[.-Lost and Found-.]

[Neige]

After countless travels, Neige paid no heed to the boundaries on which she encroached upon… This one was no different. Truly, for the longest time she felt as if all life was to a ghost was to walk, and she would have stopped long ago if she hadn't like all ghosts, hungered for something above all things. Physical contact, recognition, and acknowledgement. She wanted to be identified, required to be sought after. That was her most common trait with the lost souls of the once living, is that single need.

That and hope is what had driven her for what seemed like an eternity, in a day. How long had it been since someone knew of her existence? She could barely remember her mother’s icy complexion, much less time. What brought her the most pleasure in her wake was to contemplate her differences between her and what she was often mistaken for, or what she could have become. Finally, the scent of the alphas reached her tender nostrils, and she let out a soft sigh as she crossed the border.

Although her mind still burned with that ever so fragile emotion, hope, at first she remained indifferent to whether or not she was in alien lands or the unclaimed. Her pads pressed only softly into the ground, as her steps were light and quick and her paw prints had outwitted many a hunter. Unsurprising as to why she would have a brush with a hunter, as her travels took her almost everywhere in a wolf’s point of view. The wilderness was not a mystery to her in the least. Her tail was stiff, to create minimal motion and her ears did not budge, her trail was as straight as one could fathom, and although she did pay some acknowledgement to obstacles, a slight swerve in her path was all she gave.

Neige froze in place, not even breathing; her claws had clicked against a pebble she had ignored. The dull rap seemed to echo around her like a gun shot, her sensitive ears so used to silence. Neige didn’t even bother to blink, her eyes staring straight ahead, and she looked as if frozen in time. Her paw was in mid-air, and all that moved was her fur as the wind caressed it, moving it in a small swaying motion.

Finally, after a minute, a burning in her chest and the sting of her eyes reminded her of what was necessary for life. Ever so slowly she moved her chest, taking in only a small portion of air, and blinked her eyes rapidly. When nothing happened, she summarized she had gone unnoticed, and vaguely pondered the idea that what had caused the sound was her own foolishness manifested. Her paw met the soft ground, and she moved quickly off the rock, and sat back on her haunches comfortably.

Her tail slowly moved around her mitts like a warm blanket. Quickly looking from side to side, she came to a decision. Something about this place stirred the trust to her conscious mind, and she felt the urge to tilt back her head and howl. At first, this was thought of as folly, but her mind and ideas of the possibilities of maybe being noticed, reassured her. Neige would say she was going out on a limb on this one, because if no one saw her, no doubt that emotion, we loosely refer to as hope, would indisputably be smothered in the black of doubt in her soul.

How far into the territory, and how offended of her intrusion the Alpha would be, she only distantly considered. Craning her thick furred throat back so that her nose was directly towards the heavens, her maw opened to omit said howl. It was light and feathery, easily overlooked, but it was a long howl. She found herself increasing and lowering the volume until it was almost a song. This went on for quite some time, and Neige was ashamed to admit that when she lowered her maw and had finished, she had actually dragged it on quite a bit. Thinking that she had enjoyed it a little too much for her own good.

It didn’t matter anymore, as her mind quickly moved onto other thoughts. All she could do now was waiting, and try to preserve the ever dying glimmer of hope in her heart and soul. She found herself asking if she was even deserving of acknowledgement, but Neige ignored it like she did so many things in life.

[Domani]

<sub>It had been a such a painful period of time since Domani had patrolled the borders . There was the dubious matter of his offspring. Domani had to leave them alone, a lot. He had to patrol the borders. But he tried to spend a little time with them, to look after them. There was no time for it. He had to patrol other parts of the territory. And it was only now that he had patrolled here. It was almost depressing. His adolescence had fizzled away just as fast as his whelphood had. And .. now he felt just a little like he was sauntering into old age. But, but. Let's stow away the fact that he's two years old. Barely into adulthood at all. Still, he was growing paranoid.. abot everything. About life and death. About his family. About his whelps. About everything good and holy that it wasn't healthy to doubt. He blinked, rather perplexed.

A scent wafted into his nostrils, not tinged with any sense of familiarity. It was a lone wolf, not one of his family. What - when was he looking for his family anyway? Was this just an incentive that he'd dragged out of nowhere? His mother was dead. His siblings were dead. Ashtar, he hadn't seen dead, but she couldn't have survived. How could she have survived such a fight? If their bigger, bulkier brother Aiwas passed on, it was suitable that she would. But ugh! Why did he have to be so sullen? It was more than a year ago. He exhaled.

And then there was something that almost frightened him. A howl. Granted, it was rather delicate, obviously that of a female, but almost anything sent him reeling into shock when he was thinking deeply. His fur bristled, and he sort of leapt up into the air. But there were no wolves around. He moved forth towards the source of the scent and the howl, rather jumpily, then stifled the adrenaline flooding his veins and shook his head. Soon enough, he could see the vague shape of a female. Well, he was right. He wasn't losing his senses. That was some small comfort to the young male.

He turned his gaze to the vagabond, with some sense of foreboding. He felt so out of place. No wolves had strayed here since his returning. However, he forced a level expression onto his facade and addressed the xanthippe in a calm tone of voice.

'I'm Domani Actaeus - the alpha of this territory. Do you have any reason for being here?'

He wasn't being aggressive yet. It was what he tended to do nowadays - though more with females that didn't answer his questions politely. And males. Mostly, the males offered him no respect. Why? He was an undersized, destitute male raising three one-month puppies on his own. Aww, but they were so cute.</sub>

[Neige]

Neige was startled, quite startled indeed. The vagabond would have never thought it possible for someone to actually acknowledge her, after it being such a long time. Her eyes turned the slightest shade of green on the rims, as the icy wolf could not hold back a strong feeling of joy that overtook her mood. For the reason that he had seen her, acknowledged her, and that alone, she choose not to ignore the alpha. She did not smile, but her happiness was in her eyes were only the stony color of grey had once been as she looked to Domani. Albeit, the change was as faint as her figure in a world of snow.

You cannot fathom how much of a pleasure it is to meet you, Domani. Her words were anything from a lie, and she meant every syllable. My home is far from here, and I have spent most of my life walking. I find I grow weary of this, of not having anywhere to go. If I may, I beg of you to let me make my home here… as a part of your pack. It was a very honest request, and she refused to ‘beat around the bush’.

Her attention now fully captured, she even went out of her way to bow her head. This was more then she had given any living being then what felt had been an immeasurable amount of time. Neige had long before thought she had just been hearing things, it was very possible, she had been alone so long… she summarized that insanity was not a ungraspable prospect, for certain. The wolven had always known when wolves came, maybe it was the fact that she berated herself constantly for her own silence, or maybe because silence and camouflage wanted to be her allies. Neige might have laughed at herself if Domani was not there to witness it.

For the first time, in a long time, she noticed that the seasons had changed. Was it summer, fall, winter, or the heavenly lively days of spring? The wolf had a very hard time not chuckling this time, and it came out as a slight snort, which she instantly regretted. It wasn’t very hard for her to make up a convenient situation to explain her rudeness… or was it her insanity she was covering for? Another part of her said that she had forgotten how it was to be in the presence of someone. She eagerly agreed with the third.

Cold.

A simple enough thing, everybody gets colds. Why else would there be a reference to it such as ‘the common cold’. If it wasn’t, why would they call it common? Such a silly topic, as it was as blatant as the blazing orb in the sky, which took a moment for her to realize exactly what it was. Oh yes, the sun. Blizzards don’t glow, they snow, they howl, and they blind, but there is no sun and when there is, it bakes your flesh and hurts your eyes as it mercilessly bounces off the snow and ice. Neige didn’t even have a clue why everybody else enjoyed it so much, was Glace to only person who understood her? What a strange thought.

With slight embarrassment, Neige remembered to introduce herself.

My name is Neige Yorealis.

Neige could only hope she regained her dignity in responding so quickly to the absence of her dubbance. What a silly thing it would be if she insulted the first being to notice her other then her own bloodline. How terribly silly and ironic! Irony followed her constantly along with his friend, despair. They made a great bit of pain in her soul, and they tended to ‘take no prisoners’, as the saying goes. Merciless and cruel they were.

[Domani]

<sub>A rather languid gaze focused on the female, a few vindictive thoughts nagging him. It was almost like he had an alter ego, like some invisible demon that occasionally came out of the shadows and let loose on whoever it could find. But however, more than three quarters of the time it was sane old, though somewhat agressive at times, Domani. He shuddered slightly but then turned his rather stormy gaze to the female, his fur bristling slightly. It was hard to return from wondering and pondering to reality. He shook his head slightly. One had to wonder what the female would be thinking. This male, Domani, was shaking his head and flinching and shuddering. Brilliant, it was. Well, he smiled at the female. She seemed friendly enough. And smart. It's no good have a friendly but clueless mutt. He comprehended what she said, his ears flicking instinctively.

'Join my pack? I'd love that.'

It was almost like he cut through all her elaboration, seizing the point of what she was saying. She then spoke again, though it was rather abrupt and it took him a while to realise what ashe was saying. He then nodded and was about to speak again. Then she supplied her name. Neige. He nodded and paired it with her scent and appearance. It was something he did reflexively, almost.

'Neige. Got it.'

If he was a human he would have pointed to his head and nodded. But he was a wolf, and couldn't.</sub>

[Neige]

Unsurprisingly, Neige’s relief began to fade readily at his actions. Her lips gave a slight twitch upward, the ghost of a smile on the ghost of a wolf, what a strange analogy that made. She did not know what to make of him, at the moment at least, she tried to make a good first impression, and to be good at accurate thoughts of other people after the first meeting… as that was usually the first and the last. An eyebrow involuntarily cocked in that subtle but blatant way that only canines can do, it gave her an amused look. Her relief died because his movements suggested an unsteady saneness. Not that she was accusing him of being insane, of course, it was just, and the line was thin. She could see it in his eyes, she could see his uncertainties as her gaze was piercing and knowing.

Of course, this all added up to an extreme display of emotion on Neige’s part, her scent was that of snow and ice, or the majority, tainted with the smell of light female musk. It was hard to tell apart from all the winter’s breezes she had braved, so she could proudly say her name was fitted to a unique smell. Her tail remained stiff and motionless; it might have wagged a bit had she not been so strict on her rules of stealth. The green in her eyes lingered like a poltergeist, restless and trying to make its presence known, but as easy to miss as a puff of smoke. Evading when sought out, and impossible to rid of when seen.

Thank you…

She barely knew what to say to express what she felt… what, for a long time, had not been, was there. Actually there! She knew she was happy, she knew she was grateful! What a glorious day this was. Her loyalty was obtained the moment she realized, only seconds after this joyful thought, that she owed it to Domani. Her voice tinged, tainted, and obscured, by nothing but ice, showed none of this. Neige remained a hard read. Body language was master of all things in the dialects of animals, and the nomad was completely at a loss to it, other then the involuntary, of course. That could not be helped, and it was instinct to cock her head, to widen her eyes… but everything else was completely under control.

Of course, many of you would argue that this was questionable, because of that smile. Let me assure you, that was a once in a life time thing. If you befriend the desperate, the forgotten, and the forsaken, some amount of gratitude is as unavoidable as a mortal’s eventual and inevitable doom. This explanation should be enough, for those among you that are so terribly curious. Curiosity kills more then cats. In fact, I do believe he is quite the murderer that should be known to rival any one man massacre, or bombing. Maybe it should be not ‘Curiosity kills the cat.’ Rather, ‘Curiosity kills everyone.’

All the wolf awaited for now, was some sort of task, a trial, and she would have asked for something to prove herself, but it would be rude. People do not invite themselves over, no. Pride is also its own little pestilence; she is fickle and causes the worst problems in politics and in life in general. Take note that, so many confrontations could be avoided if Pride was not always there… Alas, she will always be there. Waiting in the powerful and the confidant, waiting to cause the ends of empires and the death of the greedy, careers and the destroyer of Luck… as Destiny chose her to.