The Fates would have it

[Nat Björk]

ON ROUTE TO DOHMRASK

HIGH WINTER

LATE AFTERNOON




Nat hated to send goods up to Dohmrask. She was the type of perfectionist businesswoman that frequently accompanied the goods she sends to the various cities and towns on the continent. Moving through the Irtuen Reaches, however, was not her favourite cup of tea. Yet here she was, on the back of a yak, accompanying her goods through the snowy region.

Everyone was bundled up good against the icy wind that cut through the mountains. Nat herself was wrapped up in a thick bear pelt and Alpaca-wool gloves. The yak's warm fur also helped keep her warm from all around.
"How people can live in these areas are above me. There is absolutely nothing hospitable here." she huffed at James, the old man that had helped her father build the business from the ground. He had also helped her to expand the business cross-continent.
"They are hardened people, my dear. They have lived here for centuries." he explained calmly.
"It doesn't make them very pleasant then." she scoffed.
James chuckled. This was the conversation every time they accompanied the supplies here. Natalia had been this ornery ever since she had been a little girl.

The laid back traveling did not last long, however, as a deep howl pierced the air. The whole caravan came to a standstill as the numerous pack-animals started throwing their heads.
A white direwolf made its appearance on the rise in front of them before letting out another howl.
Nat's grey eyes flashed, but before she could launch herself from the yak and shift, James grabbed her wrist.
At that moment, the whole pack had caught up with their Alpha and had blocked their way ahead.
"You ride, Child. You hear? You are the future of this enterprise. I won't have you pick up a scrap with that Alpha." James whispered to her.
"I will not leave you." she snapped, but her voice caught at the end and threatened to break.
James just smiled at her, which just infuriated the auburn-haired woman more.

When the first direwolf lunged forward and grabbed the first reindeer in the caravan, James slapped Nat's yak on the arse, causing it to jump forward and take off into the woods with her clinging to its back. Thankfully the wolves were too preoccupied to notice her at first, she she put some good distance between her and them. She did know, however, that they'd be following sooner or later. She needed more speed.
Stopping the yak well into the woods, she dismounted and grabbed a shoulder pack from its back. She then quickly undressed and stuffed everything into the pack, before she shifted into her black wolf form. She then picked up the pack between her teeth and took off into a direction. They were hot on her heels. Nat was exhausted from running by now. The Shapeshifter made her decision as the growling got closer. She backed herself into a bramble bush and dropped her pack, her hackles raising and teeth bared as the pack of direwolves caught up with her.
Just before the first lunged at her, Nat caught the most exotic scent on the air that did not belong to the creatures in front of her.

@Abel JAndar

[Abel JAndar]

"Its cold..."

This complaint made Abel sigh, yet again. The man was large, hardy, and built for his environment. He had been born and raised among these mountains, navigating them since his youth, and enduring the elements his entire life. Unfortunately, the complaint came from a young source, a boy no older than seven, who Abel had a ridiculous soft spot for. "Luca," he sighed out at the boy, tolerant in his deep tone as he spoke. "Why don't you return home to your mother, hm? I think you've split your fair share of wood, and have more than earned a good, warm rest."

The sandy-haired boy made a face, "She'll make me do more chores." he complained, effective pout on his lips to boot.

This made Abel chuckle and he reached a hand out to ruffle the boy's hair before he forced the hood of his thick, fur cloak back onto his head. "Keep yourself covered, but either way you need to pick a lesser of two evils here." he cuffed the boy's chin, then gestured for him to pick up another log to be placed so that Abel could split it.

There was a reason Abel ventured from his home and made his way to Dohmrask, and it was the teeth chattering male child who was still doing his best to help get this wood split. No, the child was not his, though Abel was indeed doing his part to help raise him. Luca was blood, his nephew, and the only child to his sister-in-law and brother - who went missing during a hunting trip at the beginning of Luca's second year of life. Since then, Abel's appearance in and around Dohmrask had become more frequent, be it to help Juli with his nephew, or whatever people needed around the area that he could assist with. But mostly, he knew the boy needed a good, strong, male influence in his life - though that was by no means to say that his mother could not handle herself. Juli was a force to be reckoned with, and he would never say otherwise.

"Alright Luca, just a few more, and then we can go inside for something warm to drink and eat." he promised the boy, who seemed to become re-energized with the promise and set to work.

---

The hour had grown later by the time Abel had started heading home. Not quite dark, but would get that way quickly, not that he was concerned about that. He knew this path, hell this area forwards and backwards. The paths, the drop offs, the trees and bushes. Everything was marked to memory. That didn't keep him from stopping short in his tracks when he heard howls split the sky. His brow creased and he shifted to face the sound as he listened more intently. It wasn't like the pack to gather and chase wild game, they didn't need large numbers for that. And it was then that the scent caught his nose.

It was the clearest, most alluring thing Abel had ever smelled in his life, and he was moving before he registered what he was doing. His feet carried him until he was running, and then running turned to stripping as he went though he was only so mindful of where his clothing landed. Once he was bare, his body shifted and he hit the ground on all fours, and his large sandy colored wolf frame continued to barrel towards that scent. As he drew closer, the mix of the dire wolves with this exotic scent infuriated him in a way he had never felt before, and it only pushed him to run that much harder.

A fact which worked to his advantage, considering as once he found the pack, Abel collided with not one, but two of the wolves, taking one of them out and then immediately going all teeth and claws into the other. This seemed to cause genuine shock to the wolves for a moment, and then they moved as a unit towards Abel as well. Having taken out two of them now - one just downed, the other dead - Abel's large wolf frame turned to meet the others head on. It didn't matter that he was outnumbered, he had to protect the bearer of that scent at any and all cost.

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@Nat Björk

[Nat Björk]

As one of the three direwolves launched itself at her, a sandy-coloured blur hit it from the side before grabbing a next one and leaving it in a bloody heap. The newcomer then took a protective stance in front of her. It was then she realised that it was him she had scented a moment before. She did not have long to think on it, however, as the direwolves quickly regrouped and were advancing on her saviour. She could not just stand by and let them tear him apart, mostly because she had to learn who was the face behind that scent, as it was definitely not feral. So when another one leapt at him, Nat launched herself through the air, her black form colliding with the direwolf mid-air.

They were suspended in the air momentarily as jaws locked onto flesh, before they crashed to the ground. With the direwolf being bigger and heavier, Nat ended up under it. It took a bit of a tussle, but she utilised her position to latch onto its throat with all the jawpower she could muster. She shook as much as she could, lying under the direwolf while tearing at his stomach with her hindlegs. The direwolf had gotten hold of her neck as she clung to its throat, biting down hard into her flesh. The pain shot through her, but she held on until the blood of her attacker spilled over her. He still pushed the attack for a minute or two, before slowing down and finally collapsing on top of her smaller frame.

She could hear some growling and yapping as she struggled out from under the bulk of the bigger wolf. When she finally wriggled herself free, she wanted to jump into the next brawl, but pain shot through her body from where the direwolf had bitten her. Falling to the ground again, the blood from her wound immediately started staining the snow to crimson. The last she saw before bloodloss rendered her unconscious, was the vision of the sandy coloured wolf fighting off the remainder of the bigger wolves.

@Abel JAndar

[Abel JAndar]

And fight them off he did. The fight was by no means easy, nor had Abel come out of it unscathed, but he had come out of it victorious. For a time - a short time - he had laid about long enough to catch his breath. He knew his body was battered, he knew his wounds were rough, but he also knew that they would heal. What he didn't know, was the fate of the female he had come all this way to save. He had put himself right at the very doorstep of death for some female he did not know, and now his mind had switched gears again. His attention drifted to her unconscious form, and he huffed out a breath before lugging himself to his feet to approach her.

He knew he couldn't carry her while shifted, and despite the fact that his clothes were strewn about between here and where he had caught the mixed scents of her and danger, his body shuddered back to it's two legged shape, and then he heft this female up so that he could carry her away from here to some place safe and warm instead.

By the time she would eventually come to, she would find herself not in the trees, or the snow. She would find a cabin, warmed and scented by woodfire, as well as some inviting meal cooking over the top of said fire. The cabin walls were thick, tightly woven together to keep the heat in, windows were closed and covered for now, but there was more than enough light to see about the room. She would find herself in a room off to the side, placed in a bed, and patched up from where she had been wounded. She would also find her modesty was taken into consideration via a large tunic and thick covers, despite the fact that Abel knew their kind didn't have much care for such things.

And eventually she would see him move past the door, carrying more wood to the fire to make sure that the homestead stayed warm. Despite the fact that their kind didn't quickly grow cold, the air outside was dense, and even Abel felt the bite of it more than he would ever care to admit. But for the most part, he had patched this female up and was now leaving her along to rest. He was braced for her to come at him like an enraged bear, but for the most part he was just hoping she would heal up, get a meal into her belly, and then he would get her back to where she was supposed to be.

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@Nat Björk

[Nat Björk]

She ached all over. As she stirred, she realised the snow that she had fallen upon was no longer no longer under her body. Instead she was warm and covered.
Her grey eyes flew open, revealing a wooden ceiling above her. To top off her surprise, she must have shifted back to her human form while she was unconscious, yet she was covered by an oversized tunic.

What in hell was going on?

She suppressed a groan as she rolled into a position where she could get a better look of her surroundings. It wasn't a large cabin, which gave it an almost comfortable warmth. She could smell woodsmoke and food while the warmth was almost healing. She slowly propped herself up on an elbow, bracing against the pain that shot through her body. Just then, she caught sight of a man walking past the room with some wood in his arms.
"You!" she croaked. "Where am I and what am I doing here?" she then demanded, glaring at him She swung her feet from the bed despite her body's protests. She closed her eyes for a second as the world spun, her head hanging slightly. The pain in her neck threatened to knock her out once again.

Through the woodsmoke, she finally caught the slightest of scents - it was the same scent that belonged to the sand coloured wolf that had come to her rescue in the forest. She tried getting up to at least face him at full length and not a weakling, but her legs refrained from her carrying her and gave way beneath her, driving her to her knees.
"Damn it all!" she cried, smacking at the floor.

@Abel JAndar

[Abel JAndar]

The sound of another voice had caught Abel entirely off guard. He had not expected to hear his guest speak out for some time now, though really it should come as no surprise. She was one of his kind after all, and they healed quickly - not always as quickly as they liked depending on the wounds, but more quickly than others certainly. Whatever the case, when he heard her voice, the wood he had been carrying was set aside and then Abel made his way to the doorframe of the room.

At first, he had merely observed her, taking in her more human features now that she was awake and it was not longer creepy or inappropriate to do as such. But even then it wasn't a predatory gaze; it was curious, as if he were looking for the same sorts of answers that she was in terms of that scent. It had been that, that had led him to her after all, and he was still curious over it now. Sure, he's heard odd tails about quickly formed bonds between their kind, but having not experienced such things himself, or witnessed it first hand, Abel was of course skeptical.

"I'm Abel," he finally answered her, his voice was a touch on the deeper side, though it suited him or so he had always been told. "And this is my home. I brought you here after the tussle with the wolves." Now that he was close enough, his own bandages - and wounds he couldn't bandage himself - could be seen. "You shifted back in your unconscious state, so I brought you here to be warm while you recover. I have food cooking, warm drinks, and hot water on standby for cleansing."

Ah, he had most certainly been nothing but professional with her it seems. Tended to her wounds, covered her, and put her to bed. Quite a bit more upstanding than most would have been had they found her in his stead.

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@Nat Björk