Survivors [Xio, Aspen, Ahote]

[Cypress]

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[atrb=background,http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac298/Wonderwhy_wolves/cypress-1.png] The snow was falling from a slate gray sky, floating innocently to the ground with a deadly grace that lured so many to misfortune. A small yagi female pushed herself through chest high snow, her brown and green pelt was matted with frozen slush. Her green eyes, though tired, burned with a vivacious fire. Her lithe, swept back horns glistened with a sheen of ice from the past few days of traveling through vicious snow storms. Her home, the tundra, had been hit so hard by a blizzard that she had been forced to leave. She feared for the rest of her pack, but her survival instinct made her keep pushing forward to preserve her self. Her heart ached for her family. She had not been able to find them in the snow. The thought of her young children lost in the snow made her yearn to turn back and dig up the entire tundra to find them. However she knew it would be fruitless. She could only hope that her eldest son had managed to alert the pack to send them all to safety. He had just started his reign as Emperor and to have the weather lash out so hard against him was devastating to the pack. She hated to leave her home of the last four, almost five years, but it was needed to live another day. She was a yagi after all, a hearty breed that could tolerate some extreme treatment. She had trekked through the mountains and found her way to the taiga where the storms had finally let up. She felt like she had been walking for days, not even pausing to eat, just taking mouthfuls of snow now and then to keep hydrated. She needed meat and soon. Her cold, hard nose twitched as she caught the scent of a pack border. She blinked and stopped walking. This was Seven's territory, wasn't it? It had been so long since she left the heights of the tundra that she had not really known what was going on south of her borders. Her messengers never returned to her, so catching the scent of a few males gave her pause. She wanted nothing to do with the harlot's territory....however....Seven's scent was no where to be found. Another yagi scent, male, was there. She could only glean the scent marks of males though. Perhaps Seven's pack had been taken over. She shook her head, sending a few icy clumps flying off her pelt. It didn't matter, she didn't need to be wandering in another pack's territory as it was. She decided that she would stick to the border of the land, skirting it until she was around it and out of harms way. However it seemed that her adrenaline was finally wearing off. She hadn't slept in a few days. Her fiery eyes glanced for a good place to rest. She found a tall solider pine, several yards away from the last scent marker she could detect. She walked over, stepping high to clear the snow. She quickly dug a small bowl into the deep snow up against the tree trunk. She shook off her pelt one more time and stepped into the small depression. She curled up and settled in, bringing her poorly docked tail around to cover her nose. Her eyes stayed open, her ears alert as she allowed herself a well deserved rest from the weather. She didn't want to fall asleep so close to another pack's territory. She allowed her mind to wander...thinking of her mate, her children and the pack she was forced to leave behind. Deep down she prayed that no harm would come to her loved ones. It was all she could do until the weather further north cleared.

[Xiomara]

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[atrb=background,http://i1218.photobucket.com/albums/dd415/Somatra1/xback-5.png] The blizzard had been violent at best, and the Yagi had never been subjected to suck a vile battering of the elements before. Determine to outlast the beast she had stayed for as long as her frozen limbs had deemed possible, her lungs on fire and the tips of her fur frozen and matted together. The wind had howled and curse with a fervent passion, raging and cursing the beings that had dared to tempt their fate and dare live in the cold North`s land. Face turned into her body to shield her eyes from the frozen needles of ice, Xiomara had been forced to comply and submit to the storm and with bitter reservations had left the Tundra for safer shelter. The storm itself had pursued her, as though angry by her show of defiance and the large female yagi had needed to fight for her life through the treacherous mountains paths that encircled the great statues of earth bordering the Tundra. Safety waited on the other side, but one misstep and death would ring out victorious from the plunging blackness below her. She did not know if the other pack wolves were safe, did not know if the storm had come out victorious and swallowed the pack into its frigid belly, and nor could she do anything but wonder. If fate was kind they had also escaped and faced the same challenge she had conquered in the mountains. The storm had receded when Xiomara had penetrated from the mountain passes, as though the threat of warmer temperatures was enough to calm the raging beast down. Gods she did not know that the earth could be so vile, and if she was superstitious she would have gone as far as to stipulate that the storm had been brought down upon the pack from the very depths of hell. Fanciful notions, she scoffed and proceeded to snort in derision. Below her stretched the Taiga, considerably more hospitable and home to a pack with a large yagi as their alpha. Well that was all fine and dandy, but the proud female did not agree with his views, females could easily hold their own, she was testimony to this. No, she would not seek shelter in their midst and would be content to pass by without drawing their unneeded attention. However, it was at this moment that a familiar scent reached her nostrils, and she lowered her hed to paw and sniff at the ground. Cypress? The scent could be no other and the trail was fresh enough. Could it be that her Alphess had survived? Although smaller in size the other wolf was a yagi after all, and she had been Empress in the frozen land so Xiomara was not surprised, though certainly relieved, to discover the female had survived. Changing her course she decided to follow the scent closer to pack territory then she had anticipated. As she moved with due haste the trail became more pronounced, and as no blood stained it she could only assume the woulf was still in relatively good health. Either way Xiomara decided a scan would be in order, she needed to give her healing powers a refresher anyways. Xiomara would have completely walked pass the sleeping former Empress had it not been for the distraction of a noisy squirrel angrily chattering at her from the safety of a tree. Glowering at the pest her stomach rumbled in anger, she needed food after her trek, her body was tired and her fur mangled from the rough hike. Shaking herself out she caught a sight of green fur in the corner of her eye and turned to lay eyes on Cypress. Breaking out in a terse and tired smile she said, “It is good to find a survivor, hello Cypress.” Xiomara's Song

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[Chess]

((Waiting on Kitten? Or should we move along or leave the thread?))

[Aspen]

((Sorry for the wait!!))

Winter was harsh, but Aspen hadn't yet felt the full effects of it until now. Being barred passage into his home territory had surprised him. His regular visits to the Enclave, without his parents’ knowledge of course, had in fact saved his life. Being young and strong might have helped him but he was young and inexperienced. If he had been home, where he was supposed to be, he probably would not have survived.

With that thought in mind the young male had headed back the way he came. There was no way for him to brave the storm and delve deeper into his homeland. Stubbornness might be one of his traits but stupidity surely was not. The mountains were fair familiar to the boy, he had been across them a few times, on each trip the journey shorter and easier. That may have been the fact that he was growing though Aspen liked to think it was because he was becoming familiar with the area.

The brown and silver youth loitered around the mountain passes, searching for any scents he recognized. He was worried about his family and pack. They were older, possibly wiser, they could survive right? Protect his sisters. Guilt stabbed at him for not being there in a time of crisis. Going behind their backs and seeing a she-wolf of another pack.

Hope flared as he caught a whiff of his mother's scent on his second day of searching. She had passed by not too long ago. He followed the trail at a bound, unable to wait any longer to find trace of someone he knew. As the scent grew stronger Aspen grew more eager. Even more still when another scent joined hers, one of the Empire. It wasn’t long before he caught up with the two females, the sight of them making him as giddy as a new born pup being allowed out of the den for the first time.

“Mother!” he yipped, in a slightly undignified way, one that was certainly beneath his standing. Aspen cleared this throat, composing himself before speaking again.
“It’s good to see you are alright,” he said, brushing his nose against Cypress’ cheek. Golden eyes turn to Xiomara. He dipped his head in acknowledgement, “and you as well.”

[Ahote]

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[atrb=background,http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a190/lilDiablo_/ahotemid.jpg] It was during the hardest times of year like this in which Ahote knew all of the more Northern packs suffered the loss of members. Some members of older age just couldn’t take the cold and the lack of resources, and even some of the young that were born were too sickly to survive. He had said a silent prayer that seemingly none of the pups in his pack had succumbed to such circumstances. His own brood were strong and growing quite quickly right before his very eyes, and the numbers in his pack, well they like all packs fluctuated. Members joined and members left, there was nothing you could do about that. Some species just were not fit to run within the tundra, nor the taiga, lyxxus and cael from what he had seen did not have the strength to survive in this land. Even when spring seemed as though it were only a breath away a blizzard of epic proportions would suddenly spring up and make traveling, hunting or any other activity nearly impossible. It was in those moments that Ahote took the time to bond with his own family, and the pack members he was around, making sure they all had a voice to him, even though information was constantly to be found within his meetings with Duchan he enjoyed hearing some things from the horse’s..rather wolf’s mouth themselves. They had recently had their share of bad weather and Ahote had taken this opportunity to go perusing about the lands to see what had been damaged and what was still left standing. He saw that a few trees had gone down here or there, mostly trees weak enough or that had been damaged in the previous season, and he knew that with the coming of spring downed trees would become excellent home and cover for the prey that would sustain his pack. Approvingly he scouted the borders re-marking trees with his horns, and re-marking his scent marks, it was not long before snow, dirt and the markings themselves were flying around the border. Although he knew other warriors were also on patrol he knew it was very important that he do as much marking as possible after all, he was the Drott, and the alpha and if anyone’s scent should be persuading or dissuading anyone from crossing the borders it should be his. Occasionally he would brush himself against a tree to scratch an itch or to smooth out any ruffled places along his pelt, he may be the epidome of Yagi masculinity, but he was also vain enough that he wanted to look presentable most of the time. Within his pack he had plenty of very colorful and beautiful females, and he felt the same way about males, they should try hard to appear as presentable as possible at all times. It was soon when he came to the very outskirts of his land that he noticed the scent of wolves he found himself in direct competition with. Yes he had an unpleasant taste in his mouth for the wolves of the Mafia, but the wolves from the Northern Empire were just as much of a threat if not more. Although the mountains were clearly a great boundary between them not to mention the Wastes right above them stretching between he had few worries. But the Empire’s reputation proceeded them and Ahote knew to never under-estimated a pack no matter what rumors floated into his ears. Rumor had been indeed that the Empire’s numbers were completely dwindling, so far so that they may not have been a threat, but Ahote knew just how reliable rumors were. So he began off at a trot to find the source of the scent and find out exactly what the Empire was doing oh so close to the lines he claimed as his. It was not long before he came to a few trees not but a few feet from the lines of his territory and his dark yellowed eyes glared out onto the horizon searching for more bodies or more scents, but alas, there was none. For once Ahote was content to know that they may have just been misplaced by weather and meant no threat, but his docked tail did not waver from its position of height and stature. As his eyes scanned he finally found the form of two females, and what looked to be a strapping and fine young male, Ahote tilted his head slightly the little bit of light gleaming off the spiraling horns that sat atop his head. Both the females were Yagi, which honestly surprised him, as he had not seen another since Seven in the Taiga and Lyra in the Cadre. Both looked like they had surely trekked through the bowels of hell to reach the place they were at night now, one burrowed in the snow that had fallen, and one standing rather close. Now the younger male Ahote glanced at for a moment as though he might be familiar. Obviously they all knew each other and shared the scent of that of the Empire, and before their numbers grew on the outskirts of his land Ahote felt he should nip this in the bud as the saying went. He slowly approached from an angle where they could see him, so as not to look as though he were sneaking up on them. Considering their condition and how they looked Ahote knew their nerves must probably be shot as it was, and the addition of a stranger poking around them might break backs and tempers. When he approached but two or three feet he stood, his tail high, and his look carefully blank as he took in the sight of three bedraggled, starving, pathetic wolves. “What may I ask brings you to the very brink of the territory of the Aurelian Enclave?” The question was very assertive and very to the point but this was no time for small talk. Had a storm displaced the Empire, he could not chance them all meeting up here and proceeding to look for new territories to house their pack. While the Taiga was more hospitable than the tundra, it was still harsh but from what he heard about the Empire nothing was ever easy for them and that was how they preferred it. His eyes remained on each of them for a long moment, as though he could assess each of their worth simply by looking into their eyes and how they carried themselves. He could appreciate the smaller male attempting to gain control over himself, but he could tell by looking at him he was still young, as he could with his own sons no matter how they had grown in his image.

[Cypress]

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[atrb=background,http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac298/Wonderwhy_wolves/cypress-1.png] She had a few minutes of rest before she heard the approach of another, her hackles rose up and her lip curled defensively. However the aggression faded when she recognized the voice and the wolf coming toward her. She allowed a thin, tired smile to cross her weathered features as the fellow yagi female greeted her, "Hello, Xiomara." When Cypress had first met the larger female she did not like the looks of her. While Cypress was small and poorly docked, the other female was large, strong and a model specimen of a yagi. Originally she had been jealous, until she saw the relationship that Xio had with her eldest son. Now seeing her here was a welcome sight. Perhaps that meant Cedurs was alright and safe. " Do you know where Cedrus is? And the others? Do we know how many made it out?" She stood and shook the clumping snow off of her. She still held herself as an alpha, despite being with out her pack and territory. She had only recently turned her pack over to her son, but old habits died hard. Her tail rose higher than Xio's and she lifted her head with a slightly smile again, "Sorry, I don't mean to bombard you with questions....I trust you are well?" She did not have time to hear a response from the female before she say a large ball of brown fur lopping her way. Relief flooded her heart as she saw her youngest son running toward her. He was growing so fast, but she was still his baby boy. Her poorly docked tail wagged back and forth as he greeted her and she licked his nose and cheeks. She looked him over, making sure he was in one piece. "I'm glad to see you are well..." Her green eyes saw movement coming again. Was it another member of her fractured pack? The fiery eyes narrowed in suspicion when she didn't recognize the large male coming toward them. She nosed her son behind her and stepped forward to receive the stranger. Once his scent hit her she connected the two. This was the one who had been marking this territory. Was he Seven's mate? Or had he pushed her out of her land? The assertive tone he uttered was enough to say that he rules this pack, out of respect for his territory, she lowered her own tail below his slightly. She stood as tall as she was able and matched his precise tone with her own. "The storms in the north have forced the Empire out of their land. Our location is based solely on the occasion to rest. We have been traveling for some days to get free of winter's heartless grasp." She paused and glanced over her two companions, her son actually looked more healthy than the females. She suspected that he had not been in the territory when the storms hit. She looked back at the great green male. "All I ask is for a place to rest and regain strength before we move on. I do not intend on threatening your pack or territory." The idea of joining another pack didn't even cross her mind. However she did not know if her thoughts were shared in that area.

[Xiomara]

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[atrb=background,http://i1218.photobucket.com/albums/dd415/Somatra1/xback-Copie.jpg] "Speaking" Xiomara sighed inwardly; she had not been able to do anything but flee the horrid blizzard, having stayed much longer than she should have in the first place. It was dumb-witted stubbornness that had kept her braving the raving winds and bitter cold snow; she hated admitting defeat. It pained her to say she had not been able to help anyone but herself and being so late in leaving the slim chances of seeing another pack member had been significantly reduced. Shaking her head solemly she said with regret, “I did not see any other pack wolf, my travels were without incident and company, my apologies but I do not know in what state your son may be in.” Other wolves might have offered the assurance that Cedrus would be fine and was probably on his way to safety; however Xiomara was not one to speak anything than what she knew for a fact. She wasn’t sure what her feeling were with regards to the male heir, frankly she knew much too little of him and exceeded him in age of experience. However, she had seen him try and take on the forced weight of leading a great pack, taking responsibility for wolves in a harsh territory and try to do it all with the imprompt departure of his father. This merely told her that he was loyal, but from the few conversation she had held in his presence she also knew that he had a kinder and more gentle soul that his sire. Arkham had been the model picture of a yagi, fierce, strong, proud and slightly touched in the head, but Xiomara found that Cedrus’ milder manners had more appeal for other species in the pack. Either way she was not about to involve herself with a family that still had a lot to sort out, no for now she would simply continue to align her quiet loyalties to her Empress. The arrival of another yagi brought a sharp snort but she quickly realized the youth was kin to Cypress and she stepped back a pace to give them room to rekindle. The younger male seemed a bit lesser for weir; perhaps he had not been present during the worst of the blizzard which was just as well given the obvious youthful nature of his stature. She gave him a polite nod, evidently any yagi that bore a relation to her Empress was equally deserving of her respect and protection, which was what she was partially considering herself as being. Standing quite tall and large even for her species she could offer them protection and strength in numbers and with her healing powers she could also assure their good health as well. It was not long before a sound reached her ears, the approaching steps of what sounded like a large and heavy wolf and she resisted the strong urge to raise her hackles defensively. Instead she remained impassive, steely eyes burning cold as she waited for this wolf to reach them. From amidst the foliage of the Taiga came a large brute, fur so dark green it appeared black to her eyes with towering spiraling horns and sharps dagger like bones protruding from his haunches. His eyes were bright and in this instance hard and inquisitive, his scent having marred the borders of this pack for quite the distance. The alpha of this pack perhaps? His question seemed perfectly reasonable but she did not bother answering it for her alphess addressed the matter perfectly. Instead she moved to a more defensive angle that would allow her to intersect her being between that of the large brute and the empress and her son as need be, her eyes flashing a silent warning. Xiomara doubted he would attack them; all the same it didn’t hurt to be ready. Her posture remained unoffensive, but it was not submissive either for it did not matter whom was her superior, she would never allow her will to be bent. Laying her eyes upon Cypress she noted that the empress had lowered her tail to offer some respect to the other male and so she followed suit with reserve, why should the alphess have to submit? Still, if Cypress had done as much then there was surely good cause and who was she to doubt her superior? Taking a closer look at the male she noted that despite being smaller in weight she still stood above him in height, and resisted the urge to allow a smug smile taint her relatively respectful posture. In fact, had she been properly nourished she might have come close to matching him in size, but for now she felt as a disadvantage and it did not please her. The slight breeze caused her forest green mane to blow around her face, and from her warrior styled markings that adorned her face came the eerily still stare of a wolf that had no fear of death but rather the retribution that awaited her after it. X i o m a r a 's . S o n g

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