It had taken a while, but eventually Sougra had managed to navigate through the woods and back to the familiar village. It was not really a trek he had been looking forward toâ€"his experiences in the village were mediocre, at bestâ€"but after being separated from the human that he had come to know as his guardian of sorts, he'd had no choice but to figure out some way to find his way back. He didn't know the first thing about surviving on his own, and it was only out of sheer desperation that he had learned a way to root out rodents hiding beneath the ground. And he didn't really like that...he'd earned quite a few nasty scratches and bites that way, and mice didn't really have enough meat on them to sate the hunger of a growing wolf pup for long. Especially not one in the first stages of adolescence.
But there was much more to the wild than just figuring out your next meal. It was scary out there, alone...the things he heard out there...the other predators his parents had told him of. But he'd never worried about those things when he was near his family, nor that kind human. But he'd been separated from both...
By a sheer stroke of luck and lots of brain-racking, he'd managed to make his way back to the village. Back to his old ways of acting like just another scruffy dog. But, it was okay. He was safe here from other predators that feared the humans, and as long as he avoided other strays, stayed away from the mean humansâ€"like those kids that tied that bundle of sticks to his tail and sent him running for the woods in the first place!â€"and did a good enough job at begging from the right people, he'd be fine! And then, once he figured out how to shift back into his other form like the rest of his pack, he'd be able to blend right in and not have to worry about humans being mean to him.
Unfortunately, that had been a skill he had just begun to be taught when he'd been separated from his pack. Which was why he was stuck like this now. But he knew he'd find them again. They'd find him. They'd be looking for him.
And that was why he made sure to spend some of his time out in the woods. He wanted to be ready when they finally came out this way, ready to meet them because he knew they wouldn't come too close to the human places, but he also wanted to be near the village, where all the food was...and company, even if it was pretty one-sided.
He'd recently found the greatest place that was just what he'd been looking for, a place from where he could reach the village easily, but that was out in the woods and yet...safe from other things! It seemed nothing else, animal or human, came around there. It looked like it was once a human place, but it was a wreck now...but not enough so as to fool other animals, it seemed! Well, not big ones, at least. It had its share of little rodents, and Sougra practiced hunting them for fun, chasing them through the dilapidated rooms and sometimes even catching one. A small victory for the tame wolf.
So, Sougra had taken up residency there, at least during the nights, always believing it was his secret place.
That is, until the sounds of hooves clopping against the earth woke him from where he slept curled up under a broken off chunk of roof, one of the only pieces that had managed to stay in one piece when it had fallen ages ago. His white ears twitched first, rotating to catch the sound, and his yellow eyes opened next, blinking sleepily. And it was then that he caught sight of the human female swinging her...her...what were those sharp, shiny things called again? Not important! They were dangerous! That one human that one time had threatened to skin him with one of those things once, and to Sougra's untrained eye, this woman looked like an expert shiny-stick wielder!
He gave a jolt of surprise at that thought, then yelped as his head connected with the low roof of his cramped shelter. Which also successfully dislodged a piece of it, sending it clattering to the ground. Sougra froze immediately. Erk. Real great move, but further proof that he had the survival skills of...of...something not good at surviving. Still, he kept perfectly still and quiet. This place creaked a lot. Maybe she'd just think it was the house.
Never mind that he yelped.
