Silence falls; Open

[echo]

Not so very long ago, Echo had been excited and shy at the prospect of joining another pack. She was too shy to make her presence known within the pack, afraid of what type of wolf exactly she might meet. She had stood by the borders of this pack, watching the territory from her chosen spot. She saw nothing of the wolves who were said to have claimed this land... she saw the occasional deer that wondered aimlessly by, saw the birds flitter from tree top to tree top, but she saw nothing of the wolves. Her excited had slowly died from inside her, and as at last hunger called her from her watch she turned and moved from the silent territory. She didn’t once look back...

The little fae tried not to dwell, but the silence threatened to drive her mad. She was not use to such solitude; having spent her entire life in the ordinary moving’s of pack life. She herself may have always said little, but there had always been something to do, and not a day would go by that someone wouldn’t strike up a one-sided conversation with her. She shuddered, but had nothing to distract her from the past. Her sad little eyes wondered across the open lands, and she caught not a single trace of another wolf. She had never felt so lonely, nor had her stomach spoken so loudly to her. She had been a good hunter, but dredging up the will hunt became harder and harder as the days slipped meaninglessly passed her. Somewhere along the way she had lost what it meant to fight, to make a life for herself. She moved through the forest with her head down, and her tail tucked between her tails. She had always been shy, but she had been full of life in her own way as well, now, what was becoming of her...

Forcing herself not to dwell on the past gave her little else to think about and soon enough food took priority in her mind. The little hunter raised her nose to the wind, but all she caught upon the winds back where the birds that took to the tree tops, and rodents that specialised in hiding in small, and impossible to reach places. She lowered her head again and moved on once more. She moved into another part of the territory, the one adjoining to the hidden pack. Before her where a bunch of caverns that looked fitful to sleep in. Maybe, if she found one high enough up she would sleep without fear of becoming prey to a creature higher up the food chain then she was.

She raised her head again and this time the air was not empty of what she sought. It was moderately still and the scent was weak, but she knew that it was out there. She turned from the caverns, knowing she would be able to find them again before nightfall and made her way instead around them. There was... a lone old deer that was probably incapable of keeping up with her herd any longer. As was the way of the world, and the cycle of life, she would fall prey to the likes of Echo.
The little wolf moved along the rock face, between the inconstant long grass, her white coat not a perfect blend, but her low body out of sight all the same. She moved until the scent of her prey was all she could taste in the air of the fading day. Hunches low against the earth, one flick of her tail, she was a hunter now and there was nothing else but the prey, the hunt. Her movements where quick, hard to follow, the wolf relied on agility more than she did on strength. She caught the old deer on the back of her neck, pushing it to the ground as she did so. The old deer let out a sort of sigh, like it had been waiting for Echo, like she had been late. The sigh was the last breath that the creature made, and then to Echo there was silence once more. She sat by her prey, weary eyes looking out across the expanse of land to ensure that no others lingered out there, ready to catch her back unawares. Ensured that she was safe, she turned and began to eat, her stomach rumbling at the scent of food.

[kyprioth]

Ahh...the life of a loner: the freedom, the adventure, the lack of responsibility, the chosen solitude, the hunger. Kyprioth sighed dramatically as his stomach rumbled once more. Experience said he would be fine for another few days, but fine and comfortable were two completely different things. The red wolf took stock of his surroundings and noticed, for the first time, that he was cold. Perhaps he had finally found the far north of Anikira. It struck the male that if he hadn't, and really even if he had, the island was much bigger than most believed. Of course, he supposed, it would have to be to accommodate the number of inhabitants. Kyp smiled at his own folly.

Still, that realization did nothing to silence the regular grumble of discontent coming from around his middle. Nares quivering, he trotted in a large circle. Several herbs that only grew in the cold greeted his sense, but absolutely nothing that was warm and moving. If he were any other wolf, he would have probably sighed or cursed a god for their lack of care, but he was Kyprioth, and Kyprioth never did such a thing. Instead, he shrugged and kept moving. Frankly, being mad was just too much work, so the stud refused to exert the energy unless it was completely necessary. It was something most wolves liked about him, especially since he could put himself in another's paw prints and see it from their point of view.

A moment later, the scent of a fresh kill entered his nostrils. Unable to stop himself, he took in a deep breath, producing a very unhappy groan from his stomach. Apparently, it didn't appreciate the scent like he did. Kyp grinned and turned in the direction of the wind, pushing his legs to move a little faster. These lands were not claimed, or so rumor said, and loners rarely ate everything they brought down. Perhaps this stranger would be willing to share? Then again, wolves gnawed on a single carcass for days. The male shrugged, immediately displacing such worries. Within moments, he was close enough to the loner to be heard. "Ho there!" he shouted, vying for her attention as he drew nearer. "Care to offer a weary traveler some hospitality, Gorgeous?" he asked. Most found his flirtatious and dramatic attitude humorous.

[echo]

Digging into the fresh meat, she didn’t seem to make all that much of an impact in the amount of meat produced by a full grown deer. She was near her full now, but at least if she chose to sleep a few nights in the caverns close by then the prey would stretch out the days required. She would bury it to keep sight and scent from any scavengers that might linger around the remains of a wolf-hunt. It wasn’t what she was use to; in fact, she wasn’t even use to getting the good parts of a kill let alone lingering over it for days. It was something she had adapted to in order to survive the unfamiliarity of a loner life. It didn’t balance out the things she missed of her pack through, it didn’t stop her from remembering cold nights curled in the warmth of a group of wolves, or when she hurt herself she had someone to go to who would look after her. Having an alpha to guide her when she was confused... and a beta to hurt her. She swallowed, angry at herself for remembering the past, and inevitably lingering on what she struggled so hard to forget.

Closing her eyes for a minute, struggling to push past the flood of memories, she was caught unawares when the sound of another rang out behind her. She whirled around and froze, like a rabbit caught in a spot light. Only her eyes moved, as they found the source of the noise and stayed on his form, wearily watching him. He continued to approach her, and she suddenly became very aware of the rock face directly behind her. She would have to be fast on her paws to escape him if she planned on going left or right – certainly she wouldn’t be running straight at him! It took her a moment to click to the warm smile on his mussel, and that his strange words held no threat. In fact, in a way, he was asking for her help. It also didn’t pass notice that he was a male, and if he was a loner there was no telling his intentions. She wished he would stop moving closer, but if wishes where prey she would never go hungry again.
“Yo-wa-m-kil??”
She clarified his words, but it came out as a rusty, in-clear bark and she was forced to clear her throat and try again.
“You want my kill?”
She asked him, her tail was already tucked between her legs and she knew that if he was willing to fight her for it she wouldn’t do great at holding her own. She was agile, and not too bad at fighting, but her confidence was long gone from her. She slinked to the left, not too far, but enough to put distance between herself, and the stranger and the prey he was after.
“You may”
She told him softly, not taking her eyes off him, ready to bolt if he moved closer to her rather than the prey. She could catch another and what she had eaten would sustain her for a few days, it wouldn’t put her out to much... she told herself.