ooc, Estel asked me to post this due to her internet problems of late.

 

IC

 

Alyssa says: Light streamed through Aleeza’s window, though she couldn’t decide whether it was the snow reflecting the early morning rays or Owen’s pounding on her door.  She would have liked to think that she had awoken to the beauty of the crisp winter morning, but her unfortunate reality was she awoke to duty.  ‘Lose the melodrama, Aleeza.’

 

“What!” groaned the young woman at her hairy alarm clock.

 

“New Wanderer,” said Owen “I wanted you to go help check her into the Stedding.”

 

“Can’t it wait until I’m done sleeping?”

 

“Sun’s already risen.

 

“Your point being.”

 

“Get up.”

 

“Damnit.”

 

Owen left and while Aleeza was more than half tempted to just roll over and return to her deep sleep, she rolled out of bed instead.  Pulling leather breeches on, she threw a sweater overtop of a blouse before heading out into the corridor.  Miryana, the head Sage, was waiting in the entrance to the infirmary.  The building was still Aleeza’s home, even two months after having returned.

 

“Wanderer’s not here yet.”

 

Aleeza glanced out the window at the snow.  “Isn’t Janna afraid of getting caught in the passes?”

 

The former Tinker received a laugh in response.  “Oh they’re in the Stedding, but apparently they’ve been waylaid by some miniature highwaymen.”

 

“Ah.”  Grinning, Aleeza ducked quickly back into her room to grab her fur-lined cloak before heading out the door.

 

Following the sounds of laughter and overdramatic death-screams, Aleeza had no trouble finding them.  Rather, they found her or at least their snowball did.  Ducking under the next one, she came up with arsenal in one hand while the other brushed snow from her long, blonde hair.

 

Launching her frozen ball at the nearest truant, she received a satisfying “ooph!” for her efforts and laughed as he toppled from his perch on a bank of snow that had piled up against a pine tree.  Tossing more snowballs, she eventually fought her way over to the two other full-grown shapes laughing amidst the “carnage”.

 

“Hello Janna.” she grinned at the Tracked while brushing another snowball out of her hair.  “And I suppose this is the new Wanderer?”  Despite being generally shy, children had a soft spot in Aleeza’s heart and she and Janna had become quick friend when the older woman had picked her up during her Howling.

~Louvete~

 

Louvete raised her head.  She did not know if there would be a point in talking, in trying to explain her feelings, because she doubted anyone would listen.  Janna had, so far, but perhaps she was just being kind.  Looking around her, Louvete saw that a number of the people had the same eyes as she did.  That could mean anything though.  Were these people the same as her?  Instinctively, she looked around with a sense rather than her eyes, and she felt something different. 

 

“I suppose you could call me a wanderer.”  Louvete replied; her attempted sullenness tinged with curiosity.  She could not help the latter because it was this feeling that had drawn her here in the first place.  Her stomach was tying itself in knots.  Casting her eyes around nervously, she tried to find a way out, just in case for some reason she had to run.  Wolves were nearby.  So many people, Light, there were so many people here!  Louvete felt herself become more withdrawn immediately and she wanted to hide.  A nice small cave that she could easily defend, her teeth bared and her hand on her sword…

 

It wasn’t even that enclosed an area.  She came back to reality pretty quickly, no longer feeling confined and in danger but feeling empty and devoid of most feelings.  Louvete put her head on her knees and stared at the ground.  “I’ve wandered a long way.  I have seen things and I doubt my sanity.  My past life is gone.”  She turned her golden eyes up to the new arrival, to the one that had spoken.  “My name is Louvete, but I don’t know who I am.”

 

Is this the New Year or just another night?

Is this the new fear or just another fright?

Is this the new tear or just another desperation?

 

Is this the finger or just another fist?

Is this the kingdom or just a hit n' miss?

A misdirection, most in all this desperation

(The Blues- Switchfoot)

 

The woman’s scent was a barrage of everything from fear, to curiosity, to mistrust, to desperation.  All of which would be mirrored still in lesser quantities in Aleeza’s scent had the young woman been able to recognize it.  Empathy flooded her and painful memories were dredged up while a faraway look past through her eyes on its way back to the thick forests of Haddon Mirk.  She longed to be back there, lost to the world of men.

 

But that was the easy way.  The coward’s way.

 

“It’s alright Louvete.” she said placing a tender hand on the other woman’s slim shoulder.  “You’re one of us.”  Staring back into familiar golden eyes, she tried to express what empathy she could.  “I’m Aleeza and my past life’s gone too.  Everyone here has either been thrown out or abandoned their past lives.  You’re not alone here and you’re no less sane than any of the others.”

 

Fwump.

 

A beautifully aimed snowball cut off their tender moment.  Shaking snow from her golden hair, Aleeza tossed another handful of snow back but it went wide and hit a nearby fir tree instead.  “Which judging by these monsters, might not be much of a condolence.” she laughed.

~Louvete~

 

It was not what she expected, this band of golden-eyed people.  Somehow, if Louvete had thought that all those able to talk to wolves would come together, then she would have thought they would have been more on their guard – surely that was just natural instinct for a wild animal.

 

To belong…

 

To be part of something…

 

To protect…

 

Eventually, she would settle, but she doubted it would be any time soon.  There were young here, and she thought she felt animals as well as humans, two legs, in this place of safety.  This was a sanctuary, a place to call home.  The blonde woman made her feel as welcome as her suspicious nature would allow, golden eyes casting this way and that, as though cornered.  Louvete felt laughter, or at least humour, from the people around her and it jarred with the suspicion.  Curious, she listened, sensing the feelings and emotions on the air.  It was like winter-scented mist, laughing, bubbling water splashing gently and playfully against the shore of a lake.  Grass crisped by frost crunched underfoot, and the sound of water was a kind of tinkling music.  It made her stop and wonder.

 

The protective instinct was strong in Louvete: she would not have become a guard otherwise.  She was larger than most of the other girls she had grown up with, and preferred to wrestle and fight whereas others had played with straw dollies.  There were no sisters or brothers, and growing up alone had made her reliant rather than spoiled as can so easily happen with doting parents and one child.  Her fingers had instinctively palmed a snowball without her fully being aware of what she had done, and let it fly towards the protagonist that had let the snowball fly at Aleeza.  She heard the grunt of surprise as it hit, and for the first time in what seemed like forever, Louvete smiled.