New Beginnings (Olkhon Island | Baikal Lake, Siberia)

[Tenzin]

[[Continued from Wild Heart]]

Tenzin fell easily into the routine of travel, a soothing aid for the confusion still in her aching heart, and a good distraction for her human worries. She had not truly realised how stifling she found the city until she left it. The freedom lifted her lungs with a breath of joy, but it did not remedy the hollow she carried inside now. A reminder of what had been left behind. 

A reminder of what might have been irretrievably lost.

Back in Leh they had lived communally in the monastery, but many years of solitary living had passed since then. At heart Tenzin was a nomad, used to her own company and content to run with her brethren when she could. She’d lived on the wild edges, focused by the hunt to which she pledged her life and energies, and enlivened by the companionship of the wolves who called her sister. There had been no discontent in that old life. When she needed it she sought the succour of human company in the rural lands where elders still knew something of the rākṣasa hatyārā’s work, and treated her with distant kindness. These pangs of loneliness were new. It felt strangely like the grief she had lived through after Silver’s death.

The wolves guided, and she followed the trail they left for her. They did not use the human names for places, but Tenzin was accustomed to interpretation of their shared language and how to use it to navigate the journey. The new packs she encountered found it an unusual delight, how fluently she aligned with them without becoming lost to herself, as so many of the kin still did. The excited ripple of Star Dancer comes that went ahead of her, especially amongst the pups, made her smile for the welcome received.

Once in the dream she met an old wolf, older than Silver, with a far more cantankerous tongue. She sat at his paws, hands on her knees, to accept his wisdom and direction. Then, towards the end of her journey she was greeted by a springy, half-grown pup whose excited sendings identified him as one of Chase’s brood. By then her waking body was close to her destination.

*

Civilisation closed back around her, and though it was not the towering cityscape of Moscow, it took a moment to readjust herself to the throngs of people. Contacts concealed Tenzin’s yellow eyes, but a few still stared at a woman openly draped in so many tattoos. The gazes did not linger over long, though. These people had bigger concerns, evidenced by the signs of recent weather damage battering their harbour and surrounding dwellings. Summer in Siberia was not what it was back home, but it was not the season for storms. Even the ferry to the island had been damaged, only yesterday resuming its crossings. Tenzin’s sharp ears caught murmurings of ill omens as she purchased her ticket.

Ohlkon Island bore similar signs of destruction, and in its isolation far less signs of efficient recuperation. The settlement had no roads to speak of, only dirt tracks lined by wooden houses – something far more akin to the villages Tenzin was used to in India. Supplies were being unloaded from the boat when she alighted on shore. Her brow flickered concern, and she briefly deliberated pausing to offer help, but the pull towards brethren was stronger. One of the kin who had already survived the change likely also knew how to survive the elements, and there were a few wolves here for support, the small resident pack skimming over the ice for good hunting when the lake froze over in the winter months. If the kin had been hurt in the storm, Tenzin was sure she would already know, but she would prefer to see it with her own eyes before delaying to help others.

Beyond the village, great larch and pine trees shadowed the narrow passes, giving way to great swathes of steppe. The long grasses tickled her skin, and beat her heart with the urge to run for the joy of it. Instead she sniffed the air. She did not know exactly where the cabin was, except that it was between the village and the basin of water that curved from a great rock. When the dappled light of the trees once more shaded her shoulders, Tenzin’s mind unfurled and reached out in greeting. The pack who called this place home might not be close, but they would be able to guide her step.

[Sierra]

[[ continued from here ]]

Sierra woke from the dream still panicked. She reached out to the wolfs around the island. She found some voices and asked them to look for Tristian when it was safe to do so. The storm still raged outside.

---

Huddled inside the building with the pups Sierra waited the storm out. The raging winds and cracks of lightning were furious with something. And when they calmed it was as if nothing had happened -- except for the damage. But the sky looked the same as it had before.

Tristan was out there somewhere. Sierra was torn with staying put and searching the shore for him. Her better judgement said to stay put and he'd find her. But her doubts if she meant enough to him to even return. But he was pack...

Sierra went back out to the beach to wait. They could find their way back and need warmth and blankets. She grabbed the blankets from the bed and made her way to stand vigil.

---

Never bounded around Long Eye playing with his Silent Sister. They chased around the beach biting and nipping at each other wagging their tails. Long Eye was concerned about Wyldfire. He was gone too long. Never reached out into the pack and helped Long Eye talk with the wolves.

Another voice like Long Eye reached out to the packs. Never sent back an excited greeting in return. Another two leg. It went wide to Sierra and to the pack. Never stopped chasing his sister and she turned around and tackled him while he was excitedly greeting the new kin. Interrupting his images as he fought back with playful glee. Come. Come. He sent again and again.

[Tenzin]

It was a long hike, but one Tenzin enjoyed for its isolation and beauty. After a while her mind touched the resident pack, their sendings pushing her onwards. It felt like the ghostly echoes of them running alongside, though they were nowhere close. The kin’s heartfelt distress had touched them all, her confusion and mourning over the inexplicable loss of the male kin – the one the dream had forewarned her about. They felt her pain, and aided her search. Not dead, but somehow gone. It made little sense, but Tenzin was gripped by it. Perhaps even more so because loss was so close to her own heart these days.

Soon another responded to the call with youthful cries of come, come!, and Tenzin was able to understand that the woman stood her vigil at the water’s edge. She sent her name, Star Dancer, and received his in turn. The image made her lips flicker with a smile. She asked the pup to ensure her approach was known, and her intention too: to help, to support. His sendings were erratic, distracted and excited both, but he seemed pleased. By the time Tenzin reached the shingle of the cliff, she could see the figure down there, face out to the clear lake. Never called her Long Eye. Another creature tore along the shore too, bounding and nipping. Something not quite wolf, though clearly it shared some blood. Never accepted her, despite her silence, and Tenzin did too.

Long Eye would hear her approach. Tenzin was surefooted, but she made no effort to conceal her nimble steps. The woman wore unusual clothes, more rustic than Tenzin might have anticipated –  not like a city dweller. A blanket was clutched in her arms, and something in the sight curled up in her chest like a need to whine. There was no one else here, probably owing to the storm’s debris and the ongoing work to repair the village on the other side of the island. If the other kin had been caught out on the water during it, he might well have perished, but the wolves did not believe him dead. Clearly neither did she.

“Am Tenzin Dolma. Our kin calls Star Dancer.” She spoke as soon she came close enough for it to carry easily. The last time she met with half grown pups, their welcome had been exuberant, so she preempted the chance to get the words out. Her English was heavily accented, a work in progress. But it was unlikely Long Eye would understand her mother tongue, and neither could they share the wolfspeech. “Come to help.”

[Sierra]

Never bound and pranced with Bre running around playing. He informed her of the approaching 2twoleg to help her. Not that anyone unless they owned a boat could really help her. And her kin were least likely to own said boat. Most of them preferred to hid, and had there been a kin here surely they would have made themselves known before now.

Sierra turned at the sound of the woman's voice. Never was racing towards the stranger with Bre in tow. The two were alway eager to meet new friends in person. "I'm Sierra. I'm grateful for the company, but I'm not sure there is anything we can do. Tristan, Wildefyre went into the water some time ago with a friend and they've yet to return. The storm came and went and still no one has heard from him." Sierra tried not to pace frantically as she extended her senses outwards hoping for anything back from the wolves. But no one had heard from him. "He knows I'm here. He wouldn't leave Bre." The latter was mostly for herself. He might leave her, but he would never leave Brenna. She was his companion.

[Tenzin]

Tenzin bent to welcome the pups and to allow them to properly acquaint themselves with her scent. Never was exuberant. She sent him her memory of Chase, warm with how it had rescued her from the discomfort and loneliness of the large two-leg city she had previously been calling home. Wolves were never really parted, not with the dream to run, but she hoped he found comfort in the familiarity of his old pack, and the connections Tenzin had to it.

Sierra’s distress was palpable. Tenzin’s nostrils flared with it, and she desperately desired to shake it loose. Instead, from her still crouched position, her gaze rose to cast out over the now still water that the other woman kept her vigil over. She was not sure how anyone could have survived it, given the ruin she had witnessed both here and on the mainland, but she trusted the wolves when they declared death had made no claim. Beyond that Sierra was correct, Tenzin had no answers, but it wasn’t why she came.

“True pack will return,” she agreed in soothing tones. She said it like she needed to believe it too. A promise to herself, or a hope that Jacinda would be at the safe house when she returned to Moscow. “Always does.”

Her lips twitched with the qualification – that Wildefyre would return for his half-wolf pup, but perhaps not the wolfsister who fretted over him. But that was a human affair, despite that it was between two of the kin, and Tenzin decided that for now at least it was not her business to pry. “Never says you have den nearby? Have slept, Sierra? Eaten? Between us, we keep vigil. Howl and Surefoot watch also. When he comes, we know. Trust pack, yes? And let pack care for you now.” She straightened from the wriggling pups, and offered out her hand.

[Sierra]

Sierra raised her eyebrow at the true pack comment. Was she true pack? Was she going to go back to Elyse and Mara.

"We do have a place nearby. But the door is ... broken." Tristan had a way with things. Never replayed the images for Tenzin. "I just napped while looking for Tristan in the dream. I appreciate the help." Sierra sighed and looked out on the water. "We can all go inside and wait. Tristian will come back for his things and Bre. And Thalia's drawings are all there. I imagine she wants them."

She stared out at the flat water. "Unless you want to sit out here."

[Tenzin]

Sierra was clearly preoccupied with her worries, and Tenzin’s hand floated back to her side. She was not stung, but she was restless beneath the heavy scent of emotion rolling off the other woman. A gruff harrumph erupted from her throat for Never’s sending of the broken door, clearly displeased with the carelessness of hulking male brutality in a place of pack’s safety. Especially one that left them compromised. She asked if the pup knew why he’d done such a foolish thing. Strong emotions - he couldn’t control his strength! was the gist of what the little one thought had happened. Tenzin thanked him for his vigilance, and for remembering, but it troubled her.

Meanwhile she closed the distance to stand beside Sierra at the waterfront. Strands of dark hair tickled her nose in the wind, coaxed free of the practical braid down her back. Napping was not true rest, and neither was scouring the dream. Without a door, the storm must have been twice as horrendous to endure. Wildfyre would not have left them exposed like that if he’d had any choice – no kin would. But the damage was still done, and he was no longer here to fix it.

She noticed Sierra never included a belief that he would come back for her. She even placed inanimate things of higher consequence, and Tenzin didn’t like that at all.

“Strong hands,” she stated, holding them out in front of her, for both of them to see. “Will fix together.”

A den should be strong, and safe, and warm. Sierra could not remain indefinitely on the beach, waiting for a return she did not even seem convinced would happen, or at least not for her own sake. She was right to stay where she could be found. Just not out in the elements, neglecting her own needs. Tenzin inquired more from Never, but he had nothing else to offer; just a fervent belief that Wildfyre would indeed return, and an understanding that he had gone into the water. So Tenzin only asked that he assist her looking after Long Eye while she helped fix the broken den. To chase her from the dream if necessary, so she might sleep properly when she finally gave into it.

She gave a sharp whistle for the wolf-dog, though Tenzin thought she would simply follow where Never and Sierra went. Her arm looped through Sierra’s, to coax her along should she need the prompting to move her paws from the sand. Never projected a sending showing Tenzin the way, but both pups were already racing up the path ahead, and they only need follow.

[Sierra]

Tenzin didn't give her much choice as she looped her arms in hers and they strolled down the path towards the broken door. Never and Breena raced ahead as usual playing their little games. But it felt good to have another person who understood, and someone to take charge for the moment.

The floor was damp from the storm. But it wasn't flooded, just wet. With a little effort they found something to keep the door up. Though Sierra wasn't sure how it would work. But it at least kept the wind and water out. "Thank you."

Never was still excited about their guest. "I guess waiting here is just as good." She sat down on the bed. "I guess I'll get some rest."

Never yipped and jumped up on the bed. Bre followed curling up at the head near the pillows. He sent images of chasing Sierra from the dream with a smiling Star Dancer behind him. Sierra laughed. "Never tells me that you told him to chase me from the dreams."

Sierra laid down. "Fine, I get it. I'll just sleep. " She tried to curl up with the pups but her mind rolled with her concern for Tristan. But eventually she drifted to sleep.

[Tenzin]

It wasn’t too long a journey, and Tenzin did not choose to fill it with chatter. Their path to the cabin veered off the main track long before the village, and they found it nestled in a hollow of storm-battered trees. Her heavy brows fell low when she first perceived the damage in person. As her hands picked at the chipped wood where hinges once affixed to the frame, she made a perturbed grumbling sound in her throat to announce her great displeasure for the mess. That was not normal man-strength, more alike to the sorts of monsters she usually brought to heel than one of the wolfkin. Thornpaw had warned her Wildfyre was not simply wolf, and she had not entirely understood what the elder had meant by it then – he showed her tall stones in the dream, but the rākṣasa hatyārā had no teachings to interpret what they were in the waking world. She just understood it as the grizzled wolf explained it with bared fang – a mortal enemy. Now Tenzin wondered if Tristan the man was really just a man at all. Plenty of monsters had human faces, and some could breed with humans, though she did not understand how such unclean blood could be called by the kin. It made little sense – but only about as much as a man who disappeared in a lake in the first place.

Inside was damp and smelled strongly of the pups spending a long soggy night huddled together. Sierra assisted her in a temporary blockade, while internally Tenzin began tallying the tools she might need for a more permanent solution. The village was awash with repairs, and it would be a good time to barter for what she might need, perhaps in exchange for some muscle: she was strong and lean and happy to help. Though it seemed unlikely the cabin might have the tools to hand – something else to consider. For now she listened to Sierra’s uncertainties as she talked herself into sense and perched herself on the bed. It was a tiny place; kitchen and living and sleeping all in one space, and Tenzin moved about it with ease, checking cupboards to ascertain their supplies and frowning liberally for what she perceived. She would clean the damp. Food was scarce though. Alone, Tenzin would have hunted, but it was unfamiliar territory and she wanted to offer certainties. Another thing to purchase in the village.

She paused to laugh when Never ratted her out, hands on her hips, her braid dangling over one shoulder. It was a fierce and merry sound. “Best listen then,” she said, grinning. The pups were tramping all over the bed, making themselves comfortable, and Sierra eventually joined them. Tenzin told Never her intentions – to clean the den, then to leave and find them food before she returned – so that he would be able to explain to Sierra if she woke before Tenzin’s return. She made a start with the mopping while Sierra at least pretended to close her eyes, but she waited for the breaths to deepen truly before she left using a window.

---

By the time Sierra woke, it would be to gentle cooking smells from the stove. A small homely fire danced in the hearth too – it was summer still, but it meant something different in Siberia, and the cosiness took off any chill. She’d removed her contacts for her own comfort while she worked, knowing they were unnecessary here, and for a while it had made her pensive as she considered Jacinda. She wondered where she was. What she was doing.

The fare was local; pelmeni stuffed with fish, onion, garlic and chives, some smoked omul from the lake (enough of that for the pups too), and a pot of green tea. Tenzin had purchased additional herbs and spices that could not be easily foraged, but talking in the village she had discovered this island was largely rural and still had strong indigenous roots. Living off the land would not be hard here. A word with Howl as she traipsed the path back to the cabin had confirmed the hunting would be good enough to support them, and the pack were curious for the prospect of kin so close. Supplies for repairing the door had been harder to negotiate, mostly because she needed to borrow the tools, and she was a stranger with an odd manner and broken English. But ultimately it was a small-knit place and everyone was working to recover the storm damage. Her practical offer of help was well received when it was put in practise, and that worked better than words, so Tenzin had what she needed, though the work would wait. By now, she was hungry herself.

[Sierra]

Food smells woke up Sierra up. Her stomach rumbled. Maybe she was hungry. She wasn't sure when she ate last.

"The food smells good." Sierra said as she sat up and ran her fingers through the pups fur closest to her. Bre and Never curled up against her while she slept.

She waited till the food was ready and made herself a big plate. The pups wouldn't much like the vegetables, but they loved the meat. Sierra sat on the floor. "Where did you learn to cook like this?"