Caution was kept in mind as soft paws slowly carried the grey fae through the new terra she’d happened upon. She had alerted the wolves in the area of her presense with a howl, because when she had enter the land's borders, she could smell that the it had already been claimed by a brute. But she could care less about that—she didn’t want land of her own, but rather to share land with the kin she had not mingled with for so long. The fae had been traveling as a loner for far too long, and the lifestyle had proven to be, well, exactly what the name implied—lonesome. When with her father, it had felt like they were simple loners. It felt like they made up their own small but happy pack. Just her and Joel, all each other ever needed…
But that was before she’d woken up completely alone last year, only to find her father’s lifeless body by a small stream.
After that, things had changed so drastically, it was almost too much for Taiga to accept. But she had to come to reality’s terms eventually. And when she had, at first it didn’t seem so bad. She actually enjoyed a bit of it—she was independent. She hunted down a doe for her own meal, using the skills her father had taught her. She traveled further into their home, passing through meadows she’d never gazed upon. She returned to their den when it was getting dark, using the stars as her guide as her father had taught her.
But when she lay down in the entrance of their cave, everything finally set in. Her father wasn’t there to listen to her discoveries in the forest, or to offer constructive criticism on how she’d brought down the doe. He wasn’t there to discuss a story about the large bears in the sky with her.
That was when she’d decided she couldn’t endure being alone. She’d set off that very night, padding through two days straight, before her body finally gave up on her and she collapsed.
A year of traveling, and she’d only found two other inhabited territories. However, the packs of those terra had been hostile and ruthless—she’d been lucky to escape them with her tail intact. The fact that some wolves actually preferred lonerhood to pack life absolutely confounded her.
Now, while waiting for aresponse to her howl, Taiga could feel pleasant warmth beckoning to her from beyond the tree line. She followed its silent calling, passing the timbers and finding herself confronted by a large pool of water. She allowed her eyelids to droop to a close, enjoying the heat. A natural hot spring. How lovely.
Making her way to the edge, the grey fae met the gaze of a canine that looked to be her twin. She examined her reflection intently. Would the wolves here accept her? Or would they reject her? Had her journey been a waste? Would her hopes for this land been crushed?
Taiga splashed the fae that was looking back at her through the water with her paw, watching the ripples scatter the image away. She closed her eyes, trying to focus the warmth of the water so that she could clear her mind.
Nothing could be accomplished unless it was begun, her father had said. Taiga pulled her paw from the spring, shaking off what little water had seeped into her fur. She would announce her arrive. That was the safest way to begin.
