PM to join Howling Under A Winter Bright Moon (Ze'eva)

[Haeli]

The witch sat several feet away from the sprawled out wolf. She'd followed the young male for most of the morning, watched his behavior and observed what he ate, when he ate, what he played with, how he drank and the habits he kept. Being marked by Caiyha meant she was mostly ignored by the wolves, tolerated, though they were less than friendly at this stage of her visit to Lhavit and the Misty Peaks. She could get close, which was what counted, close enough to study the canines which she'd never really had experiences with before. Wolves seemed suited for the cold and higher elevations rather than the lowland swamps. And truthfully, Haeli needed access to more forms than her swampland repertoire due to the weather. Fang just got cold, Big Jaw was in agony when it snowed, and the Whisperwing didn't like the high cold air. They were creatures of the swamp, who thrived in the damp warm air.

So her first study had to be wolves. Big predators were very protective and safe forms to assume in the winter. And this one slept. He slept so peacefully, so undisturbed by the witch she was able to set just a few feet away. His paws and the way his joints worked were not unlike the Jaguar form she knew. But his paws were different, in very important ways. And when he yawned and his teeth were visible she could tell he had different teeth patterns.

Haeli dug into her pack and pulled out a skull. It was one she'd found earlier in the trip out to make a study. Wolves rarely killed each other so it was uncertain how this one had died. But she'd found the corpse too far decayed to be much use other than to take the skull. And take it she did, studying how the lower mandible articulated against the upper mandible. There had been other joints, ones she'd taken the time to see closely. She'd even counted the spine and ribs. They had the same number as she was familiar with. Haeli moved her eyes back to the wolf, studying it, just before she began her transformation. She shifted, moving to her hands and knees, and began concentrating on her djed. Power infused her, shifting her brain first, her bones, reversing the joints and building them up into something else, something different.

She wasn't human, not any more, and the power she pulled from inside herself infused her, coated her, worked on her very essence transforming it from one thing to another. Shifting ones shape didn't involve pain, not really, but it involved an acceptance deep within the shifter that all living things were in essence one energy, one form. Staring at the wolf and changing to be like him, she drew something from him as well, reaching out her aura to touch his and pull off power so that her shape knew his shape in a model that was timeless. Haeli finished changing and shook herself, taking a step forward that ended in a limp. She cursed which came out as a wolfish whine and corrected the problem. Her left foreleg was longer than her right. The energy adjusted the length, matching up the limbs and she took a step forward once more, her gait gliding.

Her color was exactly like his, a dull white infused with red. But to her it wasn't protective or cloaking enough. Tipping her snout she surveyed the fur on her body and darkened it, deepening the color into a black that was shot through with blues and greens and all the color that ate light from around her. It wasn't an invisibility gnosis, but it was the closest thing nature came to one.

Haeli danced a few steps, yipped in joy, and trotted off across the blooming high mountain meadow. The sleeping wolf woke startled, and lifted his head. He yipped at her giving chase. Haeli bared her teeth, growled, and raised her hackles. The other wolf did the same for a moment then added a wagging tail and looking curiously at her without so much as flattening his ears. He approached and Haeli let him and the two touched noses and exchanged scents. The the pair set off, chasing each other around the meadow, flushing out field mice for snacks, and marking scent on stone and tree. The two wolves played until a howl echoed through the mountains and the paler wolf answered, turned and hesitated. It seemed to issue Haeli an invite, though it was one she refused. It spun and answered the call with a howl of its own, leaving Haeli to her own devices.

Alone, Haeli turned circles in the small meadow, tried out a howl of her own, and went to find some adventure solo style.

[Ze'eva]

It had taken the Kelvic nearly a quarter of winter to reach Lhavit. Though her original plan was to head to the capital, Syliras, the idea of seeing all of Mizahar captivated her, so she changed her course to visit the regions of Kalea and Falyndar first. She had already visited Denval and Sultros on the way to Lhavit, and after she was done there, she planned to travel to Wind Reach. She was excited to meet some of the Dhani race, as they were similar to Kelvics in the idea that both races could transform into animals and humans.

The jackal Kelvic turned her head side to side, taking in her surroundings. She was padding through a swamp, with trees surrounding her. There were lights up ahead in the distance. Believing these were the lights of the town of Lhavit, she increased her pace until she was loping through the heavy snow towards them. Along the path was a rabbit. She made a show of chasing the rabbit, allowing it time to attempt escape before she caught and killed it with a sharp bite through the neck. Rather than eating it like a canine would, she transformed into her human form and tied it to the belt of her pants. Normally she would just wear a cloak when traveling between towns, but this winter was particularly harsh and her human self would freeze to death if she did not wear her town clothes.

Ze'eva continued on towards the lights. When she reached them, she found herself standing in front of a modest herbal shop. Her first thought upon seeing the building was confusion. It was very isolated, and it seemed to be unoccupied. Ze'eva circled around it warily, her body tense at the prospect of an attack. She went up to the front door and knocked. After a few minutes of no response, she turned and returned to the woods with a shake of her head. Undressing and shoving her clothes in her pack, her naked body shrunk until she was back in her familiar jackal form. She grabbed the pack in her jaws and glanced around, utterly lost now that she lost the trail to Lhavit.