Welcome to Gaia! ::

Yujiang had been here once before - at the end of summer the year before. He'd stared out over the grassland, gazing to the distant hills, and had wondered at the vast panoply of life which was eeking a life out of these cold rocks and wind-tunnel valleys.

Now, though the sun had passed its lowest trough of the year, it was a more forbidding, freezing place. True, here and there the deep snow drifts looked on the verge of melting, but otherwise it was a landscape still ruled by the white expanses of winters breath. Down in the lower lands, where the pair had come from, springs breath was already melting that harsh layer of cool, wet, snow and, although grass was all that had survived its ravages, it had begun to look like spring might be around the corner.

He wondered, not for the first time, if they should have made the journey yet. However, chance had brought them close and Maia had been taken with the idea of exploring such a place as he had described. His mate. How long ago had they met? Hardly any time and yet forever ago. She was a free spirit, wandering where she would with a maturity in her eyes which belied her youthful body. It was rare to see a lone wolf so full of life - even he had been a little rough and unkempt, underfed and dishevelled when he had come to her and he was no unseasoned traveller, now.

Maia had grown up on the move. From the very first days she could walk she had been pushed to move, here and there, back and forth, by her anxious mother. She knew nothing of being truly settled but rather than having grown up skittish, she had become an explorer of sorts. Like any wolf, she knew the land, but she was more equipped to understand it - she could deduce from signs where water or prey might be in a land she didn't know faster than a pack wolf might, simply through practice and familiarity.

Yujiang, born to a pack which hadn't moved for generations, did not have this innate sense, but he was certainly learning. He had decided to leave, decided to travel the world, decided to seek out and learn and, perhaps, one day, bring that wealth of knowledge back to his pack. He closed his eyes, took a freezing sniff of the chilled air and then brought his purple gaze back to his companion. He smiled. No, he didn't regret coming now, even in this cold. The place had a majestic beauty in winter as much as summer and though the going would be hard he was now sure, at least, that there were others at the end of this steep valley.

The colourful pair came across an outcrop that Yujiang thought he recognised. The vista was all different - snow replaced billowing grass - but the shape of the hills, the lay of the land. Yes, it did seem to be the same place, he thought.

It was a barren, rocky outcrop, at the top of what, in summer, was a wild meadow and in autumn had been a sea of dried, shimmer-gold grass. He had stood here, then, alone and unknowing of what would come. He had known he would come back to this place, eventually, but he had not expected to come back with another at his side.

The pair had met across a bubbling, little mountain stream, had spent the evening hunting amiably and the night curled against each other against the autumn chill. They had chatted and travelled and eventually fallen into a relationship which, whilst unexpected, had been welcomed by both. It was not fiery and wild, but it was caring and comforting - both friendship and shared ideals were at its core.

Maia's head suddenly swivelled back, ears pricked and fur tensing just a little at her neck. Her companion, his conversation cut short mid-sentence by her sudden shift in attention, followed her gaze. The orange female relaxed a little as the scent of the two wolves she could see heading their way drifted to her - females. One was quite large, but the other seemed small - maybe her pup? Maia had suffered enough at the hand of female wolves to be almost as wary of them as males, but a mother and child seemed less of a threat and the orange and black furred could certainly sympathise with having to bring up a litter under harsh conditions.

Was this a pack female though? She certainly seemed... sure of herself but her pose wasn't threatening, and though her gait was fast, there was no hint of chase about it.

Yujiang, whilst travelling, had come across few outrightly hostile packs and so the ingrained worry that Maia had didn't manifest in his mind. Of course he was a little wary, he was not stupid, but he firmly believed that things would be as they would be and there was no sense in worrying about being run off before you actually were.

Besides, there was often nothing better than a cheerful attitude to turn others to your side - especially if, with a wink and a smile, you could tempt them with tales of far away lands or more recent news from their neighbours to make them open a space at their den, even if only temporarily, for you. His travel across these vast lands had been peppered with such experience and his forthrightness and attitude helped Maia quell her doubts at least a little. He noticed her hackles settle back as the pair they'd been watching closed in on them.

Yujiang smiled, bowing after a wolfish fashion - dipping his front body forward a little - and addressed the two females formally. "Greetings, I am Yujiang and this is my companion Maia" he nodded his head in her direction and gave her a small, but warm smile that could be read a mile off "we're travellers in this land - are you from here?"

Maia, still not entirely used to this open and cheerful way of greeting (nor the chirpy hallos from other wolves, come to that) smiled shyly at the older female. "Hi" she said quietly, and circumspectly noting that if the female was the mother of this youngester then she might well have been the same age as Maia had been when she first had pups. The white female seemed well fed, her fur beautifully groomed and thick - she was pretty and, whilst her colours were pale, Maia felt rather dowdy beside her.

Yujiang was surprised at the greeting given to him by Sati - it was very akin to the one given by his own pack when strangers came by. He had thought that, perhaps, given the reticence of most of the wolf packs to the north of his that he had passed through, that the northernmost would be the most wary, the least likely to open up and let him in, but he had gladly, it seemed, been proven wrong.

Perhaps those living at either ends of the lands lived in similar circumstances enough to bring about similar ways of living or perhaps they had some long, distant ancestors in common - he'd need to see if they knew their ancestry so far back as his pack did. Perhaps it was all wishful thinking, though - but it never hurt to ask and Yujiang rarely held back questions if he could find a willing teacher.

"Your pack lives near here? I passed by before the snows but I decided to turn west then... I had wondered ever since if wolves lived in these hills ever since and so we came to see..." he smiled quietly, radiating pure honesty of intent. Some people suspected even this about him, but Yujiang, though travelled, still had naivety enough to think of other wolves as 'friendly until proven otherwise'.

Ah, her niece, thought Maia. Still, it would be nice to have the company of others for a short term and this female had invited them in practically her first breath. Although Maia liked wandering, her soul was still wolf enough to like the company of others for a time. It wasn't pack-life that she didn't like, but the static nature of most packs that stopped her from idling therein. If there was a pack which moved... Ah well. Maybe when she was older she'd settle down, but whilst her legs still worked she'd keep walking.

"We'd love to visit" she added shyly "we can help hunt and Yujiang is a wonderful storyteller" she smiled at her mate. A few nights out of the cold winds, some proper meals in their belly and some new stories, new gossip, would refresh them for further wanderings. They didn't like to hunt on anothers land without permission, either, and some packs would give them leave to rest but not hunt or vice versa.

Yujiang nodded happily, glad that arrangements had been made so quickly and that the pair could be assured of somewhere to rest in this snow-covered and desolate valley. It would have been tough to press on, hoping that there were others, though they would have done it.

Maia, still a little on alert, noticed another wolf heading their way. He was short, skinny, with a wiry look about him. Mainly black and white, he looked a lot like the two in front of her except that he didn't seem... fluffy enough? Her gaze caught Sati's and the other female turned to look.

Quin's heart soared as they rounded the last ridge and came onto the home straight - he'd been away far too long, he knew. This place, like no other, had become home to him and in such a short time, too. He took a deep breath of the air, savoring the scents - though much of it was dampened by the snow. His shoulders seemed to loosen, as if relieving a burden - travelling again, he'd felt at a loose end, as though all the warmth of the last half-year had been taken out of him. Now it was seeping back into him slowly. His heart swelled with a mixture of relief, happiness, and a little pride.

Maia and Yujiang's travels had taken them into a great deal of varied territory, but none of them had come across anything quite like this, before. It was harsh and seemed almost barren, but it was beautiful. Vast wide fields had segued into soaring peaks, and shimmering, iced-over lakes were bordered by crystalline forest. The air almost glimmered with the cold, but the wind here was lessened from the lower meadows and so it seemed a little less chilly.

Maia could smell the scent of several wolves here, overlaid. Even under the snow it was a sure sign that this was the heartland of a pack. She could see, past the forest, a vast rocky outcrop where, if she strained her eyes, there seemed to be a wolf standing watch.

Kalain looked across to Quin, his apprentice, of sorts. He'd been the one to send him away and he wondered if the young male had found what he was looking for. He caught Quin's eye, but although the young male gave a soft shake of his head, he didn't look to... upset. They'd no doubt talk about it later. Poor boy had Sati curled around him, even now. Mu'sha's sister was very keen on Quin, but the young male had never seemed to return the feelings beyond friendship.

He turned his attentions to the newly arrived male and female and, for a moment, his smile faltered simply through surprise. The female, too, was staring back at him with open-mouthed shock. They had met before, a long time ago, in unusual circumstances and neither had thought they'd come across the other again.

He added his greetings to Mu'sha's, and addressed the female "I'll be interested to hear how things have been for you" he smiled, and invited the pair and the gaggle of others inside...