Soran's going to be so pleased to see Titania when she finds out who she is There were faint tracks in the thin layer of snow that had rested upon the ground, tracks made by a wolf treading lightly across the lands; the left forepaw mark seemed to be less embedded than the others, showing a strange weight distribution, almost as if the creator of the paw prints had a slight limp. The truth was that once one followed the tracks they would quickly come upon the sable Censor of the Crimson Dreams pack and today she did indeed have a limp. The wound to the dark female's upper left leg had been quick to heal, the only evidence that the sable mother had been stabbed with her own knife was a small scar now; however the muscle beneath it had been damaged and it was taking longer than expected to heal. The injured arm had been in a sling now for weeks, Soran not wanting to risk a shift lest she damage the injured muscle more, but finally she had given in and made the change into her Lupus form. She had felt like an invalid in her Optime form, she had never done so before, but being stuck in it, unable to hunt on four legs like she had been used to was slowly driving her insane, in truth she had become a very accomplished hunter with her hunting knife, using it to throw at small unsuspecting prey, they had always looked so surprised when the blade connected with them, but she missed the chase, the proper hunt, having to get her daughters to gather food for her was becoming something that the independent female resented. And so once she had finished all of her duties the day before, making notes of the stocks of food that the pack had gathered so far for winter, inspecting some of the buildings for damage and working on her new pet project, painting a map of the known lands onto her bedroom wall, all from memory of course; the dark female had shifted. Yesterday the leg had not caused her too much pain, it had ached and protested as she had attempted to walk on it, but all in all the green eyed lady had felt invigorated and free being in her four legged form once more. But she had made the mistake of playing with her daughters, a little too much rough and tumble seemed to have set the healing process back. Soran had come across Rain and Kiwi playing like pups in the grounds around the manor, chasing snowflakes, snapping at them with their jaws, it had taken a little while but the dark pelted female had been coaxed into dancing and running about in the snow with them. The pain in the sable female's leg showed that that had not been the wisest of ideas.
The dark mother was now attempting to complete a patrol of the lands, she was the Censor of the pack now and that came with certain duties, certain responsibilities, also she knew of the difficulties her leaders had been having in the past weeks, Anu had only really recently arrived back from her ordeal, being kidnapped by the Aniwayans and Savina had herself only just returned from her own diplomatic duties there. So the ebony female was attempting to take the burden from their shoulders as much as she could, she intended to help out wherever she was able. So now she was patrolling the lands, she was not limping too obviously, but every now and again she would feel a sharp pain from her foreleg that was enough to elicit a hiss from between her sharp teeth. It was as she had one of these moments that she caught an unfamiliar scent on the wind, the wind itself had been blowing fiercely all day and it just happened that the Censor was now upwind of the borders. It seemed that there was someone nearby, someone that Soran did not know, they were not of the pack, surely someone who meant no harm would have called a greeting by now? The dark lady's ears flattened against her velvety skull for a moment and her eyes narrowed, with a great deal of effort she coerced her body into managing a quick trot towards the borders, the occasional pain in her left limb making her wince as she did so. The truth was that the war had made the usually very maternal female uneasy; she did not like unannounced strangers at the borders, after all the last unannounced guests had kidnapped her leader and her step granddaughter. The cold was beginning to make the sable female's leg ache as she padded towards the scent as well, not something that would help to improve her mood. Soon enough a small snowy female came into view; touches of crimson fur marking her. Soran paused and sniffed the air again, this girl smelt slightly of Cercatori D'Arte, the pack in which the Censor's stepson lived, perhaps this was not the danger she had supposed it to be. She padded closer in a slower fashion, more cautiously, testing the air with her nose every few steps, something which gave her a moment to pause and rest her weary limb.
She looked the girl over with careful green eyes as she approached, as that was all that she was to the older female, a girl, she seemed so young, she looked hungry somehow. Soran suddenly softened, she could not be angry at this girl, why she must have been frozen half to death out here. The sable female's ears shifted back to a more friendly position as she moved to stand a lot closer to the girl.
Hello, can I help you? You're awfully close to our borders. The green eyed lady asked, her tone warm and motherly, a far cry from the greeting she had intended to give this stranger. She could not help it though, somehow young girls that seemed lost brought out a great maternal side in the dreamer.
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