Start again, start somewhere, strange to wind up somewhere completely out of the way and so lost yet unconcerned with being found. She had wandered, endlessly, mercilessly striking out eating away the distance between herself and that which tucked away into her foggy past. Foggy yes, a statement in itself as she couldn't recall so much of it. Maybe it was a good thing, to forget it all, to find shining success in reaching forward for a present and a possible future. Limbs reaching far and wide, claws plucking at the nomadic earth for ages it seemed until more than her bones had simply ached and her pads were thick with mingled dust. Tired yes, physically so at the very least, though mentally she was enthusiastic enough to believe it was simply waiting just beyond the next bend or across the next lake. It hadn't been much of a thing to occur to her just what she was searching for to be completely honest, it was simply anything to settle into. Much adieu about a whole lot of nothing behind her, now rest before her was where her mind seemed to search and settle.
She crossed into the clearings, a hitch in her stride as her tongue lolled from agape jowls. The mountain had been quite a feat to ascend, though now finding the valley to its other side she simply longed for a moment's pause. Her wandering search was ever preoccupied, wary in search of activity that might come to harm the lone prowess of a solitary girl as herself. Tasting the length of her jaws she whined lightly, the overwhelming chill of moisture ravaged the air about her thinning out her voracious senses welcoming the approach of waters. She plucked at her pace, stride almost clumsy at first though driven on anyways. She would find a drink, then perhaps the very thing to satiate the distinct roiling that warned of hunger. A stream, feeding a nearby lake she was certain, though she appreciated the closer of the two with overwhelming exuberance. Sleek ebon form racing to its shallows she dipped into them soaking up the trickling passage into the gold that stained her paws. Lapping away with far more zest than was absolutely necessary. Every drag of her tongue against the surface brought her muzzle closer until at last she was awash of the surface and disturbing the quiet in its travels. Resting upon her belly she absorbed the moment of calm and rest like a sponge, alert on high with perched auds high and twisting here and there to exact desires.
Before her the plain stretched, the stream twisting away from this scene graced with such openness it was both frightening and exhilarating. Drooped down and cast aside as something well tucked away it was no surprise that soon her focus tended to another roving gracefully across the field. She remained still then, she was out of her league here, out of safety, knowingly in the possible face of a threat despite the lack of apparent demeanor to suggest so. The girl bobbed about carelessly, searching for something that Aelora held little concern to know about. Primed for whatever gain she might prove in a brawl against the raven Aelora got to her feet, quietly straightening herself out though daring very little to collect the attention on her just yet.
Not yet she repeated a few times mentally, though quickly it felt simply wrong. It didn't feel like this would be Aelora's take on this sort of moment. Skull drawn back and chest hefty with the spread of her black coat she slipped forward with the posture of a neutral party, for she meant no harm to the girl nor did she want to be harmed. Yipping she found some short distance from the girl then stopped, so the game would surely begin.
Hey, you from around here? Is it a popular place?
Her voice soothing and beautifully feminine she found herself stumped and at a loss, truly bound to the lack of an introduction. It was somewhere in that past she recalled that it wasn't so wise to volunteer information without a little trust, so she wouldn't, not yet at least.
...Call me Aelora...