Stalking the streets of Wasilla by day, hunting moose through the forests of Alaska by night, watch out! It's Palin the Wolfwere, and she's here for you souullllllssssssss! http://i.imgur.com/XHoLm.png
Finn was struck by a similarity, her mind drifting back in time to the tender age of one. Aoi Itou was the spitting image of her brother, not in looks, but in personality. As long as Finn had known him, Brom had been the quietest, meekest creature ever to tip-toe across the face of the earth. Their father had long given up on Brom being a warrior fit to carry the Fidh name, so he focused all his attention on Aegnus and Finn, ignoring his other son completely. Yet still, even at his shyest, Brom could defuse any scrap that arose between Finn and Aegnus and Brom simply with his sometime almost supernatural serenity.
The she-wolf breathed in the cool winter air, pulling herself back to present. The child’s surname was Itou. From her own words, it could probably be deduced that Alaki was her father, since it was doubtful that her mother would send her somewhere else upon death. Finn’s pleasant smile flickered a moment, slightly overcome by the tragedy this pup had seen. Mother gone and Alaki… not in the best shape at all after the fight with the bear yesterday. Finn did not know the extent of his wounds, but they did look fairly serious. At least her sister Miwa was unharmed.
Still, there was some good here. Finn smiled wider again as she witnessed Severus comforting the girl, and actually chuckled as she watched Aoi try to lick Alastair. The deer snorted, face frozen in that expression of mild confusion worn by animals at such an unexpected action. ”Why does the wee wolf-child lick the face of Alastair!” He rumbled in his particular dialect of low speech, before backing out of slobbery reach. Alastair eyed Aoi with mild consternation, not sure if she was saying hello or trying to see if he’d make a good lunch.
“Are you honestly afraid of her? She’s a wee bairn.” Finn deadpanned, walking past Alastair to sit by Naniko’s side. She listened carefully to her words, before turning her pale eyes on Aoi, considering her. Again, there came the stare, as if she were not only taking in one’s visage, but counting one’s eyelashes, x-raying one’s thoughts, and perhaps even reading one’s D.N.A. Finn had inherited this particular habit from her grandmother, Morrigan Mac Suibhne. Once feared as the toughest wolf that side of the mountains, her flat, soulless silver-coin eyes could draw the truth from a wolf’s mouth just as surely as if she drew blood from their body.
“Well, if she were the same as me, she’d need to make a cut along the bottom of the paw, as would you, Naniko, so as to mingle the blood of the newcomer and the Angela, who is, through this custom, related to all the wolves of the pack.” Finn cocked her head, considering the issue. A child like this would likely never agree to such a violent thing. Finn remembered Brom being particularly averse to pain. Finn of course would have done it in a twinkle, just to feel like part of a family. “But that is not the case here. She is an Itou, like Alaki and Miwa, which makes her family already!” Finn’s pondering expression broke into a wide grin, like clouds being chased from the face of the sun.
There was a simple pleasure found in remembering things correctly. As if each piece of information was a book, brought to it’s summons in an orderly manner. Sometimes Finn did indeed feel like a library on legs. She could remember how many clouds there were as the sun went down on the Rocky mountains five years ago. She could remember every story she had been told, sometimes even before she could hear. She remembered every smell, every colour, every word. To some this might seem incredibly intimidating, as if such a great, dammed, scintillating river of information could one day break free. But to Finn, this was just life as usual.
Here, the she-wolf paused again, looking to Naniko for the final word. She knew it was not her place to say whether a wolf were welcome or not, even if it was quite clear what Naniko’s judgement would be. So she would be the second to welcome Aoi to Anathema, and Alastair the third with a little bit of prodding. Perhaps urging the deer to act a little friendlier to the pup would do her good. She did seem to like him, after all. Finn translated all of this sentiment this into an inscrutable stare at the back of Alastair’s neck. The deer shivered and glanced over, before shrugging in a miffed manner as if to say, ”Fine, I’ll do it I guess, but you’re not really making me.” Finn rolled her eyes. Perhaps the girl could teach Alastair some manners while they were at it.