It soon became very clear that where the wolf Shawchert tread he was not alone, for even with a snake’s deafness one could still hear the raucous noise coming from the tree branches above. The less than graceful sounds of struggling were coming from one of the many trees just a few feet out from the fence that traced the border of AniWaya, and upon ocular inspection it seemed the lower limbs had become stricken with a peculiar case of pink fuzziness. Attached to that swinging, swaying pink fluff was a wiggling white rump, and of course, the rest of the small Tundra girl’s ivory body.

Orin was such a contradiction. Eyes that fell upon her current predicament would assume she was just some clumsy girl, yet due to her size and height she usually wasn’t this awkward. How does a girl who is usually quite graceful get herself into this mess? Well, really it was a matter of wandering attention. If only she could focus she probably wouldn’t have made the wrong step. So what had happened?

The bit of snapped branch on the ground, and shavings of bark were a pretty good indicator. The bright red fruit clutched into her fist was another good clue. The girl had been climbing the tree to fetch a piece of late-ripening fruit, and at some point had lost her concentration (big surprise) and slipped from the branch that had held her. Now she draped awkwardly over a bent limb, her foot wedged awkwardly into a fork in the tree trunk. She scowled and grunted, trying to yank her pinched foot to freedom, but her efforts were in vain. She held her top half up only by a limb she had caught under her armpit, and her tail and rump dangled helplessly from the tree.

All the while, the leaves rustled and swayed with her shifting weight.

She had been too busy with her plight to bother keeping an eye out for anyone nearby. Of course, calling for help had occurred to her, but it would be too mortifying having to howl for help from AniWaya because she had slipped while climbing a tree! How could she ever visit the pack again and look anyone in the eye? Then, as stories go, it would certainly reach the Court sooner or later. Orin was known for her antics, but still felt shame and embarrassment at the right times. She would not resort to howling for help from an AniWayan patrol unit… if one was even nearby… not yet anyway.

She clenched her eyes shut and her features scrunched as she tried another mighty heave to loosen her foot, though it would not budge. In order to be freed, she would need to be able to lift up, but since so much weight was on her wedged foot she couldn’t get any leverage to do so. Sighing with frustrated exhaustion, she let her head droop towards the ground for a moment of respite and saw… a wolf!

Her worried eyes went wide at the sight of the man below, and her jaw parted slightly in surprise. She had no way of identifying this man as an AniWayan, and so did not know if he was friend or foe. Her one arm twisted around the creaking limb tightened, sharp nails boring deep ruts into the bark as she grew tense with insecurity. There was no way he couldn’t know she was there, though, she had been making so much noise!! The wolfess closed her eyes and swallowed hard, then blinked her eyes open again to the vision of the man looking up at her, and then starting for the tree. What was that he just said? She could hardly make it out through her struggle, and the sound of her own heartbeat pounding in her ears. But, she had heard him right.

“Oh, thank you!” She called down to him, and relaxed for a moment. Her time in the tree had been no picnic, and there was no telling how long she had been stuck there before the man happened by, but by the looks of her exhausted state, it could have been hours. She breathed heavily as she watched the autumn-colored wolf climb the tree. He was coming to help! But… something was off… What is that in his eyes? Is it fear? Or is it hunger? Orin was never a very good judge! Still, as long as she could get to the ground she could probably outrun him… that is, if her foot wasn’t too injured by now.

She tried to remain relaxed when his hand closed around her foot and dislodged it from the V in the tree trunk, and did her best to help and not hinder as he pulled her away from the one broken limb that held her up. Just as his arm wrapped around her at the waist, there was a resounding SNAP and the limb that she had been dangling from clattered to the forest floor.

She let out a little whimper, and immediately pushed herself into Shawchert, her arms wrapping tightly around his midsection. It would seem she no longer worried whether or not he was a good guy or a bad guy. Even if he had not intended to carry her down before, her death-grip on him would ensure that he would now. And normally she was so good in trees! Why this, why today?

She stared at the incoming ground while they made a quick descent from the tree, and finally loosened her grip around his ribs (and probably giving him his first chance to breathe) so he could set her down. Her rump bumped to the ground, and she rubbed her sore hands in the damp grass for a moment, savoring the feel of soft, safe ground. Almost instantly, her panicked breathing began to slow as she realized all reason to fear was over… thanks to this wolf.

Thanks to this… she looked him up and down… rather handsome wolf…

She nodded slowly as she carefully prodded at various points, checking for injury. “I think I’m mostly okay… maybe a bruise or two. Let me see if I can… oh! Ouch!” She tried to get up, but the moment she applied any weight to the foot, she sobbed and fell forward into the wolf. “Oh I’m sorry!” Though her tone was sincere, she didn’t look completely apologetic for having fallen into his arms. “I guess it’s sprained.”

She looked down at her foot in pain and dismay. “At least, I don’t think it hurts bad enough to be broken.” She glanced down at the leg for a moment, then turned back to the man, holding herself upright by him even if he wasn’t holding her back. “My name is Orin, thank you for saving my life. Or my foot, at the very least.”

“Merry met, Shawchert. Yes, that would be great. Thank you,” she nodded when he offered to assess her injury. Orin lingered there for a moment, then limped back on one foot and took a seat on the limb that had fallen from the tree a moment before, assuming standing on the foot would not be the best way to have him examine it. She smiled up at him. “It’s really sore, please be careful.” There was worry in her eyes and tone, but she was ready to let him take a look.

When he inquired about how she had gotten into that predicament in the first place, her eyes moved to the hand that still clutched the red-skinned fruit, that one very ripe apple she had climbed all the way up to retrieve. She wasn’t sure if she was still hungry anymore. She should be, the ordeal took a lot out of her, but somehow the hunger pangs had been replaced with a funny, airy, butterfly-like feeling in her stomach. She looked back up to Shawchert and held out the fruit. “Here, I want you to have this. It’s the least I could do for the help. I don’t think I can ever repay you…” She smiled sweetly, genuinely, hoping he would accept the offering.

“I’m usually pretty good in trees, I promise. Well, I can be clumsy a lot of the time, but when I pay attention I’m really quite stealthy. I guess I just lost my focus. I have no idea how I got stuck like that. I was so happy when I caught that branch instead of hitting the ground, until I noticed my foot was stuck too! Ooh, ow!” As though mentioning it reminded her it was hurt, she winced with another pang in her foot. She recovered quickly, trying not to play too injured.

“So, are you from AniWaya?”

She chewed on her lip while she contemplated an honest answer. “It’s pretty bad, but I guess it could be worse. I don’t feel any bits grinding around when you do that… it’s kind of just a throbbing now.” She nodded as she stared at her injured foot, then turned her gaze back to Shawchert. She relaxed when he set her foot back down and accepted her offering, happy he wasn’t manipulating her foot any longer and that the examination was over, and delighted that he accepted the fruit. She smiled delightedly as he handed her half of it, and she accepted with warmth and took a hearty bite from the fruit. Her appetite had not been as injured as she first thought.

“Cercatori d’Arte?” she pondered the name for a moment… it sounded like something else she’d once read. “I haven’t heard of it. How ‘just established’ is your just established pack?” She grinned. “Then again, I haven’t exactly been very worldly lately.” Was she ever? “I’ve been traveling a bit. I don’t usually travel, especially not alone. I was just here visiting AniWaya,” she nodded toward the fencing in the distance, “for a little bit. I live in Cour des Miracles, up north-east of here. I’m looking for someone. My brother’s mate went missing, so I came to see if she had been by here. I stayed a few days to rest, and was moving on when… well, you know.” She waved at her foot and sighed. “I guess I can’t do much traveling now.” She dropped her chin onto her hand, downtrodden, her eyebrows pursed with worry.

She was silent for a moment, staring at the trees in front of her, then with a thought turned to Shawchert with sudden intense interest. “So, Cercatori d’Arte? D’arte means art. I’m not sure what cercatori is, but the ring of it… it sounds like comedia dell’arte! Do you know what that is? ‘Comedy of Art.’ It is a style of outdoor theatre… very expressive, lots of improvisation, that kind of thing. I’ve read some of the ancient plays. They’re really funny,” she turned her grin on Shawchert, though it began to fade almost immediately. She swiped a hand through the air and took another bite of fruit. “But I don’t suppose you’d be interested in anything like that. Sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking… no one but me is ever interested in my books.” She dropped her chin onto her hand again, slouching with dissuasion.

Come on now, Orin, don’t be silly. Why would this stranger care about any of that? No one ever knows what you’re talking about, and no one but you ever cares… Perhaps it was the recent embarrassment, or the injury to her leg, but she was suddenly feeling very down. A handsome stranger had just saved her life, and she couldn’t even pep up for him. A kind… she glanced sideways at him… friendly… blink… handsome… ear twitch… hero… she grinned as her heart skipped in her chest.

She did her best not to wince when he took her foot again and began wrapping it. The skill and care with which he wrapped the gauze was amazing; with as tender as her leg now was she barely felt a thing. At first the extra pressure was a burden, but soon her agitated nerves were soothed by some of the work being taken off of them, her muscles able to rely on the skillfully wrapped bandage for a little extra support so it could rest and begin to heal. It was pretty amazing how he managed not to pinch or pull any fur, either. “Oh, well, Niro would be but he got injured in a hunting accident and hasn’t been fit to travel for weeks. I took off without letting him know what I was doing, really. He never would have let me go. I’m sure he’ll be up and looking as soon as he gets better, but when I left it didn’t look like it would be any time soon, so I knew I had to get out and start looking before she got much farther away. Especially if she was kidnapped or something!”

Then the unexpected happened… the man had actually taken note of what Orin was talking about, and not only that, but showed an authentic interest in it! Her eyes brightened and her ears perked up to perfect little points. She was suddenly alive and excited, a perfect U-turn from her somewhat dejected feeling just a moment before. Even her pink tail brushed the foliage with delighted little twitches.

“Wow! Well, usually I tell people about the stuff I’ve read or written, and they don’t care. I mean, sure, most of the time people try to be nice but I can see it in their eyes that I’m boring them. I feel so out of place. So many people haven’t had time to learn to read, or think writing down your thoughts, and especially stories, especially if they’re fiction, is a waste of time! They just don’t understand, you know? It’s hard when you can’t connect with anyone. Don’t get me wrong, I love my pack, but I haven’t really met anyone whose cared about the things I do.” Her golden eyes were alight with a new vigor and raised to meet Shawchert’s. She could barely believe this man was saying the things he was! It was too good to be true. Maybe she really did fall out of the tree and bumped her head a little too hard and this was all a dream. She thought about pinching herself, but then remembered that the pain in her ankle was enough to prove she was awake.

“That’s it,” she snapped her fingers. “Seekers of art! Your pack sounds… unreal. I read, a lot, as you can tell. I’ve read so much about the traveling performance troupes and thought about how amazing it would be to be an entertainer… to be able to spread your stories and take people into other worlds for a little while. I wanted to put on a play in Cour des Miracles, but never really had the chance to get it together. I don’t really know if anyone is that interested.

“And can you imagine what it would be like for a little pup to get to see one of these shows? To be able to dream with the help of his pack?” Her smile grew wistful. “I would have loved to see something like that when I was a pup. To know that one day I could learn to change and dance like those beautiful gypsies, or fret with Pantalone, or laugh with Harlequin.”

She watched eagerly as he reached for his pack, not having noticed it before. Her voice trailed off as he proffered the instrument from the bag, eyes widening at the sight of the carved instrument. She wanted to reach out and touch it, as was her common reaction to all things attractive, but kept her hands to herself as he put the woodwind to his mouth and began to play. Her lids closed and she let herself be taken by the music.

After a moment, she turned her gaze back to the musician, a calmness had overtaken her countenance. “You play beautifully. You make me want to dance.” She shot a frustrated glance at her leg. “Maybe some day we could dance and play together. Are there other musicians in your pack? I would love to hear a concert some time. I’m no musician myself, but I have an ear for rhythm and love to dance.”

Though she did not notice when, at some point she had surreptitiously scooted herself closer to the man, and was leaning in toward him. Her eyes were hypnotized by his fingers manipulating the parts of the instrument to craft the music.

“So, where are your pack lands located?”

She looked guilty for only a moment. “Well, I did leave him a not saying I would be back in a few weeks. I think that was good enough.” Had she been completely upfront with Niro he would not have let her go on her mission, she would not be able to help him in his plight, nor visit other lands like she was doing now, and she never would have met this stranger or anyone from AniWaya. Well, probably not never, but certainly not as soon. For a moment she thought she should try, but she couldn’t make herself feel in the wrong for it. With a flicking motion of her hand, the subject was dropped from Orin’s mind.

“Well, I can understand not hauling books around with you. You can only take so much when you have to up and go. I don’t even have most of the books I’ve read, but I’m working on a new collection. Some day they’ll be gone, but that’s why I store it all here,” she tapped her temple. “I do everything I can to keep my journal with me, though. Oh! My journal! My satchel...” It certainly had not gone up the tree with her. She glanced around, looking for the place she had stashed her things, and soon noticed the gray shadow of the rock and thorny bush she had hidden her things in. She couldn’t see her pack there, but was certain it still was, since the only other person who had been by was Shawchert here, and he certainly didn’t have her stuff hidden away in his fur.

Forgetting about her backpack for a moment, she brightened. “Oh! Maybe I could teach you? I mean, with reading, if you already know how a lot of people think it’s just about practice from there. And it is. But I could probably help a little.”

“I know of some performances that can be put on with only a few members. Musicians can double as characters…an actor can have more than one part… that kind of thing. You can carry a story without many words… music and dance is just as powerful. Maybe an act like that would be good for your pack until you have more actors?” She cocked her head, thinking. “I would love to see that. I envy you so much right now!”

As he talked about where his pack lands were location, she conjured up the memory of the map of the area. She had not visited all of the territories herself but had once seen a rough map made by some wolf that had the basic lands plotted out. After a sufficient pause, she said apprehensively, “I think… Well I think that’s Dahlia de Mai, but I haven’t been there myself and I could be remembering the map incorrectly. I wish I could come see it. It sounds like a dream.”

Her voice trailed off as she stared up into the wolf’s visage, dreams playing behind her eyes. There was something so refreshing… so enlivening about being in this wolf’s presence! He was a hero, a leader, an artist, and there was some kind of feral attraction to him that Orin had not yet pinpointed. She didn’t even think twice when she reached out and brushed her fingertips over the patterned fur of his cheek, admiring both his countenance and his character. “What a vision. It really sounds like an amazing place to call home.”

It was just what she had been waiting for! He said it! She did not even know she was waiting to hear it until the words came out of his mouth, but suddenly her heart lurched with exhilaration and joy, her hands trembled with the sudden, unexpected excitement. He asked! This stranger had just invited her, little, misunderstood Orin, to join his pack! The pack, this stranger, the embarrassing day, it was all like a dream, like some fantasy she just made up, but it wasn’t. It was real, and he had just invited her to join his sensational pack. Never mind the indirectness of the invitation – that did not phase Orin in the least, for she wanted so badly to be a part of this grand idea that she probably would have imagined her own invitation soon enough.

With a squeal she launched herself at Shawchert and threw her tiny arms around his wide shoulders, capturing him in a full embrace. “Really? You mean it? I would love to join!” It was like a thousand dreams had been realized. She was so wrapped up in this moment that she did not even think about the fact that joining another pack would mean she and Niro would be living apart for the first time in their lives. There were other concerns, too, like whether or not she could bring the things she had gathered with her, or would have to leave them behind in Cour des Miracles. But none of the material things mattered, deep inside she knew she could let them go to take hold of this opportunity. The only thing that would matter would be Niro’s reaction; a concern that she was not yet calm enough to put much thought to.

She held Shawchert tightly for a while before finally loosening her grip (that was surprisingly tight for such a tiny wolfess, though Shawchert in all his bulk could easily push her away) to lean back and look at Shawchert. She was still pressed up against him, arms around his shoulders, face close to his. Such close proximity was not rare for a high-contact girl like Orin. She was often boisterous, affectionate, and touchy. But this time there was a new thrill about this embrace – an extra underscoring beneath her obvious reason for excitement.

“Yes, I want to see the lands as soon as possible. My leg,” she rotated her ankle, and it stung, but the pain did not seem so intense anymore. “Well, maybe if I had a walking stick... or perhaps there is a horse or cart we could hire from AniWaya? Or, you know, I bet I would be ok in Lupus form. It would be faster than limping on two legs, anyway. I don’t care, I just want to go!

“It will be perfect! The shows we can put on! The stories we will tell!” She made a grand wave with her hand. “I need ink and paper! I have a thousand ideas. And we need fabric! The right mixture of flowing garments and music can make a dance so entrancing. Oh! And fire-batons... I read about fire-dancers once and always wanted to learn the art! Our first show... you can write all the music! We – our pack - can take people on an emotional journey… I know you can write music like that! I can tell, even with just the little bit you played. You know why? You have the heart for it. I saw it the moment I laid eyes on you! I knew there was something different about you, that you weren’t just some random stranger. Our first show will be amazing! I can see it already! Can you? And it’ll only get better from there. We’ll all get better, and grow together…”

It was clear that she was lost in what she was saying, completely immersed in her words and believing in every breath. Her eyes glistened with the joyous tears that welled in them (but did not stream down her cheeks). And then, without thought or warning for herself or Shawchert, she let the dream control her, and leaned in and kissed Shawchert… a passionate, vehement kiss fueled by the intoxicating adventure of the moment.