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Description
Arien stretched, waking from his night's sleep, there was a soreness in his muscles from the day before yesterday's expedition, and he expected he would be equally tired after today's work was done. Once more he would be venturing into the wilds, today's mission to encounter the golden dire they called Aurelia. If he was very lucky perhaps she would even deign to join his pack, though from what he had heard she wasn't the kind of tokota that tended to follow, complacent, no. Aurelia would expect to lead, perhaps she could find a pack of her own amongst the scattered buildings that made up the homestead that as many as one hundred tokotas called a home base.

He walked slowly over to the window and reflected on his picturesque surroundings. He had always loved wild Tokotna with its wildness, the tangled undergrowth of the trees. He especially loved it at sunrise, with the golden, purple, pink and blue colors intermixing, shimmering down, past the mountains, peeking through the gaps in the evergreen trees, its warm light encouraging the land to wake up. This was a place that encouraged him to be determined, whatever his task may be. Shaking off his soreness he started to absently plan for the day.

Then he saw something in the distance, or rather someone. It was the figure of Borga. Borga was a rather icy companion, he had happened upon the spirit during the last time he had gone to speak with one of the wild pack. Or rather he should say the spirit had happened upon him. It had happened rather suddenly, one minute he had been talking with the Toki thy called "Zero", the next Borga had shown up, as if out of nowhere. Now Borga seemed to be his distant, very menacing shadow. Arien had tried talking to Borga with little success, while it seemed the spirit had been able to understand Arien he was not interested in speaking to him.

Why was Borga so keen on watching him on these attempts to woo a wild?
Maybe it was that Arien had delayed so long in his quest from the dark spirit, it had been a long time since his trip up to the mountain, and while he had agreed to Borga's task, he had not agreed to hurry. Instead, he had returned home, head swimming with thoughts, and the fateful events that had lead him onto this path.
At the same time Arien couldn't help but think maybe the deity had other plans for the wilds and was trying to use him in these plans, but who could say?

Arien's thoughts kept swirling, and though he tried to resist the urge every once and a while he would glance over his shoulder. Sometimes he would catch a glimpse of Borga's icy blue eyes peering at him, and the scent of snowfall lingered in the distance. For whatever reason the spirit was watching him though, Borga did not seem interested in preventing Arien's task.

It was almost dusk by the time Arien picked up the scent of a dire tokota. Now he had a choice though, would he keep looking for Aurelia through the night, hoping to catch up with her while she rested, or would he also take this chance to rest, though he would risk the wild gaining more ground by moving through the night. Once again Arien took in his surroundings, trying to determine if there was perhaps shelter nearby, a ready food source, flowing water, key elements to any wild tokota's survival.

Borga wasn't helping matters, his strange scent lingered, confusing Arien's senses. But fortunately, he didn't need his nose to decide his next steps. Instead, with a bit of searching, he found some cloven hoofprints littering the ground next to a grove of willows, with many of the smaller branches having been snapped off, a sign the herd had likely been gathered here for some time, and Aurelia had tracked them down. The hoofprints were scuffed with dire pawprints, and the spacing of the tracks indicating both parties had taken off at a sprint beyond this point.

That still left Arien with a choice though, could he bet on the strong-willed golden dire to quickly take down her prey and to linger, or would he take into account that this was not the dire's main territory, or perhaps that she had some bad luck on her hunt and she would be tracking the herd well into night.

With a sigh, Arien continued, following the trail of the hunt. While he had been unsure in his choice, telling himself he didn't even know if it was Aurelia he was following he had also reasoned, if it was, as it was late, she would stop if she got her prey, taking a late dinner if luck was with her. Whether luck was with the herd was another question. It certainly seemed to be with Arien, as the sun fell, and his vision adjusted he found strong evidence it was indeed Aurelia he was following, in the form of a long strand of golden and white fur snagged by a bush.

Borga no longer seemed to be following Arien, or at least he was staying further away, while the night was chilly there was no promise of snowfall, now with clear nostrils, the barbary was able to pick up the scent of the herd, they knew they were being stalked, the special scent they emitted when they were being hunted by a predator was growing stronger the more ground he covered. Still, the sun was long set by the time he grew close enough to hear the hoofbeats of the herd, they were definitely agitated.

A low growl halted Arien's tracks and he blinked, tensing, crouching, all too aware that his albino pelt sometimes meant he was an easy target. The growl continued, warning him to stay away. Arien lowered his head, finally seeing the dire in the shadows.It was Aurelia alright, her eyes narrowed.

"it seems." Arien ventured, in a whisper. "That perhaps the two of us could take down a member of the herd much easier than one alone."

Aurelia's gaze did not leave him. "You think I do can not smell the human on you?" she murmured, "Still, you are right, especially as the moonlight is low. If you think you can follow my instructions and stay out of the way." She turned abruptly, and Arien took that as permission to follow. Perhaps tonight he and the golden dire would be awake to see the sunrise.

Description
Arien stretched, waking from his night's sleep, there was a soreness in his muscles from the day before yesterday's expedition, and he expected he would be equally tired after today's work was done. Once more he would be venturing into the wilds, today's mission to encounter the golden dire they called Aurelia. If he was very lucky perhaps she would even deign to join his pack, though from what he had heard she wasn't the kind of tokota that tended to follow, complacent, no. Aurelia would expect to lead, perhaps she could find a pack of her own amongst the scattered buildings that made up the homestead that as many as one hundred tokotas called a home base.

He walked slowly over to the window and reflected on his picturesque surroundings. He had always loved wild Tokotna with its wildness, the tangled undergrowth of the trees. He especially loved it at sunrise, with the golden, purple, pink and blue colors intermixing, shimmering down, past the mountains, peeking through the gaps in the evergreen trees, its warm light encouraging the land to wake up. This was a place that encouraged him to be determined, whatever his task may be. Shaking off his soreness he started to absently plan for the day.

Then he saw something in the distance, or rather someone. It was the figure of Borga. Borga was a rather icy companion, he had happened upon the spirit during the last time he had gone to speak with one of the wild pack. Or rather he should say the spirit had happened upon him. It had happened rather suddenly, one minute he had been talking with the Toki thy called "Zero", the next Borga had shown up, as if out of nowhere. Now Borga seemed to be his distant, very menacing shadow. Arien had tried talking to Borga with little success, while it seemed the spirit had been able to understand Arien he was not interested in speaking to him.

Why was Borga so keen on watching him on these attempts to woo a wild?
Maybe it was that Arien had delayed so long in his quest from the dark spirit, it had been a long time since his trip up to the mountain, and while he had agreed to Borga's task, he had not agreed to hurry. Instead, he had returned home, head swimming with thoughts, and the fateful events that had lead him onto this path.
At the same time Arien couldn't help but think maybe the deity had other plans for the wilds and was trying to use him in these plans, but who could say?

Arien's thoughts kept swirling, and though he tried to resist the urge every once and a while he would glance over his shoulder. Sometimes he would catch a glimpse of Borga's icy blue eyes peering at him, and the scent of snowfall lingered in the distance. For whatever reason the spirit was watching him though, Borga did not seem interested in preventing Arien's task.

It was almost dusk by the time Arien picked up the scent of a dire tokota. Now he had a choice though, would he keep looking for Aurelia through the night, hoping to catch up with her while she rested, or would he also take this chance to rest, though he would risk the wild gaining more ground by moving through the night. Once again Arien took in his surroundings, trying to determine if there was perhaps shelter nearby, a ready food source, flowing water, key elements to any wild tokota's survival.

Borga wasn't helping matters, his strange scent lingered, confusing Arien's senses. But fortunately, he didn't need his nose to decide his next steps. Instead, with a bit of searching, he found some cloven hoofprints littering the ground next to a grove of willows, with many of the smaller branches having been snapped off, a sign the herd had likely been gathered here for some time, and Aurelia had tracked them down. The hoofprints were scuffed with dire pawprints, and the spacing of the tracks indicating both parties had taken off at a sprint beyond this point.

That still left Arien with a choice though, could he bet on the strong-willed golden dire to quickly take down her prey and to linger, or would he take into account that this was not the dire's main territory, or perhaps that she had some bad luck on her hunt and she would be tracking the herd well into night.

With a sigh, Arien continued, following the trail of the hunt. While he had been unsure in his choice, telling himself he didn't even know if it was Aurelia he was following he had also reasoned, if it was, as it was late, she would stop if she got her prey, taking a late dinner if luck was with her. Whether luck was with the herd was another question. It certainly seemed to be with Arien, as the sun fell, and his vision adjusted he found strong evidence it was indeed Aurelia he was following, in the form of a long strand of golden and white fur snagged by a bush.

Borga no longer seemed to be following Arien, or at least he was staying further away, while the night was chilly there was no promise of snowfall, now with clear nostrils, the barbary was able to pick up the scent of the herd, they knew they were being stalked, the special scent they emitted when they were being hunted by a predator was growing stronger the more ground he covered. Still, the sun was long set by the time he grew close enough to hear the hoofbeats of the herd, they were definitely agitated.

A low growl halted Arien's tracks and he blinked, tensing, crouching, all too aware that his albino pelt sometimes meant he was an easy target. The growl continued, warning him to stay away. Arien lowered his head, finally seeing the dire in the shadows.It was Aurelia alright, her eyes narrowed.

"it seems." Arien ventured, in a whisper. "That perhaps the two of us could take down a member of the herd much easier than one alone."

Aurelia's gaze did not leave him. "You think I do can not smell the human on you?" she murmured, "Still, you are right, especially as the moonlight is low. If you think you can follow my instructions and stay out of the way." She turned abruptly, and Arien took that as permission to follow. Perhaps tonight he and the golden dire would be awake to see the sunrise.