A howl, that would strike fear in the common man, pierced the darkness. There are those who fear the haunting melody of a wolves' chorus, but one in particular could feel nothing but just plain alive at that sound. Nacht's ears twitched at the wolf-pack's choral, having not smelled their presence yet. But it was now obvious that she should tread lightly, lest she be attacked due to her trespassing. She'd been tracking a buck, that had been injured by a human hunter's arrow, for day's now. Nacht found humans so inept, how they could fail to finish their prey, even when using something other than fangs and their instincts. Nacht hadn't eaten anything other than the occasional rodent or fowl in a week; and now the tip of her tail quivered in anticipation of a filling meal. After hours of following her prey, the moment Nacht was waiting for had finally arrived. The buck faltered in his steps, as no food and loss of blood weakend him to the point of no return. As soon as his body hit the dirt, Nacht pounced.
After eating her fill and leaving her leftovers for the scavengers to gnaw upon, Nacht left the bloody grass to a place less likely to attract anything that might want to attack her. Days of travel and a now full stomach caused Nacht to eventually curl up, tail covering her nose, and fall asleep right by the lakeside after she'd taken a drink. Thoughts, fragments of memories took place in her head. Some were so disturbing that they cause her grimace and reveal blood-stained fangs. Nacht's life, though short by human standards, was wrought with more than most would have thought possible for a 'mere' animal. Nacht fell asleep quickly and stayed asleep until something caused an ear to twitch. The haf wolf was not as alone as she first thought.
It was simply too dark to see anything. It had simply been a bad idea to come out this far into the wild at this time of the night. Aloric was simply too stupid to have thought of that earlier.
He was scouting out the area, as was his custom way of doing things. The Syndicate of Blades was soon to have a meeting out in this part of Arda, and Aloric had not wanted to be caught off guard by not exploring the area in full. So he had set off that night to get a head start, set up a camp for the night, and finish his expedition in the morning.
The only problem with that was he had never gotten a chance to stop for camp. The night had brought less light than he had expected. He couldn't see a single thing around the lake. He had to rely on his other senses to get him through to a clearing where he could set up a camp and rest until dawn. He knew the amount of space required between any given two trees. If he found one, he could avoid another, move forward, and progress in that manner. Eventually, he'd get to a part of the land that was not forested, and he would arrive at the lakeside.
It was then that, for the first time, the open land let him see a figure on the ground. A figure that looked suspiciously like that of a wolf.
"Oh no," Aloric whispered to himself. "They've found me again."
Curled by the lakeside the wolf looked so oblivious, in such deep sleep that she appeared completely unaware. Even though she was more or less ‘tamed’, instinct still prevailed and it was this that kept her with an ear tuned in to every sound. From the ripple of lake against shore to the birds and other various animals running about, a fox or two scavenging from the buck she had felled not so long ago, she could pick out each individual sound, not to mention scent of the various creatures meandering about.
An ear twitched as, she caught a recognizable scent of something at least vaguely human. Nacht was more comfortable around people than wilderness, something her early life had driven into her, even against instinct. The wolf heard the voice, and one violet eye cracked open. At first the wolf did nothing, but at the voice she stooped with a yawn. Both eyes opened as she turned to look at the man who had interrupted her sleep. But Nacht was not an aggressive sort; in fact she was so much like a dog that she had been mistaken for one at times in her romps through the city. She sat then, her head tilting to one side, the collar around her neck suddenly becoming visible through the black fur as she watched the person with a no doubt curious expression. If only she could speak...