Don't Be Afraid to Say Hi

The world was his teacher and he was ready to learn whatever she had to offer. Fights, disease, love, death, whatever it was Cherokee was willing and ready. He hadn?t set out from his birth pack just for no reason. He was two years old now, having just turned two in the recent passing of winter. He wasn?t fully grown yet, a fact that his sisters had never missed a chance to remind him of, but that didn?t deter him from wanting to learn and experience. He was at that perfect age where his mind was still somewhat moldable and yet he was coming into his own, beginning to discover who he was and who he wanted to become. Still young enough to be influenced but old enough to begin to make his own decisions about where he wanted to take his life.

He?d been traveling for a while, how long he wasn?t entirely sure. The landscapes had blurred beneath his paws, all of it just seeming like one huge piece of dirt that had no end. His pads had callouses on them from the many different terrains he?d traversed when he arrived on the strange new land. He?d only encountered one or two wolves in his short travels, his interactions of just simple curiosity, no harm or anything really becoming of them. Other than the scarce few of his kin he ran into, the scent of wolf was not something that had been a daily occurrence during his wandering. And yet in this strange land the heavy stench of other wolves invaded his nostrils, sending his senses reeling. Pace was halted, large obsidian, ivory stained mass coming to halt at he assumed had to be the border of the strange territory. Darkened nostrils flared, testing the heavy air, tasting blood on his tongue. Blood? Steel and jade orbs scanned over the terrain, dark splotches of crimson staining the earth, groves dotting the dirt. Blood stains and the stench of many wolves...a battlefield? Cherokee struggled to come to terms with the idea.

How could there be a designated place for those of his kind to come to duel for their lives? He had never heard of such a thing and most certainly had never seen one up close and personal. He half expected to see rotting carcasses but it appeared there were none. Perhaps the wolves here did not allow the carcasses of fallen opponents or victims to remain, but instead got rid of them? He could only wonder. The afternoon sun cast a warm glow across his onyx back, heating him up from the inside out. Charcoal and ivory audits swiveled atop his fine skull, listening for the tell-tale signs of the approache of another creature. How many of his own species had come to this place of death and blood only to find their lives finished at the fangs of another fellow wolf? Why did they come here in the first place? Was it to defend family? Fight for ranks? Determine the outcomes of challenges and to see who could claim the betting rights? The onyx and ivory stained brute could only wonder, the millions of questions whirling in his head in a nonstop cycle. Was this land part of a pack's territory? Could be invading someone's territory?

A slight disconcern settled in the pit of his stomach. From the mixture of the various perfumes hanging over the battlegrounds, it didn't appear as if one single wolf had claimed the land or that the land was even claimed at all. There were no scent borders to mark the begining of pack's territory. Could these be freelands, open to any who had a death wish? Crown was titled to the sky blue heavens, inky lips forming an O as an alerting bay was released into the atompshere, a signal to any nearby wolven that he had set foot in the foreign territory but that he meant no harm. The call was cut short after a moment, skull returning to it's former positions, mismatched gems dancing over the bloodied landscape, searching for the signs of any approaching. Auditory system remained alert, in case there was an answer to his call, his onyx, alabastared arrowed tail swaying gently behind powerul haunches as he waited to see if he could recieve some sort of response.