Once upon a time I had loved meeting new wolves. Truth be told, I still did, though it thoroughly depending on the setting. When I was in Diveen I was less suspicious. While I had once aimed to take Azariah’s heart, be it with brutal honesty or youthful enthusiasm, I couldn’t say that Arturio was a bad king. He was courteous to all wolves and protective over the pack as any Alpha should be. I fully believed that he would not allow any outsiders with ill intent to cross the borders. Part of me understands the folly in that sort of thinking but if I pondered it too hard I could easily become the most paranoid wolf in Molodian; one had to have limits. I drew the line at being hostile to visitors to my packs.

Occasionally when I ventured out, like now, I secretly hoped I would run across the scent or see my older niece now that I was fully grown. I considered the fact that I might have her proportions off in my skewed childhood memories, but when I thought about that night I felt myself grow inside into a monstrous beast. The kind that could slay the wicked witch. That wicked witch would be her. And my half-brother, creepy as he had been.

Something had soured in them. I never felt that desire to kill or the bloodlust that had shone in their strange eyes that night. Sometimes the squeal of a dying animal between my jaws made me wince, my soul somber at having to commit such a crime. My brother Rurik often ingested mushrooms and other plants and was adamant about never ingesting anything that was rotten. Had my half-brother done that? Is that what drove him to insanity?

I could drive myself to madness considering, contemplating, wondering. Instead, I hoped for action while I also felt relief when it didn’t come. I was a conundrum. A multitude of feelings that clashed so often I was confused at the very idea of purpose in my life. So I never set a goal but soaked in everything. Which is why I tensed at the sound of a snap, body ready to bolt. A deep huff of air makes me jolt slightly, bouncing up then back down into a crouch as the visage of a deer appears through some foliage. It moves in calculated steps, sloe eyes turning towards me before it bounds away, startled at my appearance as much as I was it’s.

The moment I begin relaxing she appears. She is massive compared to my diminutive runt size and I stand up abruptly. The tallest I can stand, my full 29 inches. It seems as if she is about to just keep barging into my space. I feel as if her shadow could swallow me whole and I find myself backing up slightly, ears swiveling back, face taking on a defensive cast until she freezes. She looks surprised. Reluctantly I turn my head, ever so slowly, trying to keep one eye on her and also glance behind me in case someone is coming up on me that she was startled to see. The moment she speaks my head jolts back around. Wolf of my past? My brows furrow and I frown at her, tilting my head slightly as I had always done when questioning. She continues, her voice surprisingly airy compared to her figure. Relaxing.

”Umm, I don’t believe we have met, my lady,” I answer in respectful tones. There is a hint of hesitancy in my voice. ”I’m from Diveen, lady Ambrosia. Angels, you say?” I perk up then, my defensive cast dissipating as curiosity gets the better of me. Even excitement. ”I’m Shadowstorm. My mom said Diveen was the land of angels and she is one of them. Do you know Celeste?” It feels weird to call my mom by her name but I doubted mom would simply do for Ambrosia. Still, I notice her markings, thinking her white was awfully similar to my mothers. I was the oddball with my dark coloring, taking almost directly after my father.

Now that I am not so alarmed at her and she obviously isn’t about to eat me, I can tell that she is older. Not quite as old as my mother, who I had begun to fret about in recent seasons, understanding that nature only held on so long before it could not keep the soul here. Once she was gone, in the land with Enderly, it would be just me and my siblings. Not the ones I didn’t know about, which seemed numerous to me and so foreign. To meet more family on my mom’s side seemed a safer option anyways.