Mawe shifted his weight, lifting his muzzle and fixing his eyes ahead. If the stranger-wolves wanted to fight, he'd be ready to attack. His pastel blue head bled out into a rich brown by his neck, resuming the startling sky colour only on his paws. His pelt was long and wavy, as was the style in his home pack.
I mustn't think of them, the young male reminded himself. He'd left that life long ago, joined a new group with Caila and Athene, run away from his old ways through choice. Glancing back, he stole a look at Caila as she nervously pawed the ground, her defined cheekbones flushed pink beneath her pale brown pelt. He let out a quiet sigh. Caila, the mystery. Caila, the one who kept her distance. Many a time he'd tried to shake off the slight crush he had on her, but she'd only go and entice him again with her large green eyes, which shone like orbs and seemed to hold the whole forest in their reflection.
Athene, seeming quite relaxed, wrapped her flowing white tail around her similarly snow-coloured paws as she sat down. Her pupil-less blue eyes were milky with the blindness she had been born with. Flicking her ears, she heard the sounds of Mawe moving his paws, and sensed he was worried about what was to come. It was true, information had been elusive and usually nonsensical in the rare instances it was available, but she was not playing games with them. It was just that her power could not see further than these scraps of the future. All she knew herself was that Caila had left her old life willingly, to help her and train her power in the forest. Mawe had abandoned his birth pack because he had wanted to, and by her side he'd become strong, sharp and mature, no longer the leggy adolescent he had been. Somehow, the two had a place in the forest's future. But so did these wolves, the pack they were waiting to meet. Athene's shoulder blades shifted beneath her thick snowy fur.
Caila thought she might be sick. All those moons ago she had fled the pack, terrified for both her own life and the lives of her packmates. Then Athene had found her, as if she'd been searching for her all along, and Caila resolved that discovering the wise, blind she-wolf had been the best thing that could have happened. She promised her a new name, training to strengthen her power, and consoled the frantic wolf that everything would be okay. Looking back on it, the pale brown female smiled a little, realising she'd saved Athene as much as Athene had saved her. But now she had returned. Undoubtedly she'd be recognised, though her face had thinned and her muscles rippled with newfound strength, evidence of which could be seen in the glimmer of her eyes. Would they take her back? That was what Athene wanted. Was it what she wanted, though? To leave her peaceful life and run into her old one, filled with tragedy, conflict and magic? She heard footsteps, her fluffy brown ears twitching at the noise.
I guess we'll find out, she thought as they neared.
