Zalen still occupied his optime form, something he hadn’t changed out of since his encounter with cougar. His leg still hurt where it had been twisted, but luckily he managed to move around the den site without letting his limp seem to obvious. There was danger when it came to appearances in his pack, and he could not, would not look weak.
He wanted to spend some time with Titania this day but it seemed as if she and her mother were off doing something. No matter, Zalen could occupy himself one way or another. Most of the pack members were napping or milling about, and while he greeted the awake ones in turn he took his leave into the brush. He headed towards the south eastern border then, which had turned out to be the most active since New Dawn’s inception. This was only rightly so, since it was border facing the only safe passage through the Halycon mountain range; only he and a select few knew the secret pass that went through the mountains and came out where the Pictou River spilled from the rock.
He was nearly at the borders, stopping to scent mark when the call rang out. It was clearly coyotes and Zalen scowled at it. It was not Myrika, for he had made sure to remember the lilt in her voice. No, it was another female, and Zalen loped in that direction all fours. Zalen had found that even in optime, movement on four legs was much more comfortable then jogging on two, so he remained a quadruped even when his form lent him the bipedal option.
He paused in the trees as he neared the place the call had come from, and there he spied a small female coyote. But where he might have been annoyed and frustrated at her appearance, this female was familiar to him. Yes, it was Vesper, the ragged and scarred coyote he had met those many moon’s ago, on the outskirts of Halifax. The memory brought a smile to his face, for she had been so silly and clumsy around the car he had found her in. Now in a better mood, Zalen stepped forward out the trees and took a casual gait towards her.
Vesper! He called out, coming right up to the female and bumping noses with her. It wasn’t that they were friends, for their first meeting had been cordial at best, but he had no quarrel with her, and was only curious as to her appearance. But as soon as his nose was close, he could smell upon her the stench of Inferni and he backed up suddenly, the hair on his shoulders and back perking just for a moment. But he calmed then, Hello, do you remember me? He asked then, standing many inches above her in this form, and in a dominant stance.
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