The pale, open sky seemed more vast than the world was wide that day. Far below that clear sky was a word indescribably flat but no less small, and on it, enjoying its endless majesty, sat a lone white wolf. The timeless wind spoke in a voice few bothered to listen to and the land seemed to echo with ages beyond human memory. Here a person -or wolf as the case may be- could breathe, could get lost in the magic of simply being.
Aguta had made Sol continue to follow as the woman had stopped at the shrine to manaia. The poor wolf continued to indulge him, although he had now grown quite bored of stalking this human. Aguta couldn't blame him.
The woman tossed a coin into the shrine and Aguta shook his head (his human head, back at the tavern, not Sol's.) He grew up among a very spiritual people and it had been into his late teens before the deception had been exposed to him. His own father -spiritual leader of his little clan- had been nothing more than a pretender. Ever since that day he had found little understanding or appreciation for his fellow human's need to worship their various deities.
Then the woman moved on and he asked Sol to follow one more time, still not sure why. The wolf trotted after her -keeping his distance- still happy just to have physicality for as long as it was given, although he was clearly much more interested in the myriad of scents the breeze brought their way than the human they were following.
He wasn't sure exactly where they were headed or why, but after a time Sol alerted him to a strange scent on the wind again. He examined it but knew already it would be up to the wolf's greater experience to properly identify it. But Sol seemed uncertain once more. It seemed human-like, but subtly different somehow. Well, more than he got out of him last time...
The mystery was answered on its own however when a distant voice shouted "Hello! Hey! You there!"
Instinctively Sol crouched further into the snow, his white coat blending in perfectly. Aguta shared his startled reaction, at first fearing he had been spotted, but then he dismissed the thought as foolish. Why would anyone try talking to a wolf?
The woman seemed uninterested in him however, and after turning to look at him she merely turned back and continued on her way.
You're lucky, he scolded himself sternly. If you had checked out the scent when Sol first spotted it like he wanted you to you wouldn't have risked being spotted... Then again, what did he care if he was spotted anyway? Perhaps because he was stalking some random woman through the tundra like a total creep? The thought sobered him and he knew with renewed finality he needed to stop this nonsense. Besides the strange scent turned out to be nothing... Besides another random stranger inexplicably following the poor woman across the tundra... Nothing...
Not my problem. What am I, the volunteer do-gooder of the tundra? Suddenly feeling the whole thing had been an act of monumental foolishness he forced himself to break the link.
Regret and sorrow flooded his mind from Sol, the poor wolf would be but spirit again. Aguta mentally flinched, feeling his own regret and inner conflict pile on top of the wolf's emotions. Do it now, it will only get harder...
Then the link was broken and all at once he was human again, sitting in now cold bath water - his body chilled nearly to the point of shivering. Quickly he finished what he had started, unwilling to walk another day in filth, and then just as quickly rushed to dry himself and put on his spare set of clothes. The furs he piled over the top of himself to warm up still smelled of sweat and days and days spent sleeping in them on the tundra, but at least he felt better... If cold. Time for some more hot cider, he decided.
He could not feel Sol's presence. Somewhere on the tundra he knew a wolf had vanished from physical form and a wolf spirit was once more left to wander, unable to experience the joy of the wind across its fur or the earth beneath its paws. Perhaps the spirit was staying away from him out of anger -but no. He knew Sol was not the bitter or petty type or he would have left Aguta behind countless years ago. No, he would be back...
After grabbing his meager possessions - consisting mainly of his sleeping roll, dagger, bow & quiver- he opened the front door to his rented shack and stepped into the frigid air.
The first thing he noticed was that he wasn't a wolf any more. Even under the furs his human body was not nearly so resilient to the cold, especially now that he had gotten a chill from his bath. Fortunately the sun shown and it wasn't as cold as it might have been.
The second thing he noticed was a fist going into his stomach - and *hard.* As he gasped for breath he noticed he was surrounded by two well-muscled men who had a look that showed they had probably been waiting out here for some time and wouldn't mind taking their boredom out on him.
"Good to see you again," the sandy-haired one who had punched him spoke up.
Aguta didn't recognize him. "Do I know you?"
The man laughed halfheartedly, as if Aguta was trying to be funny but wasn't. "Oh yeah- we're good friends... At least we were last time you came through town when you were runnin' up a good tab at the bar. It's been a while but don't worry I got a long memory. Seems to me you were bragging about all the furs you were gonna sell the next day to pay me back. -Funny thing is, I never saw you again..."
Aguta listened with skepticism, but the truth was the man's story wasn't implausible. Drinking... Another little vice of his he had always struggled to keep under control. In the past often with little success, as this man's story was evidence. He went over his options but they weren't many. There was no time to use his bow, and while he might be able to take one in a fist fight two was unlikely. Heck of a time for him to lose track of Sol...
"Hey you two! Didn't I say I didn't want to see you around here again?" The sudden loud voice was the barkeep, who had opened his back door for something and apparently spotted what was going on.
Thank goodness for *some* good timing, Aguta thought.
"Don't even think about leaving without paying me back." The collector threatened, but the two of them were moving off.
A few minutes later, once more in front of the bar, he asked the barkeep for another cider.
The man obliged, but leaned over as he did so. "Listen lad you don't want to get involved with their kind, trust me. They're nothin' but trouble."
Aguta nodded. I noticed. He assessed his state of affairs while he sipped at the deliciously warm cider. He had nothing to sell, his coffers were getting lighter by the day, and apparently he had managed to make enemies in town at some point then gotten far too drunk to even remember doing so but either way they clearly intended to take the debt out of his hide. All in all, he decided, it was probably time to be moving on.
What a pity. I was *really* looking forward to spending a night in a real bed... As he sipped at his cider he let his mind wander. The man two seats over was nursing an ale. He could smell it. How easy it would be to order one for himself and forget about his problems for a while...
No, it was definitely time to be moving on. He would go back to the tundra, at least there he would be at peace once more and away from temptation. Perhaps this time he could finally scare up some game or bring back some fish. There was always a market for fresh fish. It was obviously time to find somewhere new though, at least until whatever was scaring away the game around this place gave it up or got hunted down itself, but in which direction should he head?
For some reason his mind jumped back to the white-haired stranger. Where had she been headed? -Didn't matter, he decided, it was somewhere besides here. She had a good half-day's lead on him, but he could probably catch up.
It wasn't that he was still worried about her or anything certainly. -Since when did he care about other people's problems anyway? It was just simple polite curiosity - one traveler to another. That was all... Besides, one direction was as good as another...
Yes, he repeated to himself as he gathered up his things and set out from the tavern, that was as good a plan as any...