[M] Stubborn

Noss · 10-19-2010, 06:45 AM

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Sorry; computer lock, parents, THAT whole spiel. But it's OVER! Big Grin

The short elaboration on AniWaya hooked Noss's interest, if not only that it was the closest lead he had. Horses and feathers... Not many other wolf packs and tribes Noss had seen did as they did, so it may as well have been worth a shot. Then again, he had thought that the first few seconds after seeing a wolf in the Dahlia territory before he was attacked. I'm a wolf; not some damn prey.

"So you like fierce men instead of delicate ladies?" His new conversationalist was delving deeper into Noss's personal interest rather than getting to the heart of why he had approached him... But... The long months of trying to find Ralla had left Noss devoid of companionship for the better part of the journey. "The ladies break too easily," he tried to joke. His mood was not as good as it usually was when he was fooling around with his warriors, but a good bit of humor--tasteful or not--appealed to the road-weary wolf. Not even a proud warrior was immune to the dictations of his endurance, and Noss was no immortal.

"Because I'm not," was Strel's answer to Noss's bet. It sparked Noss's interest in more ways than one, even as he kept his eyes glued to the stranger with their sharp gaze. It was not threatening, merely...a part of Noss's persona; his facade to appear impenetrable through the spirit. He was a fool to be talking so freely with a strange wolf after his last escapade, but... His instincts spoke to him like the moon spoke to Ralla; there was no danger here.

"I left everything behind to find her," he stated. "If I die, the Crescent Moon Pack is handed off to a branching bloodline, and our line is lost. But she is much more important to the pack than a Chief or Chief-to-be." They were true, bitter words. He never held the level of importance on the matter in much esteem before, but the reality of it was that a Chief was easily replaced, and that Shamans rarely came around. True, they had been lucky with Noss and Ralla's mother becoming the Shaman after Ralla's birth and then Ralla herself. But their mother had died, and Ralla had run away. It was as if the moon were forsaking them from contact. That couldn't be it... Could it...? He shook that terrible thought from his mind as the next one came in as if waiting for that exact cue. Father... Yes, their father would be furious, and at the same time... Calum as a father would be relieved, but Calum as the Chief would have no choice but to set an ample example and shun his daughter as she went through the Shamanic Ritual again. And Noss would have to join him in it... They would never speak to her normally again--if ever--and the last words that they would be exchanging would be nothing.

"That...is none of your concern," Noss left off addressing the last question. He didn't want to subject Ralla to the fate that awaited her, but in the Crescent Moon Pack, she was safe and where she belonged. Here...he didn't know what had become of her, much less where she was. For all he knew, she could be somewhere miles away from the land he was in, and all he had were his select leads and the words of that other Shaman. "You've been interrogating me thus far, Strel," Noss said with a rolling of the tongue. He knew not if that was right, but the combination of letters and the particular accent he had come to hear did not deter the language and pronunciation he had grown up with. "But what about you? What are you doing out here?"

Warrior walks. "Warrior talks." Warrior thinks.

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