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 Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 10:01 am
 Two moons had shone at their fullest before disappearing and leaving the world in relative darkness. Two moons since Hallie had even caught an inkling of that wolf that had sired pups within her then left for his own selfish desires. No sight, no scent, not even a whiff of his mental 'voice' had drifted her way since that fateful day. That day that she tried so hard not to think about. But, with the pups still so young and dependent upon her, she had too much time to think about such things.
She sighed, looking at her pups now. Though she tried, there wasn't a day that passed where she could keep him from her mind. Her luck, or perhaps fate, had caused her puppies to take after him and his bloodline, at least in looks. They reminded her far too much of their father, and it pained her every time she laid eyes upon them. She only hoped that, once their personalities fully broke through the helpless puppy nature, they would become vastly different from their father. Only then would Hallie be able to see them for individuals, rather than shadows of the wolf that had sired them.
Watching them now, only a few yards away, she wondered what would become of them. She could always attempt to see their futures with her powers, but there was something that held her back. It could have been for a variety of reasons, and she hadn't quite settled on which was mostly responsible for her hesitation. Sometimes, it was fear that held her back. She feared for what she would see, and what would become of her daughters. She feared they would end up like their father or, even worse, that they would end up like her. Alone and broken, she wished that neither of them would ever get a taste of this life. Other times, it was pure reluctance to use her powers. She wanted to be normal, at least for her puppies. Their lives were complicated enough, and they didn't need a freak of a mother to further muddle things.
Another sigh escaped her lips, her head drooping slightly as her eyes fell towards the ground. Every day was grueling. Every day was another test of her endurance. She didn't know how much longer she could last.
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Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 10:21 am
  A few yards away from their mother, the two pups wrestled endlessly. Their eyes and ears had long opened up, allowing the girls to get their first tastes of the world and all of its experiences. They didn't know much of what was out in the world, beyond their den. It wasn't that their mother was overly protective, although certainly she could be at times, it was just that, though quite young, both pups saw in their mother something that kept them from wandering off. They would catch her sometimes, sitting outside of the den and staring off into the forest, almost as if she expected someone to come walking up at any moment.
Their tiny minds couldn't quite grasp it, but something within both of them told them that their mother needed them. They weren't about to go wandering off when they had a feeling that doing so would severely damage their mother.
Deka, the darker pup, rolled away from her sister. Namu, lighter in color but not in size, continuously stood on her hind paws before throwing her front paws down. She was attempting to pin her sister, but was having a difficult time; Deka was far too quick for her and would often roll out of the way just in time. After the tenth time that her paws hit dirt, she made a face and sat back upon her haunches. Her hind legs splayed out unnaturally, and her lower lip jutted out in a small pout. Deka, seeing this, narrowed her eyes, but said nothing. She was a quiet pup.
"Don't look at me like that," Namu growled, pitifully. Her vocal cords weren't developed enough to get out a decent growl. Deka remained silent, though she sank down to her belly and sighed, the expelled air blowing out the dirt around it.
Namu narrowed her eyes, lifting herself up from her sitting position so that she could crouch low to the ground. Her instincts were strong, although she was so young, and she stalked her sister like she was delicious prey. Her bum wiggled in the air, before she launched herself, screaming, at her sister. Deka had seen the attack coming, but she was caught off guard by the tenacity in her sister. Screaming and clawing, the two rolled around in the dirt, each attempting to get the upper hand.
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Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 10:45 am
Hallie had been sitting, her bushy tail curled around her legs protectively. Her eyes were blank, as she wasn't really seeing, but rather was delving deep into her thoughts and into her memories. She knew that it was a bad idea, to let herself remember. She remembered almost everything, as her powers seemed to give her an exceptional memory. So it was with the good memories that she also remembered the bad, with the same amount of clarity and feeling. All of the good memories she had couldn't block out the bad ones, and those bad ones began ripping tiny holes in her. She was truly alone, with no one to count on but herself. She was lucky that she had gotten the pups this far, but they were still so little. How long could she keep it up?
Thinking through all of this, she completely missed the antics of her daughters. It wasn't until Namu's scream and Deka's yells of protest broke her from her reverie that she was able to focus on them. Narrowing her golden eyes, she rose to her paws and crossed the distance between them quickly. She watched as they rolled around, wrestling and fighting with one another. They did this often, and so she didn't grow angry.
"Children," she spoke quietly, calmly. Though their screams were loud, they somehow heard their mother through it all. Deka stopped struggling first, and Namu responded by stopping her attacks. They separated, then looked up at their mother expectantly. They were both such good kids, and Hallie whisked her tail once, thankful that she had gotten a break with that. She didn't know what she would have done if they had taken after their father and been completely rambunctious and irresponsible.
Thinking of him, her face took on a dark and gloomy look. The pups exchanged a glance, and they both understood that their mother was hurting.
Without a second thought, Deka went up to her mother, nuzzling her long legs with her nose. "What is it, Mommy?"
Narrowing her eyes, Namu thought of how her sister was such a suck-up. But, not wanting to be outdone, she copied her sister's movements. "You can tell us, Mommy."
Hallie looked down at them, a small smile touching her features. The gesture, however, did not reach her eyes. She still retained a faraway look, and the pups didn't miss that. "How would you two like to do a little exploring today?" she asked, knowing their answers already. Though she almost never read their minds, she knew them as well as she knew herself. They would want to go exploring, for the sake of seeing something other than the same boring clearing in which their mother often took them to play.
Not ones to disappoint, both pups cheered up considerably. Whatever had been bothering their mother before had banished from their thoughts, and they were instantly eager to be away from this place.
"Really, Mommy?" Deka cried, her little tail wagging furiously.
"We can go somewhere else?" Namu echoed.
"Of course, children," Hallie spoke, her smile reaching her eyes this time. Both girls howled with delight, breaking away from their mother to do a victory lap around her. Hallie chuckled quietly, glad to have made them happy, at least.
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Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 8:44 pm
Forgetting their eariler spat, the two girls ended their victory lap and looked over at each other anxiously. They knew nothing beyond the small area around their den, and it was a mixture of terror and excitement that gripped their chests now. Their small tails quivered, and their pale eyes locked onto each other.
"Where do you think it'll be?" Namu asked her sister, all enmity from before vanished without a trace. Deka merely shook her head and shrugged her little shoulders. She hadn't the slightest idea. Both pups were entirely clueless about the outside world, and they both wondered where their mother would be taking them now. Just a small trip through the forest? Or was she planning to move them to another den? She had been mumbling about that recently, saying that nothing was coming back here for her and that it would be safer to constantly move the pups. If they stayed in one place for too long, their scents would grow stronger and it would be easier for a stranger to detect them.
"Why don't you wait and see?" Hallie asked kindly, licking the top of the green pup's head. Namu nodded obediently, willing to wait however long it took, as long as her mother fully intended on taking them on an adventure. And both pups had little reason to doubt their mother. She had her dazed moments, but more often than not she was an incredibly attentive and nurturing mother.
Both girls loved Hallie with all of their hearts.
Smiling down at them, Hallie moved about them, cirling them once. "Well, are you two girls ready?" she asked, hoping to build up the excitement. Her words worked; both of her daughters wiggled, their entire bodies shaking this time rather than just their tails. They couldn't speak, for fear that they would ruin the moment.
"Well, let's go!" their mother called, now a few feet away from them. Her legs were longer, and she had covered the distance far quicker than they had ever thought possible. They stared at her in wonder and amazement. Deka was the first to break through her awestruck tenor. She bounded after her mother, her paws big and awkward though she was a small pup. Her sister followed quickly, a slightly sour face ruining her features. She didn't like being beat.
"We're ready, Momma!" Namu cried, bouncing into the air. Hallie grinned, then turned without a word. She began pacing through the woods. She was moving quickly, but slowly enough for her daughters to keep pace. They followed, all faith entrusted in their mother.
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Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 8:59 pm
The two pups remained at their mother's heels for what seemed like an eternity. Their lungs stung with the effort of keeping up with the larger, longer-legged wolf. Yet they pressed on, determined not to get left behind or to miss out on any of the adventure. Over time, their stamina would build, and they would be able to trot over long distances without stopping, their strength built so high that they would never notice any strain on their bodies. The life of a lone wolf required this, Hallie knew, and so sought to build up her daughters' strength very early on. The odds already stacked against them, and she wasn't about to have them slighted in other ways, as well.
The family went on like this for a mile or so, before Hallie abruptly stopped them. The pups nearly crashed into her and into one another in their haste to halt their progress. Both Namu and Deka stood next to Hallie, their breaths quick and jagged. They hadn't realized how tired they had become.
"Look, my dears," Hallie whispered as she sank low to the ground, her belly nearly scraping the dirt. They quickly followed suit, not quite knowing why but at the same time knowing that they didn't want to miss a thing. The seer pointed silently with her nose. Their gazes followed her point, and what they saw amazed her. There, not thirty feet away, was a lumbering giant, so shaggy and huge that at first the girls didn't know what to think.
"It's a bear," Hallie explained quietly. The pups nodded, speechless. "See how she stands up on her hind legs? She is searching, checking around for danger." She paused, watching the bear move about gracefully, despite its vast size and weight. "You see, she has something very precious that needs protecting." Not an instant later, three bumbling cubs came yowling around their mother, oblivious to her wariness. The pups stood up slightly, hoping to get a better look. Their mouths hung open. These cubs were bigger than them already, but seemed younger somehow.
"Remember, my loves," Hallie continued, nosing them onward, away from the mother bear and her cubs. "A bear can be a great ally, or an even greater foe. Wolves often scavenge kills that bears have made and left. But a bear with cubs will fight to the death defending her cubs, and can charge even when there is no threat." She cocked her ears back towards the mother bear. "You must always be alert, watching their body language. They talk to us, just in different ways. Our job is to be open to all sorts of languages. When we are, we are wiser and better able to survive." Her daughters nodded obediently, their tiny minds working overtime attempting to soak up all of the information.
Once they were a safe distance away, Hallie continued on normally. "Come," she cooed, "you both still have much to learn."
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Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2010 9:42 am
The sisters followed willingly, despite their extreme exhaustion. They knew now that their mother wasn't going to take them back to their old den. She had decided to move them, though why she did was beyond them. Did she simply get bored of that place and want to live somewhere new? Or did something happen to make her worry about her pups' safety? Perhaps she was only being cautious and moving them around as a way to prevent something from happening...
Whatever the reason, it didn't matter. They were moving on, and that was that. There was no looking back.
They continued traveling for an unknown time, the two pups unable to really keep track of the passing time. They focused all of their energy on keeping up with their mother. And also to paying attention to whatever lessons she threw at them. But of course, they took it all in with heated interest and enthusiasm.
Through the course of the day, they learned various things. Hallie taught them about rivers and how to swim when there were strong currents. She taught them about the birds, crows in particular, and how they could lead a wolf to the kill. They could be quite useful when prey was scarce and hard to catch, especially for a lone wolf. She taught them about different scents and how to track game. Of course, she didn't let them hunt, but she promised that one day they would. They would have to learn quickly if they were to survive on their own.
They wondered how they could fit everything into their tired and small minds, but somehow they managed. At the end of the day, they could almost perfectly recall what their mother had been teaching them. They beamed at one another, their sibling rivalry forgotten in a moment of shared bliss.
It was almost night when Hallie finall stopped them, in another small clearing that looked similar to their old one. But, with their keen noses, they knew that this was not the same place. They didn't know how far they had gone, but they knew this was a new place entirely. Every scent here was foreign, and there wasn't a trace of wolf around. Their mother didn't bother digging out a den. The pups were growing larger by the day, and so she probably figured they would be fine sleeping under the stars. This was fine by both pups, as they collapsed immediately after entering the tiny clearing. They looked like a pile of fur, with their bodies close and almost intertwined.
Not too much longer, and they would succumb to sleep.
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Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2010 8:58 am
Hallie watched her two daughters as they collapsed in exhaustion upon the cool ground. They were still so young, and still had so much life to live and so many lessons to learn. She wondered how she could ever teach them all they would need to know. She supposed that they would have to go about life and figure most of it out for themselves. She was hardly the great teacher of survival. She was barely getting by on her own. It was a miracle that she had gotten the pups this far. It was probably due to her seer abilities, with the capability of 'hearing' someone before they even got close. It had protected them thus far, but how long would this life last? How long would it be before her daughters decided to leave her, if at all?
The mother sighed and, after cirling the area once, settled upon her belly near her pups. She had the ability to glimpse the future, but she was still too scared to see what might become of all of them. They were a broken family, living day to day within their limits. It would be easier for them if they lived in a pack. The numbers and security that came with it was too valuable to pass up. Yet her own paranoia kept her from settling them into a nice pack. She distrusted every other wolf, despite being able to read minds and see someone's true intentions. It was a nervous condition that kept her from giving them all that they needed, and she felt like a monster for it.
The pups, of course, didn't know any better. They didn't know anything other than the small life their mother had carved out for them. When they ventured out into the world, they would see just how scary and dangerous it could all be. It would seem completely strange and different to them, and she feared for their lives. They might be able to survive, but could they live?
Sighing again, she rose to her paws and moved to stand over her daughters. She wondered over the real reason why she had kept the puppies, despite the absence of their father. She had known the hardships she would have to face, and yet she had stubbornly decided to raise the pups on her own, no pack and no mate. Did she hang on to them out of motherly love? Was it some desire for company that drove her to extremes? Or was it something else, something deeper and more painful than any other answer? Was it because they looked like their father's family so much, that it helped her to cling on to her former life? Coming upon this answer, she knew at once that it was partially true. She couldn't let go of her past, and it was slowly eating her up.
The seeress curled around her puppies and whined slightly. They had already fallen asleep, however, and didn't catch their mother's sadness. A broken family, indeed.
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