The Grey Tower

Meriana Rayere Meriana stood on the edge of the woods bordering the Grey Tower and stared into the forest. The wolves were close. Closer than they had ever been to Hama Valon. Meri was a friendly person, and cherished her friends, but she had felt alone in this. She had very little guidance, besides that she was not crazy. Her training kept her busy, but...she needed to confront this. Her dreams had woken her this morning. She had been hunting with the wolves. It almost felt like she had been running on all fours. Unconsciously, she covered her mouth as she remembered tearing apart the flesh in the dream. For a moment, her humanity kicked in, and she ripped herself from the dream. In those dreams, that was the only way to wake up.

If she had to think about it, the Saldaean Drin wouldn't have said she was disturbed, but the dream had her wide awake, earlier than she normally was expected to be out of bed...and on a free day. After some thinking, and a little prodding from the wolves, she got out of bed and decided to finally face this, instead of preparing for it.

Communicating with the wolves had been tricky at first. They communicated with her through images, feelings, senses. But, it was all one language. After she had ripped herself from the dream world...which probably had a proper name that she just didn't know, she had pieced together that the wolves were calling her foolish, and that what she had done was dangerous. Meriana Rayere needed training...from wolves.

Light help me, but this is crazy, she thought as she darted into the woods.

It is crazy to refuse, pup, came the response from the wolves. It only took her a couple of seconds to reason out the phrasing. This one was a gray wolf, who wasn't very muscular, but was very spry. She hadn't figured out names yet, but she knew that they had them.

Because of her training, her lungs and legs were much more used to running now. It wasn't quite winter yet, but it was coming. She wore a light cloak, more casual clothes than her uniform, and kept her hair down. She had sweet-talked her way into getting some food from the Kitchens for this excursion, along with a skin of water. This was the longest she had been in contact with the wolves on purpose. It was beginning to feel more natural, and she was beginning more and more to feel like...that was perfectly fine. When she felt them begin to find her, she slowed down and began to look around, to see if she could spot them.

It didn't take long before Meriana was surrounded. As her run turned to a jog, she could see wolves begin to circle her, quickly darting between the trees, then begin to stalk her, almost. She received images and feelings of curiosity. It was very rare for wolves to encounter a human who could speak and hunt with them. No kidding, she thought. Flashes of not really laughter, but humor...if it could be called that. Taller than most southlander men, Meriana towered over the wolves. Had she not encountered and "hunted" with them before, she would have been petrified. But right now, she was just as wary as they were.

As her new four-legged companions emerged, Meri counted eight of them. They did not bring their old or their young. Not until they could meet with her, anyway. An image flashed in her mind of a tree's bark that had been scratched so much that it appeared black. Another came to her of a small spat of leaves dancing on the wind as they fluttered to the ground. One was more of a feeling of a large tooth just...missing. It took her a while to realize that they were introducing themselves. Black Bark. Leaf Dance. Dead Fang. She realized after Leaf Dance introduced herself that she recognized which one was talking. The introductions continued, and she tried to keep her emotions in check. This was new and completely outlandish, but she wouldn't call it crazy anymore.

Meriana tried to introduce herself, but they didn't seem to understand. She was surprised to see images of her digging Aureli out of the ground, flashes of her training in the Yards, even flashes of the flowers she wore in her hard. But, these seemed to all be one thought, part of her identity. This is what the wolves thought of her. It all seemed to culminate in a name similar to what they called themselves. Iron Blossom. Iron for her blade, and blossom for the flowers she was still wearing in her hair. She liked it.

You have been in the city for a long time, yet this is the first time we meet you. Dead Fang initiated this message and seemed to set the pace for how the other wolves reacted and moved.

I'm in training. I'm learning to be a protector, she explained, uncertain of what the wolves would say.

You want to hunt.

Now, this was true. She would rather be in the woods, than in training most of the time. She enjoyed her training, though. Yes, she admitted, but I must learn.

You must learn to hunt, Black Bark interjected.

You must learn the dream. You were in it too strongly. Leaf Dance took a step toward her, but not too close.

Meriana wasn't quite sure what to say to that. She needed to learn a lot of things. Like, why she could smell people's moods, why she could see better, why she was in the dream in the first place. How did all this happen? Calming herself, she accepted that learning the dream, and learning to hunt were probably something to consider, yes.