Keep Climbing

Walk | Talk | Think

It became disappointingly apparent that she had miscalculated about this location being empty, though she did not realize until she had reached the peak. Her attention had been focused downward, watching the slick snow with a knit brow as she pressured herself to keep moving with the wind. She was not expecting anyone to greet her when she reached the top, expected only to find a barren, snowy landscape and perhaps a wide view of the territories surrounding her from which to pick the next spot on her journey. It seemed like such a simple request of fate; where had it gone wrong in the translation of making it reality?

Yin was quite literally startled as she heard the voice call out to her, visibly jumping despite her typically immovable facade as her head raised from where it had been watching her feet to set mismatched eyes upon this audibly friendly fellow. An elder. This was unexpected too. Aged wolves seemed to be a rarity around these parts, pups, youths, and middle-aged creatures tending to be the norm, or at least as far as Yin's travels had revealed. Instantly she was conflicted. She knew she was not fit company, especially for someone like this. Despite having been away from him for months, the lonely she-wolf could hear her brother speaking through her. Be patient, Yin. This man deserved your respect. So easy for him to say. Being "nice" just came so easily to him, and he had no aggressive bone in his body to contend with, nor a temper with a short fuse. He was made for these sorts of interactions; Yin was not.

But just having him there inside of her mind, encouraging her as he often had before they had become separated, she knew she could not abandon his teachings altogether. She had made no answer to anything the elder wolf Hyperion had thus far said after she had stopped - still warring with herself about whether it would have been better that she simply leave before she could upset him with her bluntness and easily fouled mood - but managed to put in a little effort even if her answer was short and to the point. "Yin," she greeted, the single syllable low and hard, a bit like her unsmiling expression, "I wasn't expecting anyone to be here...either." She did her best to keep any sense of accusation or passive aggression from inflecting her words, but even to her own ears it sounded present. Oh well. She had not snapped, and in that alone she supposed there was some victory to be claimed, however small it might have been.