One More Step
When her brother had left, it had been to make a life for himself. Without her. He had always talked of joining a pack, meeting someone, starting his own family. At the time, Solveiga had thought all of those plans were wonderful, and she had been beside him one hundred percent. She knew now that those plans didn't involve her, so why couldn't she make her own plans that didn't involve him? Join a pack of her own? Maybe even... meet someone? Have a family? That would be in the distant future, but Solveiga did not think it impossible. After all, she loved pups.
She was in the eastern part of the continent now, exploring all that the land had to offer. She had scented a pack about a day ago, and had avoided it. Maybe next time she caught the scent of a boundary, she wouldn't be so quick to just avoid it. Maybe she would do a bit of exploring, see what she could find. Today, she had found a cliff. She avoided the most extreme edge, not wanting to accidentally slip over the edge, but from where she stood she could see the water below, and it was a beautiful sight. She settled onto her haunches and sighed a bit, letting her muscles unwind as the winter breeze ruffled her fur lightly and she watched it create waves on the water below.
Herby herby herbs. Herbidy herbidy herbs. Váli hummed as she bounced along the path, pushing through the thicket to the cliff she knew awaited ahead. Who knew, herbs could be abundant there as well. It wasn't likely, but it would at least be a nice place to relax. She finally pushed through the thickets, peering her head over the edge - oh. Crap. Well, that was not a good place. Backpedalling away from the edge that was literally straight down, she scooted along, poking her head out every few feet. At one point, she sighed, stuck her head out, and looked around, ignoring the extremely long distance into the water below. Looking around, she could see the cliff edge extending out, eventually, onto a plateau of sorts right outside the borders, with plenty of room for a wolf or three to stand. And in fact, there was a pretty wolf standing right there. Humming once more, this time in curiosity, Váli headed quickly towards that spot where she spotted the cream wolf. She had to poke her head out a few times to make sure she didn't go past it, but she eventually made it there. She stepped delicately onto the rock, gazing at the wolf who was standing there, looking over the ledge. Resisting a shudder, she called out, "Hello!" Perhaps this woman would know of sickness herbs, and could teach Váli.
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"Oh!" she cried out, her heart suddenly jumping into a sprint and she had to take some deep breaths to calm it again. When she turned and saw the wolf who had given her such a scare, she laughed a bit at herself. It was another female, with white fur and beautiful markings. She seemed very friendly. Solveiga was in no danger. "I'm sorry, you scared me. It was so quiet, I wasn't expecting..." The small woman trailed off a bit and cleared her throat shyly, still looking at the stranger. Staring, perhaps. She really was beautiful, her golden eyes especially. Looking at her made Solveiga feel like a pup admiring a butterfly for the first time. "Hello," she finally responded, smiling softly.
Oh, shit. Oops. She scared the wolf. She didn't... mean to do that. At all. Welp. At least she didn't fall off the cliff? That would've been bad. Especially for Solveiga's health. "Hey," she greeted in return, tone sheepish. "I didn't mean to scare you; I'm so sorry!" It seemed it had already been forgiven, however, especially since the other girl was... staring at her? She stared back, amusement sparkling in her eyes. The girl truly was pretty, with gentle cream and white markings dotting her body, and crystalline blue eyes. She was quite a bit younger, though; it seemed a fresh adult. "I'm Váli Lasair. Who are you?" she questioned kindly, seating herself down. Her tail wagged behind her a bit - she was glad for the company. After the introduction, Váli would most certainly question about herbal knowledge.
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