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When it came to hunting, Kaeerah was more like a spider than a wolf. She rarely ventured far, waiting for a tasty morsel to wander into her web. Of course, that was easy enough when your favorite prey was a wolf, and strange wolves were so very easy to deceive.

For a wolf who clearly suffered from madness and wore bones like armor, she was surprisingly seductive.

Still, she did sometimes bore of her game, and wandered in search of new amusement. It was on such a wandering that she caught a whiff of familiar scent. Just a hint of it, the last lingering impressions of a memory, but it brought back memories that had lain dormant for many a long season.

Lungaia. Her sister. Alive, presumably -- and near, so near. Well now, wasn't that a surprise?

Furrowing her bone-adorned brow, the lithe creature shifted course, moving toward Antianeira territory, touching nose to ground at intervals.

It wasn't that trailing scent was exhausting, per say. More that this particular scent had become a bit sparse, and there was a dull ache of muscles pushed beyond the point of weariness that was bordering on distracting.

Meh.

With her ears laid against her skull out of sheer irritation, Honoria dropped her head again, giving the ground another thorough sniff. A duet of scent, with hints of similarity, and that told her clearly enough that both the one she sought and the one sought by that particular wolf had passed this way before.

There was a bit of indecision, and Honoria took the moment required to consider it to stretch her limbs, arching her spine and twisting her neck to pop the vertebrae there. With the edge gone from her reactions, she was not as swift as she often chose to be for a fight- best to use every advantage when prey could bite back. However, the likelihood of being *this* close meant that it was an opportunity which might not come again.

A soft chuff cleared her nostrils before she sniffed again and swung her head towards the 'prey' scent. That, then. Barring anything else, she could then go forward to find Lungaia and report to her what she had seen. Once more, she picked up the ground-eating lope that swung shoulders and hips in easy rhythm.

Now to see how close she could get and if the wind would stay in her favor.

If Tui's gentleness had made Lungaia go soft, then seasons at the top of the food chain had made Kaeerah grow complacent. Truth be told, it had been too long since the blue-flamed she-wolf had been properly challenged. It was easy, lying in wait in a web, to believe that the world always cowed so easily to one's wishes.

And so, where caution might have been warranted, Kaeerah opted instead for a more direct route.

"Where are you hiding, little lamb? I can hear you." She tilted her head. The skull atop it shifted slightly. She had heard something, indeed, but there was no scent. Perhaps the winds were in the wrong direction. Or perhaps the madness was catching up to her. It wasn't the first time she'd heard something that wasn't there.

Lamb.

Well, that certainly fell in perfect step with what Lungaia had told her of the one that was now before and slightly above her. Damn this slope... Honoria's eyes narrowed as she sniffed gently at the breeze. As long as it didn't shift, she had a chance of being a surprise.

At least a surprise of location, not of presence.

Rather than answer, she kept her ears fixed on Kaeerah's voice and mutely wondered about the skull in an absent corner of her mind.

...not a bad idea, that... The wolf would have to be larger than herself, but she'd taken out those before...

Kaeerah settled to her haunches, awaiting a response. When none came her way, she smiled. "Afraid?" She asked to the silence around her. "You needn't be scared. I'm just a bit lost, you see, and was hoping someone could help me."

Such tactics worked in her web. In her hubris, she assumed it would as well here.

Ears dropping slightly, Romir scuffed the ground with a paw, feeling himself going hot under what he perceived as praise. (Stop it, get it together!) Quickly, he squared his shoulders and dropped his forequarters a bit. It wouldn't do at ALL to not show proper respect.

"Forgive my intrusion, but I overheard you mention being lost. A lady such as yourself should surely not be left to wander. May I escort you to a suitable resting place?" There. Not exactly groveling, but certainly not a lofty tone she might be offended by.

In the scant cover at the base of the slope, there was a quiet, subtle facepaw.

"Oh, that would be marvelous," she said, with a smile that dripped gratitude for such generosity. Or would, anyway, if it were a little easier to look friendly when wearing the dessicated remains of an old corpse slung over your back.

"My paws are very tired. Perhaps I could lean on you along the way?"

Immediately, he straightened and the branches resting before him were forgotten. Unimportant- there was a female he could be of *direct* aid to. At least the silly boy didn't kill himself springing down to Kaeerah's side. He even managed to make it without stumbling.

With the air of one being done a *great* favor, Romir lowered his head, tail sinking a bit, and sidled close enough to Kaeerah to let her choose how she would use him for her support. "I would be honoured, my lady."

Again, a facepaw. This with a bit more emphasis.

As if he'd allow their enchanting proximity to falter for a moment... HAH.

Careful with each movement, Romir ensured he was crouched enough to provide support, his head lowered to show respect and his... everything else restrained to avoid offense.

"I would not say she is yet a member of the pack, my lady, but that is not for one such as I to decide," Romir said. Deep breath. Snap up the mental suspenders. "Yet if she is the one I recall that you speak of, she is not nearly as beautiful as you yourself."



...that facepaw was nearly audible.

A genuine laugh flittered through her maw.

Flattery had always worked rather well on the blue-flamed lady. It had spared the life of that mangy storyteller, and it would do the same here, she decided.

"I see," she managed, regaining her composure, though her smirk remained. "To be sure we are slandering the right wolf....dark fur, wing markings on her sides? Ghastly tattered ears?"

Unthinkingly, his ears swung upright and Romir nodded, nearly buffing Kaeerah's nose with his fluttering calico fur. "Quite right, my lady! What great fortune is this that we should have the very warrior you seek? I hope you find your stay in these lands equally enjoyable in all your endeavors."

"Oh...I imagine I'll have a rather wonderful time," she said, the cogs in her mind slowly beginning to turn. "And I would love a tour sometime. Though just now...I have some business to attend to, with that lady. Catching up from old times, and whatnot."

She hesitated a moment, the wheels in her mind slowing. Something about the way he said 'warrior', the specific cadence, gave her pause. It suggested that it was a common title here, and walking into that particular nest of snakes sounded like more trouble than it was worth just now.

"We...are not the closest of friends," she intimated. "And I'd rather not make a scene in front of strangers. I wouldn't want to embarrass her." A smile, a flash of rather more teeth than was friendly. "I don't suppose you could run and fetch her for me? I'll just pause and take a rest right here..."

As she slid to her haunches, she made sure to rest her jaw briefly against the nape of his neck, breathing warmly into the fur there, a hint of both vulnerability and seduction in the action. She pulled away after, but not before looking at him coyly. "If it's not too much trouble."

Lazing lost its appeal quickly when survival was one's normal modus operandi. Brief nap concluded, Lungaia had stretched and begun to make her way home, vaguely hoping that Tui would have found something for them to eat as she hadn't bothered to do any hunting that evening. Truly, pack life was beginning to spoil her.

But somehow, at the back of her mind, some uneasiness began to twitch. Something, somewhere....was not quite right. Her brow furrowed. Intuition? Insanity? It all sort of blurred together for her. She tried her best to subvert the anxiety and began the trek from the training grounds back to her communal den.

With what she knew, what she had been told, it was *highly* unlikely that the bone-adorned wolf would leave without at least seeing the male return. Honoria's ears flattened in sheer annoyance as she looked after the calico's departing haunches.

Go after him? See if he could, in fact, lead her to Lungaia? Or remain here and keep watch over Kaeerah...? She had found relatively decent cover, and the babble of the nearby stream covered a few small noises. Exhaling with slow precision, Honoria flattened herself to the ground and locked her golden eyes on the vivid female.

She would wait. And watch.

Not the same to be said for the gaily leaping calico wolf who sniffed the air, thence the ground before springing ahead with a few body-stretching bounds. He was scarcely able to contain his growing excitement (and mutely grateful said excitement wasn't... *ahem* visible.) Luckily for him, Romir had crossed the warrior's scent before, and it wasn't impossible to trace.

Ducking any other female's line of sight and avoiding attention was, perhaps, a bit harder, but Romir was on a *mission.* He slunk with the dedication of the soundly hooked and kept a careful ear about for anyone calling aloud.

AHA.

Rapidly, Romir cut around the familial dens and headed for the training grounds at the fastest run he could push himself into.

The change in her demeanor was swift and frightening.

Green eyes snapping open, head jerking up, hackles immediately raised, she took an aggressive step closer to him. "What?"

There was no way. After all those seasons spent searching for her...to have her sister simply appear? The thought that it was a trick touched down in her mind but was immediately snuffed out. This fool of a slave wouldn't have known to lie about such a thing. And surely there was no other wolf in existence who matched that description.

"Where is she?"

If it was possible to be part and parcel of the ground, Romir would have managed admirably with that immediate reaction to Lungaia's aggressive stance. Flat on his belly, ears melding with his head, he whimpered once, tucking his tail to his haunches.

"...near the stream," he whispered, hardly daring to be audible. "Resting."

"Go home," she said, voice a low growl. "Go to your den and stay there. It's not safe for you here."

And with no further explanation, she took off at a run, following a path that would lead her near Honoria's hiding place.

...way to blow it, Mom...

Honoria's ears and expression said that VERY clearly as she lifted her head and looked back at Lungaia. Golden eyes narrowed as she chuffed out a breath of sheer aggravation, and she rose to her paws. Well, ******** the 'surprise' aspect, OBVIOUSLY.


...another fe-!

It was almost comical how the calico male nearly broke his own spine to skid to a halt behind Lungaia, and when he looked from her to Honoria, Romir shuddered from nose to tail tip. It was always a hormonal-emotional-mental overload being surrounded by females, and this... This was worse than ever.

Dropping immediately into an apologetic crouch, he tilted his head, ears swiveling about as he tried to catch sight or scent of Kaeerah.

"What do you want?" Lungaia growled, moving to stand between her sister and the younger wolves.

"Now, is that any way to greet your sister?" Kaeerah asked, with a mocking head tilt. Her icy blue gaze flicked momentarily to Romir, then traveled to Honoria, taking a moment to size up the younger female. "After I've come so far to stop by for a friendly chat?"

Lungaia snorted in derision and stalked forward two steps, eyes darting over Kaeerah's body, debating where to strike. She was bigger, and had a warrior's training. But she was also worn out from a day of hard labor, and Kaeerah was faster, more nimble. One wrong move and the fight could be over before it got started.