Moonlit Fjord

The smaller woman accepted her invitation, but the reverence brought back a memory of a small, winged fellow who had taken one look at her at her first festival and thought her to be a deity. The poor fellow had been mortified to learn she was just a wolf of blood and bone who happened to have a few unusual quirks in her appearance. She hadn’t even been glowing back then. Just shimmered in the colors of moonstones.

It was almost always like this. Someone saw her and thought her a ghost, a spirit come to guide them, a deity, a harbinger of death, or a sign that they had died. Or a lamp-post. The last thought came with a ripple of exasperation. True, Azure had been much better behaved at the last festival she’d held, though they hadn’t actually crossed close enough for direct speech. So many saw the glowing, shimmering white fur; the long upper canines, the mane and tail. They didn't see a wolf who just wanted to have at least never developed a glowing coat or lavender marking over one eye. Or, hell, to have even just been born with a plain, normal length coat of hair.

Gently, she held out a paw, ethereal and bright, as she admitted, “I’m sorry, miss. But I am as much a mortal as you are. I am Aurielle Adravendi, alpha of Valhalla.” For the time being, she refrained from stating the pack’s name for her rank. More confusion wouldn’t help the situation, and so she added, “It’s a pack northwest of here, though the first pack border you’d encounter going that way would be our neighbor, Aerie. That one’s led by a man named Eligos Abraxas.”

She nodded to the fire, offering a smile as she invited, “Have you ever tried shellfish cooked on a fire? I’ve tried crab, and it was pretty good.”

She hoped to smooth over any embarrassment or discomfort she might have caused the younger wolf by her admission of mortality.

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