Surprisingly, the caverns’ gloom were soothing, they smelt of pack, of skins, of furs and a myriad other smells. The grizzled grey wolf had only been one of the pack for a few days now, but already he felt the land gaining a hold of him. The listless melancholia had abated, and his young spirit, made old by conflict, had begun to heal. His birth pack were never far from his mind, but the sadness of their memories had eased. Einarr still had nightmares, but sleep was not quite as difficult as it had been, of course there were good and bad nights. Unfortunately, he was still unfamiliar with many of the passages and tunnels, and while he did not mind exploring, indeed his tactician’s mind insisted he learn the terrain, it was sometimes tedious. He could easily find the exits, the scent of fresh air always wafted through the tunnels, but specific locations were more difficult.
Now he was lost, well that was perhaps inaccurate, he was unaware where the location was he wished to be in relation to himself, it was a subtle distinction, but to the grey wolf, an important one. Luckily the tunnels remained a constant temperature day or night, not to hot and not to cold, which meant he was at his leisure to explore, still, it might have been useful to find someone who knew their way around better than himself. He stood, the enormous Secui moving his head slowly, catching sounds and scents and slowly loping forwards.
Between raising her two pups and training her young owl, Ayasha found that she went through stages of missing Liam more or less. She still had hope that her mate would be coming home some point but she did worry that he would miss so much of their pups' lives. He had already missed most of their major speech developments. Hopefully, he would be back for their first time shifting. He also hoped that Bridget and D'Ryn wouldn’t resent him for leaving like her siblings had done to Kemo. She never really considered the man her father but she did know that Ahiga in particular disliked his father for abandoning them.
Her pups were both off doing who knows what and she was enjoying her alone time, which was on short supply since they had been born. Well, she wasn’t quite alone. Albus had taken to sticking on her shoulder whenever possible. He was starting to learn to hunt, though right it was for himself only. She didn’t want to worry about teaching him to not eat some of the things he caught for a while yet. She needed to work on her maps so was doing a controlled wandering of the caves, with paper and charcoal to make her map. But she stopped when she scented someone, and as she approached, she saw a male that seemed a little lost. "Hi there. Need help?"
The grizzled male’s attention was drawn away from the monotony of the gloomy caverns to the newcomer who’s voice had just broken the roar in his own ears. There was barely any light in the tunnels, what wolf would need light with their senses? But it took Einarr a moment to take in his packmate’s appearance, for she smelt like a packmate. Her pelt was crisp, and doubtless in the light, a brilliant white, but the colour of her eyes he could only guess at in here, they looked like nothing more than dark pools. The female was in her optime form and appeared a great deal smaller than many of the others he had come across within Anathema. The Secui male bowed respectfully to his superior before replying in his deep voice.
”I am new to these lands and have been attempting to gain a greater understanding of the paths within the mountain. Unfortunately at the moment I find myself….unable to locate various rooms, food stores, sleeping quarters, training rooms etc.”
His words sounded like those a bard might use, flowing as they were, but his tone was that of one who was used to conveying only facts and practical things. His speech lacked any intonation or accent, so his thoughts were almost impossible to decipher.
”Perhaps you would be willing to allow me to follow you around the tunnels and allow me to orient myself?”
He asked. He wasn’t lost, his tactician’s mind would never allow him to even consider that possibility.
He was in Secui form and was rather large muscled and would likely tower over her when he stood up. But that didn’t mean she was afraid of him. In general, she tended not to be afraid of anyone upon first meeting. But Albus peered at the stranger but did nothing. He seemed to realize that since he was well within Anathema territory that he belonged here. Ayasha noted her bird's wary but curious look with an indulgent smile. That bird was still getting used to canines that weren’t here, D'ryn, or Bridget. She doubted he would recognize her mate since he had been gone for so long and had left not long after she rescued the young bird.
But her attention was soon caught but the words that the male was saying. He said a lot of words that made him seem like he wasn’t lost but did a rather poor job of hiding the fact that he was indeed lost. Yet she didn’t mention that small detail. That would just be rude. But his suggestion was rather good. He needed to learn his way around the caves, she needed to make her map, and she was also a bit lonely. So she nodded, saying, "Sure. Anywhere in particular you wanted to be shown? I'm Ayasha by the way." He seemed polite and fairly nice.
Ayasha’s bird was another custom of these lands that Einarr was yet unaccustomed to. It felt strange to him to watch as hunters took prey as pets, and could potentially lead to a mistake. He nodded as she introduced herself.
”I am Einarr, and perhaps the most important are the food stores, so I am able to bring what I do not finish of my kills, I am sure that they are in this direction somewhere.”
He turned and padded a few steps down a gloomy tunnel, stopped and turning to look back at his pack mate. Waiting for her to correct him or lead the way. He asked a question though as well.
” I have seen others in the pack that keep…creatures with them also, it is a custom I have not come across before. Why do you have a bird upon your shoulder? Is it a form of spirit?”
Einarr had grown up around Shaman, if she said yes, it would not be something that would surprise him, but he didn’t think so, apparently spirits didn’t often manifest themselves, at least that’s what he’d been told; Einarr had never seen it happen and apparently his father had only seen it once.
The large male gave the owl a strange look and she supposed it was a strange sight for those that might not be used to the more humanized behaviors that some canines had. But at least for now he didn't say anything about him. His name was Einarr and she gave him a friendly grin. But listened to where he wanted to go. He then said that he felt that the stores were a certain way and he went that way. She gave a nod that they were indeed that way and said, "That's right." But she did move to walk next to him.
He finally asked about Albus and although the question about him being a spirit was ironic in that she had one at one point, she shook her head at that. "He's not a spirit. I found his injured as a baby and rescued him. I've been training him to help with scouting, patrolling, and running messages." She then had a question for him. "You've never seen any canines with a pet before?" She was curious about it since she had grown up around horses and other animals, including spirits. But she knew that there were some that didn't know about it.
He shook his head before realising what a stupid gesture that was in this light.
”No. My family…”
He paused wondering if talking about his birth pack was such a good idea. To a tactician all information was precious and to just give it away? He gave himself a mental shake, this was a new place, a new pack and he would leave his past where it should be left, behind him.
”Could speak to spirits, and communed with some animals, but they never kept pets. Prey is food, it sustains us, it seems odd to keep them as pets.”
He glanced again at the bird again as they padded along, the dim outline of the creature was clear to him with his lupine vision.
”So the bird scouts for you? How does it communicate with you?”
He asked as he walked alongside his packmate. His tone was as it always was, the words picked carefully, the emotion well masked. He was an adaptable creature, perhaps that’s why the lupreci had survived, if using these pets was so successful then perhaps it would help when dealing with matters of terrain or spotting enemies from a greater distance. The idea was worth investigating if nothing else.
She could somewhat see him shake his head to her question and she waited for him to continue. He spoke of his family and how they spoke with spirits. It reminded her rather painfully of AniWaya. "In my old pack down south, AniWaya, we had things called spirit guides, an animal spirit that guided us. I had one, a blue jay named Dichali." She figured that the spirit guide would likely not approve of her choices with Liam and Anathema. But he had left her when she left AniWaya to be with her mate.
He interrupted her thoughts by asking a few questions about Albus. "Not yet. He's still a bit young for that. Right now I'm getting him used to me and not wanting to fly away and never return. But eventually he'll help me scout." She grinned at her owl companion. "As for how I talk to him, I've learned low speech for horses and birds." She gave the bird a scratch, causing him to make a chittering noise that was his happy sound. Her smile was gentle. She watched her companion and said, "I could help you learn some low speech if you would like?" She gave him an inquiring grin.
The grizzled male walked alongside his pack mate as she spoke, processing her words, if there was one thing that could be said about Einarr, he was a very good listener, information was precious and he did his best to absorb as much of it as he could.
”My family believed in spirit guides, but not everyone was in tune enough with that world to have a guide, and once a bond had been formed it was never broken, it seems the spirit was particularly arbitrary to abandon you simply because you changed packs.”
Einarr had never been a great spirit speaker, he knew they were there, like one knows that air is there, a part of life but one that is often over-looked. Still it seemed in these lands they played a greater role. The grey male examined the owl in the gloom, Ayasha’s offer was a tempting one, to learn, to grow and become more skilled was always a good thing for a tactician.
”That would be much appreciated, I can imagine such a talent would be very useful. I am curious though, how does your bird know that you will not eat him? Or that I will not eat him? Surely it must be afraid among so many hunters?”
The question was not posed in a threatening manner, but merely out of a true interest
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