The Children of Fenrir: Eir

Chapter 12

On my way home I decided to take a detour and go for a run. It would help me clear my mind and get my thoughts in order. I wanted to put my best foot forward, though it seemed I had already made a good first impression. As I followed the path into the woods I drank it all in. The sun filtered through the trees, birds sang, and as I allowed my mind to relax my wolf senses heard an animal skitter away through the leaves. A larger creature had come down this path earlier, I couldn’t place the smell but I went deeper into the woods to be sure I avoided them. I breathed deeply, there would be rain tonight.

When I felt I was far enough in I stripped my clothes and shoved them in my sling bag. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. The hugr gathered at my navel. I released it and felt my fur begin to grow out of my skin. My joints reworked themselves and my snout sprouted out of my face. Once I was fully in my lycan form I stretched, lowering my nose and elongating my back. I sniffed the air and took off down the trail at an easy lope. I followed the scent of a rabbit off the main trail, it would be good to present one to Alva when I returned home.

I hadn’t been following the rabbit trail long when my keen eyes spotted one nibbling on some brush at the crest of the hill. I crouched behind a fallen log and noticed the mushrooms growing out of it. I would have to double back for them. I silently slunk from tree to tree keeping the wind to my face so that the rabbit would not smell me. When I was about fifteen feet away from it I crouched, waiting and ready to spring. The rabbit looked around, sniffing, then dipped its head to continue nibbling on the greenery at its feet. I leaped out of the brush and the chase began.

I bounded after the rabbit. It was a big one with long leaps. I was faster, though, and after a short chase down the other side of the hill, it was in my mouth with its neck snapped. Carrying it, I made my way back to the mushrooms. I shifted to my human form to crouch down and pick the mushrooms and put them into my sling bag. I could hear the river babbling nearby so I followed the noise through the trees to a riverbank. I hung my bag and my catch from a nearby tree.

 As I waded in I sucked air through my teeth. The water was runoff from the snow-capped mountains nearby and it was ice cold. I dunked my head, letting out a yelp as I emerged from the water. Bracing didn't begin to cover it. I rinsed myself off, sloughing dead skin off with the sand on the river bank and running my fingers through my tangled hair. When I had finished I sat on a boulder on the shore. The sun felt warm on my skin after the icy river and I laid back and soaked it in. My mind wandered to Sage. She seemed to be the inevitable destination of all my thoughts as of late. I wondered what she was doing now and if she was thinking of me. I had hoped to find answers for her but so far I had only found more questions. 

"-but when she learns to focus it. That will be a sight to behold." I heard Aunt Dagr's words in my head. Sage had blown the leaves and other loose bits around us away, could she do more? Would she be able to manipulate objects individually? Or was it more like an explosion of force? If I was to be of any help to her I could not become lax in the regular practice I had taken part in during training. I had to stay sharp.