Unsteady Return

Walk | Talk | Think

Always swift of foot and sure of her direction, Ashtoreth's mood continued to sour the longer she hobbled along toward home. Everything that could have possibly gone wrong while she was away did, and she was the worse for it. The weather had soured, a late blooming summer storm catching her out in less than familiar territory, and in a desperate attempt to find shelter she had sought assistance from the first wolf to come her way. He had seemed decent to start with, peculiar in that he was more than a little fidgety, but she had been hopeful and eager to get out of the storm. Her naivety had been her undoing.

Her ears pinned and her eyes shut themselves tightly as she once again stopped her progress, breathing in a slow, deep hiss while her jaws clenched shut and pain coursed through her leg. Since moving she had not bothered to look at it, knowing that whatever condition it was in, whether mild or severe, would make no difference; she was no healer, she had no level head for injuries, and if she crumpled into a complete mess here so very near to home she might end up being found that way by one of her pack mates. Swallowing hard, she opened her eyes again and resumed her hobbling gait, dignity and determination pressing her to keep moving.

Familiar terrain seemed to spurt up around her and within a matter of moments she was home. The border welcomed her with the scent of the Valhalla, greeting her itself while the pack itself surely went about their business somewhere within. Briefly she contemplated raising her head and voice and calling out to someone for assistance, but such a noisy move might attract more attention than she wanted. Surely patrols were being made this day, like every other day before? Hoping for it to be so, the lean little grey wolf stopped inside the border to her home and carefully lowered herself to her side so that her injured hind leg rested above the other, exposed and yet restful enough to lessen the jarring pain of movement while a dull ache set in.