A Wolf This Way Comes (Joining thread)

[Meds]

DeSoto;

Spring was almost over—DeSoto could feel it within him. Though blizzards still came and went almost as they pleased, it would seem, the sun was most usually shining and melting what they brought. Birds had begun to sing again, and prey was once more in hearty supply.
Sharp ears perked as the powerful male picked his way silently through the thickening trees. He had come to the forest almost as an afterthought, but wolf-scent on the wind had brought him closer. He had not joined any pack since leaving his home as a freshly-sculpted adult, but perhaps he was about to find the right place. Others had wanted him—others had fought for him...but no Alpha had yet felt like one he would obey without a thought. Nobody he had met so far had seemed like someone he would die for.

DeSoto eventually came to a clear-pack marker, and halted. His navy eyes scanned the perimetre, and he sat with his claws  but inches from the physical marker itself—respectful, non-assuming, but brave and confident. His sharp maw lifted to the darkening sky—so like him with its current colouring. Mouth parted and sharp teeth stark-white shone forth to the night. A breeze picked up behind him, and his howl mimicked it. With his smooth voice rising and falling in a haunting melody, DeSoto made his presence known. Then, to wait. Among many thing, DeSoto was patient, and wait he would do, as his claws gently massaged the wet mud at the foot of the border.

[Cascade]

In the distance, a white spotted wolf stood, staring up at one of the great redwood trees that characterized the forest. Her ear seemed to twitch at DeSoto's howl, but for the time being, she was focused on her task. The mammoth trees dwarfed her, though she did not appear small. There was an enormity about her that defied her physical size.

The wolfess took a deep breath in, and the world seemed to stop. The birds ceased their chirping, the rustling of the leaves went silent. Everything was still, as if in anticipation.

She let out her breath, and the ground beneath their feet boomed out with a thunderous roar. It was as though an earthquake had suddenly erupted, but the trees beyond the border were still. Only Frigid Plague's ground shook and shuddered. The redwood trees held fast—their thick roots strong enough to withstand the quake—but their dead needles fell in a cascade of green and brown. As soon as it began, the quake stopped. Small beams of light shone through where they had been blocked, and the fallen dead needles littered the ground in a thick, soft layer. They would rot and nourish the spring greens.

The wolfess shook the fallen needles from her fur and turned for the first time towards the stranger at her border. She looked wordlessly into his eyes.

[Meds]

DeSoto;

A female appeared. She did not seem concerned with DeSoto, sitting there at the border, but he could smell her. This was the alphess. A sharp eyebrow raised and keen eyes took her in. She had an unspoken power and grace about her. DeSoto stayed still, waiting to observe her and see how she interacted with the world around her, and with a stranger at her border.
Suddenly, the ground shook as she exhaled. Not the ground around him, but the ground mere inches from his claws. DeSoto planted his feet firmly, looking forward in mute confusion, fear, and wonder. He was too wise, silent, and stern to show real fear often, but this certainly caught him off guard. His eyes lifted to the female. Immedietly, though he knew nothing about her, he was ready to cross pack-borders to protect her. She was not his alphess, nor had they ever spoken—but she was an alphess, and therefore, her life was worth more than his own. Blood-deep training kicked in and with a breath, he was ready to pull her away from the quake and to safety should she but look at him.

But after a hesitation, he realized she was calm. In fact, she had exhaled the same time the very soil beneath them started to rock. A sharp ear flicked, and DeSoto squared his chest.
Unknown power made known.

He didn't know how or why, but it would seem that this female before him had a measure of control over the very ground itself. DeSoto was at a loss for words in the face of such power, so awed was he by it. Nothing could stand in her way. He had a fleeting image of himself standing by herside before banishing it for more formal and realistic thoughts.

"My lady," Was all he could manage. His voice was deep, dark, and held a hint of malice that was always there. DeSoto knew nothing of her pack, nothing of her—only that this, perhaps, was a wolf he could stand behind. He would wait to see what she had to say before requesting anything of her. It was customary to allow an alpha to fully speak first.

[Cascade]

The alphess took stock of the male standing at her border. He was not the largest she had ever seen, but his body was all muscle—this was a wolf at the peak of his physical condition. Today was an easy day...upkeep, and a patrol like any other. Tomorrow...who knew what that could bring? They needed strong wolves with keen senses. All the power in the world was worth nothing without a worthwhile pack to protect.

"Hello," she said, approaching him at the edge of the forest. The soil morphed and parted to create a path clear of ground litter underneath her as she walked.

As a pup, such a maneuver would have required great effort and concentration, to say nothing of creating an earthquake. Now, a master of the element, manipulating the earth came as easily naturally to her as lifting her paw to place it in front of the other. Of her four children, only one had been born with the power of soil, just as Perjury herself had, and her mother before her. Perjury loved all of her daughters equally, but she bore a heavier burden of responsibility than the others. Someday, it would be Narcotic standing here, with Perjury long gone and unable to offer aid or counsel. She hoped, deeply, that her daughter would be ready.

"You have reached the forest of the Frigid Plague. I am Perjury—the alphess. I trust you have come to join our ranks?" Perjury felt herself speak the words, even though she had become lost in thought for a moment. Meeting newcomers at the border could become quite a rote task at times, but she wanted to receive every new wolf as an individual, not just a numbered ticket. "Tell me about the journey that brought you here."

[Meds]

DeSoto;

The quaking stopped, and the alphess began walking towards him. DeSoto angled his nose toward the ground in respect, but did not move his body further than that. As his head pointed downward, he couldn't help but see the ground below her clear itself to make way for her. His eyes widened despite himself, wonder reflected in the dark navy pools. There were things to learn, here. Suddenly, she was speaking to him. Customarily, once they spoke it was alright to assume a more casual position. DeSoto straightened to look at her and listen properly.
Fridged Plauge? The name of the pack sounded good in his mind. It flowed, it held power, and it brought eternal, freezing pain to mind.

Join their ranks? DeSoto didn't answer right away. He was not a wolf that was fleeting with his words. What he said, he meant. Did he want to join this Fridged Plague? Suddenly, without even having to dwell on it for long, the choice was obvious. As if it was always there and he had been waiting for it.

"If you will have me, yes. I have come to join this pack." The territory, from what he could see of it before him, looked strong and healthy. Trees, grasses, and he could hear a stream somewhere in the distance. It would not be a lacking experience. Then, the alphess asked him about his journey. He nodded deeply. That blood-training of his played with what he said next, however. He did not conciously lie to Perjury—on the contrary, if he had caught himself in it, he would have thrown himself down for mercy... but with that training, came a mental-block. Though he knew he had been trained to become a Beta (or close to it), the fact that his pack had trained countless other wolves for the same purpose, and sent them out in all different directions, didn't ever get mentioned. DeSoto wasn't aware that he never spoke of it, perhaps the brain-wash-like training tricked him into thinking he did mention it.
But as it was, the fact that hundreds of other wolves with their roots in the same starting Evil pack now had measures of control within packs in every imaginable place, was lost.

"I have travelled far... from beyond the mountain ranges and forests outside this valley. I have met countless other wolves from many different packs," Some that he had even met before. "I was welcomed into many, and stayed for a while in some... But none felt right. I don't know what I'm searching for—" Lie. "—But something about yourself, about this place, about the power you hold over the land... intrigues me like no where else has."

He stood, squaring his chest and angling his sharp shoulders.
"If you would have me, I would fight, hunt, and die for the pack—for you, if you but ask." His sharp eyebrows raised once more, but this time in waiting rather than in wonder.

[Cascade]

The alphess smiled inwardly as she noted the awe in DeSoto's eyes. Perhaps it was his first glimpse of true power in the valley. He had seen her mastery of earth, but what he had yet to see what her true capabilities as an alphess—she did not occupy her position simply because of her magic. He would see that, stripped of it all, she would still be the most capable pack leader in the valley.

She nodded and listened as he told his story. It was one that could ring true in many wolves hearts—a life of travel, a persistent wanting before finding a place to call home. It was not a background that Perjury shared, having been raised in this very land and groomed for leadership her whole life, but it was one that she could understand on an intellectual and emotional level. This wolf was well-spoken and articulate, and he pledged loyalty—he would make a good addition.

"I feel no shame in extolling my own virtues—the Frigid Plague pack is the mightiest pack in White Wolf Mountain valley, bar none. That is a fact. Our territory has historically been the most contested in the valley, and we have defeated every attempted usurper without them shaving a single inch off our border. The gut feeling telling you to join us is right. I am an experienced leader who embraces her evil nature—and maintains a firm grip on sanity. We operate on logic here, there is no conflict in the world that I would sacrifice my pack members to for the sake of my own gain."

The alphess gestured to the territory that stretched out behind her, the immense redwoods and the shaded canopy they created. "There is no more enviable home on earth. If you swear to protect it and do right by your pack, then we will do right by you in turn."

[Meds]

DeSoto;

DeSoto's navy eyes met with the alphess before falling to her chin once more. His heart beat stayed steady as she spoke, even though what she was saying was what he wanted to hear; after all, how couldn't she say it? He was exactly what an alpha or alphess looked for in a powerful pack member—perhaps even a Beta. He had been honed his whole life for just such encounters as these. It was almost predictable that Perjury had accepted him.
DeSoto got the feeling that she was not an alphess to cross, however. Though he could have guessed she would accept him willingly within the ranks, this did not make her stupid. On the contrary, DeSoto could already feel the utmost respect and protective instincts building within him while in her presence.
She spoke that Frigid Plauge was the most powerful in the valley—there were others? He supposed that only made sense. Perjury also spoke of the pack values. Evil, of course, but loyal, stable... DeSoto could appreciate that.

"I swear to protect the pack land and the pack members of Frigid Plague." His eyes lit up. "But above all, I swear to obey you in all cases, even in instances that may contradict what I think is right."
Was he laying it on too thick?

...
No.

DeSoto lifted his chin and regarded her with his intelligent eyes. This was an alphess he could truly see protecting. She would command him and keep him on the path, whatever it may be.