Despite having her freedom she had felt cooped up recently. Perhaps due to the inner turmoil she suffered from more often than not, perhaps it was having not one but two suitors vying for her heart, or perhaps it was having joined Spirane’s pack that ultimately left her feeling claustrophobic no matter where she was. It wasn’t that she was less salubrious than she had been; in fact she was almost more healthy than she had been in the months before she came here, but emotionally she felt weighted. No matter the reason today she shrugged off her cloak of confusion and second guessing herself and would simply enjoy the day. The early morning air was brisk, winter settling over the land quicker than she had expected and while her tawny coat had already begun to thicken in response the wind still cut harshly against her. She pushed the chill from her mind, exiting Asteraia where she had flopped that night she trotted through the woods of Enocra, stepping lightly between the thick trees as her muscles warmed. Only once she had left the woods and entered the wide fields to the south did she break into an all-out run.

She ran like a yearling, her small, agile body moving lithely over the flat expanse of ground. Her heels kicked high behind her as she flew, head down and ears forward relishing the feeling of the wind now running its fingers through her golden coat like an old friend as her body heated. Running seemed to wash all her worries and cares away, taking her back to the simpler times when her feet had carried her freely from one land to the next. She was giving up that freedom to settle here, the life of a nomad put on the shelf to see how she might handle committing herself to one wolf and one pack. As winter deepened no doubt she would have to decide on birthing pups as well, the hormones of racking her body clouding her mind as they were so wont to do to others. She shook her slender head, once more letting such serious thoughts be carried away with the wind. Today was not a day for worries. Today she would simply enjoy herself.

And so she merely flew across the open fields of the first place she had visited on entering Moladion, where she had met Neirin and others since him. Such wide open spaces allowed her to turn in wide arcs, kicking up the damp ground. She almost skidded to a halt as she haphazardly stirred up a group of doves nestled for cover in the tall grasses. As they flew around her she rose to her hind legs momentarily, standing as they all flew away chasing them only verbally with a series of high pitched barks while she danced below them.

There she paused, watching their small bodies fade into the distance where they would no doubt find another spot to take shelter. So much was she distracted that she did not notice the wolf behind her on his rocky perch, scouring the land for any movement. He was down wind and so his scent even eluded her as she dropped to the cold ground, rolling on her back to scratch an itch between her shoulder blades. For once the girl felt like herself again.