Kichi’s world had turned upside down a second time.  A bitter part of him wondered why Lurid had even bothered saving him when his parents died.  Lurid and Al were gone.  Al was alive as far as Kichi knew, but the grey and white wolf couldn’t find him and the young wolf had looked!

The long winter seemed to fit with the icy cold in the Kichi's heart.  Perhaps those who got too close to him were cursed to die?  Death certainly seemed to be the young man’s companion.  Kichi was a year old now but had felt more the proud adult when only half-grown.  Long ago he had learned the best way to avoid fear was through hate.  Kichi hated and rejected the world.  Everything that breathed was hated, everything of beauty was a mockery to his bleeding heart.

The only one still with him now was the pet he’d picked up when still small.  The Chinese water deer was fully dependent on him at this moment.  The creature had a hard time in areas of deep snow and Kichi had decided to leave the harsh colder north and moved south looking for a spot that would be easier for Torch to graze.  Eventually, they had taken up temporary residence in the soulless forest.  The thicker foliage up top helped stop the majority of the snow, making it all the way to the forest floor. Kichi had preferred a more open landscape than this forest gave but as the world gave him little interest he might as well let Torch have his way.  Something was bound to kill the little deer also eventually.  Nothing with him got to live too long.

Kichi had grown leaner over the spring.  His heart wasn’t in the spirit of the hunt and with only half interest the young wolf lost more prey than he caught.  Did it matter?  The grey wolf with his white markings lay on the dank ground.  He’d taken a bit of time to clean the ground around him, a small circle where no sticks or sharp roots would stick out.  There was no other life in sight but he could hear the sound of rodents in the underbrush and a few birds were having a discussion in the trees.  

She made her way through the Soulless forest again. She wondered if the Dire would come along and find her here again. She wasn’t certain why he had tried to attack her in the first place. Coming back here probably wasn’t wise - maybe he considered portions of this forest his territory. But she was afraid, and when Sera was afraid she generally had a habit of diving in head first - just to prove to herself that she could.

She scented the earth carefully, at least trying to be clever if she was already going for reckless. It wasn’t the scent of dire she found, but that of a regular wolf. Her brows furrowed, and she pressed her nose to the earth. Young, she thought, but she hadn’t done enough tracking in her life to be sure. She wasn’t alone. “Hello?” she called out softly.

"Speech"

Generally, when prey hears a wolf the first thing they do is run.  Torch raised his head, small tail raising up with a happy flick.  The little buck and wolf regarded each other before Torch strode off in the direction of the strange wolf who had called out.  The water deer was an oddity compared to most species of deer, instead of a fine rack of horns he had his own small set of fangs and was far shorter than most deer commonly seen. Torch had an unhealthy brave streak, only kept alive due to its protector.

Kichi huffed as Torch walked off.  He would have been fine ignoring the voice but it wasn’t safe for Torch to go say hi to a strange wolf alone.  If someone did kill Torch they Kichi would make sure the unlucky predator died and he wouldn’t make it a fast kill.  “He’s mine,” Kichi gruffly called out as he got up to follow after the deer.

So it was, shortly after Sera would have heard Kichi’s voice the deer appeared.  It stopped once he could see the wolf, regarding her with some distance in case she did decide to try and chase him.  A moment later Kichi appeared.  His cold gaze regarded the stranger that had strode into his part of the forest then, turning his attention to Torch, “Thanks,” the sentence laced with dry sarcasm.  The damn deer had bluntly done this so Kichi had to come out here and see the stranger also.  He was fine living his life alone.  

Kichi had spent most of his life with two dire-sized parents and so in comparison, this wolf seemed small.  Aside from size on his side she was older and possibly more experienced.  She looked to be in better condition than he was but once more it was a fact taken in without concern.  She didn’t look like any real threat as far as posture nor tone of voice had been.  “Hello,” the response blandly offered. “I haven’t seen any other wolves visiting my forest.  Passing through?” Not that he could defend his claim to the forest but it seemed the thing to do.

She blinked as a tiny wee creature that seemed to be trying to masquerade as a deer made its way out of the thick undergrowth. Was that… fangs? She squinted, wondering if this was some sort of mutated Northern beast like those Dires running around.

A wolf younger than Sera but slightly taller followed after the faux deer and pronounced authority over it. Sera blinked a few times to process, before realising this young wolf looked lean and unkept. He looked barely old enough to have left his parents - but older then she had been when she had been kidnapped. Like her, he probably didn’t have all the skills necessary to survive out here. It was a wonder that, half starved as he was, he hadn’t eaten the creature in front of him.

She scrunched her nose up in surprise as he called this forest ‘his’ “You haven’t? I saw a dire wolf in a clearing just a short walk from here only a few days ago” She had also managed to chase it off with the help of an unlikely friend. “I just came back to see if he was gone”

"Speech"

“He’s gone.” Kichi pointed out what seemed an obvious thing to him, assuming he was right at least.  Admittedly Kichi hadn’t been here that long and he had roamed to other parts of the forest only to return when it suited him.  However, since he was here now it belonged to Kichi until he left again.  Closer up, Kichi already showed one sign of near-death experience with a deep scar to one side of his face that started below and slight to one side of his eye and gone up close to his ear.  An elk had gotten far to close to killing him as a younger wolf after foolishly trying to take it on alone.
 
“Probably prefers more open spots,” Kichi ventured a guess with no real clue.  They seemed the sort that would surely prefer long open stretches of land to chase their prey instead of so many trees making it harder to go at full speed?  Perhaps Kichi saw it that way because that’s how Lurid and he had been chased by the beasts.  The memory of the gigantic creatures as they closed in on him momentarily clutched at his heart but then the emotion passed and the protective cold settled back in.  “Why would you seek them out by yourself?  Sorry, but you don’t look like you could take one down alone.” The only reason he could imagine keeping an eye on where they were was if you did plan to chase them away.  If this land wasn’t hers then what point was there to it?

Since she wasn’t looking at Torch like he was food the deer moved in closer, pausing every few steps to make sure she didn’t change her mind.  So far no wolf had tried to chase Torch after Kichi had claimed him.  

She grunted in wordless agreement. It did seem that way, but then last time he had appeared out of nowhere and gone for her. “Ghee, thanks kid” she said sarcastically, as he pointed out her inadequacies. She hadn’t come here expecting to get roasted by someone half her age. Where had he learnt that spunk anyway? It reminded her a little of how she had been with Alastor. She felt her lips twitch. She already missed that demon-coloured man. He had been a breath of fresh air in her complicated life.

At his question she let out a soft, irritated sigh. “Because I need to prove to myself that I can, you know? He attacked me last time I was here, and I got out of it unscathed. But I needed to prove to myself that I wasn’t going to be scared to come back here.” She glanced at the hungry kid, who was out here alone. She found herself wondering if he knew what it meant to need to prove something to yourself.

"Speech"

The two resonated in more ways than they knew.  Kichi very much missed Al or, he had until he’d buried his pain between neutrality and anger.  He’d labeled Al his best friend and trusted guardian.  Nothing could have touched Kichi when he was with Al.  

Her words also had some influence.  The very scar on his face came from Kichi trying to prove himself.  With the belief his parents had been killed from an Elk the boy had spent a portion of his childhood scared to hunt anything.  Of course, his first attempt was to sneak off alone and try to hunt an elk.  It had been a harsh lesson but Kichi had learned guts alone wouldn’t keep someone alive.  Al had chased it down later and they’d had a good meal from it.  Kichi would kill an elk alone someday, and once it was down the elk would suffer a slow death.

Kichi let out a slow sigh of resignation of accepting her presence and seemed to let go of some of his bluster.  Tense muscles relaxed a bit as he acknowledged her statement,  “I guess I can understand that.” All too well.  He didn’t really want to understand anyone or remember a version of himself that had been far more alive than he felt now.  “Do you plan to see if you can find it farther in the forest?” It was a bad idea.  Kichi doubted she’d care considering he hadn’t when he’d made his own attempt.  The boy was a year old but even more relaxed he spoke as if he was the adult telling the kid.  He’d been raised to believe he was better than others and so even having to question his life that much came naturally.  

Kichi would have once defended his pride and tried to show off how great he was.  Who cared?  “Do you at least have friends nearby in case you got in trouble?”  Al had been able to find Kichi and take him home after his stupid failed attempt but did she have that back up?  That also would let him know if she had friends he needed to worry about.  The boy hadn’t spoken with anyone in some time and deny it as he might speaking to another wolf did draw a bit more life into him.  It was making him think instead of focusing on his misery.  

She gave a sage nod of understanding, seeing a little of the lost kid she had been in him. Though she frowned and shook her head as he asked if she would head further into the forest. “I don’t need to, I already went to the spot he had found me last time. Wherever he is, he doesn't haunt me” and that was really all that mattered. She already had enough in her past plaguing her.

She snorted, why would he think she needed saving? She could take care of herself. Mostly, kinda, maybe. So what if the last time the dire appeared she had needed rescuing. “A guy called Iarlaith helped me chase him off last time, but I don’t need saving.” she said with indignation.

“Anyway, i’m going to go find something to hunt, maybe catch you around kid” she said, lifting a paw in a wave. She was hungry, and she had skills to improve on. Alastor had given her some tips that time they had hunted together, and she needed to put them to good use.

"Speech"

Kichi imagined finding one of those beasts, specifically the one that had killed Lurid.  White-tipped ears flicked back as he imagined tracking that one down and the concept of ripping out its throat.  It was the sort of thing that might sound good to think but he knew it was a death sentence to try alone.  Either way, she was dead so did it even matter?

There was a good amount of pride in her.  She didn’t need saving?  Kichi imagined how Lurid must have died.  He had been falling down the cliff when the beasts would have caught her.  When the giant wolves had left and Kichi had climbed back up there wasn’t even enough left of her corpse to make it clear who it was.  Hopefully, it had been a fast kill.  So this wolf thought she could do better than Lurid had?  Even the untouchable could need saving, even the untouchable died.  Damn, he missed having the level of pride and confidence she was showing.

Kichi didn’t care if she was leaving.  He was glad she was leaving in fact so he could go back to not caring.  The mention of food had his stomach label him a liar as it rumbled to remind him it was empty.  Kichi watched her go with no plans to follow.  Stubbornly he refused his stomach up until she was almost out of sight when another rumble demanded attention. “fine,” muttered to himself as he followed after her. “I’m bored anyway, I’ll help.” Kichi wasn’t going to ask permission.  She should be happy he’d help her out.  Al had given some good hunting lessons after all.  Amusingly enough while alone he had found Torch could help out in the hunt.  The little deer was decent when it came to flushing small game in his direction.