Come down, come down sweet reverence

Luckily the storm passed just as quickly as it had blown in. The clouds moved through leaving clear blue skies and bright late afternoon sunlight. Jynn crawled out of the crevice and basked in the sun before she was ready to move on. They headed southward through rocky and mountainous terrain. At one point Jynn saw a cave.

Curiosity got the better of her and she wandered inside. The cave was a good size, she didn't even have to stoop but what first caught her attention were strange white markings along the brown stone on one of the walls. They looked like they were symbols. She saw a moon, trees, and something she was pretty sure was a wolf. Jynn stepped over a small stream that ran through part of the cave floor, it's deep waters moving slowly past. She stood up on her hind legs and leaned in to get a closer look at the pictures on the wall. Some of them looked like they could show various prey animals. "Hey, Kiela, what do you make of these pictures?"

Kiela was surprised she'd stuck around with Jynn for so long, but she was proving to be decent company. So many wolves she'd met here seemed so different from her, but she saw some of herself in Jynn - she seemed happy to spend much of their time traveling rather than making meaningless small talk and she wasn't afraid to tackle whatever obstacles lie ahead of them. Much like Kiela she wasn't tied down by the monotony of pack life, nor was she shackled by family or obligation, at least that she could tell. She wasn't sure how much longer she'd stick by her but she was pleased with the time they'd spent together, much more so than anyone else she'd met in Boreas thus far. Soon she'd have to return to her caribou though, as rewarding as their journey had been together. She trailed after Jynn into the cave they'd discovered, immediately drawn to the markings on the walls. Some were abstract and completely indecipherable, or perhaps it was simply due to being weathered over time, but others were quite obvious to her. Moving closer, she even swore she saw a few caribou being hunted by creatures with two legs - or maybe her mind was just seeing what she hoped might be there. It was hard to tell for sure. She let out a thoughtful hum as she continued to examine the walls. "Here - I see caribou. Maybe a hunt?" She tilted her head as she glanced at Jynn, wondering if she'd see the same thing or something else.

Come down, come down sweet reverence

Jynn leaned in to sniff the drawings but all she came away with was various earthen scents and perhaps charcoal of some kind. Kiela mentioned that she saw caribou. Jynn swiftly headed over, nearly getting up in Kiela's personal space as she squinted at the drawings on the wall. "Ooo I think you're right. You know I've always wanted to see a caribou in real life." She hadn't spotted any yet on her journey's in the north. Jynn squinted at the two-legged things that might've been chasing the caribou. "Wow, those look weird." She couldn't really relate the drawings to anything she'd seen in real life.

All she could tell from these drawings was that they were old. Some were fully weathered away by time, others just barely clinging to the cave walls. Others somehow seemed as if they'd easily stood the test of time, especially the ones tucked further back in the cave, though with the dim light they were harder to make out. Kiela moved to her side to look, no longer uncomfortable with their proximity; Kiela felt she had a good enough idea of who Jynn was now that she didn't feel quite so distrustful of her. She was smaller than her anyway and Kiela felt she could hold her ground, not that she thought she needed to worry about such things any longer now. Her words gave her pause. "You've never seen one?" The difference in herself and the inhabitants of Boreas was often obvious, but sometimes it still caught her off guard. "Caribou… they are sacred to my people. They live so we may live," she explained simply. The years when the caribou suffered so did her kin. Things here were different though, but she couldn't easily let go of her traditions. "My family, back home, tend to the caribou. Keep their herds safe. That is why I came to Boreas," Kiela finally explained. Still she looked over the drawings, noting the way her voice echoed, pinging off the weathered stone walls around her.

Come down, come down sweet reverence

Jynn caught the bewilderment in Kiela's voice but she didn't think too much of it. She was from a very different place. Jynn shook her head. "Yea, there aren't caribou where I'm from but I'm from way far south, deeper than Auster." Kiela went on to explain that this was more than simple surprise but that the caribou were sacred to her people. Jynn listened with amazement. "Wow, I had no idea. Are you planning to raise caribou here then?" She'd heard of wolves that raised animals for eating rather than hunting. It seemed very strange to her but then she could see the benefit, especially for a good-sized group of wolves.

She and Jynn had come from differently worlds completely - she was from far north, a land even farther north than Boreas. The journey here had been a long and arduous one. She wondered if Jynn had experienced a similar journey coming here. "No, we do not raise them. We simply tend to the herds, often from a distance. We prey on them but only when it is necessary - on the injured and the old," she explained. It was a relationship that benefited them both.  It was an unusual relationship but it was how her family had prospered the harsh northern winters for so long. "I've taken to following the herd here - but it is different, with just me," Kiela explained with a small, almost sad smile. Not wanting to dwell on it for long though she moved further into the cave, the cave drawings seeming even brighter the further into darkness they were, likely untouched by the elements that tried to force them away. "What would you draw here, on these walls, if you could?" Kiela would draw her caribou, and her family; but what would Jynn pick?

Come down, come down sweet reverence

Jynn found Kiela's tales of caribou fascinating. It was an interesting space in between hunting wild animals and raising livestock in the ways she'd seen pack wolves do. She wished she could do something for Kiela in regards to the caribou but she honestly didn't know what. It sounded like Kiela missed her family. "Would more of your family come over? If the herds are good here?" Having never seen a caribou she had no idea what the state of them were in Boreas.

She followed the other woman deeper into the cave and pondered for a moment at the question. "Oh, hmmm… I don't know. Maybe some of the neat lands I've seen? Maybe a map of where to find my favorites."

Kiela cared little if Jynn was interested in her culture or not, though she was always glad to share if anyone seemed interested, and her new companion seemed to be. She was glad to reflect on her life and her culture, if but for a moment. Her question earned a brief pause. "Perhaps," she admitted gently. "Some wolves who came before me made this journey, here. None returned, so I can only guess they found what they were looking for." Whether that had been the herds or something else that had kept their attention, it was hard for her to guess. "The herds here are smaller, and would benefit from proper protectors," Kiela mused thoughtfully. Jynn played along to her little question, and she nodded in understand. "A map. I like that," she commented with a faint smile, that rare expression not often seen on her steady features.