Ebony paws dragged on the ground with every step, leaving behind small streaks of blood in the snow. Walking had become painful. So much walking. A once perfectly kept coat was matted with dirt and ash. Salmon tongue hung limply from a parted maw. Exhaustion had taken over the once Tortugan female. Secret had been one of lucky ones to escape the eruption of the volcano. But now she was homeless, like so many other wolves. Pack lines had disappeared as wolves fled, desperate to get away. The farther they got from the place they once called home, stragglers fell behind, thinning the group, until most where alone in their journey. New lands unfolded before the she-wolfs sapphire eyes. The sound of rushing water was like music. Her walked renewed, Secret followed the sound. Small falls soon came into sight. An excited yelp escaped the jaws of the harden she-wolf as she surged forward, leaping into a small pool.

Dirt and ash was washed away, revealing a bright pelt. Water was gulped down, soothing a parched mouth. Stepping out of water, Secret was reminded that it was winter. A frigid wind touched her wet pelt. A shiver vibrated her frame as she shook the excess water from her pelt. Looking around, orbs sought a place to settle down and warm up. Brush could be found everywhere, snow covering most of it. Settling down against a tree, she was protected from the cool air. Her fluttered close, exhaustion crashing down on her like a wave.

Black smoke filled the air, suffocating, ash fell like rain, coating everything. Panic was wide spread. Howls echoed everywhere. Liquid fire destroyed everything in its path, claiming lives of those who couldn't escape.

The sleeping ebony she-wolf twitched in her dream, desperate to get away from the nightmare that was chasing her. With a final jolt, sapphire orbs flew open. A heavy sigh slipped past a lightly greyed maw. The snow had picked up once more, layering the grown, traveling would be even harder now. Laying quietly, Secret began to think. Wondering what had become of her packmates. What had become of the other packs. What was going to happen. How would the packs regroup. So many questions and so few answers.

Exhaustion no longer claimed the heavily coated she-wolf, though her legs still complained against her continued travel. She had given up on her trek hours before to rest, slipping soundlessly and swiftly into sleep, and at long last she had risen, still in unfamiliar territory. Mercianne had thought in those first few fleeting moments of consciousness, before she had even opened her eyes, that it might have all been one horrible dream. The lands had no been ravaged by volcanoes, the Glaciem territory was still snugly set between its mountains, and life as she knew it was still continuing. But as she opened her deep, dark brown eyes, she realized her folly. It had all happened. And she was alone for it.

Where she had lost the pack, she was uncertain. They had tried to stay together, and she had done her best not to let those nameless faces get away from her, but in the chaos of retreat the inevitable happened. She had lost her way, driven merely by instinct, and she had run for her life in order not to be swallowed up like their home.

This place she found herself in, this semi-tropical, wintery paradise was nothing like the cold and chilling tundras and snow fields that she was accustomed to. Even with the winter and snow, the weather did not seem to reach the sort of chills here she expected, and as she moved, head and tail low and ears tucked nervously to her head, she felt herself begin to pant. A thin coating of ash covered her creamy white fur, tickled at the edge of one eye, but she paid no attention to it. There would be time enough later to tend to her appearance and physical comfort. Now, finding her pack, or at least shelter and safety, was her main priority.

The sight of the waterfall had seemed promising. Water was a necessity, especially in these unfamiliar lands, and sticking close to it meant the possibility of being drawn toward others seeking the respite the waterfall offered. If she waited, she could be rewarded by meeting a native to these lands, or even possibly a fellow refugee from her own pack.

Paws still complaining with each step, Mercianne meandered alongside the waterfall, occasionally drifting further into the densely wooded area beside it and then curving back toward the water. She had deviated from her path beside the falls when she glanced to her right and saw from the corner of her eye the resting figure of a wolf beneath a tree. The unexpected sight was enough to frighten the already nervous wolf, causing her to jump visibly in place and for the yip she might otherwise have released to catch in her throat. She sunk quickly into a submissive crouch, her brown eyes fixing themselves on the ground before the other wolf, and bit her lip to keep herself from whimpering. "I'm sorry," she hastily called in a voice just above a whisper, "I didn't...know someone was here."

-- mercianne

OOC: Hope you don't mind me dropping Merci here. c: Wanted her somewhere out of her comfort zone, and this place seemed good.

The soft crunching of snow announced the approach of a second wolf. Stillness fell over Secret as she waited for the intruder to make an appearance. A creamy she-wolf made an appearance, clearly happy to find a water source. She drifted to and fro, almost as if looking for something. But then again, everyone was looking for something. Someone. So much had been lost. A soft sigh was stifled just as the wolf took notice of her. The startled wolf acted as though Death himself was staring her in the face. Surely the scent of Tortuga had been mostly washed from her pelt. Not the fae was close enough to pick up any lingering scents. Rising to her paws, Secret watched the wolf, wary, uncertain of how she would react. The devastation had broken many.

"Don't look so afraid." Secret struggled to keep the snap out of her voice, she was not accustomed to those being startled so easily. Tortuga did have a reputation after all, and the weak wouldn't survive. In an attempt to soft her gaze, Secret lowered her in a less threatening manner, not wanting to drive off the only wolf she had seen in days. "Who are you?" it was classic question from the the Tortugan she-wolf, asking many questions in one. The wold smelled of nothing but ash, leaving the ebony wolf unable to identify which pack she belonged to, her face was surely unfamiliar.

Seating herself on the cool ground, sapphire eyes gazed steadily at the wolf. Tired, but steady. She was tired, hungry, sore. Nothing sounded better than a nice meal and a warm den. Her rumbling belly reminded her of that. She had lost track of how many days she had been traveling, how many days she had gone without food or water. The long ago loner was not accustomed to living on few meals. Pack life had treated her well, a steady meal every night, a constant water supply. Now she would have to find her pack again. Or what was left of it. So much was uncertain.

"Have you come across many others?" in this foreign land any company was a welcomed relief from the silence of the unknown. Her look began expectant, a glimmer of hope that there would be others soon behind her. Her look of hope soon disappeared behind a mask, the hardened she-wolf never let anyone see her true emotions. Keeping everyone at bay.


ooc- sorry for short reply, long day at work XD

On reflex, Mercianne flinched and shut her brown eyes tight as the darkly colored wolf rose to her paws, automatically expecting the worst. When nothing happened, she peeked her eyes open again, peering warily at the stranger where she stood regarding her beneath the tree. What a sight she must be; covered with ash, jumping around beside the waterfall, and then starting at the mere sight of another wolf who had not even spoken a word aloud yet. But she had never been one to suffer from embarrassment too often when it came to survival. Anything for the sake of living was justifiable in her mind.

The stranger did answer after another second, commanding the timid white wolf to stifle her fears with a voice that Merci was almost certain held a hint of annoyance. It was easier said that done, forcing herself to relax, but she tried to oblige. She drew in a rather shaky breath and eased herself slightly out of her crouched position, though her tail and head still remained low. For the moment it was as good as things were going to get for her. She only hope it would appease the other female.

Without wasting any time, a question followed the command, and the black wolf seated herself again amid the snow beneath her tree. She only hesitated a moment before answering, a little uncertain just what sort of information the wolf was aiming to get but deciding to stick with the very basics. "I'm Mercianne," she spoke, her timid voice still a little shaken. For a second, she contemplated mentioning her pack, but without the knowledge of what happened to them, or even if it still existed after what they had gone through, she decided against it and fell silent, her brown eyes still averted.

Quietly and inconspicuously as she could manage, she took a seat where she had been standing, folding her legs neatly and curling her fluffy tail around her side with care. With nothing more to add herself, she waited and was rewarded when the other spoke again. Her brown eyes shifted upward a little, skirting around the wolf's greying face though still avoiding direct eye contact. She lowered her gaze and head sadly, her ears tucking slightly against her head as she merely shook her head no. She had not come across any others. And so far she was not very sure what to make of her first meeting since escaping. Trying not to appear entirely weak, as the wolf had requested, she attempted to find her voice again and asked softly, her tone only slightly hopeful, "Have you?"

-- mercianne

OOC: Nah, that wasn't short. c: Quality over quantity.

The she-wolf slowly began to relax, coming out of her crouched position, though her voice still shook when she spoke her name. Mercianna. interesting name. But Secret was more interested in her answer to the second question that was given. Her answer was a silent one, only a shaking of her wolfs skull. Secret was determined to venture out and find her pack, after she rested a bit. Audits twitched as the dame asked a question of her own. Hope entwined itself with her words as she asked whether or not Secret had met any others. "I haven't either." she spoke with a small shake of her head.

"What pack did you come from?" lyrics filled the quiet air once more. The ebony dame ignored the fact that the frightened she-wolf made no eye contact and still looked as though she feared for her life. Both were seated amongst the snowy ground, Secrets wet coat was slowly drying, chill slowly getting to her. The dame hated winter, it was far to cold for her liking, she preferred the coolness of spring or fall.

Secret attempted to make herself appear a little more friendly, in hopes that fae would relax and share more of what had happened, if she knew anything at all. One could hope. Secret bit back a scoff, all this talk and thinking about hope was making her soft. It was very uncharacteristic. Her focus was returned to the she-wolf, Mericanna, waiting to find out more about this wolf and what she knew. But from the looks of it, getting this wolf to share anything was going to be quite a task.

~*~ A voice, deep but feminine cut through the winter air, but from the distance it only just registered above the wet drumming of the falls. "Glaciem," said the voice. "Mercianne is from Glaciem." Further up the series of waterfalls stood a large white she-wolf, marbled over with copper and cream markings. She held herself with the bearing of warrior, but seeing the silvering bits in her tail and back, one got the feeling that her days of warfare were over. -Even more so when the she-wolf turned, showing the right side of her face, and the empty socket where a gold-green eye had been. However, aged or not, wounds or no, the Timber cross made her way down the natural stone staircase - heavily enough to betray the thick coils of muscle she still lay claim too, yet with a mountain wolf's balance that even the stiffness of old age couldn't shake. She tread through one of the pools, sending out silver ripples, and hopped down the last past the last smaller cascade, coming up beside the cowering white she-wolf. "I'm glad to see you're alright," Crusade said softly, but even the quietness couldn't hide the feeling behind the words. "Too many of us are still unaccounted for." Crusade recalled the dark, stormy night she'd spent in the mountain cave with Mercianne - a frightened stranger who'd shuffled in past the border. She'd told her of Glaciem, but she'd never promised her a safe home. Glaciem was a place bears and blizzards, of avalanches and mountain cats, but the wolfs there were used to the dangers of snow and ice....what they hadn't expected was fire. Crusade and Gargoyle had discovered Mt. Animi's unrest the day Crusade had gone to plant Xy's head on the peak. For the mountain already carried the name of Crusade's adopted daughter....it was only fitting that it also carry the head of her daughter's murderer. But the stone's trembled underpaw - the first and faintest of the tremors. It was a small warning. But combined with animal senses it was enough. Crusade and Gargoyle had gone back to camp and warned the others that were there....but it was then that all hell broke loose. Smoke trickling up from the mountain in bigger and blacker clouds convinced most to start moving - orders convinced others. But when the rocks started flying from the mountain - flaming and falling from the sky. That moved everyone. The ash... the poison smoke...the red boiling inards of the earth itself.... It was terrible. If Crusade believed in gods she would've been convinced they wished all upon the face of the earth to perish. But they were still alive. Or most of them anyway. Glaciem, which had been closest to the terrible eruption, was slowly picking up the peices and putting itself back together. For Crusade, each one of those "peices" was a packmate, a family member - nearly all of them she had accepted herself and knew what made them tick. She had lost Glaciem once - and very nearly had so again...each part of Glaciem was precious in her eyes - or eye, rather. So it was only natural that when she turned to face the Tortugan, her paws beside and slightly in front of Mercianne. It was a calm, unthreatening gesture, but it said clearly "This is mine. You are not allowed to harm it." But for all that Crusade didn't see an enemy when she looked at the smaller black she-wolf. If the fae had wanted to hurt Mercianne she would've already down so. No. In fact, as far was Tortugan's go, she'd been downright friendly, and Crusade was thankful for the goodwill. She'd known a couple of their pack's sort and they had her respect as hardy, dangerous wolves, in many ways like herself and others of her family, but when it came to the untrained members of her pack she was protective - almost, some would say, to the point of being motherly. "I've seen other Glaciems and a few Valhallan's, but you're the first Tortugan I've seen since the Exodus. --Forgive me for interrupting your talk, my name is Crusade and I am, for the moment, Chief of Glaciem. May I ask for your name, stranger?" ~*~ ~Because .G.i.v.i.n.g. U.p. was something I never learned to do~

The sound of the voice that spoke up on her behalf, unexpected as it was, rightfully should have frightened her on the grounds that she had been unprepared for it. But her surprise over simply hearing it was easily lost in her surprise at realizing that it was one she knew. Ears perking unabashedly upon her head, the thickly furred white wolf turned, brown eyes expectant, tail giving a faint wag, to look properly at the speaker.

Her mouth broke into what for her would have been a wide, bright smile, her tail wagging in a friendly, excited greeting. Mercianne rose swiftly to her paws as the Glaciem's Chief descended the remaining steps down the waterfall to join her there beside it. A quiet, glowing sense of elation bubbled within the timid little wolf at the sight of the one other who had shown her a great kindness, and the respect, gratitude, and delight she felt upon seeing her was written cleanly and plainly upon her face. Though for a fraction of a moment, it faltered. Catching sight of the empty socket that once had housed a bright golden green eye, Mercianne could only wonder how it had been lost but knew there would be a better time and place for it later.

She should have been happy to know that Crusade was grateful to find her, but knowing that so many others were still lost was a considerable tragedy. Her expression seemed to slip below a cloud as she considered all the wolves that she had seen from afar there at the pack's lands, so many of them she had never truly met and might never meet. It was painful to know that overnight everything had gone into chaos, and though she said nothing she did hope with everything she had that they might be given a chance to reconnect and regroup to bring the Glaciem back up to what it had once been.

With someone else there to speak up for her, Mercianne seated herself again and let Crusade carry on with the conversation, grateful to take the backseat. When she glanced at the darkly colored wolf, she still did not meet her eyes, but she did feel easier in her presence. Knowing she had someone sticking up for her, watching over her, was a godsend, and, brown eyes still containing a little of their joy about having someone she knew and trusted wholeheartedly present, she listened as the conversation progressed around her.

-- mercianne

The skittish she-wolf never gave a response to Secret's question, but rather another wolf appeared, answering it for her. Glaciem. Secret had never met a wolf from the Glaciem pack but then again Secret didn't socialize much with anyone outside of Tortuga, unless they were looking to join. The wolf who had spoken was a large white she-wolf, her pelt decorated with copper and cream markings. It was clear that she was an older wolf, but her most distinguishing mark was that she had a lost an eye, leaving an empty socket. She made it down the stone steps without so much as a falter, stopping beside Mercianna, but her stance laid claim on the wolf beside her, protecting her from any harm.

Secret hid her disappointment that only one other Tortugan wolf had been spotted, but she couldn't lose to much hope for this was only one wolf, others may have a different story. The Chief of Glaciem Secret thought this over carefully, speaking to the leader of another pack. Not that anyone was really a threat to one another with all the packs still scattered. Audits twitched when her name was requested. Secret never volunteered her name, but usually gave it when asked. "Secret." lyrics caring across the space between the Glaciem and Tortuga wolves.

The ebony dame look little notice of how Mericanna had stopped talking at this point, the look of near relief on her face telling everyone that she had no problem handing the reins over to someone else. For now sapphire orbs would be settled on the Chief, named Crusade, wondering what help she could provide. "Do you know anything of any of the packs?" while her voice was never monotone, it was carefully stripped of any emotion, making the wolf a difficult one to read. Her manner almost always business like. Orbs remained focused, while audits paid close attention to her surroundings, wondering if anyone one else would make an appearance.

~*~ Crusade let her head dip once more when the Tortugan offered up her calling. Her tonelessness didn't bother the old Alpha. She was accustomed to it in some of her packmates, even from her own brother. She was aware that such a persona could hide a dangerous creature, or merely a laidback one. Clipped tones and expressionless eyes could be a sign of boredom or displeasure, but should never be taken for granted as such. As it was, Crusade perceived no immediate threat from the smaller black she-wolf and was happy to speak on peaceful terms with her. Though Crusade's own pack always came first, all the packs had been through the same brand of hell in the past few weeks. A level of common experience and unknown was even to the surviving population. It took a foolish head or a hard heart to disregard it entirely. So it was that when the Tortugan mistress spoke again, asking of news of the packs, a measure of true disappointment crept into Crusade's eye. "I wish to heaven that I did..." was the Timber wolf's reply. "I have met no other Alphas, nor Betas-" Crusade shook her head, "It is beyond my knowledge if any survived." And if a stranger believed her concern for the other packs to be false, they'd be idiots. No wolf ever had stronger ties to those around her. It was Crusade's younger brother Collision who was the new crowed King of Valhalla. Where was he? Crusade's heart was wrapped in a fog of questions, yearning only for certainty. Yet she'd been in this mist before. And she knew the only way out was to keep walking. Feeling Mercianne seating herself beside her, Crusade flicked an ear in her direction and brushed her bush of a tail over to encircle her. Not everyone could deal as stoically with these tragedies as the black Tortugan and the Glaciem Chief, and while it was Crusade's duty to make those of her pack stronger, it was also her job to protect those who weren't just yet. Crusade's grey nose twitched as a large damp snowflake landed on it. A pity that it had to be in winter that all this maddness occurred. The cold hard season where those too wounded by the rocks and quakes and gases had no chance on their own. "But my own search is far from over, and your search has my wish of good luck," Crusade murmured. Crusade paused, looking the stranger over appreciatively before she let her tongue shift again. "And in the meantime, Secret, if you find yourself or another in need of shelter or healing, you are welcome to seek it in Glaciem camp. For the moment we are camped in the Sparse Pines." Crusade was aware that her offer might be taken with ill feeling, but she couldn't be herself if she hadn't offered - and meant - it. If The black wolf had shown signs of agression it wouldn't have been given, but so far she'd shown herself only to be proud and polite in her own terse way. ~*~ ~Because .G.i.v.i.n.g. U.p. was something I never learned to do~