Walk | Talk | Think
The woods around the fjord tended to be so quiet that Anais had taken for granted that she was alone here in this little section, wandering with only her thoughts and the trees that surrounded her to keep her company. The illusion of isolation was broken instantly as she heard the yip, loud and meant to grab the attention. It certainly got hers though she jumped first, startled not only by the sound but by the fact she was no longer alone. There was someone else here with her, someone rather close by, and trailing on the ends of her fright was her new found anxiety.
Her ears tucked, her gaze nervous, as she turned her head to spy the wolf who had called to her. She picked him out with relative ease, though she supposed she would have even if he had not called to her. He was a mess. Mud caked along his paws and legs, climbing upward even to coat his belly. A look at his anxious face told her the majority of his coloring should have been white, and might even be white below the mud, but the marking that sat centered upon his face, arching upward across his forehead, seemed far more intriguing. Those colors were not...natural. And, more importantly, one fact seemed most prevalent and nerve wracking of all: he was male.
She had little to no time to think about it further. With a wave of his tail, a gesture that she thought was about as nervous as the rest of him looked, the muddy, oddly marked wolf was hurrying toward her. Fearing the dangers that her parents had spoken of, the grey-gold wolf backed away a few nervous steps but the male continued to creep forward, eating up the ground that she acquired. He stayed low and whined almost continuously, practically rolled onto his side as he stopped very close before her. Anais stared with wide, anxious eyes, her heart somewhat erratic in her chest. A part of her - the old her - wanted to lower down beside him, to smile and coax him out of whatever worries crippled him so. But the last time she had been friendly, the last time she had wandered with her guard down, everything had gone wrong, and she could not allow that to happen again.
He spoke to her, strange phrases that made no sense and had no meaning. It reminded her briefly of her run in with the kindly female beside the pond and the cryptic phrases she had said too. But what had he tried to say? "Are-are you okay?" she asked nervously, once again speaking with the strange stutter she had acquired during her brief acquaintanceship with Pyrros. Silently she prayed that he would be truly kind, and that she would be safe.
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