Jessie

The wolfess was near exhuastion as she raced into the terra. She had not gone to the central lands as Nightcrawler had ordered, for she felt too ashamed. Tear welled in her eyes as she finally collapsed in the tall grasses, heaving for breath. Try as she might, she couldn't get the image of the black wolf out of her mind. The sight of him being overtaken and swarmed upon by the king hounds had been too much for her to bear, and it was made worse by the fact that she left him there on his own.

'I couldn't have helped anyway... they were too fast, there were too many...' She thought, half dazed, half exhuasted, guilt drenching her thoughts. 'They would have just killed me too... he should have known better...' False anger, trying to make herself feel better, but it only made it worse. Finally, that nagging word came back to her, bringing her to one conclusion, 'Coward... I am a coward... and he'll die because of it...'

Inuko

Inuko had been in the area playing, when another wolf darted by. Curious, she followed. The wolfess seemed to be in distress, so Inuko pranced up to her happily. "Whats wrong?" she asked, "Why look so down? Its a glorious day!" Inuko was too young, and too naive to realise she was probably not helping.

Jessie

Jessie looked wide-eyed to Inuko, her orbs glazed looking as shock and horror overwhelmed her. "M-my friend... he's dead because I... I'm a coward." She gulped, her eyes welling once more with tears. Her skull tipped toward the ground and she shivered despite the abundant warmth of the spring day, "I'm a coward... " She whimpered again, still unable to shake the grizzly image out of her mind. She didn't know if Nightcrawler was actually dead or not, but by the last look she had taken, things looked pretty grim for him.

Jessie was too distraught to think of explaining the situation any more, or even give her name to Inuko. She just stared blankly at the ground, shivering now and then and whimpering pitifully.

Inuko

Inuko cocked her head to the side. "You dont seem like a coward to me." she said, though she had never really met any one who could be called a coward. "its alright to get scared. I get scared a lot. Like when I go to Galar's Marsh and fall in the water..." her ears lowered as she saw this wasn't helping. "Do you know who killed your friend? Do you want revenge? Then you'll prove you arent a coward!" she said, trying to be helpful.

Jessie

The words seemed to fall on deaf ears for a moment, but after a short silence, Jessie drew her head up as her eyes linked up to Inuko's, "Really...? You think so?" Her words were broken by little sobs, and Jessie suddenly felt angry with herself, feeling as though she were acting like a little pup. "Yes, I want revenge..." She said at last, her voice feathery and low, but very determined. Now that the overwhelming fear was begining to eb away, common sense was starting to return. Then her eyes narrowed before taking on a look of hopelessness, "But I can't possibly get revenge... there are too many, and they are too strong." Once more, she fell into despair.

Zhener

The wedge-tailed eagle had just escaped from a snow leopard after an unsuccesful hunt. He was lucky however, to only be missing a few feathers and carry a few superficial cuts across his flesh. Nothing that a bit of time would fix, and at least he could fly without trouble.

Passing by the Eskers, Zhener was dismayed to see that his friend had left. Intent upon finding Nightcrawler, the eagle searched the areas he know wolves frequented. The search led him to spot Jessie, whom he wasn't very accquainted with, but she was indeed a packmember. Maybe she knew where Night had gone too.

Dropping from the sky, Zhener landed beside the two wolves, blissfully unware that anything was wrong at first. "'Ello!" He was terrible at judging character and emotion in wolves, and also had an uncanny habit is speaking at the most innaproporiate times, "You see Nightcrawler come zhis vay? I vas hunting for 'im, cause he got hurt. Zhought zhat you might know, ja? I am Zhener, by zhe vhey." He added, then cocked his head to the side, looking from Inuko to Jessie. It just now dawned on him that something might be wrong, "Vhat is zhe matter? Maybe I help?"

Jessie

Jessie cringed at first, frightened by the shadow that loomed over. But all at once, she recognized Zhener, if only his form. His name wasn't known to her, "He's at the River Bank..." She stated, staring uncertainly at the eagle, not sure what to make of his strange accent and speech, "The hounds..." Jessie trailed away as another voice came to her ears, "Oh, no, no!" She whimpered, recognizing the cries of another packmate; Kanan. And who was that other one...?

Zhener

"Vhat? I told him to vait for me!" Zhener exclaimed, flaring up his feathery hackles in mock anger, though he figured the wolf had his reasons. "I am Zhener by zhe vhey; vhat about you? And, vhat iz zhe matter?" Jessie's worry began to become more clear to the eagle now, and he was genuinely curious and wanted to help. If there was one thing good about his quirky personality, it was that he couldn't pretend to feel sympathy, anger, or other emmotions. Whever mood he portrayed was a sincere one.

Jessie

Her ears perked up, now retrieving new information, "Oh, he is alive!" She yipped, yet held back somewhat. It was clear that he was injured; badly so. "We have to help now, Zhener. Hounds attacked, Kanan and his father came... we must go!" She explained in a hurry, heading for the mountains again. Beforing leaving, she called over her shoulder, "Jessie, by the way!"

Zhener

Now it was Zhener's turn to be bombarded by a rush of words, though he heard them all quite well and nodded his head, "Ve vill go zhen!" He declared, jumping into the air while unfurling his giant wings. "Jessie, I vill remember zhat!" The eagle replied, rising higher into the sky. However, before getting too far, his keen eyes came to rest on another friend of his, and he changed course to investiage...

Inuko

Inuko really had no idea what was going on, but she dashed after Jessie, simply because Jessie seemed more interesting then a german eagle. "Jessie! What about revenge!" she called, always eager to attack the hounds...