The night tasted different to the day, a softer flavor and muted tones. The wind was calmer, this night, at least. He could feel it stirring about the golds of his feet. He could hear it in the faint rustle of leaves as they drifted towards the earth, in soft rising, falling, patterns. He had always loved the wind, and he had to close his eyes and listen hard to hear it's whisper. Arch had always liked the night. He found the muted grays of shadows easier to process then the million shades of gold the sun could bestow upon the world. It was quiet, and empty, even well it teemed with life. Searching for moments to be alone, to sort through the colors of the day, he almost always found what he was looking for in the night. He walked to the music of his own breath, and took in the muted reds of the giants forest as he began to sort through his memories. He had difficulty forgetting, everything he saw, felt, and heard lingered in his memories as fresh as the first time. It was overwhelming on his sensors, but the familiar rhythm of his step and the cool embrace of the night, enveloped around him, started the nightly process of washing away the bright and new feel of everything he had seen that day.

She still hadn't been able to find her brother, and the tall trees of this forest seemed to make her feel more safe. There were so many wide open spaces up here that made her feel exposed and vulnerable. Ashe had tried to search for her brother, there had been one point where she had picked up his scent in the large woods. She wasn't yet the best at tracking, but she was getting there! It vanished though, and there was a pack nearby. She considered going to them for help, but there was a bit of fear in the back of her mind that they might not let her go. Ashelynn didn't want to wander far either, what if Pheonix was looking for her and they just kept walking passed one another? At least it wasn't too cold, the warm sun had melted all the snow away, but the girl still shivered. She didn't like being alone in this big scary world. As her belly grumbled, Ashe knew that she needed to go and eat something. Hunting was not her greatest skill, but she didn't have her mother or her aunt to feed her. So she went to one of the rabbit burrows that she had found, snuffing around to see if they were lingering. It would be rather dirty of her to dig up their home and just snatch one up, but she was so hungry! But what if they had babies? Well... she couldn't do that. There was no way that she was killing a harmless little baby just because she needed food. Snorting, she walked around with her nose in the sky, trying to pick up the scent of anything. In her desperation to find food, she found herself following the trail of another wolf. Picking up the pace to a trot, she ran until she could see their black and gold form behind her. Since she was downwind, she made sure to stay far enough behind them, her ears flat against her head and her body low to the ground. Maybe this wolf would hunt and she could sneak a bite or two. She was doing a pretty good job of stalking him, until a small branch got under her paw. She inhaled sharply, quickly darting behind the closest tree and crouched behind it. She didn't dare peek out from her hiding spot. Oh drat! Maybe she wasn't doing as well as she thought... It was too hard to keep her eye on her quarry and one on her paws! "Talk" -- "SPEAK SPANISH" -- Think

crack his harmony was broken, and he whimpered as his carefully assorted peace fell from his grasp. The lights of the bright day already past assaulted him. He was caught in the perfect memory of a butterfly, paused with wings wide spread, half way through its beat. He breathed in deep, and breathed out, in the reassuring way his brother had shown him. A moment passed, and then another, and he freed himself from his memories. He blinked back into the cool dark of the forest, and eye began to seek the creature that had disturbed him. He saw her legs first, the coils of flame that laced them from her toes to her thighs. The uniqueness of it stood out to him like nothing else could. He could not see the full extent of that red brand, it was only the bottom half of a leg that peeked out from her hiding place. He wondered at her silence, would not a wolf on fire scream? He was silent a moment, eyes never shifting from their view of her leg. He did not move to seek more of her, certainly his eyes didn't rise to seek out the doors to her soul. Long moments passed, moments that to any other wolf may have seemed awkward, but to arch was necessary. He needed to catalog her presence, define it, and normalize it. He could not fiction otherwise. When he had found a place for her in the palace of his memory he spoke, his soft words a quite melody that rose and fell into the abyss of the night. "Did it hurt? When you burned?" He murmured, true curiosity turning his voice yellow in the air before him. He admired the way the shades complimented the night, the gold flecks on the black of his body.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she waited for the wolf she was following to find her. But moment after moment passed, her breath hitching in her throat as the panic started to rise. But yet, nothing came. Did he not hear the twig that she stepped on? Blinking her silver eyes, the girl peeked around the tree to see him staring at one of her legs. Oh crap! She wasn't even hidden very well! Letting out a squeak, she ducked back into her hiding spot and decided to wait it out again. But then his voice called out, asking if it hurt when she burned. Burned? Where? Sheepishly she got to her paws, leaning over so just her head peeked out. He didn't look like he was going to hurt her, and he had a pretty coat too. In fact, he was looking around now. With her head lowered, she stepped out from behind the redwood and stood beside it. She was still a bit nervous to go near him, so she stayed where she was. His question still confused her, she wasn't burning anywhere. When she looked down at her legs, it clicked. He meant her markings! Did he think that she was really on fire, and just laying there? Huh, what an odd boy. "I no burn, that my fur," she said in a small voice, her broken English sounding almost painful to her ears. She would rather speak Spanish, but not a lot of the wolves here understood her when she did. It was just so much easier for her, she didn't sound like she was stupid or something. Taking a few cautious steps towards him, she lifted a leg for him to inspect. "See? Just like you fur, pretty fur," Nodding her head, she put her leg back down. She didn't know what their word for gold was, so she didn't bother stumbling over it to try and figure it out. She would just settle for the easy way out. "Talk" -- "SPEAK SPANISH" -- Think

Her tones where a gradient unparalleled by anything other then fire. He could see the whisper of Ruby, the flush of Crimson, a subtle touch of Tangerine, a brush of Amber. He would never forget the mixture, the singles or the whole, that made up the flame that coiled about the muscles of her legs. He would see Garnet in the fading light of the setting sun as it flooded, dark to near pink, across the open sky. He would see her Crimson tones in the trickle of blood from the rabbits mouth his brother would catch for him. The wind would caress her coat and he would discover new tones buried in the folds of her fur, and he could acknowledge that her flames where alive. There was a beauty in the living entity flourishing against the muted tones of shadows that made up the lovely creature before him, and it was breathtaking. Even now that he had locked away every last breath of her fire in the palace of his memory, still his eyes did not rise to meet hers. Instead they watched the colors of the wind, faint and gentle as it was, as it kissed the endless reds that had taken the entirety of his attention. His eyes only shifted next when she spoke, and it was to catch the colors they made into the dark night air. He did not know her, and he had little emotion to attach to the infliction's of her tones, so all he could gather was the faint traces of red her words made in the air before them. Her broken tone was not lost on the introvert, and as a lover of languages, words and descriptions, he understood the implication. A light smile tugged against his muzzle, faint and uncertain as it was. She shifted in movement, and his head raised slightly, through lowered before they could accidentally fall into the depths of her eyes. He traced the pattern of her fire once more, as she lifted it for his inspection. “Yes,” he agreed “ you fire is... pulchritudinous” he decided. “What language is your home tongue?” he asked, if the question could be considered rude, the fact would be lost upon him. He might love to learn, and had taken to a few languages in his travels, but it was always by observing, listening, and most of all my remembering. It was not by speaking it to others.

She stood there under his intense stare, watching as his eyes roamed across her body. Ashelynn felt very exposed all of the sudden, and her hackles rose slightly. She had heard him talk, so she knew that he was able to do so. So why was he not speaking at all? She shivered lightly, while his gaze wasn't... creepy, it still was pretty strong. He didn't even look up to her face. The girl was starting to feel uneasy, her stomach doing flip flops in her belly. It took a very long time for him to finally say something, and when he did he used a very strange, long word. Her head tilted to the side, her brows knitting together as she looked rather dumbfounded. "What pulchri... pluche... What you say? What it mean?" Her mouth fumbled rather clumsily over the unknown word, she wasn't able to form anything close to it at all. Ashe relaxed somewhat, maybe he was just a shy wolf. She had met some before, but she was always unsure what to do with herself in the long, awkward pauses. She was still learning how to asses wolves and the situations she found herself in, so long pauses left her mind spinning. Was she supposed to just blurt something out and ask about the weather? Or what? Sighing, her ears twitched when he asked about her home tongue. Tongue? Like... language? She assumed so, and just rolled with that. "Spanish," she said, unsure what else to ask him. Should she return the question? Talk about the weather? She had no idea! Feeling more than lost, she looked down and started to draw circles with her paw. "And you? You speak languages?" Oh crap, that sounded stupid. Of course the wolf spoke languages, he was speaking right now. Kind of. Flopping to her rump, and then finding herself too easy a target, she stood back up and shifted her weight around. If this conversation didn't move any, she would most likely move on. Her tummy rumbled in agreement, reminding her that she needed to eat yet. "Talk" -- "SPEAK SPANISH" -- Think

She stumbled against the strange word that had left his lips, and he paused a moment, contemplating the best way to explain the word. “Beautiful” he mused, but that word felt to simple on his lips to describe the complex wonder that twirled and danced about her legs. Lost in contemplation, his head tilted a little to the side, and his eyes drifted upwards unintentionally, and at last, his eyes found hers. They stuck on the moonlight silver over her eyes, and he could not tear himself away from the emotions he saw there. He always sore more then he intended to in the eyes of others, and it was a large part of the reason he avoided eye contact. There was something about her that struck him as lonely, perhaps it was that she was a none-native speaker in a land of another language. Was she far from her people, the ones she loved? Arch might not have his whole family, but he always had his brother. She was a wanderer, a burning comet far from the hunting grounds of her past. He had trouble tearing his blue eyes from her, and lost in her gaze, his voice spoke for him. Without him minding it, there was more confident in his voice then had been there before, more of his curious, sweet personality. “El español es un idioma para la belleza” his tongue danced over the words with surprising finesse, his accent only a touch foreign. “English, Spanish, French and some Japanese” he said, coming back to himself, and ducking his head, his voice growing softer, shyer, as he pulled himself from the star-glow of her eyes.

The boy seemed to look for a way to explain the word that he had used, but all that came out after that pause was beautiful. Oh, he thought she was beautiful? A warm flush rushed up to her cheeks and she looked back down at her paws. Oh, that was rather nice compliment. "You pretty too, I like the colour," she muttered. Peeking up, she caught him just in time for him to lock eyes with her. The amount of time that he stared at her made her fur stand on end, and she shrunk back a little bit. His gaze was really intense and a deep sense of dread filled her belly. Her tail tucked up against her belly, and it made her feel like he was challenging her or something. Why was he just staring at her like that? She didn’t like it, at all. It made her feel really uncomfortable. A small whine left her lips before she could swallow it down, which made her feel like she just wanted to disappear. That was, until Spanish smoothly left his lips. She perked right back up, eying him with wide silver eyes. He listed off a few languages that he spoke, but she was just so happy that she had found someone that spoke her mother tongue. So many emotions had gone through her that she almost felt like crying with relief. "Sí, es un lenguaje muy agradable. Es muy agradable para hablar de nuevo, que ha pasado tanto tiempo..." It had been since she last saw her brother, actually. Her ears pinned once more, and she laid down on the ground and rested her head on her paws. "Estoy perdido y solo," Ashelynn whispered, gazing up at Darrow with sad eyes. How quickly her attitude had changed, so many emotions twirling through the young girl. "Talk" -- "SPEAK SPANISH" -- Think

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- He kept his eyes ducked again, shuffling his feet as he fought off the weight the emotions in her gaze had left him with. He wondered if his eyes looked like that, when he was lost and alone in the corners of his mind. Of course, he was only lost until his brothers duel toned eyes found him, and brought him home again. Without his brother he wouldn't get through the day, but this star-gaze comet had no one to guide her home – at least not that he could see. Her soft voice brought her from his musings, and he could see the longing in violet tones between them and he wondered what her argentate gaze would tell him now. He didn't raise his eyes again.  “Un lenguaje .. ... de color y la danza, no es de extrañar que me llamó la atención” He spoke more haltingly now, his faults showing as he struggled to translate the colors of his mind in words she might understand. English. Spanish, it did not matter to him, no one saw the world as he did, and the only who could understand did so because he could see through his eyes. Roc. "todos estamos perdidos, pero ¿por qué estás solo, el fuego de la española ...  Wind?” He frowned, his face twisting into a sad grimace as his history failed him. He had never heard anyone say the name of the wind in Spanish. How had he never before heard his favorite word in the language of color? he shook his head, disgusted at himself. -”A language.. of color and... dance, it is no wonder it caught my eye” -”We are all lost, but why are you alone, fire of the Spanish...” "Speech" Language "You"

He went from staring at her to not looking up at her at all. He was very confusing, and she wasn't quite sure what to feel about him. She was glad that he spoke her language though, but it would seem that he was out of practice. She smiled slightly at his words, her red marked tail wagging behind her a few times. "Viento," she said for him, filling in the word that he didn't know. There were a few words that she didn't know in the more common tongue, so she didn't blame him for messing up on one word. It really was amazing how he knew so many languages though for a wolf of such a young age. He spoke both so well, a little part of her was jealous. He called her fire of the Spanish wind, an elaborate name, while asking why she was alone. Her shoulders shrugged a little and she looked away from the black and gold male, towards the pack borders that she had scented her brother. "Mi hermano se ha ido, y yo no sé cómo volver a donde mi madre es. No sé esta zona y he tenido que cuidar de mí mismo ..." She was not even a year old, but she was old enough to know the basics. Ashe just wasn't the best of hunters yet, and rabbits were so fast! It was hard to catch so many of them, and she was too small to take down a deer. Turning back to look at him, he realized that he was calling her names because they hadn't shared them. "I'm Ashelynn," she said softly, a sweet little smile on her lips. "¿Estás solo también?" "Talk" -- "SPEAK SPANISH" -- Think

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- He saw the movement of her flecked, alabaster tail as it swished back in forth behind, the gesture one of happiness. Arch shuffled his paws again, keeping his eyes down cast. He wanted to know if there would be light in her eyes now, a spark that wasn't there when she thought she was alone, with no one here who spoke her language, and could read her heart. He didn't raise his eyes. Instead, he tilted his muzzle, tasting the word she had provided him. “Viento” He amended himself, “la española Viento” he continued, repeating half the name he had given her. “Arch” He supplied, still chewing on the last Spanish sentence that had passed her lips. Her brother was gone, and she knew not where her mother was. Was she young? No, Yes. Well, it was a matter of perspective, she was barely younger then he. “Es tal vez propicia que te he conocido aquí. No, no estoy solo, mi hermano me espera. Él es...” He struggled for a moment, searching for a description that would explain who Ro was to him, and all that that meant for the strange wolf. “Fuerte y sabia. Él hará las cosas mejor cuando no puedo. le gustaría conocerlo?” -“Wind” -“The Spanish Wind” -“It is perhaps auspicious that I have met you here. No, I am not alone, my brother waits for me. He is...” -“Strong, and wise. He will make things better when I can not. would you like to meet him?” "Speech" Language "You"

The golden marked boy corrected himself and repeated his statement, something that brought a tender smile to her lips. She had never had someone call her something so nice, usually Pheonix called her big butt or something along those lines. It was never anything sweet like him. But she was left feeling very confused about this brightly marked man. He was staring at her one moment and giving her the creeps, and then he was tossing sweet words her way. It made her slightly on edge, but it was amazing to finally have someone to relate too; she was no longer all alone with him here. Ashe's ears pinned in her indecisive feelings, and she was thankful when he spoke up again. Oh, so he had a brother too? The way he talked about them sounded like they were rather close, which was something that was lacking from her relationship with her litter mate. Arch asked if she wanted to meet him and the girl hesitated, her head raising from where it rested on her legs. It could be a trap, but... Slowly she nodded, raising herself to her paws. "¿Le ayudará a encontrar Pheonix?" she asked. If they were going to run around and towards his sibling, they might as well be on the look out for the fiery boy. As much as the two of them fought, she really missed his big fat head. She didn't feel so exposed with him at her side, and she desperately wanted to find her mother and aunt. "Talk" -- "SPEAK SPANISH" -- Think

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The gold-trimmed boy nodded his head, shuffling a foot in the dirt again. He still wasn't sure he was doing this whole greeting-thing right, but something in his heart told him he had to try. There was rosy colors of joy in the silver wind now, and he could only hope it indicated he was starting to make a difference. “por supuesto, se puede describir a su hermano?” he didn't know why her brother was gone, and assumed they had somehow gotten seperated. It explained why she was by herself in a foreign land, struggling to speak a different language. His grasp on Spanish would be exhausted soon, but he hoped his quick memory, and her ability to speak both language, would give him a chance to boost his knowledge. He didn't know how long he was going to be in her company for, but it would do well to learn more of her language well he was – it made it easier for the both of them. On the other flip of the coin, he would be happy to teach her more of his language with what words of hers he already knew. He shook himself from his thoughts, and nodded his head back towards the forest. “Nuestro estudio es de esta manera, él todavía estaba dormido cuando fui a dar un paseo” -“Of course, can you describe your brother?” -“Our den is this way, he was still asleep when i went for a walk” "Speech" Language "You"

When he asked what her brother looked like, a small smile came to her face. Well, he was a lot more interesting than her, that was for sure. If he liked her legs, he might just faint if they ever found Pheonix. She giggled at the thought, looking up as she thought of her litter mate. "Él se ve aún más como el fuego que yo. Él es una especie de un color gris púrpura, con una gran cantidad de marcas en él que se parecen a las llamas. Son por todo el cuerpo, sin embargo, de color amarillo, rojo y naranja. Tiene ojos de color amarillo brillante, y es muy fácil de detectar," she explained, an obvious fondness in her tone. She never realized just how much she missed her brother, not until they had been separated for so long. Even though they fought a lot, she found herself longing for that over the silence that accompanied her everywhere else. She wanted his noisy voice and insults, anything was better than being alone. Her ears perked back up and she glanced back down when he said that there den was over there. His brother was still sleeping, at this time? Ashe giggled softly, slowly closing the gap between them to stand at his side. She felt a lot more at ease with him now, maybe he was just an odd boy. Her brother was odd, perhaps she just needed to get used to him! That was all, right? Plus, he wanted to help her. Mean wolves didn’t help other wolves. Her head nodded as she agreed with herself, the golden marked boy would be her new friend. "Eres mi novio ahora!" Ashelynn didn’t know the true implications of the word, it just meant that he was a boy that was her friend! What else could it possibly mean? "Talk" -- "SPEAK SPANISH" -- Think