Fjäll✒️

Her leg burned with a cramp-like pain as she growled and used her other leg to kick at the coyotes face, trying to make him let go. But when he did, her leg started hurting even more, and she wished he hadn't. The pain was all she could think about, except that she wished the coyote had killed her, and she laid on the grass whimpering and panting. It was the worst pain she had ever felt.. because she was just a little puppy, and had never felt pain before. Someone picked her up and carried her away, and the next thing she knew she was at the herbalists. She sat up as the herbalist, who told her her name was Kåda, dabbed some salve on the wound.
"All done!" Kåda said, and smiled at Fjäll. Fjäll looked over to her brother, who looked extremely bothered by something.
"Sorry, I just wanted to play with the little wolves," Fjäll tucked her tail between her legs and looked down at her paws, "didn't know their teeth were so sharp."
Borg shook his head and looked softly at her.
"It's not your fault, you're just a puppy," just a puppy? What's that supposed to mean! Borg walked over to her and gave her a kiss on the head, "but please don't pick fights with coyotes again. Come now, we have things to do."
Coyotes? Fjäll didn't know what that was, so she promptly forgot about the request as she followed her brother. Oh, there's mamma!
"Hi mamma!" Fjäll exclaimed, and Aud nodded and smiled at her. Borg turned around and looked into Fjälls eyes, making her pay attention.
"Stay here, right here, don't go anywhere, don't fight anyone or anything," Borg said slowly, "I will be back in a second, you won't be bored for long."
Fjäll sat down and watched as Borg went to talk to someone. Mamma Aud got up and followed him. They talked, while Fjäll was completely distracted by watching a butterfly approach her.
"Someone needs to pupsit her," Borg almost growled.
"Pups of Tyrs lineage don't need pupsitters!" Aud scoffed.
The butterfly approached and Fjäll pounced at it! She missed, and started jumping around after anything that moved, hoping it was the butterfly. Borgs large frame covered the sun as she was chewing and ripping apart a maple leaf. Fjälls tail started wagging when she saw him!
-
After that, when Borg was away there was this adult female who hung out with Fjäll. Fjäll didn't mind, she was very nice and had cool black eyes!
"You really love your brother, huh?" Her voice was as sweet as raspberries! Fjäll nodded as a response and the female, Lilltola, continued, "I have a big brother too who I think is just the coolest! His name is Ygg!"
"Woah, can I meet him?" Fjäll was intrigued, she hadn't known about other brothers before! And she did get to meet Ygg, he was pretty old and big, and very dark. Everything on him was black, from his claws to his eyes and even his cape! Fjäll agreed with Lilltola, Ygg was indeed very cool. He almost looked like Borg, except his blaze was silver instead of gold.
Fjäll grew and grew, soon she had her first crush. When she was with Lilltola one day, she met her little brother, named Härje. Härje was.. even cooler. When she came home and saw Borg, she laid down on a cave mat.
"Borg..?" She asked carefully and his eyes lifted, paying attention to her, "do you know Härje?"
"Yes," Borg nodded calmly, "why are you asking?"
"Oh um" Fjäll stuttered and looked away, "I was just wondering.. is he nice?"
"Fjäll," Borg sounded all-knowing all of a sudden, "Härje is our cousin."
"What do you mean?" Fjäll was confused, she was still a puppy.
"I'm sure you have no bad intentions, little one," Borg came over and patted her on the head, "but you shouldn't consider a future with him, wolves shouldn't be mated to their relatives."
Fjäll became flustered and flew up on her legs.
"I didn't want to!" She yelled and ran out of the cave. Ugh! How did he know that??
-
Fjäll became a teen and spent most of her time training to be a hunter, and that's where she met an older female named Myr. They observed the hunters together, and eventually started hanging out at home too! One day, a male the same age as Fjäll joined her in training instead of Myr, and Fjäll became friends with him too. His name was Malte, and Fjäll couldn't deny it, he was pretty cute, and he had the most peculiar eyes. Myr didn't care to hang around him, so Fjäll kept the friendships separate.
-
Myr had started talking about a male wolf, she called him her mate and it was clear she was in love. After some time, Myr had let Fjäll tag along to hang out with him and his friends. Fjäll was the youngest wolf there, not yet an adult. It was dark and the wolves were lit by the orange light from the fire. It didn't become clear that evening which wolf was the "mate" Myr had talked about, and Fjäll couldn't count the wolves there, she didn't recognize them and they kind of came and went. It was a fun evening, they talked, laughed, sang, played, and they ate berries, plants and weird fruits Fjäll had never seen before. Where did they get these? Of course, Fjäll got into one or maybe two fights, but it was all good, Fjäll won and it was all resolved! Well, according to Fjäll anyway. Myr and Fjäll laughed and gosipped about it when going back to their own caves. Fjäll followed there more times. Once, Fjäll challenged random wolves to battles and managed to win a few times! Myr cheered her on, of course. Another time, someone brought Fjäll some rotting fruit, ew! But they insisted it was a delicacy, and aince everyone else ate it, Fjäll did too. It was... not tasty. But suddenly Myr laughed more and louder, and all the jokes did seem funnier, and Fjäll felt a cozy feeling, as if she could fall asleep.. But she didn't want to fall asleep among all these wolves. She went to the river to cool down. The transition from the orange light among the loud wolves by the warm fire, into the cold river under the moonlit clouds, hit her hard. First she was fine, but then she suddenly felt incredibly lonely, and found herself sitting in the river, alone. She listened carefully and heard the wolves from the campsite. A surprisingly short howl came to an abrupt stop. Fjäll remembered the no-howling rule, someone must've shut the howler up. It felt like she sat there for hours, though she didn't, and the cold wet beach felt like a good place to sleep.
"Fjäll, what are you doing here?" A voice whispered, and became louder as it approached, "hey, are you sleeping?"
"No," she answered frankly and blinked her eyes open to meet a pair of green ones, then she murmured something she herself couldn't understand either.
"You can't lie here like a washed up carcass, let's get you home," he whispered and tried to get her to stand up, before he was interrupted.
"Orm!" Someone called for him, "don't pee in the water, gross!"
Orm whispered something to himself, Fjäll listened closely, it sounded like "go away, go away."
His wishes weren't answered, the wolves came over and his voice changed entirely.
"I found this wet seal, let's get her to the fire."
Fjäll sat by the fire yawning for a while before going home.
The next time she went to that place, she avoided the rotting fruit. The memories of the loneliness she felt last time were nagging at her. She didn't like this anymore.
"I'm bored," she said to Myr, who looked at her, pondering.
"Hmm.. Why don't you start a fight, you like that, right?" Myr asked and Fjäll nodded but then shook her head, she was just about to declare that she wasn't in the mood for a fight, when someone interrupted.
"Oh there's a fight starting?" Someone said, too loudly, and a group of wolves got excited, and of course they knew Fjäll was the one to fight with.
"Come on, pick an opponent!" Someone yelled and Fjälls ears pulled back, she really didn't want to tonight, but her indecisiveness came with a punishment, the wolves started deciding for themselves who wanted to fight.
"Move!" Wolves were pushed aside as a dark male stepped out of the crowd and declared, "I want to fight."
The crowd got excited, Fjäll got into fighting stance and so did he. Fjäll met his eyes and.. he looked at her in a peculiar way. He didn't look like he wanted to fight at all, but he smiled at her and approached. Fjälls fighting spirit peaked out again, curious about this wolf. She smirked and attacked! She went for his leg but missed, and he mimicked her move and caught her leg. She grabbed the skin on his back and pulled at him to make him let go, and he did and quickly got out of her grasp. Fjäll had always been pretty strong, but this wolf was too fast for her. They kept fighting until they tumbled out of sight down into a valley filled with fallen leaves. Fjäll ended up on top and pinned him down, he couldn't get up, and he laughed softly.
"You won," his smile was contagious, Fjälls tail started wagging slightly. The wolfs eyes darted to the side and then back.
"What are you looking for?" Fjäll looked that way too.
"Just checking if anyone followed us," he whispered. Fjäll looked back at him in confusion, and his green eyes were lit up by the moonlight, giving her a weird feeling. She tilted her head.
"Do I know you?" She whispered, like he had done. He sighed softly.
"Let's get out of here and I'll explain."
Carefully, they sneaked out of the area and got to higher ground.
"I'm your brothers old friend," he explained, "my name is Orm."
"Orm?" Fjäll remembered something from the last gathering, "you.. you helped me last time!"
Orm nodded.
"You shouldn't be at these parties, especially not blacking out all alone in the dark," his voice was suddenly serious, "it's very dangerous to be around these wolves."
"I'm dangerous, too," Fjäll protested, "I fit in here."
"I don't know.." Orm pondered, "I wonder why you were even invited. They know who you are.. or at least some of them.."
Something seemed off.
"Invited? What do you mean? I come here with my friend," she shook her head in confusion, "what does it matter who I am?"
Orm looked at her, then he led her higher up, "come on."
The last bit of the way, Orm crawled carefully into some bushes, and Fjäll followed. The sounds from the party got louder. They were on a cliff above the campsite, and camoflagued into the bushes.
"Do you know anyone at the party?" Orm asked.
"Well yeah, my friend Myr.. there she is!" Fjäll pointed to her small frame, walking into a cave, "huh, she's never taken me in there before.."
Someone shoved another wolf and started a fight, drawing Fjälls attention.
"Oh yeah, that's m- mäv?" Fjäll remembered the name but couldn't pronounce it, "mävrik? She fought me before, and damn is she strong!"
Fjäll laughed, remembering her defeat, but then Orm shushed her. Oh, right, someone might hear.
"No one else?" He asked and looked worried.
"Hm.." Fjäll looked intently at the wolves below, "I recognize that one and that one.. and that one I guess.."
Orm shook his head.
"You've been lucky that nothing happened to you."
He crawled out and stood up, Fjäll followed and looked at him waiting for answers.
"I suggest that you don't come here anymore. It's too dangerous."
Fjäll scoffed at him, and of course she came back to the next party. This time she saw things with different eyes, she had never noticed that cave before seeing the site from above. She sneaked toward it, when someone bumped her side.
"Did you have fun with that male last time?" Myr giggled and even though Fjäll knew the implications of the question, she nodded, and Myr giggled even more, "good for you, he's handsome."
Myr licked her own lips and Fjäll suddenly felt a twinge of jealousy.
"When will I meet your mate, then?" Fjäll asked, and Myr looked a bit bothered.
"Okay Fjäll.. We're not technically mates, um, yet.."
"What do you mean?" Fjäll became confused.
"Ugh, nothing.." Myr sounded sad, and Fjäll was just about to pry into it when they were interrupted by a male bumping into Myr.
"Oh, I'm sorry, pretty lady," he said, gave her a look and started walking away, Myr giggled, shot Fjäll a look and hurried after the male. Fjäll was confused, but glad to be alone to continue her mission. She quickly snuck into the cave and crawled through the pathways. She heard voices and went that way, but had to hide when someone was on their way out. It was quiet after that, but a flickering light guided her. She peeked inside the cave and saw a wolf pacing back and forth. When he finally settled down, she saw that his face was full of scars.
"Why don't you come inside?"
Fjäll was startled and looked around her, but no, she was the only one he could be talking to. She gulped and walked into the light.
"I- I must've wandered the wrong way, someone gave me the wrong directions," she stuttered, and bowed her head down "please excuse me for intruding."
"Don't worry about it," he smiled at her and his voice was soft. Fjäll was just about to leave when someone entered the cave.
"Mister, we -" the wolf went completely quiet and stared at Fjäll.
"What is it?" The wolf asked, and the other one looked at him like in pain and glanced at Fjäll, unwilling to talk with her present, which appearently annoyed him, "are you scared of beautiful females?"
Fjälls heart fluttered. It was the first time anyone had called her beautiful. She smirked at and sat down to listen.
"We're making progress at the border," the wolf spoke quietly and talked about some uninteresting stuff about packs and whatever. The "mister" was nodding and responding. Fjäll let out a yawn.
"You're boring my guest, Jamon," Mister stated frankly, and Jamon lowered his head and hurried out. Fjäll giggled, and then she noticed Misters soft white eyes resting on her.
"Mister? Isn't that den-tongue for 'Herr'?" Fjäll smirked, it sounded silly. The Mister nodded.
"It is. I know, it's weird," he smiled and shook his head, "but I have a lot of contacts who don't speak our tongue, so the title caught on among my friends."
He got up and walked over to her.
"What brings you here tonight?" He asked, and Fjäll tried to remember what lie she pulled to explain her presence in this cave, when he interrupted her thinking, "to my gathering, I mean."
"Oh I come here with my friend; Myr" His.. His gathering? Fjäll became nervous, "I should probably go find her, I totally ditched her to go pee and then I got lost in this cave and there could be scary wolves out there, you know. I mean, not saying your guests are scary it's just that there could be wolves out in the forest or something or maybe bears or or really big eagles. Um."
Her rambling stopped. Where did she get eagles from?! She instantly regretted it. Her mother told her when she was a puppy, not too long ago, to watch out for eagles. But eagles don't kidnap grown wolves! Ugh! But the Mister was smiling at her and nodded.
"Don't worry, this area is safe and free from strange wolves. And I personally make sure no uninvited guests come around to ruin the fun," Mister walked over to the entrance, "Let me lead you out to your friend, so that you don't get even more lost in the tunnels, dear."
As soon as they came out of the cave, the scarred wolf disappeared. Fjäll looked around her, to no avail. She went to the fire to look for Myr, like she had said, just in case someone was watching her, but she couldn't find her. Fjäll sighed and left. As she walked out into the dark forest, she wondered if there were guards out there, and maybe that's why it's supposedly safe.
"What did he say to you?" A voice startled her and Orm came up to her side to walk with her.
"Who?" Fjäll pretended and was stopped in her tracks by his body and she sighed, "how do you even know I talked to someone?"
He stayed put, his green eyes pierced into hers.
"Ugh, are you asking about the scarred wolf? All he talked about was how pretty I am or something," Fjäll swayed her tail and put her nose up in the air as she walked past Orm, "but he didn't have to, I already know I'm irresistable!"
Orm followed her, but he was quiet, and when Fjäll looked at him he was looking away.
"Is something up?" Fjäll couldn't bear the silence anymore. Orm looked into her eyes with a strange expression, almost like he was trying to figure something out. He lowered his gaze and shook his head. Fjäll was confused. Orm walked her all the way to her cave this evening. She got one last look at his vibrant green eyes before he left.
-
"Finisher?"
"It's a very prestigeous job. Many of our family members have been finishers," Borg explained, and gave her a goodnight kiss on the forehead, "just think about it, okay?"
She did think about it, and she accepted the offer, becoming the finisher of a hunting party. She became good friends with the members of her party. One of them was a quite handsome male, and Fjäll was encouraged by others to pursue him, so she talked to him some. The best thing about her hunting party was that they all liked to playfight, just like Fjäll! She didn't miss her old friends from the gatherings around the fire, she found a new sense of belonging. But one day as the party was on their way home from a hunt, another party was on their way out, and in the midst of dragging an elk cow by its leg, Fjäll saw a flash of green in the corner of her eye. She instantly dropped the elk and perked up her head. The other hunters were pretty far away, but Fjäll saw a dark figure among them. Orm? Fjäll almost darted away, but was stopped by a voice.
"Hey, muscles, help us," Laila sounded annoyed, and Fjäll took hold of the elk again. As they walked home with their prey, Fjäll started thinking about the gatherings again, and a warm feeling spread through her chest.
That night, she travelled through the forest, trying to remember the way there. It took her hours and she got lost many times before she found the fire. The wolves were talking loudly and having fun, and Fjäll slipped in unnoticed, looking for her green eyed friend. Damn it, he was nowhere to be found. Maybe if she started a ruckus, he would show up? Fjäll bumped into someone on purpose, hard. The wolf turned around and growled at her.
"Hey watch it, I'm trying to walk here," Fjäll snarled back. Her provocations worked, and the wolf locked its eyes on her. Fjäll was ready for the fight, when someone interrupted.
"Hey! If you wanna fight, take it to the meadow!" The other wolf didn't seem keen on going to the meadow, it calmed down and turned away from Fjäll. The meadow? That's new, usually they all just fought by the fire. Meadow, meadow, it's gotta be out in the forest. Suddenly Fjäll saw two deep brown eyes. Fjälls ears perked up.
"Myr!" Fjäll ran over to her, but Myr looked concerned.
"What are you doing here?" She asked, and she didn't seem happy to see Fjäll, she looked to her left and right before whispering, "you shouldn't be here."
Fjäll backed away a little, maybe Myr didn't like her anymore? "What do you mean?"
Myrs ears pulled back and she looked sad, really sad, but she didn't say anything. Fjäll realized her only way to the truth would be Orm.

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