The joined waterways of the Fourthdale danced beneath the rising sun. The clouds were cast in lilac hues against a red flush, and oakwood eyes lift to watch the sun's ascent. The water lapped at its constraints, and a gentle breeze drew the lingering chill of the night to those awake.

A faraway look lingered in the young wolf's gaze. Had it really been two months since they had stumbled out of the oak grove and into Mythris? Juniper lowered their gaze to the water below, the leaves and vine tangled into their fur were dull, dried. Soon they would crumble. A wry smile found its place upon their lips.

The accessories Juniper adorned herself with were all that arrived to this new world with her. Would she too grow old and crumble in a world that was not her own?

Hardly a day passed without an underlying worry. Juniper thought of the dream that haunted her. A troubling development in addition to the plagued waters that Kirain warned her of. Juniper did not present her worries to others of the rise, instead she spent her spare moments monitoring the western edges of the territory for blight and tasting the rise's waters. They remained overall untainted, but how long would that peace remain?

With a heavy sigh, Juniper slumped their shoulders and shook their head. It was not the start of a productive day if one spent it worrying.

Dreams had not been kind to Stardust as of late. There was a harsh, confusing nightmare not too long ago. It was like Dreamwalking, but not quite. There was something different about it, and it made Stardust completely uncomfortable and even more paranoid about this world. Then she had her Dreamwalk with her father, just out of reach. Everything just felt so cruel recently.

This morning she woke early. There was no dream last night. Only darkness. She had only Dreamwalked once since she was here, and part of her desperately wanted it to happen again. Yet here she was again, a failure. Cyan eyes open as she sighs heavily. The woman of night groans as she moves, and slowly makes her way out of her stone den. She stretched, and then walked casually to the stream nearby to get a drink.

As she did so, her Raven friend landed for their own drink, before cawing at her a few times and flying off. Stardust was beginning to understand the Raven’s intentions. She knew it wanted her to follow. The Raven flies through the trees, and landed directly next to Juniper. It hops near her a few times, eyes on Juniper curiously, seemingly looking at all the items within Juniper’s fur. It took a few moments, but Stardust eventually came into view.

The woman of night hues looked at the beautiful sunrise for a moment, enjoying it for but a second before continuing forward towards the stranger. Juniper. Stardust was aware of her, but had not met her yet. It appears the Raven decided for her. Stardust lopes forward, seeing how slumped Juniper looked. Did she miss her home? She forced a small smile.

”Oh, hello. I see you have met the Raven,” she said as she walked slowly closer. ”I don’t know their name. They only speak…well, Raven so far. I am Stardust though,” she said softly, hoping that she wasn’t disturbing the younger wolf. The Raven hopped a few times, and flapped their wings happily, growing more comfortable within the Rise each day amongst the wolves.

The flutter of wings draw her attention, and Juniper turns to find a little delight in the form of a bird. A raven perched in the grass at her side. Hopping as its head twisted curiously. A smile set upon her face, Juniper cooed softly to the creature, Why, hello there.

Footfall soon followed and a voice came calling over the hill. Oakwood eyes lift from the Raven to the slender woman of midnight hues and moonlight. Juniper returned her smile, as she approached. The woman introduced herself as Stardust. It was a fitting name in Juniper's eyes.

Yes, yes. Kirain mentioned Stardust before. She had the den between the stones.

Ah, hello! I'm Juniper. The young wolf chirped in greeting. Their eyes landing once more on the feathered friend between them. Ravens are clever birds, perhaps this one simply doesn't want to be bound by a name. Juniper looked again to Stardust, inviting her to sit with a nod. How long have you had this friend?

The Raven continued to look at the items in the new wolf’s fur, and they appeared to have a sense of wonder. With a single caw, the Raven suddenly flew off. Stardust huffed a bit in response.

”They always do that…” she complained, looking back at Juniper. ”Oh yes, Juniper! Kirain has told me about you. Sorry I took so long to meet you,” she said, moving her tall graceful form closer to the younger wolf, looking out at the sunrise.

”Bound by a name? But…how would we refer to each other without names? I feel bad that I can’t call it by something, but I guess there is like…something to not have to worry about a name,” she said with a plop of her rump on the ground. ”Well, it is sorta hard to explain. I came falling into this world in my sleep. I came crashing through a tree. This bird, I am pretty sure they are from my home of Taviora. My father…well, the Ravens liked to pick on him a lot in particular. I don’t know why. They would pull the fur out of his tail all the time,” she said with a bit of a sigh at the end, still feeling the pain of being away from home…although it was starting to wain by now. ”This bird hasn’t stopped following me around since I came here. It doesn’t bother me like the Ravens did my father…most of the time.” she said with a bit of a sly grin, cyan eyes looking for the Raven who was now completely out of sight.

”How did you end up here? Everyone I met has some kind of story so far,” she asked, now turning to look over Juniper more closely. Her hues were interesting, and Stardust was unsure how to make of the decorations in her fur. Part of her wanted to pull them out due to cleanliness, and then part of Stardust thought…maybe it looked pretty. Never had she been so conflicted in her life, and it showed by a somewhat confused expression on her dark visage.

Juniper replied with a warm smile, You've no need to apologize, I could have sought you out first, myself. Kirain has told me about you too. Their ears cupped gently towards the taller wolf, listening intently to Stardust's story.

'To be bound by a name,' Juniper repeated herself as if the words were an affirmation.

Where I was raised, some believed that to give an entity your full name is to give them ownership over you. A name identifies you, so it is not uncommon to have multiple names. Your full name is given only to those whom you trust. It was superstition, and one that Juniper didn't believe in completely, but caution had been drilled into them since puphood. Amusement pulled at the corners of their mouth. Names are funny thing, aren't they? They mean different things to different people. Some names are inherently cruel, and are meant to harm the individual they are given to. On the other paw, I've heard of some folk having horrid sounding names, but it is to make their children unappealing to malicious spirits. An act of love.

Juniper turned from the horizon to face Stardust with an earnest expression. Perhaps the Raven is happy to just be known for what it is. And if it came from the same place as you, perhaps you remind it of home.

Juniper leaned back onto her haunches, eyes returning to the colorful sky. My story isn't all that exciting. I had taken my younger brother hunting. He, the reckless thing that he is, turned it into a high speed chase. I caught myself on the terrain while chasing after him and ended up in the bushes. When I crawled out, the world had changed.

There one moment and gone the next. An all too familiar ache made its home in her chest. How long would it take for the homesickness to lessen?

The air was still cool for the morning, and it blew through the air touching her fur. Stardust watched the sunrise again as Juniper spoke. She had a lot to say about the subject of a name, and it honestly wasn’t something Stardust ever thought too much about. It was never something she particularly pondered upon, but as Juniper kept going, Stardust’s face turned with thought as she considered all these new thoughts at once.

”Hmm, never heard of that where I came from,” she added in regards to having multiple names and not giving the full name out. Her head tilted and a brow raised when Juniper spoke about giving unpleasant names for a reason. ”I couldn’t imagine naming a child something ugly to make them unappealing to spirits. I’d name them something so beautiful that…the spirits would be too in awe to approach!” she said with a playful grin, now looking back to Juniper. She was not being too serious…but at the same time, Stardust WOULD take that approach.

”I guess we will never know with the raven unless it learns to speak. I hear that some birds can mimic speech…and at times I wonder if I hear its voice in my dreams…” she says, trailing off a bit as she can’t really tell sometimes if it was real. It appears though, that Juniper had a somewhat unexciting entrance into the world, something that Stardust was rather jealous about.

”Okay so…I fell from the sky in my sleep, Kirain was walking and the forest just…changed, you fell into a bush and coming out everything was changed, a girl who just woke up here, and…I met a guy who said he wasn’t a wolf before here! Can you believe it? I have always been wolf as far as I am aware, what about you?” she asked curiously, her voice sounding determined. Stardust was trying to piece together anything she can learn about this place and how anyone got here. A small frown did touch her maw though, thinking about how from Juniper’s brother perspective, she just…disappeared. How could that be???

A pleasant note sounded in her throat as Stardust mused about names. When the taller woman turned back to her, mirth playing across her face, Juniper couldn't help but return her smile. Well, should you ever have a child, I'll be thrilled to learn what you name them.

I've heard stories of creatures speaking with wolves, but never met one I could speak with myself. A slight frown pulled at their lips. Was Stardust visit by spirits in her sleep? The dark cloaked woman continued on in her chatter, before Juniper could ask further about her dreams, they found themself gasping.

Wasn't a wolf?! Their brow furrowed, Juniper looked down at their feet. With a hrmmmm, they glanced back to Stardust. I thought it was strange enough that this world stole us... but it can change us, too?

Juniper's voice trailed away, ears splaying. This was a troubling world. It stole those even as they're awake and there were plagued lands and water. You mentioned hearing a voice in your dream. Does that happen a lot? Does that voice tell you about this land's history?

Stardust’s head pulled back suddenly at the meer mention of having a child. Children? Her? She looked down at her paws, and she made a rather awkward face with widened cyan eyes. The thought of even finding someone to have children with had not even occurred to her since she arrived at this land, let alone the horrors of pregnancy and birth. She then silently nodded as she blinked, avoiding this conversation for now.

”Oh…I have met a…tiger, who talked to me. Never seen one before, but it is way…way bigger than us, like a puma but bigger, with…stripes! It was one of the most beautiful creatures I have ever seen,” she said with reverie, also remembering Calder and his mention of being not a wolf before. She looked at Juniper and nodded quickly, cyan eyes wide, glad that she was not alone in her surprise.

”Yes, exactly! I have always been a wolf, only had one life…this one. This place though…it is different” she stated, feeling rather sane having met Juniper. Juniper seemed to have had a…normal wolf life, like Stardust had. The woman of night hues laid her form next to Juniper, crossing her dark paws in front.

”Dreams get…complicated. My father was a dreamwalker, where the real world and dreams could not be distinguished. I cannot normally do what he does…but sometimes it happens. But…there was something else recently…a dream that was so different…” she said heavily, head looking down. ”It showed this land, but…changed, and not in a good way. There was…changed wolves…and…I can’t really explain it, but at the end I remember it saying ‘Something appeared that was wrong, Something has arrived, and was brought it here in anger.’ or…something like that, hard to remember. I was not a normal dream, nor a dreamwalking dream and it was…so scary,” she said with her ears drooping a bit. She had mentioned this dream to Kirain once, in moments of distress, but she was so unsure about it. Maybe it was nothing…or maybe it was a growing warning about this place.