All Night Dance Parties In The Underground Palace

It was rare for him to take a journey beyond the pack's borders. Though he had not seen any sign of one of the red brothers still tracking him, Mask was reluctant to put himself in a position to be found, and since they could not enter a pack's lands, that was the best place to remain.

Yet he could not remain there forever, hiding like a coward. He had a life to live, honor to reclaim, and he could not do that sitting within the confines of someone else's pack. It was as much a cage as it was safety. Ambition and restlessness would not be satisfied with hunting prairie chickens and pretending he was a mouse instead of a wolf.

So he had taken it upon himself to expand his hunting trips to include the lands around the pack, and in doing so had discovered some very intriguing places.

Like this, a deep ravine nearly roofed over by the roots of plants at the surface. It was not the sort of place that would yield much prey. Rabbits, maybe. Mice, rats. Small game that were not afraid of enclosed spaces. Few deer or antelope would willingly set hoof in such a place, where their greater speed would be meaningless, so its usefulness to him was minimal. Still, it was a quiet, peaceful place, and the water it protected was relatively rare in this arid region. An underground oasis. Perhaps if he returned here at the height of summer he might indeed find some larger prey desperate enough for water and shade that they would take the risk.

A voice calling out made him pause and peer through the sunbeam-interrupted gloom to make out the one who had so tentatively hailed him. The sight of the young female was interesting, what he could make out - bearing a long mane like Regulus' daughter but curly, and in various browns rather than shimmering white, lacking only the fangs and lengthy tail to be as alike as sisters otherwise as far as he could see. Though she was young, he could see that if he stood next to her she would tower over him.

"Buongiorno, signorina," he returned politely, though he did not step out of the shadowy area into the sunbeam that slanted between them. Better to remain less visible, and be less memorable, even with this young stranger. "A pleasant place to find rest, sì?"