In Dire Straits

Day after day after day, the lithe, slender she-wolf had been traveling for too long to remember when she started. Now she rested underneath the branches of a lone, gnarled oak tree sitting atop a lonely cliff overlooking the bright blue ocean, just outside of Inaria territory. The trees lush green leaves, bleached silver in the moonlight, swayed softly to the rhythm of the gentle wind. 

Aewyn could feel her eyelids drooping as her maws stretched in a drowsy yawn. She leaned against the oak tree, the longing for companionship, for a pack- a family, to call her own growing ever stronger. Her silver fur seemed to glow in the moonlight as she craned her neck to look at the stars, blinking and glistening in contrast to the dark blue-violet sky. 

Tonight she would rest beneath the stars, underneath the wide, never-ending sky, the only constant thing in her life. Tomorrow morning she would approach the border, and seek acceptance into the pack. Her tail thumped softly at the thought. She wouldn't even mind being an Omega. The mere thought of being anything in a pack made her heart race. 

But that could wait until tomorrow. 

Tonight, she would sleep well for the first time in months, and dream blissful dreams of running over the moor with her new packmates, feeling the wind on her face and reveling in the power that her lean frame and muscled limbs felt as she stretched them, leaping, twisting, flying over the moor, and dancing through the grass.

But that could wait until tomorrow.

~

She woke up to the cheerful song of a bluejay, chirping happily from a branch on Aewyn's oak tree, and the rhythmic crashing of the waves against the cliff-face.

Aewyn blinked groggily, her eyes adjusting to the light. She could feel her heart racing. Today was the day! She leaped to her feet, startling the bluejay, who cawed angrily and hopped away. Her maw stretched in a wide grin, her blue-violet eyes sparkling in excitement. She forced herself to calm down and set to work grooming herself in long strokes of her tongue, smoothing down her silky fur and brushing away any traces of grass or small branches that had gotten entangled during the night. 

She groomed herself until she looked as proud and regal as ever and stood up, every bit as graceful as she ought to be to impress the pack. 

She breathed in deeply, trying to calm her heart, which beat so fast it seemed it would leap out of her chest as she made her way towards the border. She weaved between trees and glided over hills until she reached the Inaria border.

She took a deep breath, tilted her head back gracefully, and poured her heart and soul into a beautiful howl, long and melodic, carrying a tune of sadness, hidden underneath the messages of hope and longing that carried over the hills and forests long after she had dropped her head. 

She sat down.

Now all there was to do was wait. 

Truth be told, she mostly had spent her time on the northwest border of the pack’s territory. She had made her usual patrol from the graveyard to the ocean and back again, feeling as if the mountains would provide a good enough security to the pack, that she focus most of her efforts on this less fortified portion of the pack’s land.

This morning she felt a need of a change and started from the graveyard, circling it out of respect and not treading upon that scared earth. She had paused to investigate the emptiness of the plot, one day her body would join those who were already laid to rest there, but for now she was still thriving in her youth. After this momentary pause, she would hurry away, the gloomy atmosphere making a chill slither down her spine.

The most distracting sound began to fill her hearing as the graveyard faded away behind her. Colleen’s pace quickened from a trot to an easy paced run, excited to discover where the loud, crashing sound was coming from. Louder and louder the sound grew, until the point where she slowed back to a trot, unsure if she truly wanted to discover what made the now overwhelming noise. Being still quite new to Inaria, she had yet to be able to discover all the landmarks and hidden quirks of the territory.

Feeling uneasy again, she veered away from the sound, and gave it a spacious gap. She was still quite on edge as she crossed a piece of river, crossed an island, and crossed more water, before transitioning back closer to the mountain range. Coming closer to the rocky fixtures, she found her attention refocused from her chores, to examining all the neat rocks she was treading over.

Her trot began to slow to a walk, then to a complete halt of movement as she began to paw through the rocks. There were all different shades, and shapes. Then a long, emotional howl cut through the silence. Colleen’s ears flew up and snout pointed toward the end of mountains that hinged the southern border of the pack. Someone had arrived and was beckoning for her attention. At this time Colleen paused and vocalized her own howl. To let the other know she was heard, and someone was coming. Leaving her new discoveries behind, she dashed off to meet this new wolf.

Her nose feverishly huffed the air as the other’s scent finally came to her. It was a female wolf, which helped settle Colleen’s nerves. It was always a stressful time when coming upon a rouge wolf. There was never any certainty, beyond the fact you were about to come face to face with a stranger. Now coming closer she paused again and gave another howl. She wanted not only to let this new wolf know she was coming nearer, but also let the pack know her location. Her pack would be her only saving grace if this meeting took a turn for the worse.

Huffing now, Colleen now had the silver wolf in sight. She began to slow as she drew closer, then stood some distance away. Her tail curled up over her back in a dominate stance, in this moment she was the alpha wolf. She commanded control of the encounter and would dictate how they would interact, like the big, bad wolf she was. Or so she thought. She puffed out her chest and stood proudly, “What brings you to-“ she was cut off by a fit of coughs. Her lung fatigued by her run, she gasped, coughed, and her eyes watered. Well, there went her ‘cool points’.