She was Rissa Moonblack and had silvery black fur that seems to simultaneously absorb and reflect the pale light, making her hard to track, even during the day, when glacier colored wolf beings had camouflage superiority.
She stills, then leaps at the stupid creature and latches onto it, dragging out her long bladed knife and slashing the creature�s throat, all with one smooth movement. Dropping to the ground beside the now dead creature, she pulls a harness over her upper body and attaches the other end to the beast, setting off at an easy lope with the beast dragging behind her.
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When she had turned her kill over to the stores master, and gotten yelled at for doing �such a stupid act as go after one of these beasties without proper backup or even being a full Hunter�, she had walked into the meetings tent where she could smell food cooking.
Rissa walks in and lets the tent flap fall closed behind her as she takes in who all is in the tent, only two, amazingly. The little annoying glacier colored Yarr and his bigger brother, who was also glacier colored, Anrak. Yarr was huddled up as close to the fire as he could get, while Anrak was sprawled out, basking in the warmth of the fire.
She smiles slightly then hides her smile as she steps closer to the fire, stepping around Yarr and sprawling out on the other side of the fire from Anrak, her midnight blue eyes taking in everything about him, from his glacier colored fur to his pale gray eyes.
�Someday you�re going to have to tell me what keeps you occupied to the point where you�re almost never here, you�ve been like this for almost two years now,� she remarks in her soft, musical voice.
Rissa notices his grin as he remarks, �Why don�t I show you then, Rissa?�
She tilts her head to one side, considering this and finding it to her liking, �Tonight?�
�Sure, just let me eat first,� was Anrak�s reply.
Rissa laughs, he was always hungry whenever he entered the camp, �Then eat, Anrak Snowblazer.�
She watches as he takes his first portion of the meat and devours it, then grabs a plate and utensils for herself and takes a portion for herself. Both of them devour four good-sized portions of meat before they even start to consider traveling again.
She supposed that his days of watching whatever he was so interested in had made him hungry, but on the other hand she thought it was mostly just that he was a man, and men always seemed to be hungry no matter what time of day it was.
Eventually, both finish and rise, walking out of the tent on silent paws, leaving the sleeping Yarr where he sat.
Rissa ghosts along beside Anrak, looking almost like a shadow in the darkness. She could tell that this made him slightly uneasy, but that was something she enjoyed doing, making him uneasy was great sport.
Finally, after a time of traveling, Anrak led her out onto a ledge and crouched down, so she crouched down beside him. She watched in fascination as he outlined all the buildings and described what he had seen and what he thought each was used for. It was amazing what had been built, and he seemed to be so involved in it! For one who had never left the glacier in all his life, Anrak seemed like a definite expert on everything he was describing.
The most startling thing was to learn that all this had been built in just two years. And by humans! Humans of all creatures! They had to be insane, most humans tended to avoid the cold areas like mad, which was why her pack had chosen to live in the far north in the first place, to avoid humans, many of which had taken a definite dislike of her kind, just for the fact that they were different from humans.
Her ears went back as she heard the soft beat of wings and she was turning her head to find the source of the sound, when a sharp crack snapped her thoughts to other things, mainly surviving the long fall down to the base of the glacier.
She scrambles to keep herself above the ledge, as did Anrak. A miracle it was, when they landed on top of the shattered ledge and weren�t hurt to badly, she had a few scrapes and cuts, but nothing serious.
Rissa rises to her feet and looks around, growling at Anrak to lie still. He complied as she slinks off, examining the glacier for signs of a way back up.
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She had circled the area at least five times by the time she admitted defeat and went back to where she had left Anrak, mentally figuring out their position to the nearest climbing point and grumbling to herself when she realized that it was at least three days travel away, over unknown and probably hostile territory, just what they didn�t need.
On the other hand, there was that settlement�
Rissa slinks up softly to the shattered ledge and touches Anrak�s shoulder, waking him up.
�We�re trapped down here as far as I can tell. The nearest climbing point is at least three days travel away, over rough and dangerous terrain, and who knows if we�d be able to find enough food to keep us going.�
Her ears flick forward as she catches his grumbled, �Great, what absolutely annoying luck.�
�There�s always another option, we could finally find out all there is to know about that place you�ve been watching,� she remarks.
She notices his frown, so he had remembered the same law as she herself had, that all contact with the outside world, humans especially, was forbidden.
�But it�s against pack law to meet with outsiders,� he states.
�Does it look like we�re close enough to the pack to get cast out for it? In all actuality, we were cast out the minute that ledge crumbled.�
�True��
�Aren�t you in the least bit curious?�
He rises and moves away from the shattered ledge, �You�re worse than a sister sometimes, you know that? Sometimes I think you�re worse than Yarr, too.�
�Now that isn�t nice, comparing me, Rissa, to that annoying brat Yarr,� she growls at him playfully.
She sees his shrug in the soft light as he moves towards the buildings, saying over his shoulder, �Well you do seem to have most of his qualities.�
�That�s it!� Rissa leaps at Anrak and wraps herself around his upper body, �for that you get to carry me there.�
As she wraps herself around him, she catches the tail end of a muttered comment about �Yarr�s qualities.�
She keeps her hold on him tight as he sets off at an easy lope, watching the landscape pass by as they came ever closer to the settlement.
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The minute they entered the settlement, she knew they were the focus of all the attention, especially since she was hard to see, even in the light.
�All right,� Anrak growls softly, �rides over.�
She laughs just as softly then slides off his back and turns to face the woman who had come out of one of the buildings and was approaching them.
�Are you here for the clutch?� the woman asks.
�Clutch?� Anrak asks, puzzled.
Rissa shrugs, she didn�t know either.
�We�re here because we fell off the glacier, although� a clutch of what?�
�Dragons of course! What else?�
She thinks for a second, then murmurs, �Could be interesting.�
Flight was never something she had thought about much, but it could be interesting.
�I guess we�ll try then,� Anrak answers.
The woman smiles, �I�m Traena and who are you?�
�I�m Rissa Moonblack, and he�s Anrak Snowblazer,� Rissa replies.
�Nice to meet you, Rissa, Anrak. Now just follow that dragoner over there and he�ll show you to your rooms,� Traena replied as she turned to go back into the building she had come out of.
Rissa turns and follows Anrak into the building, still hearing the uneasy mutters of some of the other humans. Maybe it hadn�t been a wise decision to enter the settlement and agree to become, at least for a time, part of it.
Adult