Nootau dropped his head after he finished his howling. The world was absolutely still for a few moments after his howl faded. Nootau waited for a reply with his ears up. To his surprise, he heard the soft crunch of snow under paw and the wind gently wafted wolf scent into his nostrils. Nootau’s tailed waved excitedly. Another was about tonight, and close to! Nootau tilted his head as he watched the female stride into the clearing. She was clearly an adult, as marked by the fullness of her chest and the perfect proportions of her body. She would certainly be able to topple him over in a hurry if she wanted. She was a lovely wolf, probably from the tundra lines judging by her size. Nootau was a gray wolf, raised in the foothills and on mountain sides. Because of this, he came from a line of large wolves. Therefore, the fact that she was taller than him meant there were only a few other breeds she could be (at least to his knowledge).

He also noted that she was injured as well. His sharp eyes caught the slight hitch in her movements and observed the healing wounds that marred her frame. Immediately, Nootau wondered if he had to help her and was on alert for an enemy lurking in the darkness. However, upon catching no alarming scents, he reexamined her. Nootau realized her relaxed demeanor and that the wounds were old and no longer bleeding. He grinned. Oh good! No threats tonight. His tail began waving back and forth again as she spoke to him. Broken English? Nootau’s tail curled at the cuteness of it. She was fluent enough to be understood, but her mistakes were rather adorable. He bunched his haunches as he jumped down from the rock to join her. “You got that right! It is co-old! I’m Nootau, ma’m. What’s your name?” Nootau grinned and sat down in the snow next to her. He was curious about the injuries she had, but he made no comment on them.

More important to him was the fact that she was automatically treating him with respect. It made his heart thud a bit to be sitting on equal terms with another wolf. As a loner, it was fight or die most of the time, so when he came across other wolves in the wilderness they were hostile and generally eager to prove their dominance over him. This female’s pleasant greeting was so unfamiliar that it nearly made Nootau squirm a bit. He was thrilled, but uncomfortable at the same time. He didn’t need to defend himself or even prove he was worth her time. It was such a… wonderful feeling to be acknowledged. Nootau felt extremely happy about the exchange because he hadn’t ever had one like it.

In the pack he had grown up in, he had been an orphan after his mother and father died protecting the pack. He had lived only because of the sense of duty of the pack – they kept him alive because they felt loyal to his parents. However, as soon as he could fend for himself in the smallest of ways, they left him to do just that. The older pups stole what he could find most of the time, and he was left to scrape a meal from the bones of a hunt. Then the meteor hit… and Nootau found himself alone. His chances of survival practically dropped to zero when that happened, but somehow, he had managed to survive each day. His hardships were reflected in state of his body. Despite being in the stage where he was supposed to be narrow and gangly, he was too thin. It was hidden because of his fur, but one only had touch him to realize his unhealthy weight. He wasn’t going to drop dead, but another few months of winter and he would be close to it if he remained a loner.