castle ruins

despite their best efforts, the newcomer startles her, but El refuses to let it show. a slight twitch is the only indication as those pale eyes shift to drink in the girl's face, noting a vibrant gaze and a tawny pelt. she seems friendly, unassuming. pack-scent clings to her pelt, strange but inoffensive, and her stance is open and welcoming. El relaxes, lets her focus return to the shifting of prey around them, on the scents mingling through the air and eliciting a steady rumble in her stomach. "i do," she confirms, giving a curt nod. a part of her bristles at the sight of a strange wolf traversing her father's lands - but this is the reality she lives in, now. the very territory that had once confined her is now open to any matter of creature, no matter her feelings on the subject. "i'd like that," El continues, falling into step with the stranger. it's centering, to have a purpose and a companion at her side. a distraction from the whirlwind of her mind. she lifts her nose, tasting the air until she has separated the scent of the turkeys from the rest of the prey. she pictures their feathers, the crunch of plump bird flesh between her teeth, and finds herself growing more and more amendable to the idea. perhaps this is just what she needs, tonight. "i'll follow your lead, stranger." she hesitates, then adds, as though as an afterthought, "I'm El, by the way. Elara." Klein hovers on the edge of her tongue, but she bites down on the word so hard it would've drawn blood from a physical body. none of it seems to matter, now. none of it means anything. what did she have, now, but the remnants of an empire at her feet? the bloodied shards of a crown scattered about her like debris.

WC: 311
Total: 847