Escape to the Lost Island

What was she doing here? The question plagued her mind near constantly lately but so far, Catori had not come up with a truly viable answer. At least not in the sense that she felt it justified her presence here. True, curiosity had initially drawn her only the surf eroded bridge of land made visible in the lowest tide. Apprehension too had driven her onward when the pale female realized that the same sea that revealed the sundrenched pathway to her, was now beginning to reclaim it again with the rising tide. Even excitement made its way into her thoughts at the realization that not even her ancestors had touched these paths in their lifetimes. Over and over, the stories were told in her family of great deeds and length journeys; of exploring new paths and marking boundaries that were still recognized today. Wouldn't it be something, to be able to say that she had blazed the new trail in life, one not marked by ancient pawprints of ghosts long gone?

The spray of salt tickled her nose as she quickens her pace now, the outline of land ahead an all too welcome relief to the lapping of water on dimpled rock beneath her. Panting breathlessly she leaps from boulder to boulder up the embankment of land only to turn and watch as the sea once more devoured the path. For a few moments she continued to watch as the racing of her heart slowed and the excitement began to subside. By the time the young huntress decides it is time to find something to eat and even a comfortable resting place for the night (because she had no intentions of turning back now, not without exploring a bit more anyway), the foaming sea has long turned back to it's darkest blue hues and any notion of trail beneath a distant memory.

With a toss of her head and an excited yip, the silver white wolf starts off again at a brisk trot, her pale eyes glittering with excitement. As she climbs the ridge of stone, her blue eyes brighten. What she had assumed to only be a small island that she could quickly explore and grow tired of, was a vast land whose mass stretched far beyond her line of sight. Raven tipped tail switches back and forth as the awe in her eyes spreads through the rest of her body. Obsidian lips part as her long pink tongue lolls past and she exhales a deep breath. There was no need to go back now.

A single lobe twitches as the thick trees sway to the melody of a silent zephyr. 'As good a place as any' she murmurs to herself as gingerly she navigates the sheer cliff face that led towards the greenery below. With a final leap, her paws touch down onto soft green grass and for the first time in awhile, Catori does not remember being so grateful to feel the coolness between her pads. The white she-wolf lets her searching gaze travel around her, as slowly, cautiously she begins to explore the newness of her surroundings. Large limestone rocks, as tall as some of the mountains in Spirane, stretched high overhead, casting abstract shadows on the trees and dense greenery below. Here and there, woody vines snaked their way upwards, curling like serpents over rock and tree alike as though their very fingers might stitch this crumbling landscape back together again. She could not quite explain it but somehow, the eerie quiet of this place felt comforting. It felt like Taviora.... and yet it was not.

His scent hit her suddenly and jerked her out of the dreamlike state of awe and wondering she found herself lost in. Instinctively, the alabaster hairs along her spine bristle, as silver rimmed eyes search through the shadow and sunlight forest of rock and tree until the subtle movement of his head draws her gaze. Raven tipped ears remain alert atop her crown as Catori steadies the tan male within her sights. There is no growl in the throat, though to withhold it was a challenge. Nor does she yip a friendly greeting like she would have done towards the members of her own pack. Instead, she stands still as a statue of cut ivory, watching.... waiting.

Yet the stranger does not make an immediate move against her like she had initially expected him to do. Curious but not dumb, the silver white female barks a greeting, folding her haunches beneath her to place her rump firmly on the ground as if to proclaim that she had no intentions of abandoning this place just yet. Patiently, she waits, the tip of her tail twitching impatiently against the emerald grass beneath her as she kneads her dark claws into the earth, the only sign of her nervousness.