Grand Explorations and Riverstones [AW Nav]

The man – Hudson, as he introduced – was, by far one of the most exuberantly friendly strangers she’s come across in her year of life. Oh, you met many wolves and other creatures when you lived with a traveling Chapter of healers, but there were a few that stuck out to the girl in her memories. This fellow reminded her of someone who still had much of their puppy-hood left to live, regardless of physical age, in an innocent, the whole world’s my friend way.

She chuckled offering in return, “And you, too, Hudson.”

It was an interesting name—though, far from the strangest. She’d once met a wolf whose parents had unanimously and unironically named him Fishgut. He’d never been quite able to escape the digs from others, and he’d hated the smell of fish and even the sight of them. Apparently, they’d been old fashioned and the name was supposed to make him a strong swimmer with great endurance. He sank like a rock.

At Hudson’s acceptance of her offer, she flashed a quick grin, pausing and scanning the plains, spotting what looked like an outcropping of rocks and marking them in her mind, judging the distance. “How about there, ahead? They might give a better vantage point to see more.”

She pointed with a black-toed fore-paw to the outcropping to indicate them, silver and black tail waving as she broke into a brisk trot, the easy, swinging gait developed from a life full of travel. Maybe Valhalla’s Queen would let her keep an active traveling life? Gods, would her Father want her to remain within pack bounds? No—surely not. He’d been raised with the Nomads after they’d found him, lost, as a pup. He knew the importance of travel to their culture.

She dashed the doubts from her mind. From what she’d heard, Aurielle’s family was as closely tied to the Nomads’ culture and history, a direct descendant of Briena, who was daughter to the founders of the Nomads’ way of life, that of dual-skilled masters in fighting and healing. She wouldn’t force Legacy into a mold—Eramaya had made that clear.

She gathered herself and leapt, bounding to the first and lowest rock, then scrambled higher, until she crested the mound of boulders a good ten feet up and stood, poised as she scanned the surroundings. The rocks, she felt, were about central to the grassland, with the river meandering toward the coast on one side, and a far-distant smudge of coniferous trees just at the edge of visibility toward the north and both east and west of the north. South spread the grassland, flat and sprawling, and the tiny specks of the Nomad camp, and even further in the distance, gold shimmered, the desert crouching just at the edge of sight.

She took it in, getting her bearings. No doubt at some point, Valhalla would be holding another festival, and she’d be part of the pack by then.

She tossed a light grin at the man, asking, “So, are you a local of the continent, or from beyond it?” Perhaps he’d know some interesting places she might check out.

Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Labhair an Sean-Teanga." ---- "Hear" ---- Think