Burning red heat chased the femme as she ran as fast as she could through the trees. But the fire was unrealistically fast. Consuming trees in seconds until it made its way in front of her, blocking her path. She skidded to a halt, her paws scrambling in the dirt to find a new path, a new way to escape. But as she looked to either side of her she knew there was no way to go. The heat behind her caught her tail, and she felt the heat of the flames on her flesh. Screaming for help, for her brother for anyone, the fire ate her up. And Shilo awoke from the routine nightmare, her limbs no longer flailing about in her sleep as she woke up in a sweat. The femme had gotten to her paws without her realizing it, all of her fur on end and the adrenaline from the nightmare screaming at her to run. The skinny teen was panting heavily as if her body had been running like in her sleep. But it was not reality, not anymore anyways. She shook out her pelt, trying to make the feelings from the nightmare drift away.

The memories from the fire that consumed her home, and some of the wolves that lived there, still haunted her even after all this time away. She thought with time the nightmare would fade, but it was still a common occurrence for them to haunt her dreams. Shilo was no longer just sick physically, but now mentally. When she had come to the new lands after the fire destroyed Cold Summers she thought that they would all be able to build a new home together. But the nightmares had been even worse then, when she was surrounded by the wolves that reminded her of what happened. Even having her brother there was not enough to keep her in their company. Without warning, the femme left the pack, wandering on her own. Her wanderings were slow growing though. When Shilo had been born she had been very weak and had never recovered from whatever sickness had plagued her at such a young age. She was weak after short walks and needed more breaks than the average varg. After time on her own, she knew that she needed the support of a pack. She was barely surviving on her own, and she knew it was only a matter of time before she starved to death or got attacked by another being. But would another pack allow her to live with them in her sickly state? She was not sure what she could offer them, but she could only hope that there was a welcoming enough pack to allow her stay with them. She could at least pledge her loyalty to whoever allowed her in their ranks.

And so the kalak began searching for a new home. She was afraid that she would not be able to go back to her old pack mates. Too many bad memories there and she was afraid to face the brother that she had left. Shilo’s black dipped paws padded through the trees, grateful for the warmth of the sunshine on her red pelt. She kept her pace slow so she would not tire as quickly. Her ears perked up when she heard the howl of a stranger. She realized how lucky she was that she happened to be in the area of an alpha calling for new pack members. It seemed that fate was on her side today as the call did not sound too far away either. The teen turned to answer the call, hoping that this would be an alpha she would get along with well. When she reached the femme who had called, she saw that there was another varg there already, this one a brute. Shilo hesitantly stepped forward, unsure of how to approach the situation, but kept her stance and body submissive to the one that had made the call. ”Hello, my name is Shilo. I was hoping to join your pack, if you will have me.” The kalak femme dipped her head respectfully to the other female, waiting to see her response.

Picture and table credit to Casey!

//Shilo//Fae//Daughter of Shae and Caspian//Sister to Tiresias, Malina, and Rylan//Teen//Violet//