safe or not?

Summer stood stoically on Noir’s shoulders after landing. She warned him silently of the wolf she’d sighted, but the Raven didn’t recognize the she wolf. Noir looked up from his grooming, bringing himself to his massive paws. Dark ears perked forward as blue and lavender eyes pierced through the smoky haze that covered the mountain. The eruption may have started almost a year ago but the volcano had not given up the fight just yet. The air was warm thanks to the exposed gash to the innards of the earth. Fires still burned away the last bits of life and winter’s touch wouldn’t likely press hard enough to infiltrate the heat.

Noir lifted his head, bringing himself to his full impressive height as he caught a glimpse of movement. He trained his attention on the figure, feeling his striped tail flick in irritation as he peeked the silhouette of antlers on their head. He couldn’t smell anything over the ash, but he had lost his fear of other wolves a long time ago. The wind picked up and cleared the haze from between their two forms. Noir’s sharp gaze stuck to her as he studied her features, he saw her lips move but he didn’t catch his name on the wind.

He stood still for a long moment, silently studying her face like he had studied the face of the volcano beneath his paws. She had a face he would never forget, and the memories he’d gathered in his puphood swarmed him. ”Theta.” He returned, Noir’s voice turned deep after his last year of growth. He was almost completely filled out, and the young Destruction man was one of the biggest. For too long Noir had felt the boredom of idleness take hold of him, but as recognition took him a whole world seemed to open up. He’d found a few amusements, but he’d only ever made real plans with Theta.

She had been the one to beat Poem so long ago after his sister had beaten him. He hated reminiscing, but the satisfaction of knowing Theta had claimed victory brought a grin to his dark features. With ease Noir shifted to close the distance between them. ”You aren’t dead, are you?” He might not have believed in ghosts, but after exploring Boreas there was too much he’d seen that still remained unexplained. Seeing Theta here, covered in ash and on the side of a mountain, was something he had never expected.

For so long all he wanted was to escape Abaven and go out into the world to do what he wanted and not have authority standing over his shoulder. He was in a place he didn’t have to worry about impressing a worthless parent or overbearing alpha. Noir was free, and now he and Theta could do whatever they desired.

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