A Strangers First Steps

 

 

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She bounded across the sand, her prey within reach. Hunger burned through her joints, throwing her body into a faster sprint, each breath a sharp snort from her nose. The seabird struggled ahead, its flight unsteady as Noor had crippled its wing with a nip prior.

The shoreline blurred past her, sand spraying and scattering with her movement. She used the black rocks that lined the shoreline to her advantage as she skipped amongst them with practiced ease, pushing off their slick surfaces to gain height. The bird rose, desperate to avoid Noor's grasp, but so was she desperate.

With one final lunge, she met it mid-air. The sea swallowed her as she landed within its rising grasp as the salted water scattered amongst her pelt. A shudder rippled through the bird in her jaws as it squirmed in its attempt to flee from her grasp; she tightened her grasp, and it felt limp. Its neck broke, clutched between her teeth, its wings draping around her muzzle. 

She pulled herself from the water and slumped down on the beach, holding the bird within her crossed forelegs.

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It was like watching a dance, one eluding the other, who gave close chase. The wolf pranced along the shores with a deftness that impressed the siren, a smile growing as she watched her. There, she leaped, catching her prey with a last snap of her jaws and a wash of water as she came crashing back down to the earth.

Her victory held close, Esmerelda called out, congratulating her. “That was beautiful to watch, querida!” Venturing closer, the silver mottled mistress crossed the warm sands of the Saltwoods towards the other. Better for speaking rather than yelling, after all.
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She had begun to nip at the raw wounds encircling the bird's slender neck, the taste of blood thick on her tongue as it stained her muzzle. She pressed deeper, savouring the moment - until a voice shattered the silence she had sunken into amongst the crash of waves. 

Her amethyst eyes flicked up, narrowing to slits as they locked onto the merled wolf who had dared to interrupt her. Instinctively, she hunched lower over her prize, her paws tightening around the limp bird.

"Thanks," she spat, her voice a low, venomous hiss through bared teeth. The intrusion grated on her nerves - more for the startle than the threat of losing her kill. 

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There was instantaneous reaction to her presence, visceral in the woman's silent and sudden ferocity.

Esmerelda smiled, pleasant and friendly, in the avian-bloodied face of the woman poised to strike as though a snake. Her viciousness was admirable. Beautiful.

“I did not intend to surprise you so,” She offered as an explanation. “I smelled another upon the shores of my home and came to investigate.” The silvermottled woman gave no attention to the meal that lay strewn in the other's shadow.
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Miosis took hold of her amethyst eyes as she glared down at the woman. Her smile was so unsettling that it made Noor's skin crawl, her hackles rising instinctively.

"Your home?" Her brows furrowed, her tongue flicking over her muzzle and nose. No longer feeling the urge to finish off the bird, she swatted it away with her paw before rising to her full height. Her purple eyes locked onto the stranger, unblinking. 

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Was she so inattentive? The prospect of her meal — which she ignored for the moment — seemed to have distracted her from the obvious, which was that she was finding her meal upon the grounds of a pack.

Esmerelda's kindness was great, but not endless. Would this woman test that?

“Aye. This is the Saltwoods and I am its leader, Esmerelda.” Her chin tilted upwards, fanned tail raising a touch. “Did you wake here or travel here?”
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Noor lifted her muzzle slightly, her tolerance for pleasantries already wearing thin.

"Well, Esmerelda of Saltwoods. I'm Noor -- of nowhere." The words left her with a quiet scoff, reluctant to offer more than necessary. But Noor held a certain respect for leadership, however begrudgingly.

"I woke here—well, over there." She jerked her head toward the heavy line of trees just a few paces away, the memory still fresh in her mind. The woman's question gave her pause. Did others often wake or wander here as if drawn by an unseen force? The thought unsettled her, but she buried it beneath her guarded exterior. 

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