[SpringsSong]

It felt like it had been ages since she had last been out here, and that would have been a fairly accurate statement.  It had been ages since the Lucain female had set foot in this neck of the woods; in fact, it had been several years at best since she had been here.

But now, she was home.

This place had been home to her once before, but then, she had gone away—away to war, away to a world where she could take on a form similar to that of the woman whom she lived with; the woman with the fox tails that seemed to live forever.  In that world, she had lived for several years—but at last, she was returning to her roots.

She was returning to her heritage, her roots, her meaning for life itself.

The dirt underneath her paws was something that was refreshing to feel, and it felt like it had been far too long since he had felt it.  This was the territory that she had claimed forever ago; the territory that her children had promised that they would care for if she left.  She had been gone far too long in her opinion; but now, she was home.

“Ah, home sweet home~” she said contentedly, looking around contentedly, trying to spot any unwanted intruders.

[SpringsSong]

Within the brush of Idalani, another Lucain stalked the dark female, his golden eyes serious as he watched her every move.  He already did not appreciate this female’s presence; she was far too commanding for his tastes.  She carried herself like she was… well, like she was a princess or something.

So you think that you can just welcome yourself into my territory… he thought darkly as he watched her maneuver around the grounds which he had claimed.  Since there were no other Lucain around the area on a regular basis, he had not thought to mark the territory… and now, he was realizing that it may have been a wise idea to do so.

Let’s see how good of a hunter you are, Princess, he thought to himself as he shifted around the grounds, keeping as low to the ground as he could to keep himself out of her line of sight.

It could have very easily been said that this female was pretty, but the fact of the matter still remained that she was an unwelcome guest on his personal territory—and he didn’t really appreciate unwelcomed guests, whether in the form of prey (which he promptly hunted and stored for later days) or other Lucain attempting to establish a pack of their own.  This spot of land happened to have a den there; a den that was perfect for a pack to exist there in peace.

A den… that was full of his hunting escapades.

[SpringsSong]

Taliña shifted slightly as she thought she heard someone in the bushes, but she soon dismissed it as maybe just a smaller animal scurrying around, and she wasn’t in the mood to hunt.

Not just yet, at least.

First, the female Lucain made her way around the territory.  It seemed unoccupied enough, but something kept nagging at her; kept urging her to check her old den—the den where she had promised that she would raise what pups she did have after the war.

The den where she and her then-mate were going to live the rest of their lives happily.

Tali shook this thought from her mind, however, when she caught the familiar scent of a new kill—or, at least, a relatively-new kill—coming from the den.  She frowned, perplexed—she had not been there in ages, and from the looks of it, her children that lived with her had also neglected the den.  There was only one way to explain the scent of fresh meat coming from the den.

That, of course, was that someone had decided to try and claim her territory.

“I know you’re out there,” Tali said in a warning tone, looking around carefully until her eyes came to rest on a patch of brush that looked particularly suspicious.  “I suggest that you show yourself now…”

[SpringsSong]

Well.  It would seem that this female was one of the smarter ones that he had encountered; one of the ones that actually knew how to do stuff for herself.  This would definitely make any sort of an encounter with her interesting—in fact, it was already heading in the direction of an encounter.

This, of course, was not something that Yuki minded in the slightest.

“I will admit, I wasn’t expecting you to catch onto me that quickly, Princess,” he said smugly, walking out of the brush nonchalantly.  “But, then again, I also would have thought that you could pick up on the signs that this place is inhabited—and claimed—a little faster than that.”

It was more than evident that Yuki didn’t really know that Taliña was the former alpha in this territory—and to him, it did not matter.  The territory had no lasting markers on it, and therefore, it was territory that was up for grabs.  He had not anticipated on someone coming through and attempting to claim it for herself, however, and that was what irked him slightly.

“Now, why don’t you just go home to your handlers and have them groom you and feed you the best that they can afford from the palms of their hands?  The wilds of Idalani are no place for a princess like you,” he said, a dark smirk on his face.

[SpringsSong]

The female gave a warning snarl as the male stepped out of the brush; he was taller than most of the male Lucain that she had encountered in her day, and he was also bulkier, but that did not frighten her any.  If anything, it only put her off a little more about his presence.

“Why, yes; this territory is claimed,” she said, brushing off one of the stones to reveal a paw print that had been made in blood—and below it, a set of characters that had been carved into the stone.  “I remember carving that stone, as well as making that paw print.  This is the territory of the Darkpaw Pack—” she said, her eyes growing more severe here, “—and you are the one that is trespassing here.”

She growled as the male called her “princess”.  She had never been referred to in that sense before, and she wasn’t sure she liked being called “Princess”.  Some had said that, had she lived with her parents while she was growing up, one of them would have inevitably called her “princess” on a regular basis.

“I am no princess, and I have no handlers,” she said, raising her right paw and showing her bandana.  “I am a warrior who is finally returning home.”

[SpringsSong]

Yuki chuckled as Taliña said all of this, listening to her go on about how the paw print on the stone was hers, and how she had making the paw print in the blood on that stone.  He nodded towards the stone, his golden eyes gleaming in mischief.

“That stone was also very well concealed,” he said.  “If you want to show that a territory is claimed, then you have the markers out in the open, not hidden where only you and other members of your pack know how to find them,” he said, smirking a little more now as he began to circle her.

“Oh?  A warrior, you say?  You mean to say that they allow women to fight these days?” he asked, his voice bordering on insulting.  “That’s foolish, in my opinion.  Women are far too emotional to fight in battle—the tiniest little things can set them off… like the death of a loved one,” he said, still holding his smirk.

“Now, as I was saying—go home, Princess; this territory’s taken,” he said, giving a stern growl followed by a huff.

[SpringsSong]

“Don’t you dare lecture me about women being too emotional to fight in battle, and don’t you dare speak of losing loved ones to me!” Taliña growled dangerously, her hackles raised.  “Do you even realize whom you are speaking to?  I once had a bounty of 1500 Keystones placed upon my head for my death.  I was one of the Imperial’s more feared soldiers—along with him, of course,” she said, not speaking his name.

She did not want to remember his name.

“For your information, I am home,” she said.  “That den is mine, these grounds are mine, and everything within a reasonable distance here is mine—for me and my pack.  My children were to care for it while I was away at war,” she said, her eyes stern.  “And now, I have returned to the place which I belong in—and that’s right here, in this spot, as the alpha female of the Darkpaw Pack—and you cannot stand in the way of that,” she said, her hackles still raised as she crouched low.  If she needed to fight for her home, she would do so.

Defend your claim, no matter the costs, she reminded herself.

[SpringsSong]

It was near impossible for Yuki not to laugh at Taliña as she said this.  He honestly could have cared less about the fact that she had been one of the soldiers with a high bounty placed on her head during the war; in fact, he did not even know the first thing about this war!  With a smug grin on his face, he began to circle her once again.

“You think I care if you had a bounty?” he taunted.  “Don’t speak of losing loved ones?  Did I strike a raw nerve there, Princess?” he asked, giving a slight chuckle here.  “Did he die defending you from a warrior that you could not otherwise fight?  Did he sacrifice himself for you because you got yourself into trouble that you couldn’t get out of?”

He had little care for the fact that Taliña found this topic highly sensitive, or that she herself had experienced death.  He would find out soon enough, though.  Right now, however, he was just amused at her behavior.

“Do you mean to fight me for territory that is already claimed?” he taunted.  “A princess, fighting a warrior that has years of experience of living for himself and living on his own… please, I wouldn’t want to hurt your delicate sense of dignity,” he said, waving her off.

[SpringsSong]

“Wouldn’t want to hurt my—you obviously don’t know anything about alpha females and their territory, then,” Taliña said in a dark voice, still crouched low to the ground as she snarled.  “You will find that nothing about me is delicate—and if that is what you were expecting, then I am indeed sorry to disappoint.”

As she said this, she leapt at him, her fangs barred as she felt her claws extend from her paws.  It had been ages since she had fought like this, and it was something that she missed dearly right now.  Though she did not miss the prospect of dying in a fight, she did miss the actual act behind fighting; the need to defend one’s homeland and territory, regardless of the risk to themselves.

As she latched onto the male’s wingblades, she felt a sharp, searing pain in her right leg, but she forced it back to the deepest recesses of her mind, ignoring the pain and focusing on the moment instead.

Nothing about me is delicate, she thought as she dug her claws deep into the male’s hide.  Nothing about me is delicate, and I am not giving up my home just because some male says it’s been unclaimed for long enough that it is now his.

[SpringsSong]

Oh, so she was one of those females.

As Taliña spoke, Yuki found himself coming to a different realization; the reason why this female seemed to get right under his skin, where he didn’t want her—it was because she reminded him of her; of the woman whom he had been unable to save from drowning all those years ago, before he had returned to the place of his birth—a ship—to seek employment, and to get over the pain of losing her.

And to make matters even worse, now this female was attacking him and saying that there was no way that she was giving up her territory, and that she was in no way delicate.

As if he needed to be told twice that she was far from delicate now.

“Oh, so this is the way you wish to go about playing?” he sneered, twisting around and latching onto her right front leg as hard as he could, catching the bandana in his mouth.  He twisted around again, ripping her off of him, but not without a few scars to show for it.

“You should be warned that I play rough, Princess,” he spat, digging his claws into her as he bit down on her right leg through the bandana.

[SpringsSong]

As hard as it was for her to manage, Taliña bit back a scream of pain as he bit into the bandana.  Truth be told, pain was one of the few things that fazed her, but with a bite so expertly placed over an already-grievous wound from the past, it was hard for her to bite back a whimper of pain.  Somehow, though, she managed to do so.

“I can play just as rough,” Taliña spat in response as she snapped at his neck, latching onto the fur there and pulling as hard as she could.  She was not intending to fatally wound him; just bruise his ego and pride enough to see that she was capable of fending for herself when the situation demanded it.

And a territory dispute was definitely something that demanded that she be capable of defending herself.

“So do you still think that I am ‘delicate’?” she spat through a mouthful of his fur, digging her claws into him as she attempted to overturn him.  “Or do you think I was serious when I say that I will stop at nothing to defend my home?” she challenged.

[SpringsSong]

If there was one thing that Yuki had not allowed himself to expect—for he was trying his best to block everything out—it was that Taliña would show next to no reaction to the pain of having what was evidently a weak spot (or so he assumed, from the bandana which was on her right foreleg).  No, instead, she went right on clawing and biting at him, fighting her way through the pain as though it was nothing whatsoever.

Just like she had, the first time they had sparred.

He wasn’t about to let that phase him, however.  No, this female was just that—a female—and, sooner or later, she would break and beg for mercy from him.  He just had to push a little further and show that he was stronger than her…

…but then, she went for his throat.

Of all of the battle tactics he had anticipated, he had not anticipated her to go for his throat like she did.  If anything, he had expected her to be whimpering and at his mercy by now, but no; instead, he was almost at her mercy.

Almost.

[SpringsSong]

Taliña smirked as she felt him realize that there was next to no feasible way that he was going to get out of this one victorious.  After a few moments more of analyzing her opponent in a prone position, Taliña found a little additional strength to twist around and pin him on the ground beneath her, snarling with her hackles raised as high as they would go.

“Delicate, right?” she sneered, digging her claws as deep into him as they would go. “Like I said before, you will find that nothing about me is delicate—especially not where my home is concerned.  Now, are you going to continue to challenge me to fight, or am I going to have to hurt you a little further to prove my point?”

Here, as if to make her point, she pushed her claws just a little more, and Taliña began to feel something in her blood shift and stir.  However, she forced the feeling back; surely, her life was not in that much danger that her sense of “fight or flight” was kicking in, right?

[SpringsSong]

A yelp of pain reluctantly escaped from Yuki’s maw as he went limp beneath the female, glaring at her darkly.  Blood was seeping onto his coat, and he was also exhausted to the point where it was almost pointless for him to try and fight back.  He looked away from her, his golden eyes dark.

“I will allow you to stay on this territory, but I am remaining in this den.  I am already utilizing it as a place to store the prey that I kill, and there is really nowhere else for me to keep it,” he said, looking away from her angrily.  He was definitely not amused that a female had just beaten him as though it was nothing—she looked like she had barely expended any energy in defeating him!

“There is a shelter on this territory—I am not sure what its purpose was, but it could serve as some sort of a den for you, I suppose,” he said begrudgingly.  “I trust that our paths will only rarely cross, if they cross at all.  After all, you’ve proved yourself quite capable of defending yourself, I think.”

With this, he moved to stand up, wincing as Taliña’s claws were removed from his hide.

[SpringsSong]

“Oh, trust me; our paths will barely cross, if I can have my way.  I just ask that you allow me to hunt anywhere on this territory,” she said, retracting her claws as she glared at him darkly.  “I trust you will at least show me to this shelter?  I do not recall any other shelters being naturally-occurring on this territory, so news that there is an additional den of sorts is news to me.”

Here, Taliña stepped away from him, hiding a slight limp in her step from the pain which she was experiencing in her right foreleg.  She was not about to show any signs of weakness to this male; not when she had already beaten him when he was calling her delicate and insinuating that she could not fight.

Patiently, Taliña waited for Yuki to show her where this shelter was.  She did not care if he volunteered his name, nor did she care to share her name with him, unless he volunteered hers.  She was perfectly content to remain nameless to him if he was going to steer clear of her as often as he could.