GENESIS

When the little howl pierced the air, Irin stirred from her reverie, twitching her ears as she lifted her head slightly. The little rabbit that had remained fixed beneath her gaze for several moments took advantage of Irin's distraction and fled away, racing towards its den or warren or whatever you called the place where rabbits lived. Irin was already distracted, forgetting the world that she had created for the cute little rabbit. In her mind, it had been engaged to another little rabbit, and was off fetching his future bride a rare flower that bloomed only in the coldest parts of the land, and then only on the nights of the new moon. For all of its difficulty to collect, it was the most beautiful of all the flowers, and the rabbit's bride had confessed one night that it was her most favorite of flowers, and so, the rabbit had set off in search of it. And while on the way, he had run into Irin.

But all of that was forgotten when the reedy howl reached Irin's ears. The rabbit was allowed to flee unmolested, and Irin turned and padded towards the source of the howl without second thought. Maybe, she thought to herself, it's a wild pup that has survived on its own for months after his mother was killed and he's only now found a pack. She felt bad for the pup almost as soon as she thought that, however, and turned her mind away from that immediately. Instead, she decided, he was a changeling pup, from another realm far away. He was brought to Glaciem's borders by his parents, who were strange, winged wolves, in exchange for a pup of one of the wolves of Alacritia's own. Much more interesting.

However, when she approached the scene, another wolf had already arrived. The young female flicked her ears, keeping back a little as she examined the pup. The elder female had already spoken, addressing the youngster, and leaving Irin with little to say. So instead she surveyed the creature, trying to decide where the pup had come from. Was he a changeling, after all? He looked rather strange, with his mismatched eyes, but he didn't look like the son of any winged wolves. Maybe he was just an ordinary, average pup. But no, that was far too boring for Irin to entertain for more than a few seconds.