Eudaimonia

It had been a long few months in the cold tundra as Irene and Caine tried to set up some form of a den. The empty cave felt like such a shadow compared to the huge one she had left just a few months prior to meeting Caine. The old den had been bustling with life and was always abundant with supplies due to her parent pack's keen sense of organization and order. Alas, that very thing was what had pushed Irene to leave in the first place. She had always been a strong believer of order, but the overwhelmingly strict nature of that pack led to many very unhappy wolves.

Irene shook off the snow that had begun to settle on her fur, deciding that lingering too long in the past would just inhibit her current job - finding some food. After traveling several miles down the mountain, she had found just what she was looking for; a rabbit. With careful and steady paws, she shuffled forward, careful not to disturb the underbrush too much. A few steps further and she charged forward, claiming one of the many “first meals” of Irene’s dream pack.

Never being taught to hunt had made finding food rather difficult, but Caine offered his guidance. Unlike other wolves, Lumens had become dependent on sight rather than smell and thus had to learn different methods of hunting. Fortunately for Irene, the season had changed to winter and made the tracks of the rabbit very noticeable - along with the rabbit’s bright luminosity. The poor thing had been easy to spot in the shade of the trees.

Irene returned to the den. She had to remind herself often to keep optimistic; no wolves ever had an easy time developing a pack. Her’s would be no different. “Besides, the hard work will make the reward all the sweeter,” Caine’s voice echoed in her mind. She carefully laid her catch down on a small nest of moss and grabbed a small knife to prepare for dinner. Before she had made much progress, a howl echoed through the small cave. Whipping her head around, Irene stepped a few feet outside the cave and listened.

Another howl sounded through the trees and snowy slopes. “Definitely Caine,” Irene rushed to the edge of the trees, abandoning her previous task. After a few moments, she could spot three silhouettes - one of which was most certainly Caine’s, but the other two were completely unrecognizable.

As Irene neared, she slowed her pace and tried to flatten her fur in an effort to look somewhat composed. All three heads turned as she approached. “It seems we have visitors,” Caine announces. Irene gives the two strangers a once-over. One of the wolves closest resembled a standard red wolf with a petal-like luminosity pattern; both in color and shape. The other wolf was about the most unusual thing she had seen. His front half was most similar to a gray wolf’s while his back half looked like it had been taken over by chimerism. Irene had never seen any animal affected by chimerism with her own eyes before; she had only heard tales from her parent pack.

“What brings you to our lands?” Irene questions as confidently as she could.

“We had heard of two wolves passing by here and were hoping to maybe join?” The red wolf look-alike said this with about as much uncertainty as Irene was feeling. “I hope this isn’t rude of us to ask! We had just left our pack and were looking for another to join,” There was an admirable sense of optimism in her voice.

Irene considered this for a moment, giving a quick questioning look to Caine. Going by looks, she would assume Caine didn’t seem threatened or bothered by these two. “Can you hunt?”

The question seemed to throw the two off guard. “W-well, I mean… I can. He can’t, though,” the she-wolf indicated to the chimera wolf with a tilt of her head.

“I can learn,” the chimera wolf quickly butt in.

“What can you do?” Irene asked with a bit more conviction than she intended. The strangers didn’t pay it any mind, however.

“I can heal. I know different herbs and such and how to use them,” this wolf seemed far less concerned with trying to appeal to Irene than the she-wolf did. It got under Irene’s fur just a bit.

“If you can bring us some more prey, we’ll consider it,” Irene offered to the strangers with an air of finality and turned to leave. The two wolves understood and traveled back down the mountain, presumably to do as she asked.

After a few moments passed, Irene finally asked, “Do you think they should join?” Caine had stayed very stoic throughout the entire interaction, leaving Irene without much help.

“I think they could be very valuable. One can hunt and the other can likely heal - things neither of us can do very well. Plus the addition of two other wolves will upgrade us from two loners to an actual pack, making us appear stronger to our neighbors” he states earnestly.

Irene considers this for a moment before asking, “But what if they’re here to rob us? Or even kill us for that matter?”

Sensing Irene’s nervousness, Caine assures her that it was highly unlikely. “Those two wolves seem too young and stupid to really be a threat to us. I think, like us, they’re looking for the safety of a pack without having to worry about returning to their parent pack.” He takes a step in front of her, making her focus on him instead of the ground. “I think you can trust them. Nothing ever came out of not taking risks,” he reminded before resuming his path back to the den.

Irene stayed behind and watched as he left. She hated taking risks; she felt so unsafe welcoming these two strangers into her home. She felt as if she could lose everything from one wrong move, but Caine seemingly felt so confident that these two were somehow good. Finally following him up to the den, she determined that nothing could truly be decided until tomorrow morning. Either they’ll scamper off elsewhere or they’ll bring back some food as an offering to join. Only then, would Irene know for sure.