Stranger

A soft voice broke the stillness and Vanta's toe recoiled from the water in surprise. She directed onto him her sharp crystalline gaze, sweeping the stranger's frame with a look that was as critical as it was lazy. Being raised in a pack of war had well equipped the yearling to identify at a glance the marks of such a lifestyle, and as soon as Vanta's appraisal had noted a lack of those features, she allowed herself to return the boy's smile.

It may have seemed as if the girl was suspicious or anti-social, but the opposite was true. Vanta preferred to see the good in others wherever possible, but no longer was she innocent enough to believe that every wolf she encountered had good intentions. Her father's teachings on self-preservation, reinforced by her encounter with the rogue Pyralis, had given the yearling a solid foundation in caution.

She curved her body toward him, awarding the male her attention as she turned away from the springs. He presented with a limp and was asking for help - Vanta wasn't a healer by any stretch, but she would not turn away a wounded wolf. Especially one who was desperate enough to seek help from a yearling. "It's not a bother. What sort of help do you need?" Vanta was cautious but intrigued, curious to see where this interaction would lead. Encounters out in the open world had been rare thus far in her journey and were potentially valuable too, depending on the intentions of the wolf she met.