Feel the pull find the spot

[Caoimhe]

Silence other than the very faint sound of paws treading loose earth, a wolfess strides effortlessly through a mountain pass. She's wary the air smells of strife and danger, she is unfamiliar with the land but she's sure something is not right. There's traces of wolves here and there but none to be seen.
At last though she comes to pause beneath a few of the sparse trees to drink from a small trickle of a stream. The high noon sun beats upon her brown and black coat even with the tree coverage making her a bit uncomfortable, she feels watched although she can't see, hear, or scent any danger. She's unsure of why she came to this land, she was just following the inward pull she lets herself be led by. Before now the pull had led her to places of plentiful food or a place to rest her wandering paws but now its led her to a place that doesn't seem to fit either need. So she is cautious but not fearful, her pointed ears rotate to catch the lightest sound and her nose quivers to catch the slightest scent on the wind while her dark yellow eyes scan the immediate area.

[Maverick]

Maverick patrolled his lands every day. Making sure the humans have not managed to push in once again. He has lost everyone and everything he cared for. Now all he lived for was to kill anything that tried to come onto his lands. He raced up part of the mountain and stood on a flat part of rock jutting out looking over the bottom of the mountain. Maverick sat down and looked down. The wind slightly blowing around him. He took in a deep breath,smelling the scent of his lost loves and comrades. Then he caught the scent of a wolf....a fresh scent.

Maverick lept down from the rock and slid down the side of the mountain for a few feet before catching his footing and began his run down the mountain. He reached the small wood line and could hear the faint sound of the stream nearby. He took in another deep breath and sucked in the scent of the trespasser and eased through the half snow covered ground making almost no noise. Then he saw her. A brown-black furred wolf drinking from the spring. Maverick eased a little closer and stood ready as he spoke.

"Can I help you?"

His voice stern,deep, and forceful. He was the Alpha of these lands after all he had to make his prescense known and let them know who he was without telling them.

[Caoimhe]

Caoimhe heard the wolf coming down the mountain before she saw him and she immediately tensed, turning halfway towards him when he spoke. She was obviously on his turf, it was implied in his tone. She stared at him confidently enough although not challengingly as she decided whether she was going to answer him or just leave. After a moment she decided to answer him, she wanted to know whats going on here.

"I'm not sure if you can help me, you obviously belong to this land but really that means nothing you could be a fool who stays where danger is obvious due to having a brain full of worms."

She replies matter of factly with a wolfy smile touching her muzzle briefly. She's testing his intelligence and patience with her reply and she can't help but be amused by her word choice. She has not spoken to another wolf in a long while.

[Maverick]

"A brain full of worms huh? I have heard a lot of things in my time. Different ways of saying I was crazy or something of that nature but I have to say that is a first. And why do you say that? Do you not believe in standing up for our lands?"

Maverick stepped a little closer to her trying to make sure he didn't leave himself open to much just in case she turned out to be someone who wanted to attack him.

"My name is Maverick. I am the Alpha of the Iridescent Mountains."

Maverick slightly bowed his head to the new comer. He may have been Alpha but he wasn't one to treat everyone as being under him just because of it. They were all equal to him until they showed his reason to believe otherwise.

[Caoimhe]

Caoimhe bows her head slightly in return to be respectful since he seems to being polite and obviously isn't addle brained.

"So that is what these mountains are called."

She says more to herself than anything before continuing

"As to your question, Maverick I do believe in standing up for one's lands. It's noble and where I was born it is greatly respected. I just am curious as to what is going on here, this place reeks of death and destruction. I'm not even sure why my internal direction led me here."

She's sincere in every word she says and she shakes her head lightly toward the end in an almost frustrated manner glancing away from him for a second before fixing her golden eyes on him once more. She's always been a watchful one and she isn't going to take chances with this male regardless of how civil he is at the moment.

[Maverick]

Maverick listens to her words and questions. He sees that she is a very sturdy minded wolf. Which is something he likes in a wolf. He lets out a sigh as he gets a little closer to her.

"The land of Rashkala has been over run by the humans. They have captured or killed pretty well everyone but me....and you it seems. I have managed to hold them off this long but I am fighting a losing battle right now."

Maverick bows his head down a little more as he sighs once again and looks back up at her.

"I believe your words about you wanting to defend your lands and as noble as it may be....these lands are going to fall soon. I have done all I can. I have tried to get the other animals here that can to come out and help but to no avail. I fear it won't be long before Rashkala falls."

[Caoimhe]

Caoimhe can't help but tilt her head to the side as she listens to his solemn words and in the end she growls softly at hearing what humans have done here and about the cowardice of the other animals.

"Humans are so disgusting and destructive. I should have known they were the cause of this land falling to pieces but where i come from, a land very far from here the humans do not bother the animals even those who are sometimes human."

She replies growling softly to herself once more, further confused about why she ended up here unless it was fate deciding she should die. But she doesn't want to die.

"Well Maverick, Alpha of the Iridescent Mountains, I will be brutally honest with you. I am a wanderer I belong no where and to no one. But it seems I will be staying here for now if you allow it. I will aid you as I try to figure out why I'm here. For all I know Fate has decided I should die in a battle that is not mine."

She says moving a few yards closer to him in a gesture of trust. Her eyes simply questioning him, waiting for an answer as a breeze caresses her brown and black pelt gently like a friend reaching out to comfort another.

[Maverick]

Maverick listened to her words and gave an accepting nod. He had some help now....but her words about dieing didn't sit well with him.

"You are welcome on my lands as long as you respect me,which I am sure you will. And don't worry about dieing,if you ever want to leave please feel free to do so. You have no bindings here to these lands and I can not blame you for wanting to leave,and I will defend you in every way I can. I will not let you die if it is in my power to do so."

Maverick watched as she moved closer to him. She was beginning to trust him and that was a good sign. He hoped that his words would hold true. He knew he could protect her for a time but he didn't know what to expect for the future.

[Caoimhe]

Caoimhe for the first time in a very long time is taken aback by Maverick's response and it shows. Her brows come together and she shifts her weight slightly before regaining her normal composure and nodding at him accepting her presence in his mountains.

"That is very kind of you to say but I have no intention of holding you to your word. If I cannot defend myself than I am a failure to myself and deserve the death that comes upon me, or at least that's the way I was raised."

She says kindly,chuckling with very little humor at the end because it brings to mind she really has no obligation to follow the codes of conduct of her birth pack. She then carefully closes the distance between herself and Maverick and stands in front of him before speaking once more.

"My name is Caoimhe by the way"

[Maverick]

Maverick nodded his head at her statement. He understood the way she thought. It was something he didn't agree on totally but he would respect it. Then she finally gave her name Maverick smiled as he bowed his head a little.

"Well it is nice to meet you Caoimhe. And don't worry I understand what you are saying but I have already made up my mind. And where exactly is your land if you don't mind me asking?"

[Caoimhe]

Caoimhe smiles just a tiny tiny bit at the determination of the dark male before her. She must pause to consider his question though, she momentarily shuts her golden eyes and tilts her nose up into the air smelling. Conveniently the wind seems to pick up and warm aiding her til she opens her eyes.

"The land I was born in is hundreds of miles to the south and east of here. I've been wandering for two years, progressively getting further from it with each passing month. I never lingered anyplace longer than necessary to survive."

She finally replies her voice matter of the fact but polite, something is definitely lurking beneath the near indifference in her tone. Her eyes are hard and her posture not as relaxed as it had been before she thought of her birth pack's land and the distance she's traveled.

[Maverick]

She was a nomadic wolf. Maverick had seen a couple in the past. They showed up lived for a few months and then moved on. He knew not to expect her to be around forever but he would appreciate her help.

"Well stay as long as you like. You are always welcome here on my mountains."

Maverick finally had someone to talk to again. It had been months since he had seen any other living soul other than his food. It felt good. He hoped this was the turning point of the whole thing as well.

[Caoimhe]

Placing one leg forward bows courteously before straightening once more, ears flicking backwards as a couple of mountain goats stir pebbles loose as they scramble down cautiously to drink from the stream. They know the wolves are near but seem to have lost most of their fear.

"Thank you, I will try and return the favor while I stay here. I'll help hunt when necessary and I'll respect whatever remains here of your laws."

She says with her usual frank sincerity and turns her head to eye the drinking goats, she hasn't eaten in a few days so they are of interest. Mentally she's calculating the odds of catching one of them without using one of her gifts.

[Maverick]

Maverick bowed down once again to her as she did. She had respect for his status and she said she wouldn't break his rules while she was in his territory. Then he also caught the scent and sound of the Goats coming down the mountain. He saw Caoimhe eyeing them.

"Go ahead....you shouldn't have any problem at all catching them. Most have never seen a wolf here so they don't even know what kind of predator we are."

He turned his head back to the goats drinking. They may have never seen a wolf before but they were still being cautious as they drank,which was smart. He didn't know anything about Caoimhe other than her name and some things about her lands,but if her fighting was anything like her attitude then she could probably be a force to be reckoned with. At least he hoped so.

[Caoimhe]

Caoimhe eyes brighten at the unneeded but definitely preferable permission to hunt the goats. It was good to know that the goats have little fear of predators here it means she won't have to go beyond normal means to kill one. This in mind she trots off away from the goats as if to leave but once out of the goats sight she doubles back using the boulders near the stream and the natural rock formation as coverage. Yes she knows she could be more direct but all prey animals do have some survival instinct and she doesn't want to risk spooking them too soon. She inches forward, silent as death peering at the nearest goat from beneath the shadow of a rock overhang. Then calculating the exact next move of her intended target springs forward into the sunlight and before the goat can more than bleat in surprise she closes the last few feet between herself and it, her teeth coming down and crushing one of the goat's rear legs therefore effectively crippling it. Desperately the large goat tries to follows its herd mates back up the mountain but its leg keeps crumpling beneath it, dooming it to death by she-wolf whom with practiced patience waited for the goat to collapse once more before getting a hold of the goat's throat and tearing it wide open, blood pours all over the rocky ground and trickles into the stream. The she-wolf laps the thick red stuff up with satisfaction and hunger, ignoring the final twitches of her dying prey.