“Hey! I don’t mean to be rude but, uh, you’re trespassing.”

Wallman Gaven was perched on the stone wall again, risking a disastrous fall once more, and when the wolf looked up to see him she would also see he had an arrow drawn and pointed at her eye socket. When humans wandered too close to his clan’s camp, Gaven often found himself pointing arrows at them with the rest of his hunters, surrounding them like a pack of wolves. Now he lived in an actual pack of wolves and he was doing this. Funny. The humans were usually nervous enough to leave without a fight, but he wondered if the wolf would be. She might not have a healthy fear of a such things if she had never been faced with them before. She probably didn’t know that all he had to do was relax his fingers and she might take it in the brain. He held it steady, however.

“If you pass this wall I’ll have to kill you,” Gaven said casually. “I don’t want to kill you, so maybe you should stop while we’re both ahead of ourselves. If I kill you I’m going to have to explain to my Queen why I did it and I’m sure it will have to go into the records and it will just be so much work I don’t want to deal with right now. Also, you’ll be dead, probably. That’s a negative outcome for both of us.”

He wore the mask over his face as usual, so even though he had a cheeky smirk which almost seemed to present itself in his voice, all the wolf would see was dark wood painted with gold and too many sets of glittering red eyes staring back at her in the facsimile of a wolf’s face; the mask was humorless in its expression. The bow was still steady, nary a fatigued shake in his arm.

“What brings you here, little lost one?”

The bow didn’t follow the she-wolf’s head movements; they were close enough being hit with one arrow would do a fair enough amount of damage. She might not die instantly but she might take in in the neck or shoulder and how fast could she react to that while Gaven nocked another? Maybe it was macabre to think about, but both wolf and elf had to eat once before, and the one with the arrows was the one who could sustain on plants if needed. Killing was in their nature, even if they didn’t want to admit it. He would have a more peaceful death for his prey than a wolf would, but lucky for her she was not his prey, as became apparent with her nervous confusion.

"I think I made a mistake."

He lowered his bow, slowly relaxing the arm to let the arrow droop sadly to the side, the energy wound up in his muscles releasing and dissipating in one gradual movement.

“Did you eat them?"

“No, did you?” he teased back, tilting his bow towards the massive skull, causing it to clatter hollowly against the stones it hugged close to. “I wasn’t here for this, but I think if you’re not planning on slaughtering any children here you shouldn’t have to worry about becoming like them.”

"What... are you? Are there more of you behind this wall? Can you tell me if there's a family of wolves here? I'll leave if there isn't, please don't hurt me. I just want to go home."

“Oh, I see how it is,” Gaven’s voice suddenly became low and slow, a mock sorrow gripping his chords. “I’m not good enough for you. That’s too bad, my feelings are hurt, but because I need to be the bigger person here I guess I’ll answer you anyway: I am an elf. I am entirely unique amongst creatures who live behind this wall. I can tell you if there is a family of wolves here, but will I?”

"I mean... I just want a new home."

“You could have started with that. That changes everything,” Gaven chuckled. “There are wolves here. A lot of wolves. A kingdom of wolves, if you will. Maybe there is a place for you here, provided you didn’t come here to hurt anyone. You trespassed but at least you haven’t set a forest on fire, so that’s…something. What are you called and where do you come from, anyway?”

The young wolf pulled closer, eyes peeked up at his dark mask which regarded her with unchanging indifference as it tilted down to meet her gaze. The foggy midday light was too poor for Gaven’s eyes to throw back that reflective glint they sometimes did at night, so the young wolf would only be greeted by two dark holes where his true eyes hid. Despite being perfectly aware she couldn’t see his face, he squinted back at her, mirroring and mocking her somewhat confused expression out of habit.

"I'm sorry, you just startled me."

“Hmm. Apology accepted.” Gaven graciously offered. He slid to his rump on the stone wall and stuck his legs out in front of him, stretching them in a very inelegant manner. “As long as you’re nicer to me in the future.”

Gaven listened intently to her story, letting his legs fall slack as he crossed them at the ankle, digging a heel into the wall so he wouldn’t lose his balance. Her story was short, but his attention was unwavering. The glittering eyes of the wolf mask seemed untouched. Judging her heart with a cool stare.  Luckily the creature behind the faux-face was a gentler one.

“Ah, a traveler. That’s a story I can relate to,” Gaven airily commented. “You did make it very far by yourself. You must be a skilled hunter or…scavenger. Anyway, I don’t doubt you’re looking for others. It’s hard being on your own for so long, isn’t it?”

Gaven wondered what they were even doing here as he began to idly twirl his own arrow in his hand. As if he would turn her away. She was only a child. Maybe she would one day be a horrible murderous tyrant and it would all be Gaven’s fault for letting her in Gemini’s doors, but that seemed like a petty fall to take in the grand scheme of things. If he could keep her away from Gemini’s persistent border drama maybe he could save her from a life of delinquency. Luckily she had already gotten this far, so it didn’t seem likely a bloody death was about to befall anyone here, but the day was still young.

“I mean, I guess you can stay,” Gaven teased. “You’re already here. Standing in the Lowlands of Gemini. Almost to the heart of this very kingdom. If I turn you away now I’ll have to walk you all the way back to the border and I don’t feel like walking right now. I just had lunch. You know how it is.”

He gestured with one hand at everything behind where the young wolf was standing. Then he began to point towards unseen landmarks, too far away for them to be perceptible where they stood, but the elven man was conjuring clear images of them before his eyes.

“There’s a river not far from here, you probably walked by-slash-through it. The Lowlands are vast so if you slipped by the Rangers it’s not a stretch to think that you didn’t run into anyone else. They might not have even known you didn’t belong here if you had run into anyone. Aside from the Rangers this part of Gemini is more ‘general populace’, if you catch my meaning,” Gaven explained, amusement still thick in his voice. “The Smithy is to the west, though I think it’s abandoned now, and to the very nearby east of here is…me. My camp.”

Because obviously that was the most important thing out here. Not the library or the Meeting Stones. Just Gaven.

“Oh! Most importantly, I-“ Gaven’s voice grew significantly louder, though still muffled by the mask. “-am Gaven, The Starreaver, your Lorekeeper, and local Sabor of Gemini. Drop my name and see the reactions; most likely reverence with a touch of healthy fear. I have some clout here and I am generous with the giving of my name, so others can use it for questionable purposes. You’re welcome.”

Was there anything else? He supposed he could have told her about the Highlands, but what was the fun in ruining all the mystery? It was only proper to leave some adventures for her to discover herself. Doesn’t everyone hate spoilers? He was clearly good at this whole Ranger thing. Maybe they would hire him if he gave a shit.