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Sophrosyne peeked over the south-eastern part of the wall curiously. It was rather big, to be sure, and looking left to right she figured that for the wolves that she smelled it was obviously high enough to keep others out. For a Skickra, well, if her earth magic was just a little better, maybe not.

The wall was just about high enough to hide her body from the sight of those inside, if one was to be around the place, but not her head. It was broad enough for a small wolf or feline to walk upon, she estimated, but what mostly caught her attention was the decoration. She could care less about the things inside, let alone the tower. It smelled like wolf, and though she'd had some nice enough encounters with some, that was not something to actually interest her.

Moving along the wall, her head lowered to examine the wall, she now and then used her own magic to revive a flower or two. It looked just about plausible that she was doing this haphazardly, but the Skickra had simply come to examine the different types of flower. If they hadn't been unkept, she suspected they might have survived winter, although she was nowhere near as skilled as their creator to duplicate, let alone invent, such a flower. Her magic was by far still too gauche. Reviving them was the least she could do, and also helped her learn to understand how they were made - thick, almost oily flower petals, and soft, possibly hairy, stems and leaves.

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<td class = "ShinshuStyle ShinshuPostingArea" colspan="2">The fight with the black wolf had Shinshu feeling rather useless, and so after healing from the wounds, he thought he would start to train himself up- for real this time. After telling the lead protector and his mate that he'd be gone for a day or two, he set off at a loping pace. He would push his endurance to the limit today. Looking up to the sky, he prayed to the World Spirit for their blessing, and ran across the fields of the south.

After an over an hour of loping, he came by some water, a deep pool. "Needn't stop.." he thought to himself, and took a dive in to drink whilst swimming. He came out the other end feeling quite refreshed, and he pressed on, only feeling a little tired at this point. Wolves were made to run after all.

Another hour passed, and he had been travelling towards the pretty tower of Divum for what seemed like a lifetime, as he was now tiring, and realising he wasn't as fit as he used to be.
Now he was very close. He could even see the wall that surrounded the place. He slowed to a trot as it dawned on him that he hadn't been here before, though he had heard of it, and had met wolves from the pack. Panting, he scoped the area for any other wolf, and wondered where everywolf had been all this time.

His silver eyes then came across something he hadn't seen before. A large deer like creature with four horns was walking along the wall, but it looked unlike any deer he'd seen before,
with a light coat all over, seemingly rather large. The white Lerk stopped in his tracks as he witnessed the creature use magic and tilted his head at it, keeping his distance until it acknowledged his presence so he didn't spook it.</td>
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The lavender di'shei had not given up on her small pack quite yet, even with the disappearance of one of its most prominent members. Oh, she'd known that Sijor had gone looking for her friend, and also knew that the speedy youngster hadn't found anything yet, for Freyja had heard nothing of any developments. Her keen gaze had surely picked out the small hybrid running swiftly across the lands back home not too long ago even, which had made her saddened in her heart. Shiloh had been the last reminder of his mother, a brave wolf, and a dear friend, and now, all of that was gone forever, at least she imagined that was the case. After all, it was very rare indeed, if not entirely impossible that wolves came back from sudden disappearances like that, so she wouldn't assume this to be any sort of special case either.

So her patrols over the pack increased, mostly due to the fact that she didn't want Aamu or Aurora to feel tied down, due to a lack of members. Divum would remain hospitable, and Freyja would continue watching over, that was the way of things. Today then, when she noticed a large deer creature moving around the wall, she smiled and gently started descending to land a safe few wolflengths away, still within the territory. It was not a creature she was unfamiliar with, although she hadn't truly encountered one up close, she imagined that they were shyer than most wolves.

However, even as she pondered what the ramifications of a skickra coming so close to Divum were, her keen nose picked up the wafting scent of another, brought by a breeze that trickled through. Another wolf, then, had come as well and that instead became her priority, for while the skickra was a wonderful find, she didn't want any wolf that came near her pack to feel ungreeted. Scanning around, utilizing her spiritual affinity to pick out the life force of the wolf and also find that he seemed to mean no harm through his lack of any sort of predatory or aggressive feelings, she spotted a white lerkrat not too far off that appeared to also watch the creature, and sent a mental message to him only. <I>"Hello there. I am Freyja, of Divum. It's a skickra, come to visit my lands, apparently, if you're wondering."</i> She had no idea why he'd come to Divum, but it seemed perhaps they were both now taking part in an extraordinary event.

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Soph leisurely walked forth, but when she rounded about a corner south she noticed that the wind carried more scents than just the old ones of wolves having claimed the land. Moving her head up once again, she stared at the white figure, and jerked a little at the moving sight from above. A birdwolf! She had no idea if this one was related to the one that had been with the black sticklike wolf, but it wasn't unlikely. From afar, they looked similar.

However, a Skickra was a magical being, not so much a regular prey animal. Therefore, most of the time she froze in place and this time was no different. But her freezing was more functional than just to hide; it let her focus on the elements around her. Water, she still wasn't amazingly great at, but the earth, well she knew how to threw rocks and perhaps give the upper layer of ground a small shake.

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<td class = "ShinshuStyle ShinshuPostingArea" colspan="2">The creature turned it's head, seeming to look right at Shinshu, and he bowed to it, hoping it would recognise the gesture. He pricked his ears at the voice subconsciously, though he knew he needn't and looked around for the wolf. Spotting the lavender Di'shei and smiled, and bowed low to her, sending a mental message to avoid frightening the so-called Skickra. "Greetings! I am Shinshu, Protector of the Orior Lake. I've never seen one of these before.
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Consider the worm, which toils in the soil to raise the grass for the deer and rabbits to eat.

Consider its value.

The mouse which gathers up grain, the deer who cut paths through the forests.

To whom does the earth belong but everyone yet no one,

Would any merciful god give it over to one kind life at the expense of others,

Who think, learn, and grow?

To those that destroy?

To those that create?

To those that presume to be above such life?

That's no god I'd follow.

That's not the god I follow.

That's not the World Spirit's way.

- Delirio Selenos

Freyja could tell that the Skickra had noticed them, but instead of fleeing, had stopped in place and was watching. That was good, she thought, for in her own travels she had only ever witnessed a bare few of them, for that was how rare they tended to be. Shinshu's voice in her own mind as a return was a welcome one, for then they could communicate without frightening the majestic beast. So she smiled to the antlered creature and then looked to Shinshu and nodded as well, sending back another mental message. <i>"I have seen a few, and perhaps this is one that I have seen before, but it is hard for me to tell. If it is, then this one knows some earthen magic."</i> And then with that, she looked back at the creature, wondering how one could tell with a Skickra if it was a same one or not. She hadn't too much experience to know if there were particular traits or markings that some had that others did not.

So instead, she used magic. Reaching out with her earthen affinity, she grew up a bunch of wildflowers right near the Skickra, hoping that this similar display of magic would cause the other to react. Perhaps that would prove it was the same, for when she and Stellanti had once encountered a Skickra, that had been their way of sort of communicating with it, through magic. Then, she reached out with her spiritual affinity once more towards the Skickra, hoping to find something similar in it's spirit that would tell the tale of whether she had met her before.

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The wolves seemd to converse in a way, but without the normal accompanying barks and whines and stuff like that. How odd. Surely at least one of them knew how to make a sound?

She did not get long to ponder, the birdwolf calling her attention by the use of earth magic. Wildflowers, sprouting from the ground near her hooves. Sophrosyne bowed to the lilac wolf then, sniffing the flowers a bit and then, to see if it was the same wolf, which seemed likely since this was otherwise an odd reaction to the Skickra being there perhaps, she lifted one, made a single petal change colour, and floated it through the air to land in front of the winged wolf. They'd done this before, right? And besides, this was something that she had practised afterwards.

She then turned her head a little, watching the white wolf as if trying to find out if she had seen him before. She guessed not, so she called to him her standard, most simple greeting, one she had given many other wolf.

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<td class = "ShinshuStyle ShinshuPostingArea" colspan="2">Shinshu continued to converse through the same means as before. "Interesting. Can they learn all types of magic?" he asked, and watched in awe as the Skickra answered Freyja's magic with her own, changing the colour of a petal and guiding it to the she-wolf.

Pricking his ears at the bellow it had given him, he bowed low, and pulled some water from the earth, sending an orb her way and sprinkled it on the flowers. "I wonder..." he said in his mind, and hers.</td>
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Consider the worm, which toils in the soil to raise the grass for the deer and rabbits to eat.

Consider its value.

The mouse which gathers up grain, the deer who cut paths through the forests.

To whom does the earth belong but everyone yet no one,

Would any merciful god give it over to one kind life at the expense of others,

Who think, learn, and grow?

To those that destroy?

To those that create?

To those that presume to be above such life?

That's no god I'd follow.

That's not the god I follow.

That's not the World Spirit's way.

- Delirio Selenos

<i>ooc: apparently I didn't subscribe to this ;.; apologies!!</i>

Freyja's muzzle opened in a large smile, her tail faintly wagging. Ah! This was familar, and as the flower came over, she grasped it with her own magic and nodded, giving a small bow to the Skickra. It was the same creature and she looked to Shinshu with a nod. Now, she figured that they could speak normally and she barked her answer to him, noting that using the mind speech and trying to use magic at the same time would be more draining. <b>"I am not sure, what types, but I know they can learn different magics. This one, I've met before, she can manipulate the earth."</b> That part was rather obvious, but she figured she may as well state what she knew and didn't exactly know, after all.

Then, Shinshu tried his own experiment with the magic. Seeing as how they couldn't really communicate with her in any other manner, Freyja approved. It seemed the magical creature understood what they were trying to do, so she waited, and watched, to see what would happen. Would she respond with magic again?

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The white wolf was still silent, but soon enough the birdwolf barked. Sophrosyne perked her ears at the sounds but it seemed a little too complicated to her once again, so she wasn't able to make anything of it. Still, there was a tail wag so she guessed she was a friendly hybrid, much like other mutated wolves.

The white wolf was however, able to control an element which delighted the Skickra. She closed her eyes in a pleased gesture, and pulled a small orb from the flower that had been sprinkled before. She wasn't very good at repeating his actions however, so she only hovered it slowly towards him - but as it got out of reach, it fell to the ground. She obviously wasn't very good at water magic.