interested."

It was relatively safe territory that way anyway so he wasn't too worried about her travelling on her own. He, on the otherhand, had scouting to do and was going to poke his nose into some rather dangerous business.

Ever since the raven had come to him, it had gotten him thinking about the Heus more and more. If they were regrouping, unknowingly in the cold of winter, hiding in their dens, and if he could find out and get word to Rahi, at least she could mentally prepare herself for spring. He looked at Lelu and swallowed. As far as he knew, she had said nothing about joining a pack. He didn't know if her intentions were to remain loner or not. He did not want her in Heus land if he could help it - he did not want to see her get hurt if worse came to worse. He looked towards the woods that would lead him into Blood Fang territory and sighed heavily, deep in thought.

[Vithali]

Vithali wagged her tail back at Lelu as the other female thanks her enthusiastically. She liked the both of them and was happy she found company and could be of a great help. If anything it boosted her confidence a little. She pricked her ears back to Ghrym and walked over and looked up to face him. He knew of a pack near here? She looked towards the direction he indicated and her eyes widened. She looked back at him excitedly.


“Thank you! Oh this will be great! And . . . and I can try all over again and maybe I wont mess up this time! I mean, Ash always said to keep trying so I do keep trying. Do you think they’ll take me? I hope so . . .”

She paused and looked at Lelu. She grinned at her and then at Ghrym.

“What about you guys? Aren’t you going to join a pack?”

It would be nice to travel with company but she knew she could do this. She was anxious and willing to try. It would be good to have at least a little structure . . . Ash said even for someone of her lack of focus it was good to have structure. Structure . . . she could handle structure . . .Maybe . . .

She flicked her gaze to the sky and then to her surroundings. She was ready for home, for the comfort of others, for the surety of a meal when her stomach needed it. She sighed dreamily.

“I guess I best be off then, if I want to make good time.” She sighed and looked at the both of them. “I betcha I’ll see you again though right? I mean . . . this land can’t be that big!”

She wagged her tail again as she watched Ghrym stare off south. She followed his gaze, blinking in the agitating silence. She wondered what he was thinking, what was out there that had caught his attention.

((OOC: Ugh sorry for suckishness . . .no muse . . .I think we need to get this thread closed up though))

[Lelu]

Lelu looked at Vithali as she asked if they were going to join a pack. Lelu had thought about joining her father's pack, but then met Grhym and Grhym was alone alone out here. So she shook her head and said, "Nah! Besides, Grhym needs company!"

Then they started talking about finding a pack. Grhym mentioned a group forming to the north and west, maybe Vithali could go there. Lelu didn’t know much so she didn’t say anything. She listened quietly.

“I guess I best be off then, if I want to make good time. I betcha I’ll see you again though right? I mean . . . this land can’t be that big!”

Lelu giggled and smiled. She was happy that they may meet again. Lelu said, "OK! Be very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very safe!"

Lelu glanced at Grhym smiling, but then saw that his head was turned towards the south. If her father had spoken truthfully, that's where the heus came from. She wondered why he was staring in that direction and why he looked concerned.

((Not very great...))

[Grhym]

((Think we'll just close this . . . I'll post Grhym somewhere else so we can get ready for Spring!))