Comm: Exploring | Safe Grounds

Zanrak was filling her last empty canteen, kneeling close to the swift current of the West River, when Voev returned from around the bend. Rakhera already had her fill of the cool water and stood waiting while Béchamel quenched his thirst.

“Incoming!” Voev skid to a stop, panting. “Incoming tokotas.”

Zanrak looked to Rakhera and when the dark tokota said nothing she cleared her throat, still getting used to stepping in where the masked tokota would have before. “Are they hostile?”

“I don’t think so but one of them looks…” 

“Looks…?”

“Like me.”

“A greying tawny?”

Voev sneezed and looked down at his forepaws. “A dire.”

Zanrak stood and covered the canteen just as the sounds of the other tokotas drifted towards them like the current. A small tawny tokota with saddle and blanket markings led the way and following closely behind her was a tall mud-smudged albino dire with a pink nose. The human handler had heard along their journey south from the Tåniya Mountains that the West River and its banks were safe ground so long as they took no prey but the fish from the river. However, Zanrak knew from her time among Rakhera’s pack that wild tokotas did not always acknowledge the laws of society let alone obey them.

“Hi!” The tawny female trotted up, her tail wagging over her back. The marked tip of her tail looked as though she had dipped in ink for painting.

Zanrak cast another cautionary look at Rakhera then smiled and waved in greeting. “Hello, what are you two doing so far out here?” She patted Voev’s shoulder, sending him to drink from the river.

“We’re just exploring,” the tawny female tokota said. “I’m Charger! That’s an awful lot to be carrying with you. Where are you four going?”

“We’re on our way to the northern Tartok Mountains for an expedition,” Zanrak said. Béchamel came to stand on one side of her now, Voev on the other. “Are you heading to join your handler?”

“The Haunted Lands?” Charger shuddered. “No way, we’re staying well out of that way, at least for now. Are you in a hurry?”

Zanrak shook her head and Béchamel who wagged his tail. “No,” she said, “we’re making good time so we wanted to explore the area as well.”

“May we join you?” the albino asked.

Zanrak looked at Voev who was sneaking shy glances at the large dire. The young greying tawny dire had a few more centimeters to go and then he might surpass the other in height. She smiled and nodded. “We would like that.”

The rest of the introductions were made and Zanrak secured the straps on her tokotas. Rakhera jerked her head up and sidestepped closer to the river before Zanrak finally figured out that the cinch was pinching her skin. She sighed at the masked female then mounted Béchamel, wiggling to settle into the saddle. Voev trotted at Béchamel’s side silently, head lowered, and Zanrak covered laughter. She called out to the other dire who was clearly dominant in his carriage, mellow in attitude;

“Bach?”

He turned, red eyes focusing on her face. “Yes, two-legger?”

“I was wondering if you have heard anything of a paled dire pack that travelled the Tåniya Mountains on your travels?”

The big male noticed Voev’s ears perked up and chuckled. He turned to the greying youngster. “You hail from the northern ranges, little dire?”

Voev bristled at the reference to “little” at first but leaned forward eagerly. “Yes, sir.”

Bach rumbled with laughter. “Please, call me Big B.”

“Big B.” Voev tested the nickname then swallowed. “Do you…can you..?”

Bach lowered his chin in apology. “I don’t know much about the dire pack that used to travel the Tåniyas but I can advise you how to interpret the whispering you hear in the mountains; the sounds and smells the tokotas around you seem to miss.”

“Go on,” Zanrak said and nudged the youngster with a toe. He passed behind Béchamel obediently and walked next to the bigger dire.

“So what’s wrong with her?” Charger asked, nodding back over their shoulders where Rakhera trudged. “She has the air for a dominant but it’s like she’s asleep.”

Rakhera kept pace close behind them easily but focused on nothing. Every so often she would drift close by the rocks at the edge of the river, letting her eyes wander along the surface, then returned to plodding along morosely.

Zanrak sighed and Béchamel answered in her place, “That’s as good a way to put it as any.”

“She was our pack leader in the Tåniyas,” Zanrak said

“She led all of you? Even that little dire?”

Zanrak nodded. “None of those in her pack originated with her in the mountains. She…wandered up there when she was very young and Voev’s pack found her. They took care of her but only a few years later hunters – poachers – separated her from them. Bé joined her after that and he’s not telling his side of the story.” She cast a glare at him but the tawny piebald only grinned at her. “They rescued Voev from some of the poachers. He was still a puppy. The rest of the pack Rakhera found here and there and me, well, she could have left me to bleed out in the middle of a blizzard.”

“Her?” Charger twisted her neck around to eye the intimidatingly marked tokota with a measure of respect. “She doesn’t strike me as benevolent.”

“She strikes most, though,” Voev interjected

Bach laughed and directed the younger dire’s gaze to the grass between Béchamel and the river edge. A mouse scurried under the piebald’s feet and he pounced at it playfully; Zanrak managed the sudden movement easily, shifting her hips and maintaining her loose grip on his white mane.

“She was not usually,” Zanrak agreed. “I’m of the opinion that Béchamel had something to do with her more generous decisions.”

Voev pointed out a trail of berries, scooping up some with his tongue. He led the way into a few bushes, trying to find the source of the treat. When they came up with nothing Rakhera, bored and slightly frustrated, cleared her throat, drawing their attention back to the river. A cluster of diamond-leafed bushes produced the tart treat. All nodded thanks to her before they shared the small spheres.

When they were on their way again Charger resumed their conversation, her curiosity winning out. “Then what happened?”

Zanrak pursed her lips. Béchamel twitched his ears and shrugged, letting the human choose the words. “There was an accident near the beginning of last winter – an avalanche. We lost half our pack before we made it to shelter at Xineng Center.”

“Xineng? You mean the rescue place that takes in those giant cat things and weird shark dog beasts?” 

“Yes, sort of. It’s more of a rehabilitation and training center than a rescue.”

“I see. So, she was leader?”

“Yes.” 

“Then who is leader now?”

“Béchamel–”

“Zanrak.” Béchamel interrupted, dropping one shoulder to jostle his rider, and then nodded confirmation of his statement to the barbary female.

“Only for now,” Zanrak insisted, tugging Béchamel’s white mane. “I still see Rakhera as leader. She should be leader.” She cast a wistful look at the dark tokota who was dipping her toes in the cool water. Just then Rakhera looked up and met the human’s eyes. Hopeful warmth tingled inside Zanrak at the awareness she saw there. “I won’t give up on her.” 

Rakhera sniffed and retreated within herself again much like the inhabitant of a darkened house turning from the windows in favor of a dark and dusty closet where they curled up and shut the door. Zanrak’s shoulders drooped and she wondered how many more times she could bear to mourn the loss.

“As I was saying,” Béchamel said, “We are the only ones left of the pack and we look to Zanrak as leader.”

“A two-legger?” Charger snorted. “Forgive me, mum, but you’re lacking a few things to get along in the wild and run with a pack of tokotas – let alone keep up with a dire.”

“You’d be surprised what our girl can do,” Béchamel said, bragging.

At lunch they called a break. Zanrak pulled dried strips of meat to share with the seated tokotas but Bach led Voev up onto a large flat rock by the river edge ahead of them. He pointed with his nose and a forepaw at something under the surface and Voev nodded and crouched. Fishing in the West River was not a simple matter and the reflections on the surface could play tricks on the eyes. With Bach speaking slowly and Voev responding with only slight hesitation they leaned closer, and closer–

SPLASH!

Voev had smacked a fish from the water with one forepaw! Bach cheered in congratulations and Voev pounced on the fish but the rock was slick with water and his pressure caused it to slip further inland. It flopped around until it landed, gasping, before Rakhera. The large female came to her feet and stared down at the aquatic prey. Her ears were perked and she sniffed it. She looked at Voev and woofed in question.

The young dire was so surprised he dropped his haunches to the rock and stared. Bach nudged his shoulder and Voev coughed. “Y-yes.”

Rakhera sniffed the fish again and lowered her head, crooning a brief thanks to the younger tokota, then worked her way down to the fresh meat. She looked more awake than she had in months.

“Huh,” Charger said among the silence of the others; Bach encouraged Voev to try and repeat his success. “You know, the wet river is vast. It reaches all the way around the Tartok Mountains and down to Kesuk Bay where it rejoins the sea. Its waters are seen as spiritual and life giving by the inhabitants of the mountain you are going to explore. Perhaps this is a blessing or positive omen of sorts.”

Zanrak rubbed Béchamel’s ears absently and smiled. “I hope so.”

- FIN -