Language of the sky

[Bara]

A small auburn Keiyou drifted on a winter breeze. She was flying over the swamplands, water made low by the season. Her keen powder blue eyes spied a nice wide patch of dry land beneath her and she decided to land. Perhaps she could find something to eat. As usual, she was quite hungry, since she was seldom able to provide enough food for herself to be full. She sighed as her large paws touched down on the soft soil and folded her red tailed hawk wings over her back.

She sniffed the ground, hoping to pick up the trail of some injured prey, or perhaps something already dead that she could scavenge. She tried not to let her complete ineptitude with hunting overwhelm her. She certainly wasn’t going to overcome it today, and today she was hungry. She would simply have to make due. But the smells here were still so strange. Every new season brought new smells and she hardly knew what to make of them all.

She paused in her search and looked up at the sky. Whenever things were difficult she took comfort in the sky. It was tougher in winter though, when the sky was full of dreary clouds and reduced to a dull grey rather than the vibrant blue of spring and summer. She closed her eyes and pictured a happier sky, and her spirits lifted a little. She reminded herself that winter would soon be over and the warmer months would be back. Maybe then she would find a pack…

[raja]

A young three year old Yagi walked through the terrain. He had recently joined the pack, and was going through the maturity madness, and his mind was just stirring with no thoughts, just emotions. The crazed look was still faintly reflecting in his eyes, which happens to all males right around the end of winter, right before the beginning of spring. First, they were shedding. They felt too hot and warm all the time. Even if it was snowing, they felt like they needed to find peace. Then, the male would mark his scent for the females to find, telling them he wanted them.. Telling other males to stay away. Then he would find a female, mate for a short time, and basically forget about her for a short time, until he realized his fatherhood traits.

The only problem was, was that he did not want to become a father, a dad, a dad-e-o or daddy. No, no, no, no NO! No! What if some female got pregnant during one of his... raids? Puppies, inevitably teenagers, hybrids? No, mutants. He would have to dock their tails manually, put them through pain the moment they were born.. and yet the whole pack would celebrate... Oi, why celebrate life when it was a burden to be a father? He was not convinced that puppies were a "bundle of joy" just yet. Or ever.

No, it would take lots of convincing. But what was he thinking. The females that he had met would not get pregnant! It was like a one in a million chance! One.. one in a million.. But the thoughts kept racing, until he nearly ran into a winged wolf. A Keiyou. Long wings adorned her. No! NO! He cannot risk fatherhood! But the urge to to mate, was there. He pushed it from his mind, the crazed look temporarily gone. A soft growl that gradually grew louder and louder came from him, his head lowering as he approached her. Long horns were curled outwards, the sharp edges pointed towards her. He emitted a low rumble that showed his pleasure to see her. Pleasure... No. <Get that out of your mind.> He thought, more of a concious then anything. Lord, where had his concious been when he had seen that other female, had been defying love, lust ridden.. crazy mad... She was so.. so beautiful...

His concious had left him by now, all thoughts and reason forced far from his brain. His eyes now had a fully crazed look in them. He was plagued by loneliness and there was an urge to fill it. A void.. a instinct to mate. He had to, had to.. in this moment. A low growl emitted, play time was over, this raising quite a pother.

"Dear, sweet, girl... Its nearly spring." The crazed look momentarily subsided from his eyes as a sweet, sincere apology came to his eyes. He tried to control himself, saying softly. "I'm sorry if I scared you, dear... Its just.. I need someone to talk to, to.. get to know..." The crazed look started to edge back into his eyes, his lip twitching. Tail held high, head lowered.

He snapped out of it momentarily.. resisting the instinct that drove all males to madness. He was angry with himself now, it would be easy for him to start a pother. He attempted to settle the mood, "I'm Raja..." He lifted his head proudly. "And you.. are a common beauty.. common.. yet still beautiful." The crazed look was long gone by now, his lip no longer twitching in the slightest. The danger was gone... for now...

[Bara]

Bara had been so busy musing, she hadn’t heard the other wolf approach. When she opened her eyes he was there, big and spiky and scary. He was huge, almost twice her size. Her eyes widened in fear and she recoiled clumsily from him. Now he was growling. Growling was not good. His growl sounded strange, but maybe that was how all giant scary pointy wolves growled. She hadn’t interacted much with Yagi’s before. Perhaps she had stumbled into a pack after all. But he didn’t look mad exactly…it was unlike anything Bara had ever seen before. He..he wanted something from her, and she honestly had no idea what it was. She wasn’t sure what the male was feeling, but she was well aware of her own feeling: scared. Her instincts were strong as well, and they were telling her to run. “Sorry. Sorry!” she yelped. “I g-g-go.”

As she tried to untangle her legs to get a good jump airborne there was a shift in his temperament. Now he was speaking to her in a kind voice. Her fear was making it even harder to understand than normal. There was just a string of sound. She couldn’t focus. But just as she started to try to calm herself, that strange look came into his eyes again. She tripped over her big paws, but scurried to a spot behind a tree. It was a thin, dead looking thing than honestly provided no cover whatsoever. It wasn’t even wide enough to hide half of her face from the male’s view. And yet here she was, cowering behind it anyway.

And then the weird look was gone again. Fear was rapidly being replaced by confusion. She felt a tiny bit better having a small obstacle between them for now. When he spoke again it was back to the kind voice as he gave what she assumed was his name. She recognized the word beautiful. She looked around the cold, dead swamp for a moment confused. Beautiful? What could he be talking about?

“Rajya?” She repeated in her foreign tone. It didn’t sound quite right, but few things she said ever did. She peaked around the tree that stood between them, trying to be brave and calm. “I’m Bara,” she said softly. Normally she ended a self introduction with a hurried, “Nice to meet you.” But as far as she understood the meaning of the phrase she wasn’t sure if it was appropriate in this strange situation.

[raja]

"Sorry. Sorry! I g-g-go." She spoke, obviously scared, and the instincts had vanished for now. He looked at her, sympathy in his eyes. He scared himself sometimes, to be honest, however if you got to know him you'd find he was a big softie.. The strange look had vanished from his eyes. "My.. my apologies, miss." He said, turning his head away from her so that he did not have to see the fear in her eyes, in her stance.. in the way she quickly scurried away. He bowed his head in shame, listening to the silence as she scurried behind the deadened tree.

He dared look up for a moment, to see confusion replacing her fear. He took a small step forward, thought about it, then took a step back. If she wanted her space, he would give it to her. "Raja..." He repeated softly as she struggled to speak his name. "Ra-ja." He repeated softly once more, in a tone just above a whisper.

"I'm Bara." She said, and he looked at her once more, his eyes searching her for signs that she would trust him soon. She was beautiful.. so beautiful... He pushed the thoughts out of his mind, looking, truely looking, at her and smiled a little. It was a warm, apologetic smile.

"Sorry if I scared you, miss Bara." He said genuinely, and dared take a few steps towards her. "You can come out now." He said softly, looking into her confused eyes. He added, "Don't be alarmed by my horns. They are only used in the worst of times. Which is definatley not now."

[Bara]

He was smiling again, and that helped…some. It didn’t change how freakishly big he seemed to her. But he did seem genuine. Finally she managed to murmur, “Nice to meet you.” The phrase was well practiced, but the intonation and rhythm were still far from native sounding.

Her ears went back slightly as he advanced toward her, but she managed to hold her ground. He didn’t seem threatening at the moment, but she was worried that whatever was wrong with him would come back again. “Eto…you are…are you sick?” she asked shyly, still behind the tree. He was acting so strangely it seemed to be the only explanation.

[raja]

He smiled at her, careful to keep his horns well away from her. He turned his eyes on her, listening as she half murmered a "Nice to meet you" which sounded foreign, like she did not quite understand all that he was saying. He looked at her, behind the tree, and approached her, stopping several feet away. "No, dear.. I am not sick, except in the mind. A little dull minded they say. Thick headed, might you call it. Right now though, I am only seeking love. Is that so much to ask?"

He looked at her, finding her beautiful. "See, I do not just settle with one love. I love every female, like she was my mate. Like she was my everything. I want to love you like that, maybe a few more... Just us.. Love.. nothing else." He said softly. "How does that sound to you? Or do you think I have already lost my mind?"

His eyes averted in shame, he looked down. "What I seek... Is just love. Love sick, more then anything. Aching, wanting to be seen for me. Not a monster, but a gentleman..." He dared to steal a glance at her. Then he quickly looked away again.

[Bara]

Bara listed to his words intently. Mind sick? That was a strange term to her. It certainly didn’t seem pleasant. Thick headed sounded kind of icky too, although she supposed if you had were bashing into things with big spiky horns, you’d better have a pretty thick skull so you didn’t hurt yourself. So maybe this was a good thing?

And he was looking for…love? Bara had a vague idea of what love was. But she was still pretty naïve about a lot of the more adult things. But it sounded like he was asking her for love. And as far as she understood love it was between only two wolves, not many. This was all so confusing. And it was way more than she was ready for.

“But…love is two wolves, ne?” She looked down, trying to figure out what she wanted to say. “Love is strong. But strong because it is one. One love. Two wolves with one love. Only for the other.” She shook her head, angry at herself for not being able to express herself. Although to be fair, it was all so confusing to her that she probably couldn’t express her full feelings in her native language. “I’m sorry. My words are bad. I can’t say things I think.” She looked up again at the scary Yagi who seemed to want something so sweet. He was certainly not what she had been expecting.

[raja]

His eyes went to her, seeing her fear vanish and confusion replace it, until he explained that he was only looking for love. The crazed look was far gone from his eyes, instead there was a softness there. The she wolf was beautiful.. Bara, she was called. He smiled at her, approaching her slowly. "But... love is two wolves, ne?" He nodded, "Yes.." He said softly, realizing she probably didn't understand much of his language. She seemed to struggle for the right words, "Love is strong." She said and he smiled. "But strong because it is one." She said and his smiled widened. "One love. Two wolves with one love." He smiled and at this point was drawing close to her, so he stopped. Still smiling. "Only for the other." She finished. She seemed to be embarressed, and ashamed of not being able to talk right. But he didn't care. He understood her anyway. "I'm sorry. My words are bad. I can't say things I think." And with that he could stand it no more, he strode closer to her, licking her muzzle gently, then nuzzling against her reassurringly. "Do you understand that, dear? I like you... Maybe love someday.. for now... I'm happy with you. I want to get to know you more, see you more. Do you.. want to as well?" He smiled uncertainly, affection shined in his eyes. He looked into her eyes, watching her. Wow, she really was beautiful.

[Bara]

When he licked and nuzzled her, her eyes widened in shock. She had a strong feeling that her personal space bubbled had been invaded, which had rarely happened before. This was new and it was scary and she didn’t know what to do. “No no no no no no…” she stuttered back peddling a few steps. It was enough to get her bubble back and she felt like she could breathe again. Her body remained ridgid and a large part of her brain wanted her to take to the air and get away from this place as soon as possible. Although she was confused and scared she still didn’t want to make Raja mad. He was still big and scary and she wasn’t sure what he would be capable of when angry, but she didn’t want to find out. But she knew Yagi were strong and she knew that she was not.

“Sorry,” she said, unable to look at him. “I no understand. Fast, very fast.” She took a few more breaths trying to piece together what he had said. He liked her? Okay, so maybe he wasn’t going to eat her or whatever Yagi’s did. Although she wasn’t sure what there was to like. She was just a fool who couldn’t talk right. He must not have realized that yet. Or maybe he thought it was funny. That had happened before. Suddenly a set phrase triggered in her mind. “Get to know,” she repeated softly. It was a familiar phrase, but she was having trouble placing the meaning. She glanced up, “Get to know is talking? Or different?”