Message in the Wind [Tamyran & anyone else]

[hybrid]

Time: Mid to late evening, the sun is still in the sky but not visible because of the cloud cover.
Weather: Cloudy and dark, strong winds, 40°F
Location: A high precipice overlooking the lower mountains.


Zephyr sat perched on one of the many precipices, his head slightly low compared to his straight back, his heavily furred thick black ears were resting against his neck, pinned down from the wind. Long, almost feminine, lashes framed his eyes into slits, the yellow peeking through them like stars as he stared silently over the mountain range. A low, gruff sigh poured from his lips. Laying across his back were the two remaining pieces of his wings, tattered but healed completely. The feathers that were once a glorious array of browns and blacks were almost totally gone, leaving only a patch or two of dense, almost fluffy, plumage mingling in the fur of his shoulders. His long spine was curved forward, his flanks tightly bound in muscle and shifting every so often, his hind paws directly behind his front paws. His half of a tail was sitting straight out, he rarely bothered to pull it into him nowadays.

The clouds seemed endless in the sky drowning the peaks in a cover of dismal gray, and although it was spring, the 40° temperature wasn't helping convince Zephyr that winter had indeed come to an end. But he could see that it was true. From the breaking of the snow, to calm trickling melt water that came in small streams down the rocks, to the birth of tiny lichens and mosses, yes, spring was coming much faster than he was prepared for. And yet, as the hard and chilled gusts of wind knocked his figure he felt the ever present pang of longing to spread his wings and leap from the precipice and glide across the tempests. He rustled the two pieces that were resting on his back and the thought quickly evaporated with the onset of reality. You are still stuck on the ground, his mind let the thought float around a bit.

I suppose I should get on with it.Rolling his shoulders back he felt and heard the familiar crackling sound of his bones, followed by the sensation of release. Letting his muzzle raise into the air, Zephyr parted his black lips, letting a low and deep howl penetrate the evening air. It carried itself on the wind for what felt like hours, resonating against the stones and finally being absorbed by the clouds above. Taking in a long breath of the chilly air he let his mind play over the words he had no use in saying aloud, yet. Hello Tamyran.

[Talen]

Tamyran was stretching when a voice rose to he ears unexpectedly. The long howl lingered heavily, forcing the female to notice its familiarity. Curious, she stood up straight and stared into the distance for a moment. "If anyone wants to come," she said to her pack, "you're welcome to." She assumed they had heard the noise too. It was rather loud.

The valley turned upward and became a rocky slope as Tamyran followed her memory of the sound. She didn't want Paxton to ruin the mystery for her, so she told him to stay put. He was swimming around slowly in circles until the wolf came into view. He was a large mass of dark fur, similar to Tamyran in fact only more masculine and darker. His scent rang a loud bell but its song couldn't be undecifered. Since when does she forget a scent? Perhaps when he turned around, she would recognize the face?

"You are sitting on Imperius territory, my dear." Her words showed her dominance but she didn't over do it. The land was new, and not yet completely marked off because new members could be found this way. But Tamyran still wanted to warn intruders.

[hybrid]

A small, yet partially joyful, smile pulled across the brute's maw at the voice, "Indeed I am," a soft chuckle poured like silk out of his throat. Zephyr did not turn to face her, instead he continued staring out into vast land, his eyes still only slits in the wind. He took a long deep breath and shook his coat a little bit, pushing his ears forward. "In fact," He flicked an ear in Tamyran's direction, "I believe you are a very strong reason for why I am here." Zephyr took a soft breath and raised himself from the rocks. His long muscular legs pushing with little effort to raise him. He stood facing the mountains for a moment longer, swishing his tail. He gave a great shake of his coat before turning to face Tamyran, his head peeking over his shoulder before he committed fully to turning to face her. He felt the gentle smile continue to tug at his lips and his yellow eyes now fully opened and gazing at the large she-wolf.

Zephyr felt his wing pieces readjust on his back, he could hear the soft feathers ruffling now placed against the wind. The wind itself had now wound itself thickly in his fur and was pushing it forward so that the lighter tan tips of his mane created a sort of halo around his black face."Perhaps, you will remember me?" He tilted his shaggy head to the side, "Or perhaps it was too long ago for the world has taken it's tole on the wolf you once could recognize." He stepped placed one paw forward. "Yet, you are still as lovely as ever, Tamyran."

[Talen]

She was even more confused about who this wolf was untill he began to turn around, which caused her eyes to wander over him. He used to have wings, she processed. And in picturing them on his body she remembered. The dawning showed on her face, she stepped forward. "Yes I remember. Look at you." She was taking stock of all the changes that had been made. Though his yellow eyes were still the same, perhaps a little tired. "It's been so long. And you found me. Friend, what has turned your wandering path back to me?" Zephyr had faded out of her life and all her memories of him seemed like workings of her imagination. She was more in awe than joy at the moment, having thought she would never see this wolf again.

[hybrid]

Zephyr dipped his head slightly, the mane of his neck fur still billowing in the wind, his half a tail pressed against his flanks. He felt the steady pull of a smile never leave his lips. "It feels good to see a familiar face." His voice was a gentle as he could make it, velvet on the turbulent air. He had lost Tamyran during his travels, nearly forgotten about her as he moved from land to land, a constant nomad, but now standing in front of her he felt the renewed sense of companionship he had lost.

"I have been many places.." he said almost languidly, his whole framework felt rather tired and used, and to any other wolf he would have hid this, but not with her. He knew she could see it in his face and thus he felt no inclination to hide it. He was, in a sense, like a great African lion in his body language, a proud king but one who was a constant mirage on the horizon. "I suppose it was the wind," he chuckled, "That brought me to you, our paws have a strange way of taking us exactly where we need to go." He watched as a feather from his shoulders fluttered into the air and drift up into the sky. "But somehow I always wind up where fate finds me best suited." He gave her a warm smile, "And you," he said, "Look at you, Alpha. You must tell me what I have missed in these long years."

[Talen]

She was still taken by the mystery. How had Zephyr come to know that she was alpha? But she wasn't going to ask him that now and make herself show the way she was feeling, which was somewhat amazed. "I know what you mean. For my paws brought me here and out of luck I came across two wolves. We tried to form a pack together, but our veiws were too different and so we divided the land." She guessed he might know some of this already, juging by the knowledge he'd already expressed. But she continued. "Naturally I chose these mountains. " The rest of "those years" conisted of monotonous wanderings and she didn't bother. The wind was blowing her fur in a way that reminded her of her former days in this terrain. She'd missed the weather. "Would you care to join us?" asked Tamyran, expected a certain answer.

[hybrid]

Zephyr continued his gentle smile, "Ah. Tell me, Tamyran, what is it that you stand for?" He gave a soft smile. He had all the intentions of staying here, and he was sure she could see that in his gentle, almost nearing submissive behavior he showed, however, any other wolf would not evoke the same disposition from him. He stepped forward a bit more to take in her scent, his nose barely an inch from hers. "Perhaps these mountains themselves speak for the strength and power you hope to bring out in your pack, to survive here seems much more precarious than the lives of those living in the safety of the lower lands." He was giving her a little smirk, one from his younger years.

[Talen]

She tilted her head as he spoke, taking in his idea. Turning it over in her mind, she supposed he was right in a way. "These lands reminded me of home. And I suppose any wolf ready to live here will be strong enough to bring my pack forward." She was smiling because he really did know her well. Tamyran wasn't yet sure if the wolves she'd found would be able to keep up with the mountain, but she would find out very soon. In a day or two Paxton would inform her of a good den spot, and they would move to meet it wherever it turned out to be.

She moved around Zephyr to stand at the edge near where he'd been sitting. She looked out at the same veiw she'd seen during the division meeting. "I was not happy in the forests, they were all the same to me. But a mountain must be tamed, it must be known well and lived on in harmony like a lover." That's what the mountain was to her, her lover. And every cold breath she inhaled made her feel more alive. She turned to look at her friend.

[hybrid]

He smiled at her words and turned his body again in her direction, his face now once again against the wind, "Tamyran, you are like these mountains in the fact, like them, you too are un-tamable. Would you, yourself, really wish to be tamed and to tame a lover?" He smiled gently as he stepped closer.

"It is beautiful," he said looking out once again over the precipice, "The land of the mountains." He looked down at her and, if they were younger, and he had not been so changed, at this moment he would have lifted one of his wings and placed it around her. Yet, for now, he could only envision it, and so he pulled the slightly outstretched piece of wing back to him before she could notice.

"The forests, the plains, they are beautiful in their own ways. In the ways of the quick, the peaceful, but there is no home better suited to my heart than the dangerous, and invigorating, world of the mountains. They alone reach far above any earthly presence to touch the heavens."

[Talen]

"Well it's a matter of power," she replied, trying not to take a double meaning from his words, "Nature can never really be tamed. So living here.. is like living beside danger." She thought he would know what he meant. It was like a rush to her. She looked over at his mass or fur and muscle. "Then won't you come and meet the rest of the pack?" she said, not wanting to be gone from them too long. They would start to view Reverend as more of their leader than her if she was never there. And one thing she feared was not being respected as the alpha, and how she would react to that.

Paxton flitted around Zephyr's head, probably unnoticed by him. The spirit-like being wanted to gather information, though Tamyran's cautious feeling about it made him hesitate. What kind of things would she find?

[hybrid]

Zephyr looked her over, and smiled again. "After you." He said politely, his dominant tone being suppressed as best he could, the velvet of his voice whispering into the air. He lifted one paw to show her he would follow. He stepped to the side to let he pass.

[Talen]

Tamyran stepped forward, happy to come across yet another friend from her past. The silly thought then occured to her of Zephyr's stubs, and how she herself had pale marks on her back to resemble wings. They were both like flightless birds. A smile came to her face but she didn't speak her thoughts, onlt continued walking down the slope untill they had reatched the others.

((Continues in "Friends that will transcend time"))