His eyes widened, a very serious expression upon his face as she spoke the tale of her pack. How odd it seemed- yet how exciting at the same time. Everything about Wolf Mountain just seemed so… Wonderful. Sometimes dangerously so. When she had finished her story, he grinned widely, thanking her for accepting his request. He was about to thank her again, when she apologized for telling the tale- saying it was the only one she knew! He frowned sympathetically at this, shaking his head slightly. “Don’t worry about that! I thought it was great!” he grinned widely again, before standing up and placing his self upon a nearby rock. “Now, I will tell you my own story! “ and then he started speaking again, in his heavily accented tones.
“Once upon a time, in a time far, far away, I was born. Now, I led a pretty good life, with a small pack to feed me- a mother, father, older siblings and the litter I was born with. But, one day, I went out exploring when I was not supposed to, and when I came back I found my family were drowned, I don’t know how, but they were just all floating in the river. he shivered at this memory, for he had only been a pup at the time. I was very upset at first, for I was only just weaned and had to live by myself. At first it was agony for me, tripping and falling over every ridge and stone, catching every branch in my little face and chest. Great sobs of self-pity always welled up inside me as I stumbled onwards, walking clumsily in endless pursuit of seemingly nothing at all- for I rarely stopped to catch breath, much less catch dinner.
For more than a week I pretended to ignore my own desperate gait, my ungainly attempts to keep up with myself. For more than a week I gave my horrible misery and clumsiness time to pass. And, much to my amazement, I soon began to feel how things were underfoot, began sense the shape and clamber of the ground, and to accommodate it as I ran. Slowly, I found myself knowing how and where a branch would spring back, my eyes detecting shape when before there had been nothing but impenetrable dark. I heard things I had never heard before, sounds that told me how near I was to water or to stone or how the land dipped up ahead. Now, when I stood perfectly still I could hear birds flying or calling softly; I could hear the footfalls that were not my own. The difference between one rustle and another let me know a bird or mouse was nearby, or merely the wind. And all this I learned without being taught, just by following my own breath that caught in the cold air. As I learned more, I began to relax, to walk more quietly and yet more freely, to hold myself less fearfully and embrace the dark of night and light of day. Arc paused, sighing a little, before carrying on. You see, I learned a lot by being on my own. I learned everything a wolf could possibly know… And these skills led me here. he too thought his tale was nowhere near as exciting as hers, for who could beat a deadly war tale involving a whole pack being burned to ashes? But still, he tried to be as confident as possible in his past.
Table by Dan.
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