That sign can't stop me 'cuz I can't read

It took Lorelai two days to realize her paws had carried her back to familiar ground. She’d stopped dead in her tracks at first, one foot frozen still in the air. No… Surely not? It couldn’t be, she reasoned, casting her eyes down into the valley, following the river’s curve. She’d seen plenty of valleys and rivers in the years since, but no two had ever been the same.

She sat back hard on her haunches.

Well, now.

This… wasn’t in her plans. Granted, Lorelai hadn’t had any plans to start with, other than wake up, eat, walk, sleep and repeat. Now that the ankle biters were off on their own anyhow, she was back to the same old-same old. She'd been looking forward to new horizons but it looked like she'd found herself some old ghosts instead. She heaved a sigh and stood again, began to work her way down the slope towards the fertile range below.

It was a weird feeling for sure. She wanted to be excited but found herself more wary instead. It had been so long, years since she'd seen anyone. She knew some of her siblings had wandered off as she had, but others had stayed. Who, and why, and what were they up to now? Something tightened in her chest. Had Pops..?

... Well. He'd been ancient already when she was young. Some things were inevitable.

Part of her couldn't imagine that damned tractor without him perched on it. For all she knew his bones were rattling up there even now. Could bones still scold you? The thought put a half smile back onto her face and she decided she might as well go find out.

She hadn't expected to run into a pack border, or at least not an unfamiliar one. The scents were foreign to her but beneath it all was the unmistakable tang of sheep shit, an odor she couldn't forget no matter how hard she tried. If no one else, maybe her uncle was still around at least. She thought about howling to announce herself, but... Where was the fun in that, especially if the sheep shit was just a coincidence. If it really was a bunch of sheep-loving randos they could just as easily run her off, or at least make laying eyes on Pop's tractor harder than it had any right to be.

Her mind made up, she stepped over the border and into a quick and quiet trot. She'd just have a little look around, sneaky-like. As sneaky as a bright red wolf her size could be, and if Pop's bones weren't up there bleaching on the tractor seat she'd throw a proper fit and maybe steal some sheep, just to prove a point.

Or say hello to her family. Whichever came first.


"Talk" "Listen" Think