MOST HAVE LEARNED

THAT THOSE WHO PLAY WITH FIRE

SPEND THEIR LIVES ICING BURNS

Winter had disappeared almost overnight. One day the ground had been covered in snow and it felt almost as though the next it had all but vanished. With the coming of spring Diveen had come alive, the sound of pups emerging from the den for the first time and frolicsome youths such as herself running about, invigorated by the warm breezes that billowed across the open expanses of the pack lands. That morning Dessa had emerged from her den beneath the great oak tree prepared to join the wolf named Sulan on a journey to Taviora. She was distracted, however, when she looked skyward and noticed the small buds on the branches of her tree that were beginning to bloom into leaves. Lifting onto her hind legs, she rested her forepaws against the trunk of the tree and extended her nose as far into the air as she could, sniffing at one of the buds that had not yet burst. Soon, soon enough it would become a leaf, she told herself.

Pushing off the tree she remembered herself and where she was meant to be. Glancing at the eastern horizon, she knew she was running late. She bounded away from her den site, loping towards the borders where she had agreed to meet Sulan. They were to travel to their ally pack in the northern forests, somewhere Dessa had never been. So when the older wolf had asked her to accompany him she had jumped at the opportunity. Besides that, she didn’t really know much about being a scout, or even if it was something she wanted to do. She was still young, she could change her mind if she wanted to. But why not take the chance to see what it was all about?

Now that she was two years old, she was beginning to grow into the shape that she would someday mature to. Overall she was more bulky than other girls, with broad shoulders and wider hips than most. Her abdomen did not swoop upwards near her hindquarters like many of the other young ladies of Diveen. But her face was far more refined than the rest of her bodice, the black that covered her face framing her beautiful honey and green eyes. Though her legs were not as long as flowing as some, they still carried her gracefully across the territory, quickly bringing her to the meeting point Sulan had designated. She smiled at him, her tail wagging in greeting before they set off across Moladion’s freelands towards Taviora.

Dessa was content to simply jog along next to her escort, though she felt she could have made this trip on her own. But Sulan had asked this of her, for a pack task. She knew he was competing against her own father for the rank of Guardian Angel, but this did not bother her. The most suitable wolf would assume the role, and if that was Sulan instead of her father, then so be it. That was the way it would be. Besides, it would leave her father to spend more time with her mother and new siblings. She lowered her nose occasionally, sniffing at unknown plants and flowers as they continued on their journey, but never delaying it.

Eventually they reached the borders of Taviora, and they slowed to a walk. When Sulan stopped, Dessa followed suit. She glanced up at him for a moment, listening to his words before looking into the depth of the woods before them. After this she will have visited two of the packs of Moladion that were not her own. Although no one back home knew about her little excursion to Iromar. Someday she was determined to have visited all of the packs, so that she might choose if Diveen was the place for her, or if she should perhaps venture elsewhere. Maybe whatever encounter laid before her today would determine if Taviora was an option for her future.

Dessa

two | maddox x elowen | diveen