Lúta's southward trek took her down into Auster where she found a nice place to stay in a canyon that cut through the land. There were a series of caves and hollowed out places within the cliff walls. She found one that suited her perfectly. It was spacious enough to provide a shelter from rain but not so deep that she might fear something else lurked deep within the cave. She wanted to have a good feel of the space around her and what was in it.

After a long morning the noon day sun was high in the sky and Lúta returned to her temporary shelter with a bundle of items wrapped in deerskin, held snug between her teeth. She'd been working on a few things and was anxious for some crafting down time. Lúta set the bundle down and opened it to reveal several pieces of leather as well as some sinew that she hoped to use for lacing. She had meant to crafter herself some leather bracers before leaving and had never gotten around to it. Of course, she was young and her skills needed work but there was no better time than the present to begin practicing. She eyed the leather scraps for a moment before picking out a piece and pulling it towards her.

She really wished Ragna would catch up with her. It was always more pleasant to craft and create with someone there to talk to. She didn't want to admit it but being this far out in a strange land by herself was making her feel lonely.

He didn't want to waste much time before getting the pack moved to their new home - the sooner the better, as far as he was concerned, get them out of comfort of familiar surroundings to let the changes really sink in - but he couldn't ask them to be ready to go instantly. There was packing to do for most, and saying goodbye to the continent that had been the only home many of them had known. He wondered what would happen with Pyrrhic's companion Benkos' troupe. He hadn't asked - he didn't rule the primates and so what they did was none of his business. Undoubtedly that would also take time to sort. So he'd taken that time, between helping his family pack and packing up his own meager belongings, to say his own goodbyes. His father's mortal remains would never rest here where he'd ruled, but great-aunt Kavdaya and great-uncle Apollo had both been buried here. He thought that maybe his father's way of going might be the better way, as far as that went. It would be harder for Zagon and Iroh to want to leave where their mother was buried, while he had some small comfort in knowing that no matter where he was, his father was there, not buried in a hole moldering to bones. Perhaps it might be ideal if all mortal remains were interred into the volcano, rather than buried. But that was a thought for the future - hopefully none of the pack, young as they all were, would be passing beyond this world any time soon.

He made his way down the floor of the canyon that his family had once ruled. That had been before his time, mostly. He'd never lived here himself, but his grandfather had ruled here, and his cousin Ashiel had ruled his pack here as well until the flooding had driven them out. He felt it was a worthy pilgrimage before he left this continent for the Fallen knew how long.

His head came up as a fresh scent caught his attention from within a cave he was passing, and his red eyes focused through the shadow to make out the form of someone busily laying out bits of leather and sinew. His ears flicked forward in interest at what the stranger could be doing. He took a step towards the entrance, but stopped rather than stepping into what likely would be her den, so that she wouldn't feel trapped or threatened. "Pardon," he said quietly. "I apologize for intruding, but I couldn't help but notice you were crafting something. May I ask what you're making?"

Lúta settled in, double checking that she had all the materials she needed. She had more than enough and would be able to do a few prototypes before she decided to make the real deal. She didn't see it as wasteful, she had to learn some how and the prototypes could always be deconstructed and made into something else. She didn't know exactly what but she was pretty sure she could figure out something.

Her ears flicked as she caught the sound of claws clicking on stone. Someone was coming. She warily eyed the entrance as a young man with ruby red eyes. He spoke out to her and she regarded him for a moment before smiling gently. "Hello, there." He seemed friendly enough. He asked what she was crafting and she glanced down at the leather pieces between her front paws. "Well, I'm trying to get some prototypes made for a pair of leather bracers to put around my legs. Do you live around here?"

The female took his presence with equanimity and wasn't offended by his question, taking the time to answer. He eyed the leather bits with interest. Bracers - for armor? He wondered how well the leather protected. Obviously better than nothing, but teeth would eventually pierce a single layer of leather. Would she use multiple layers? A particularly tough type of leather? Some hides, he knew, were stronger than others. "For now," he answered her question in turn, "though I will be moving the pack northward shortly." He gave a quick, respectful bow of his head. "My name is Eligos Abraxas. Would you mind if I were to observe your work? I am interested in the science of armoring, and have not yet seen bracers made."

Her ears flicked forward as he mentioned that he was going to move a pack northward. Was he an alpha then? "It's nice to meet you Eligos. My name is Lúta Hoskuldr." She'd gotten used to giving her last name and so it rolled right off her tongue even though she knew it likely didn't mean much here. That was fine with her though. The obscurity of her last name did provide her a certain bit of anonymity.

"Sure, you're welcome to. Though, I'm not an expert by any means. I'm still figuring a lot of this out." That was probably evident by her mentioning that these would be prototypes. She wanted to get a sense for the amount of material and the shape as well as what she'd need to hold them together. She already wasn't sure if the sinew was going to hold but there was only one way to know.

"You mentioned you'd be moving a pack. Are you an alpha then?" She picked up one of the leather pieces in her mouth, carefully moving her jaws to create a hole. Once that was done she set it down and examined the hole. With both her fangs piercing the hide it wasn't perfectly round but the shape was decent enough she felt she could lace it. She carefully maneuvered the leather piece into her mouth again as she worked on adding more holes. She had no idea how far to space them and so she just spaced them at half the width of her good-sized paws. Hmmm.. maybe her claws would work better for this.

Lúta set the bracer down again, unsheathed her claws, and this time carefully worked the tip of one of her claws into the leather. She worked it around and farther down to change the hole size. Ok, this worked a bit better. She placed one paw on the leather and lifted part of it with her teeth as she worked a claw through. Well, perhaps both ways worked just as well.

The wolf was accepting of him observing her, so Eligos quietly moved further into the cave so he wouldn't block her light and settled nearby, his gaze fixed intently on her work. She asked him if he was an alpha before she began to work at the leather. "Yes," he answered. "Though only very recently come into power. The pack was my brother's before me." And his father's before him and grandfather's before him, but he doubted that she cared about the pack's lineage. Wolves, in his experience, were woefully uninterested in history, and she was busy. He watched with interest when she pierced the leather with a fang, taking note of how she worked at it to get it to a shape she was somewhat satisfied with. Then she unsheathed a claw, and his eyes widened, though barely perceptively. Now that was unusual, and useful. He couldn't emulate that technique. "Your claws are... unusual, for a wolf," he said, carefully tactfully. "Are you from far away?" The way of Abraxas would lead one to believe that wolves with unusual mutations and colors were god-touched, or spirit-touched, or spirits themselves. He withheld judgement on that himself, but he could certainly see why that explanation would suggest itself, because it seemed unlikely for such a thing to naturally occur. It was certainly wise to tread carefully around one such, if you weren't certain.

Lúta continued working diligently as the man spoke, stating that he'd inherited the pack from his brother. She wondered what had happened to his brother. Her first thought was that he'd died in battle. That sort of thing was not uncommon where she came from but she felt it was too personal a question to inquire further. "Well, I wish you luck with your new endeavor."

She had finished poking holes on both sides of one of the bracers then seized a piece of sinew in her jaws. Carefully coordinating with her paws she pushed it through one hole and tied it there around the smaller edge to anchor it. Lúta gently moved the bracer so that Eligos could see what she had done. She smiled as he mentioned her claws. "Ah, yes. I am from a land called Rhesia far to the northeast. My claws are unusual there to. I had only met one other wolf that had them, though I've met a couple wolves here that do. I'm not sure what its a sign of."

Now came the tricky part. Lúta took the sinew in her jaws again and carefully started weaving the sinew through, back and forth between the two edges in a zig-zag, skipping a hole on each side so that it was staggered. She then worked her way back up over the holes that had been missed so she had a number of x's. She carefully slipped her leg in and proceeded to tighten the sinew before tying a knot. She had to crane her head and use her other paw to help hold and tie the knot. It was sloppy but it would do for a test. She grinned. "Well, there we go. One prototype at least. I'm not sure if the sinew will be strong enough to hold but the best way to learn and improve is from trying."

ooh: -throws confetti- we made the word count!