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Crossing the pack lands seemed to grow more and more daunting each passing moon. The piebald female stopped by the stream, taking a moment to rest as she looked out over the lands. This was home, this was where she belonged.

And she knew, this was not where her son belonged. She'd learned that. Her cousin's widowed mate, though... He DID belong here. She flicked her ears a bit, listening to the sounds of the creatures about.

Turning her gaze, she watched the other dog. Cushti Bok observed many, and all. It was her job, she was the storyteller. One day, this was a story that would pass down to the next generation. Rising wearily, she padded over with a smile. "Hi... You must be the new dog... I'm Cushti Bok."

Tahu had been wandering around the boarders of the Mpinzani lands, waiting for the new arrivals that he had made friends with on his travels. There were at least two more he was expecting, but when and where he was unsure. However, be it chance, or good timing, or by the ovbious choice that this post would go nowhere without this meeting, Tahu came upon two dogs. One, was of his pack, the other was bright pink and a friendly aquaintence!

"Rashida!" Tahu called over, his tail set off wagging. Good! She had found her way here! It was difficult if one didn't know that it was here in the first place. He wandered up happily on the pair, and nuzzled his friend, then nodded to his pack mate. "Hello, Cushti Bok."

But, he turned back to Rashida. "Its so nice to see you! You will be staying, yes?"

"Well, by the river here is a nice place for smaller game. Hares, and merkats... warthogs too at times. But I already caught something this morning, and I'm more then willing to share." Tahu was grinning, keeping his words short. She'd be used to that by now, he'd never been one to talk too much.

"Just a hare, but its a meal. We'll be going on a hunt soon enough. A new set of pups just came into our pack, and we'll be celebrating their arival, along with all the new dogs." He added, nodding to her. "Lela arived as well. And others have found us." Tahu beamed. His family had broken apart when he was young. A sister lost, a brother run away, a mother who went crazy, and a little brother who disapeared... it was a lot. His mother had returned, and Jaama was here. Now the pack was growing, and it eased the pain of those family members who had left.

"Its just over a ways. I heard you two talking, and came over." Rising back up to his feet, his tale went back to waggin, and he stepped forward again a nuzzled her. "Its so good to see you!"

[<3]

Taken aback a little from the lack of physical warmth and contact she'd had in her life, Rashida takes a step back at first before accepting Tahu's warm welcoming nuzzle. Still nervous, her eyes flit over towards the piebald female who's figure is slowly withdrawing further and further away. To Rashida it felt strange, it was perhaps the first physical contact she had had with another wild dog aside from her parents whom she could not even remember. But yet, it was not a bad feeling and Rashida found her tail wagging and instinctively returned the nuzzle.

After what seemed like quite a long time, although in fact it was only a few brief seconds, the nuzzle broke as Rashida willingly accepted Tahu's offer for food. "Thank you, I'd love some food." she managed to say, although it sounded rather stilted as she was not used to kindness, especially not used to others sharing food, which for her was quite often difficult to find much of because of her coat.

Rashida stood looking at Tahu, waiting for him to lead the way.

Rashida listened to Tahu's soft voice and fixed her gaze on his slowly swinging tail as she followed behind him. She lost track of her thoughts for a brief moment as the almost pendulum-like swaying of his tail and calm voice washed over her. There was something very relaxing in the tone of his voice that could put even the anti-social aspects of Rashida's negative mind to ease.

She wasn't aware of the question at first, and continued to walk in silence for a moment. Then it dawned on her what he was asking. "Oh..." She replied, shakeing the almost sleepy like feeling away. "It was a long journey, and with the lions on the other side of the mountain, I had to take care to travel durring the day when their hunters were sleeping. I'm not exactly an easy target to miss. So I tried to stay low to avoid any unnecessary conflict. I followed the river, staying close to it for water and food, but..." Rashida's thoughts trail off for a moment.

"I've always just roamed the lands, and never really had much of a goal in mind. So I guess when it comes to tracking, my nose isn't quite as good as most other dogs. The strong muddy river scent made it difficult to smell other dogs such as yourselves. I was also cautious to avoid claimed territories... but even that was often difficult to smell in the outerlands with the continuous mixture of animal and plant scents. The assualt of smells made it often difficult to even know where I was at the time, as well as difficult to find prey. I ate little and traveled slowly to conserve my energy."

Rashida was often used to going with little to eat, but the long journey had made her even more lank and lean than she already was. She had never traveled this far for such a great period of time, and another soft rumble in her tummy reminded her just how hard her journey had been.

Rashida padded over softly to what remained of the hare. Sniffing it and licking it tenatively, her tail began to wag with appreciation. As she bit into the meat, it was still faintly warm. It must still be fairly fresh. Warm meat for her was in fact quite rare as she would often pick the remains of others' kills long after they had been abandoned. She seemed to almost smile as she tore the meat away from the tiny bones. After coming such a long ways, she thought it was the best hare she had ever had.

Finally, feeling her belly calm down, she paused, looking up from the kill, and made her way over to thank Tahu. Although affection was still somewhat new to her, she lowered her head, butting it against the male's chest nuzzling him for a moment as she walked by. This time there was a difference in the way that she carried herself. It was full with energy from the meal and much livelier than earlier. "Thank you, that was delicious." she told him as she pulled away breaking contact.