Pain changes a heart, love it in the present. She padded along the border, looking for signs that her piglet had trudged through here. It had been snared but there had been no body only a broken trap and some blood to give away that it had ever existed. Unless it was some huge boar. Then she'd just be willing to let it be. It was not worth the trouble if it was anything else but a small piglet or something. She came across its trail once more and took a minute to decipher where it had gone. The southern border had been crossed and she decided after moments there was no sign it had come back from the desert. Likely it was laying out there dead, being scavenged on by other things. She swished her rainbow tail as she admitted defeat. She'd have to reset that trap and fix it, if that was even possible. Maybe she should call frost and see if he would go see if he could find it? No that was silly, Frost had better things to do than babysit her. It did't smell like this border had been patrolled yet this morning. She shook her head and decided to do what she had learned to do from watching Faite so much. She moved along the border and stopped where a marker was weaker and she rubbed on the tree to help strengthen it then she marked it a more traditional way. Hopefully rory wouldn't mind that she was trying to help. She was easily able to be seen but she took solace in the fact that there was dense cover not even ten feet from her. Alois was high over head ready to warn her should someone come her way. Walk, "Jewell "Alois" Think

After her meeting with Regulus she'd been wandering a great deal. Iskra wasn't quite ready to head back to Auster, not yet. There was still much to do up here. After heading to Silver Isle and collecting some special herbs to add to the small bundle she carried with her in her jaws, Iskra was making her way across the northern continent. If someone were to ask her if she had some kind of plan in mind, perhaps prompted to wonder after observing her purposeful stride, Iskra would simply laugh through the mouthful of plants. Going into life without thinking even a half step ahead was a way funner challenge than preplotting out every moment of her life. The "spirit of fun" was still all about her lifelong pursuit of a good time anyways.

It was as she reflected on the discomfort she felt in her poor paws which had been carrying her over hot sand for quite some time that Iskra spotted salvation ahead. Or, she thought that's what it could be, until she approached and was met with the scent of a pack as well as a slightly younger female freshening the borders not far from Iskra. Well then, just a minor bump in the road.

Sauntering a bit closer before she'd set her bundle down and clear her voice the woman called out in friendly, gentle lyrics, "Excuse me? This wouldn't happen to be Lirim, would it?"

Pain changes a heart, love it in the present. It wasn't more than a moment and her ears were pricking at the alarm call of Alois above her. He was landing between her ears and directing her attention towards the place beyond the border. She looked and couldn't decide whether she should run for the territory, call for a leader or confront the stranger herself. HEr decision was made for her though when the woman came into view. She turned to face her, with almost too much caution on her face. She had learned too fast that strangers were not always to be trusted. With only basic defense training down she knew she at least could get away if she had to. The woman asked if this was Lirim and she nodded, What wolf in her right mind would dare try to take on a pack alone. Of course this one had the scent of pack on her. Her hackles rose. Alois was quick to apologize for her. "She's alone Jewell. You'll have to forgive my friend she's had a few bad experiences when meeting strangers. I'm afraid it makes her assume the worst of others anymore." Jewell pressed her ears back. She gave an apologetic smile when she was apologized for. "How I help you?" She still couldn't help but turn her overly large stomach to be in a more protected way. She had to think of the safety of her unborn more than anything. Walk, "Jewell "Alois" Think

Iskra watched the girl’s standoffish reaction to her approach and ensured she kept a friendly demeanor and neutral posture so she hopefully didn’t give her any further reason to bristle or be weary. Figuring there was a reason behind the reaction, she was happy to maintain her respectful distance with a polite smile as the bird apologized and Iskra shook her head gently, ”No need, I understand completely wanting to be careful around wolves you don’t know. I wouldn’t suggest being anything but careful when you meet someone new.” Especially after the challenge, she had a total understanding of how calculating some wolves could be. Trusting blindly was not something she intended to do anytime soon.

With a thoughtful tilt of her head, Iskra tried to decide the best way to go about this since she didn’t actually have a plan or any idea what she wanted to accomplish. Whoops. May as well continue offering the warning she’d already delivered once. And she did really want to know if they’d met any Abraxas wolves! Yeah, she’d lead with that and maybe before she left see if they could help her on her herb gathering mission. Geez, she needed like a bag or something to carry that crap in. ”Mh, you see, I’ve recently come from Auster. The pack I just joined was challenged for, by a family that seems to be bad news. Their surname is Abraxas, I was wondering if you might have seen any of them here in Boreas? I want to know where they’ve been and what other’s experiences have been with them. It’s very important.” If she could find out if they’d done anything noteworthy here, she could spread the word about that too. And in return, get the herbs she needed to make good on her deal. Hopefully.

He was patrolling the borders, ensuring that everything was in place. Since Jewel's run in with the male and his own strange run in with his cousin Frost had been a little on edge. He wasn't sure what was going on, but there was more and more strange things happening around here and it was putting the male on edge. He was a protective male and the fact that so many seemed to be getting hurt was making the male question the world around him. He feared what else could happen, who else would get hurt. He was stressing out over it and the further along the rainbow women got the more on edge he grew. He moved along the borders in his normal routine, checking the scents to ensure they were strong enough and to make sure there was no abnormal scents. He could hear Jewel and her companion up ahead, talking to someone. His ears perked before pushing forward to close the distance. Growing closer he spied a red women talking with Jewel. She seemed friendly, but he was still on edge. He approached dipping his head in a quiet greeting as she was speaking about the Abraxas. He was interested in what she had to say. "I personally havn't, but one of our pack members had a vary bad interaction with a strange male a few months ago. I don't know if he may be a part of the wolves your talking about." he said not wanting to embarrass Jewel by saying it was in fact her. "Talk" & 'Think"

Art by Kanvos

I'll show you how a heart can never fail

Rory wasn't sure what to do with himself now that Jewell was safe within the borders. Frost was out on a patrol so that was taken care of. What else was there to do? He could always find one of his siblings to see if one of them wanted to do something. Seeing of Torin or Zell wanted to spar sounded promising, and productive at the same time, but if they happened to be busy then what else was there to do? Maybe Kairi would want to do something? It'd been a little while since he'd had any kind of fun.

He got side tracked by the scent of Jewell near the border. His ears flicked back apprehensively and he quickened his trot to at least go see what she was up to. He'd made it very clear, he hoped, that she wasn't to leave without an escort. She not only needed to protect herself now, but the life within her womb as well.

His anxious thoughts were relieved when he saw Frost at the border with her. Judging by the fresh scents it seemed as though she'd been border marking. It was a little odd, but he didn't disagree with it. She was making herself useful at least, though her being by herself at the borders still didn't sit right with him.

The other familiar face at the border surprised him and he studied the star-coated woman as he tried to figure out why she was here. He hadn't quite expected to see her of all wolves at his borders and she smelled of a pack no less. Today was just full of surprises, wasn't it?

"Iskra." He blinked in confusion. He'd arrived rather late and had missed her words. "What are you doing here?"

"Speech"

Frost joined shortly after she explained why she was here, followed by Rory very shortly after that. She visibly relaxed after Frost joined her. It was better if one of them were here especially since she really didn't know how to fight. She pressed her ears back when she mentioned the Abraxas wolves being bad news and she wasn't sure what that meant exactly just that she didn't want to meet any bad news wolves. "Abraxas?" She wasn't sure if she had. Many wolves didn't use their full name when she met them but that didn't mean she hadn't met one.

"Can you describe what any of them look like? Perhaps we have met some." Alois was easily able to take the reins for his companion. Jewell sat and waited, hoping that this woman now revealed as Iskra could give a description that might match her attackers. He had been so nice and even spoken French before he hurt her, she didn't understand why it went as so. All she knew was that she now had little lives inside her thanks to his need to hurt her for unknown reasons.

Once She'd waited long enough for Iskra to explain Jewell spoke. She didn't care if this stranger saw her as weak, what had happened had happened. If the man that had attacked her was indeed an Abraxas and this woman had anything to do with them she needed to be aware of what they were capable of. "Man hurt Jewell, call her Pixie, striped brown, white fur. Tall man. That Abraxas?" She looked to Rory then and hoped she wasn't overstepping her bounds. She just needed to know if he was one of these wolves.

Iskra glanced over as a man with markings that made him look reminiscent of charred, snow-covered wood approached. He was tall and had the looks of someone important. Taking in his words she tilted her head a bit to the left, brows furrowing as she processed what he said. A bad interaction… It could be anyone, really, since she didn’t know what they were like outside of their lust for conquest. Perhaps their fascination with her and the fact that they were convinced she was a ‘spirit’ kept her from seeing the darker side though.

A response sat poised on the tip of her tongue when who should appear but Rory! Had the meeting occurred under less tense circumstances she may have carried on a bit merrier, but as it was she gave him a soft smile and tried to quickly fill him in, ”There was a challenge for the pack I’m in by some wolves I’ve bumped into several times recently. Their surname is Abraxas. It was sort of odd, since the challenger had an entire pack on his side, and they smelled like family, every last one. Anyhow, I’m running some errands here in Boreas, and one includes seeing if any packs have met these wolves before.” There, that would have to do since she’d rather like to get back to the meat of the conversation.

To the bird’s inquiry Iskra replied quickly, ”Yes, I can. I’m sure they’ll be easily recognizable. The one’s I saw at the challenge, and in a handful of one on one interactions before that, they all have some traits that tie them together. Their coats were all sorts of colors, blacks, greys, browns, whites, slate, some reddish markings. But all of them except for maybe… two? Had the same types of markings. Sort of smoky and feathery, blending out over their coats. The majority had the same feathered markings under their eyes, nearly identical to each other.” She paused in her descriptions, unsure what else to add but knowing there were more details she could add. What would be most helpful? She’d met some of them outside of the challenge, what did she recall from that? Digging deep into her own mind, clarity would not find her until Jewell spoke up again.

So it was her that had met someone bad. Iskra’s heart ached deeply, she didn’t need to know what it was to know it had to have been traumatic for Frostbite to have tried to describe it without outing Jewell as the victim at first. Taking in the description, Iskra canted her head, trying to fight around the sympathetic anger at knowing someone hurt the poor girl. ”Yeah, all of them were well above average, some absolute titans, taller than rory. The striping, was it sort of broken and mottled? Not quite real stripes, but moves across their fur that way?” Another moment of thought, before Iskra would grow even more serious and ask the girl, ”Did this wolf speak of unusual things? Like, conquest? All the one’s I’ve met tend to boast of a desire to conquer, to take over.” Yes, if the one Jewell met did that, she could be relatively certain that with these loose ties they might make a faint connection. Of course she wouldn’t be hasty, there was much to do and verify yet.

Glancing to Rory and Frostbite, she took them in, wondering what the situation was like for their pack. Could they handle someone coming to their doorstep and trying to take over? Or would they fall? ”Rory, if your pack can, I would suggest increasing patrols and keeping a look out. I’ve already met one alpha and passed a warning, and I intend to do the same to anyone else out there as I continue on my errands. I’ve struck a deal with one of the Abraxas in which I am to help him find herbs, and places they grow in return for a favor of my choosing. I think I know what I’ll use it for, but before that there’s a lot to do. What other packs are there in Boreas? I met Regulus already. If you want to send messages to other packs, I can offer to do that for you when I’m traveling around anyways.” Yes, lots to do, and a time limit surely. How long she had before more moves were made was impossible to know, so she had to work quickly. Quicker than quick, lightning fast. Where this journey was going to take her she didn’t know, but it was certainly a new and interesting challenge to keep her interest. She needn’t entertain herself with chasing animals when there was more important work to do.

Rory came soon after he had did and it seemed that he knew this women. He called the women 'Iskra' and he quickly tried to recite that into his memory. She was a stunning looking women with her reddish fur. He hadn't seen to many with her type of coat pattern so it would be easy to remember who she was. Jewell's companion began to speak and soon after Jewell. He didn't want to tell the women about what had happened to Jewell, he didn't feel it was right. Jewell shared it herself making him feel a little better, hopefully the fact she could talk about it would help her heal from what happened. His eyes looked back to the women as she began to speak. telling of a pack challenge, and of a group of wolves known as Abraxas. His ears perked taking in the details, especially the physical characteristics. He would need to keep his eyes and ears open for anyone who remotely matched the descriptions. It was vary nice of this women to be spreading the news and warning others of this family clan. They would need to prepare and to discuss what they would do if they came to Lirim's borders. Something perhaps he would need to speak to Rory alone about to start then to include the pack in on it. Regulus had been one alpha that she had already spread the word to and she asked of others. Pack relations hadn't been his fortay, Rory had handled them already and he looked to the younger male to see what he would say. He knew of his Nephew's pack, but it had been some time since his Nephew stopped in, so he wasn't sure if the pack was still around or not. "Talk" & 'Think"

Art by Kanvos

I'll show you how a heart can never fail

Rory listened with rapt attention as Iskra explained why she was at the borders. It was odd to think that Iskra had joined a pack since they'd last met, but he was happy for her for the faintest of moments until she mentioned that they had been challenged. Even he found it odd that an entire pack showed up to support the challenger, but then again everything about this situation seemed odd. He mulled it over in his head for a moment as Iskra addressed Jewell. He certainly didn't want to jump to conclusions and assume and Abraxas had been the one to hurt Jewell.

He focused in again on Iskra as she turned to him to address him. Ears flicked forward with interest as she questioned about the other packs. The deal she had made with one of the Abraxas had him interested and he took a moment to think over his options. It would be all too easy to just hide away in their little corner of heaven and hope they weren't bothered, but hiding always meant someone would find you eventually. It was a lot like when he'd played hide and seek with his siblings as a pup. You could find a great hiding spot but eventually the seeker would find you.

"We'll increase patrols." He assured her quickly before moving on. "There is Dauntless, in the north, but I haven't seen Tyranis since he came to our borders. Since you've already met my Uncle Regulus, that leaves just one more pack. I'm already on familiar terms with Abaven so I can go with you if you'd like? It might make it easier in the long run and I could help you find these herbs." Two wolves were better than one after all. At the very least he could help her carry things and maybe make it easier on her since he already had met Sparrow.

"Speech"