Anya sighed. Her wounds still hadn't quite healed, but the memories of her fight were still fresh in her mind. SHe had no idea when the memories would fade into oblivion, but she wished they would hurry up with it. SHe had better things to do than dwell on the past and on her...rebellion against her father. He had gotten what he deserved, even if it had taken so many months to stand up to him.


Anya stalked a grasshopper in the fields, not paying much attention to her surroundings. She wasn't hunting the grasshopper for food, just as entertainment. She knew very well that grasshoppers did not taste very good. Anya preferred rabbit meat over anything. So tender, luscious meat was perfect to end the day with. But rabbit was hard to fnd, and Anya didn't want to risk the pack's favor just for some good meat.

She got bored after a while, and stopped tormenting the grasshopper. Spotting a tree nearby, Anya decided it would be a perfect spot to take a nap. So she trotted over to the tree, sitting in a hollow at the base.

Mulling over being accepted into the pack, Anya also noted that she was stting next to a fairly large stand of yarrow. Thank goodness for that; if anyone had a mosquito bite or two, she would be able to help out.

Anya closed her eyes, thinking about the pack. She had figured out pretty quickly that she would still be a stranger, since most of the wolves in this pack were luperci. But she didn't really care. As long as she had a safe home to return to in the evenings after wandering the pack lands, Anya didn't really mind. But she was curious. Would she ever end up being luperci like the rest of them?

Xeris was wandering through the field, rather bored. The light breeze ruffled her fur as she trotted along, in her lupus form as she felt most comfortable. It seemed that the rain had finally decided to stop for a little while, and the white wolf was thankful for that; as much as she liked the rain and the water, too much rain wore her down and made her feel rather gloomy. Her bright golden eyes suddenly spotted something odd in the field; it took her a moment to realize that it was another wolf--the first one she'd seen in a while that was not in the werewolf-like optime form.

She then realized that she hadn't ever seen this wolf before. Maybe it was someone new. She hoped it wasn't another rude stranger like she'd met before. Hoping in her heart that this unfamiliar face would be friendly, Xeris began to walk toward the tree where the other was sitting. Feeling a little nervous and not wanting to frighten or startle the stranger, she walked over to where she was in view and said kindly, "Hi there. I haven't seen you around before, are you new here?"

Anya heard the female long before she spoke; being on the look out for the loner pack had made her cautious like that. So when the female cleared her throat and began to speak, Anya smiled slightly and opened her eyes, relishing in the wind ruffling her furs.

"Hello. You are the first to willingly approach me since I came here. Yes, I am fairly new to this wonderful place. Da Vinci took me in about a week ago. Under his kind wing, so to speak, my wounds have healed, and I feel better than ever." Anya smiled again. "I haven't smiled this much in, well, ever. My name is Anya...and you are?"

Anya scooted over a bit to make room for this new female. There was more than enough room.

Ty had been relaxing in a tree for quite a while, at first he had wanted to climb it because he wanted to see more of the land from up high, but when he got up there, he suddenly got very tired and kept dozing off, perhaps the laziness of not doing any jobs lately was settling in, but Ty just seemed to sleep whenever he felt tired. He dozed quietly even when the other two wolves arrived, he'd found a rather large branch to lay on, so there was no worry of him falling to an abrupt awakening.

However, now that Xeris and Anya were talking, his rest was disturbed due to the noise, and he only caught part of the conversation, hearing Davinci, and his involvement in something, he hadn't caught all of it, he heard something aobut wounds, and his father saving her, but not the whole tale. Nevertheless, he turned to see the two wolves below him, and called out "So you know my father then!" and chuckled. He quickly began to slip down the tree saying. "I'm sorry to have jumped in, I'm Ty, hold on a second and I'll come right down. And by the way, hi Xeris!" He smiled to the white wolf and made a small wave before sliding down the large trunk, using the branches as footrests.

Anya practically yipped in shock as she heard a voice coming from above her.

"You shouldn't scare people like that. You might end up getting hurt..." His words sank in, and she paused. [b]"You're Da Vinci's offspring?" she stuttered. "Should I be showing you undying respect, or what?"

She stepped out of the way as Ty jumped down beside them.

Ty landed softly near the two of the females, quickly dusting himself off. Hearing Anya's sudden stuttering about him being Davinci's son, he laughed a genuine hearty laugh, good humor like that wasn't made up and he knew it. "Nah, why would you so me respect? I've personally done nothing for you, granted since you are a part of this pack you are my family now, but judge me for me, not my father." He replied to her question with a smile. After a bit more dusting off, he continued. "ad as for scaring people, that wasn't my intention, I thought you would've seen me up in that tree...my mistake, sorry about that."

Ty spoke with a casual flair, yet still being polite and gentlemanly at the same time, it was an odd blend of manners and reassurance that Ty was very good at, even though he had no clue about that. He already knew Xeris fairly well, and regarded her in high respect, but he was curious about this new wolf. He hadn't seen her before, and always looked forward to meeting a new face. He spoke up again, but this time to Xeris. "I'm sorry xeris, I didn't mean to intrude on your conversation. I just heard voices below me and decided to jump in!"

Xeris smiled. "My name is Xeris. It's nice to meet you, Anya. I'm always glad to see a new face." She was suddenly startled by the appearance of Ty. She chuckled a little at her friend as he climbed down the tree to see them. "Hey Ty. It's nice to see you again." She looked over to Anya, taking in what she had said about her wounds being healed and feeling happy. Xeris remembered feeling a similar happiness when she first joined Phoenix Valley.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that you're feeling well. I'm sure you'll get along just fine here in the pack. I met DaVinci too, but only once. That was...a while ago." It was only now that Xeris reflected on the amount of time that she'd been here. It had been over a month since she'd been accepted into Phoenix Valley, and she'd made so many new friends and had so much fun that it seemed like she'd been there forever.

"How did you two come to be in Phoenix Valley? It seems like such a wonderful place; I don't see why anyone would want to leave in the first place."

Anya had so many questions, they were beginning to pile up in the unused corners of her brain. She was practically jumping up and down with curiosity, something that ad not happened since she was a small pup stalking grasshoppers.

The male was interesting to look at. While the female standing next to him had also caught Anya's eyes with her gorgeous coat, Anya quietly noted to herself that this male's eyes were different. She had seen it somewhere before, but kept her mouth shut. THat question could come later.

Rendall had awoken to the sounds of talking, she had rested underneath the tree for a little too long, she decided it was time to leave, she crawled closer to the talking, she suddenly realized the voices, at least two of them, the other she didnt, It was Ty's and Xeris' voices that brought the pup closer, she emerged from the bushes, and rushed towards Xeris "Xeris! Ty!"

She tackled the white female and gave her a hug the pup was in her opitum form so she was alittle clumsy and she tried not to bowl Ty over as she gave him a hug as well, the little blue pup then turned her attention to the new voice, It was a she-wolf from Pheonix Vally, the one that Da Vinci had told her about , she smiled at the grey one "Hello sorry about that, i'm alittle clumsy in this form." She turned back into her lupus form "There, oh forgive me, my name is Rendall I live with the one who found you, Da Vinci, whats your name?"

She grinned at the grey she-wolf, it was nice to see another wolf had founf their way into Pheonix Vally, Rendall thought she had been new and looked down at the wounds on her body, the pup gasped, "Oh I'm sorry, that was rude, but dont worry you wont experience anythin like that here in Pheonix Vally." The pup really did talk too much, she blushed and sat down next to Xeris

Ty made a soft gruff noise as the little blue pup collided with him, giving him a big hug. He laughed lightly as he returned the embrace lightly to the small pup. Chuckling lightly, he spoke up again "Well hello to you too rendall, good to see you again." He said as he looked back to Anya. He was curious about the grey wolf, who was visibly a stunning creature, her grey coat, although common, had a certain shine to it.

He heard Anya's question, and shrugged, he didn't need to give this one too much thought "I was born here." He said. "I left, but I came back because..well...it's home to me." He said, right to the point. He could see on the female's face that she had more questions, and he was more then willing the answer each one.

"Have you always had oddly colored eyes, or did you aquire them as you grew older?"

Anya laughed after asking the question. The pup was so comical, you couldn't help BUT to laugh. Anya could tell that the pup was berating herself for chattering, but it was nice to have someone talking so much after being secluded in silence with the loners.

"I'm Anya, little one. Your guardian also took me in. For the time being. I hope to help this pack out as much as I can. I have some knowledge with herbs and what I don't know, I can learn quickly."

Xeris smiled as she saw Rendall bounding over to greet her. "Hi there, Rendall! It's good to see you." The white wolf returned the hug as best she could in her lupus form and moved over a little to allow room for the pup to sit beside her. Xeris chuckled a little. "See, Anya, everyone's pretty friendly here!" Xeris then considered the gray wolf's question.

"Well, I come from very far away. To make a long story short, I was banished from my father's pack because of my Luperci state. But to me, it doesn't matter if someone is a hybrid or a Luperci or whatever, I believe they should all be treated the same." Xeris kept herself in check, not wanting to ramble for too long as the thought of her past had a tendency to cause her to do so. "So I just happened to come across the pack territory one night. DaVinci accepted me into the pack too, but I don't see him very often." Xeris hoped that would be an adequate enough answer for Anya's question.

Rendall listened intently as Xeris told the grey she-wolf of her past, she figited a bit but was intent on listening as best as she could. "So what brought you here anya?" She looked around at the local bug life and was begining to stalk a victim grasshopper when Ty caught her eye.

He stared at Anya like he never seen anything else like her before, she giggled and crawled around Anya and touched her shoulder "I think Ty likes you...alot" she whispered into anyas ear. The pup, obviously wanting to cause alittle mistchief, looked over at Ty and grinned innocently

Anya smiled as she watched the pup stalk her prey. "You know, stalking grasshoppers is fun, but don't set your teeth down on one. They don't exactly make the best snack."

When the pup implicated that Ty had an interest in her, Anya glanced up, but didn't notice anything unusual.

"I came here under harsh circumstances...as you can see from the scars." Anya paused unwilling to go on, hoping that someone would understand that.

"How did you come to be here, little Rendall?" The pup was very entertaining to watch, wiggling her butt like a cat when she got ready to pounce.

"I beg to disagree, grasshoppers make good meals when you don't have anything else to eat." Ty said with a chuckle. "Lord knows I had to eat a few to make ends meet." He said as he continued to listen to Anya's story, hearing about the scars, he interjected lightly "Well....most people have scars here anyway, I mean, look at me, I got quite a few despite my demeanor." He said as he gestured to his own scars, which were quite plentiful when it came down to it.

When Rendall began whispering to Anya and looking at him, Ty gave her a confused look, what exactly was she doing? He wasn't quite sure, was she trying to set them up or something? Ty didn't really care at the moment, so he simply shrugged it off, as he did many things.

The pup turned to face Anya again, she had been stalking another grasshopper, but quickly turned her attention when she heard her past come up.

"Well like most people here I'm alittle unusual from my kind, and because of that me and my mother were cast from our pack, with severe injuries on our bodies, mostly our fore legs, in the end, it was because of those wounds i lost my mother, my father was killed out of pure hatred for who and what he was...." the pup was sad at the memories of her being alone in the jungle not long ago, it was a scary and depressing time for her

she looked back and smiled at the grey she-wolf [b]"...however, my gardian Da Vinci found me and took me in and now i have a new life with a good family, you see alot of wolves come from very bad backrounds of pain, loss, and suffering, but here we are given a second chance at life, here noone judges you for who you are, so you can be happy to live without towing your past behind you."[b/]

Rendall went and sat back down beside Xeris, the pup still tried to avoid the sunlight unless she was alone, even though many people liked her highlights, they made Rendall feel out of place, so she sat happily in the shade next to her beautiful white sister.

Anya giggled at Ty's obvious confusion at Rendall's glance. She saw him shrug off his confusion, and smiled to herself.

"I have an odd question for you who are luperci. How do you become luperci if you are not born so? Is there a...process to it all?"

Anya noticed that the wolves had gathered around her....and she tried not to panic. Granted, these were wolves that she trusted, but being enclosed like this was still really unpleasant. She tried to calm herself down by giving her paws a couple licks.

Ty perked up his ears when she asked how to become a luperci, and he turned to face Anya "Ah...I've been told about this, there are quite a few ways to become a luperci." He said with a small scratch of his chin, trying to recall how it was done. "Now something has to be transferred from the luperci to the wolf...a lot of it." He looked whimsically at the sky. "Well, it could happen after fighting a luperci, and suffering enough wounds. Of course....the common way it happens is...well..." He looked to Rendell, did she know about these things? She was just a pup and Ty didn't want to explain how the birds and the bees worked to her, so he simply scratched the back of the head and said "...being very intimate...if you catch my drift."

Ty suddenly realized with that sentence that he was the only male here in this group, which surprisingly, had been happening to him a lot, where were the other males here? Besides the two leaders and Pendzez, he had met nothing but females, what was up with that?

Rendall couldnt help but laugh at Ty, thankfully she diddnt understand it but from the way Ty had acted she was sure she really wanted to know. She just smiled at Anya and pretended to just go with the flow.

"Any wound that you dont treat immediatly from a luprici will change you into one its the less...." the pup glanced at Ty,"...complicated way to do stuff even though it hurts alot more."

Xeris couldn't help but giggle at Rendall's comment to Anya. Thinking about it for a moment, she supposed that Ty and Anya would make a cute couple. But then again, it wasn't her decision whether or not they fell in love or not. She watched as Rendall stalked a grasshopper; obviously the pup had been doing lots of hunting practice. Someday, Xeris thought, Rendall's going to grow up to be a really good hunter, I bet..

The white wolf fidgeted a little when Anya brought up the idea of Luperci Verto. Ty seemed to think that the Luperci traits were generally transferred by intimate contact. "Well..." Xeris said rather quietly. "I became a Luperci when I was attacked by another Luperci. The wounds...have to be pretty bad in order to transfer the characteristics, though..." She trailed off a little, still rather uncomfortable with the thought of her past but didn't want to seem too cowardly to talk about it.

She also noticed that Anya appeared to be feeling rather uncomfortable. It was understandable, as she was new here and had just met so many others. Xeris hoped that the silver wolf would get used to their presence and stay good friends with everyone.