The hunt was over. The pebbles found, retrieved and rewarded. Geis stretched. It had been a long, meandering and oddly rewarding hunt. Not materially but in a way he had not expected and could not, as of yet, name. His battered body was worse for wear, his bones were groaned with every move he made but still, the loremaster felt oddly refreshed by the hunt. The silly (as well as terrifyingly vicious) badger had been conclusively defeated, his nose un-frozen and he had discovered a southern sister. Another lupine! How long since he had last spotted his kinsfolk? A month? A year? Aralishia knew their tongue and had been named wolf-friend but there were still certain things he wished to determine... he had seen the reflexive start and the faraway look fellow snow-furred lupine had given him upon their meeting.

It had been not a fond look- to use a fur-head word- he had thought her 'spooked.'

Geis glanced upwards. Night had fallen some time ago and the moon, the White Light shone downwards- poor recompense for the blinding glare of the sun but it had its own merits. The lupine felt his muscles twitch reflexively, felt the need to dismember and dismantle and examined these feelings as he would some exotic creature. It felt appropriate. Interior darkness to match exterior. Though he was at loathe to admit it, lupines harbored certain secrets- secrets not unlike those of fur-heads.

He had heard of certain prejudices that his clansmembers and predecessors had been subject to when traveling South and they were not prejudices from fur-heads either. Geis bared his fangs. Were the lupines here no better than trolls? Hateful, superstitious, greed-ridden things. He had heard the stories but had never thought that those stories might one day be acknowledged as realities. The loremaster calmed himself. He was jumping to conclusions, it was only a look after all. A look he could very well have misinterpreted. He didn't think so though, it was why he had striven to make this meeting a private one as possible. Aralishia still had... rather positive notions when it came to wolfkind. He did not want to spoil it, not until he knew the same story. Was it shame or friendship that had provoked such thoughts?

The loremaster was troubled to realize that he knew not the answer.

Aquis whispered into his ear, her cold breath teasing delicate ear tissue.

So the lupine had come after all. He thanked the clan guardian, she licked her finger and then stuck it in his ear and he yelped. The ice elemental giggled and flew off. He probed his nose, it still hadn't re-gained its capacity for smell and he felt much as he would imagine a fur-head would be without its eyes- thus the favor from Aquis which apparently would be paid back in installments and pranks.

"Greetings Kinsfellow." He whispered. Lupine senses were honed far beyond mere fur-head ones, there was no need to speak above a whisper. "We have much to discuss."

In the soft glow of the crescent moon, Quess’ fur shown silvery white as the lupine lumbered down the path slowly, feet padding softly on the luxuriously soft dirt. The green eyes of hers were distant, replaying memories of her former life, the one she could never return to. Quess had been doing quite well in distancing herself from her place of birth, both physically and mentally – not quite emotionally – until this mysterious white-furred lupine showed his face, appearing out of nowhere. Now, the young warrior was quite certain that the short male was not from the Kaw clan as she’d first suspected, but she still yearned to speak with one of her own kind once more, even if he hailed from another land.

The wolf woman’s ears twitched in acknowledgement of the short lupines words, a slight inclination of her head indicating her agreement. She looked over this other white-furred lupine once more, unable to completely abandon the idea of the wolfman’s origins. Having realized that she appeared rather cold at the moment, she offered a tentative smile, showing sharp white teeth.

Now…There was no way to approach the matter bluntly – at least not that Quess, having been taught to be direct and never to beat around the bush.

“Where are you from, Kinsfellow? The Kaw clan?”

The gruff voice was not without an edge of urgency, but Quess tried her best to frame her voice into something pleasant. But the white warrior needed to know if any of the white-furred forest dwellers had survived the brutal onslaught of more than a decade ago, needed to know if any of her former pack’s mortal foes still lived. Quess quickly tried to soften her tone, so used to nothing but war cries and taunts.

“Please…I need to know”

Geis wrinkled his nose, trying but still incapable of sniffing or even picking up the faintest scent. Without it he was practically a fur-head. Geis considered that thought as he watched his fellow lupine pad forwards, her white fur glowing softly and lithe body betraying all the usual signs of youth and vigor and he admitted in what he hoped was purely disinterested terms, beauty. If not for her green eyes and rather thin layer of fur-cover he might have mistaken her for a fellow Everlight lupine. If not for the memory of a childhood friend, no- that was a juvenile thought- if not for the memory of his love he might have considered courtship.

Even if he was just a stunted, 'arctic' lupine.

'Arctic' lupine. It was not a label that his people had placed on themselves but rather that of fur-heads and they, no doubt, would have affixed that selfsame label on QUess. He almost laughed at that thought- him making the same mistake as a fur-head. He wouldn't have had his nose been functional- all lupines had their individual musk. It pained him to think that the next time they met he would still be unable to tell if this were Quess or not- he would only able to determine that she was, yes indeed, a white-furred lupine with green eyes.

Fairly rare, he imagined. Then again, so was he. It took rather extraordinary circumstances for lupines to go off on their own. They were instinctively familial. Some said it weakened them. Geis had never thought the same. That which kept him going, exploring and experiencing were thoughts of his clan. He could hardly imagine a world without Coldfurs though he admitted that very few had ever heard of them. It sometimes seemed that his clan was... unnecessary. Unnerving thoughts to say the least.

"Where are you from, Kinsfellow? The Kaw clan?” Geis noticed how the lupine stumbled around the greeting. How much had she been taught? Little? None? No niceties in her speech or conduct. So strange... so very strange. And she hadn't acknowledged his statement either- or maybe she had just not in way he had expected. Once again he considered his suspicions.

Apparently his silence distressed her and after a moment of awkwardness she put in: a: “Please…I need to know.”

Geis tried to dissociate himself somewhat from his thoughts. They were starting to distract him from what would no doubt be a very enlightening conversation."No." He wondered how she would take the news. "No, I am afraid not. I am of the Coldfur Clan."

"From the North," he added expecting that this would not be common knowledge. (The clans had grown so far apart in the years since the great beginning!) "From the land where the Sun does not set. " He considered asking more but decided against it. He might be a seeker of knowledge but there was pain in those green orbs. He would not open old wounds out of mere curiosity.

Instead, he motioned to the ground. "Would you like to know more?"

Kicking at the fertile dirt beneath her, Quess averted her eyes for a brief moment, as she mused over the fact that there were white-furred lupines to the north.

“I had not known…That there were other white-furs. The ones here – of the Misty Forest, have been all but wiped out.” Said Quess softly, remembering the day that her fellow lupines had returned, sporting the grisliest of trophies, and hailed as heroes. And where had she been on that day, while the jet-black warriors fought? Trussed up like a pig headed for the slaughterhouse, tied up in her own hut. Can’t be too careful, they’d sneered. As if she’d ever turned on her own flesh and blood!

Finally raising her head, Quess’ clear green eyes stared into the shorter lupine’s red eyes, seeing that, despite his offer, it was really he who wanted to hear more, his inquisitive mind lusting after yet more legends, more knowledge. Part of the white warrior’s mind didn’t wish to return to her past, didn’t want to relive every gruesome day again – but the larger part of Quess needed to talk about it, to get it off her chest, if only temporarily. But for the moment, she was genuinely interested in hearing of the lupines of the north.

There were so many, many questions. What was clan life like? How could the sun never set, short of magic? How had this lupine wandered all the way down here? But guessing it would be rude to press she merely nodded, shyly.

“Yes. I would…Like to hear more.”

Geis tried not to show his surprise at her reply. And his smoldering anger. 'Wiped out' she had said. He let the words rummage around in his head, seeking memories and associations watching as they finally alighted upon a scene he had once been witness to. It was a rather mundane one as far as his memories were concerned, a fur-head- a female one, he was fairly certain- and a windowsill. A cloth dipped into the water. A hasty, careless scrub. Another dip. Another scrub. Many repetitions of an action that could just as easily be reproduced by opening a door.

'Wiped out.' He repeated mentally, still watching the female fur-head repeat her pointless exercises.

Death had been a chore? He felt outraged. Deeply outraged. There had been a part of him that had remained inviolate throughout his travels through the southern lands, a small sanctuary that eternally felt safe in the serene satisfaction that his people would, at least, remember the old ways and be thankful for each day of continued life... and to thank each death that would continue to feed such life. Killing for the sake of killing, killing for the sake of waste-! He choked off that thought. He was getting far too emotional. Best that he recall better times, better places.

“Yes. I would…Like to hear more.”

It was all the invitation Geis needed. For a moment, only a moment, he considered where he should start. Then he smiled, it was obvious. The beginning.

"I was born..." Geis let out a chuckle as he tried to recall his age. Had it really only been so long? Such a short period of time. Had all gone according to plan he would not even been past his first initiation into the mysteries of the loremaster Art. "almost thirty winters ago in Calaring."

"Calaring." Geis savored the word. His homeland. "It is a magical place. The sun does not set as it does here and spirits will often make merry in the sky, coloring it with different shades." He tried to find some better image, some better metaphor but came up blank. He settled upon a less accurate but perhaps just as vivid image. "It is like... like seeing a living rainbow. Great luck is said to follow those who witness them."

"The land is harsh, of course. She is cold and forever unforgiving." He thought of the fur-heads that had tried and failed to make their home in Calaring. "We are a strong people, of course. We have survived where others have failed. Thrived where others see only desolation. Only the dwarves have managed the same."

"And most of us have white fur."

This short lupine, he had some odd mannerisms – and seemed to take a liking to the phrase “fur-heads” – but he sure painted a beautiful painting with his words, vividly creating an image within Quess’ head. She imagined piles and piles of pure white snow, glowing in the apparently different sun, or sparkling in the dancing lights – they intrigued Quess the most, for color had been the root of her problems, as well as things that so fascinated the white lupine. But, ironically, the warrior could not visualize the lights in the sky; How could lights dance in the air?

Suddenly self-conscious of the fact that they were standing, Quess made a move to seat herself, but stopped herself, knowing it to be awkward to sit while he stood. Sidetracking abruptly from the tale at hand, she asked if he would sit.

“Would you…Would you care to sit?”

Smiling softly, the wolf then sat down on soft dirt ground, more pleasurable to her than any artificial cushion. It was amazing that there were still so many white-furred lupines in existence; Quess had to wonder, was the first light-colored lupine – antagonized in so many a clan legend – descended from those of Calaring? Quess had half a mind to ask the shorter lupine about this, but checked herself; perhaps she would later, but this was not the time. Suddenly, Quess realized something she’d overlooked in her haste to find out about this lupine’s ancestry and clan. It was so obvious, Quess let out a little laugh.

“I’m I’m sorry. I forgot – what is your name, fellow lupine? I am Quess.”