The passage of time is a most curious of things. Over the first couple of weeks that followed my coming to call Taviora my home, time had moved quickly. I’d kept ever busy, familiarizing myself with my home, roaming far and wide across Moladion to complete tasks set forth to me by my alphen. Alas it had all been for naught in respect to the rank I had been striving towards, for another wolf had completed the assignments in less time. But the notion of having been beat out for the placing amongst the pack did not trouble me. It meant only one thing; the job was not meant for me. Though I did not covet the supremacy that higher ranks entitled one to, I did yearn for a greater purpose amongst my pack members. Autmn had moved slowly around me, the leaves fading and falling from the limbs of the deciduous trees that were intermingled with the coniferous types that would be forever green. And then winter had suddenly come upon the land. Without a real function to uphold within the pack lands, I had simply begun enjoying the beauty that surrounded me.

Of late I had begun to feel a great need to get to know those of the pack better. In truth I knew only Coszcotl and Ellie, and if I were ever to serve any true occupation within Taviora that would not do. I had considered seeking out those who held positions which I saw myself fit for – Shiloh the Tranquil or Solaris the Peacekeeper. Instead, I had decided to move towards one of the most frequented areas of the pack. It was a wide, beautiful meadow typically littered with wildflowers. As the chill of winter grasped the lands, snow blanketed the meadow. Walking through the snow covered meadow I stopped and lowered my nose to a small light purple flower, a crocus, come up too soon. It stood out beautifully against the white of the midwinter snows.

It was my slight stature that had kept me from volunteering for the mass hunt of the moose. That and my affinity for small prey. All my life I had sustained myself on hare, mice, lizards, and other desert animals. My palette had not yet entirely adjusted to such large animals, but when the feast commenced, I would surely give the large herbivore a taste. Though I looked forward to the large gathering of wolves – a better chance to get to know the pack that I was now part of – I hoped that this day I would be given the opportunity to meet someone new to extend the olive branch of friendship to. Swirling orange eyes lifted, gazing out across the snowy meadows and wondering if today, of all days, I would be the only wolf to frequent this ever popular field.