“Good grief.”

Could it be anymore muddy? I lifted my paws higher and higher still, hardly caring what I looked like as I attempted to cross a lower part of the field where the river had flooded after some heavier rain, leaving the ground, I don’t know….soggy? Sloshy? Utterly foul? It really depended on what adjective you preferred. I paused, eyeing my raised right forepaw stained a sort of off white and dripping wet. This was a mistake. No one could be worth all this effort. Honestly it was lucky I hadn’t come in disguise- it would have washed off. The water was cold, the grass slimy, the ground sink(y) I may have just invented the word and honestly I don’t care. I was told this Taika wolf liked to roam about this area and yet I truly failed to see why. I suppose normally it was hardly this damp and that I was perhaps judging it a little unfairly but really this was proving to be an expedition worthy of a story- not just a footnote in my rapidly increasing book of events. I hoped this wolfess was here, tracking a loner was a decidedly difficult thing to do and really all I could do was call for her and hope she answered. For all I know anyone might answer and say they were her- I wouldn’t really know the difference. I made a daring leap for a log, shaking my paws off as I did before leaping up and onto higher ground with utter relief. I would be sure to take a different road home. I was not dealing with that again, my violet gaze narrow upon it suspiciously even from here as if my glare might very well punish the grass for its utter insubordination.

I muttered irritably beneath my breath before tacking a moment to fix my coat, returning it to the pristine white it normally was, each hair tipped in glorious silver, offering my form a near dynamic sheen that realistically was not all that good for blending in- unless it was snowing. I paused, letting my gaze wander over the field, lazily taking in the one or two other wolves I could see or smell, none of them catching my eye. Grandfather had never had a high opinion of loners, he believed that they were inbred, useless, weak-minded, taking time to pick a few diamonds from the metaphorical rough. Far be it from be to discount the famous Heyel but I had my own ideas, a few of my own plans. I could improve upon what he started I was sure- I just needed a little help.

I threw my head back, howling out then, calling for this Taika, praying she was actually in the fields today and not somewhere else, ears twisting and turning, hoping for a response and hoping she wouldn’t hold any fear of packs wolves. I needed to talk to her and I hoped she was willing to listen.



h y r u l e
The Once and Future King