AN: Hi guys! I'm back with a new chapter to Guardian! Yeah I don't have a lot to say up here right now... Oh PLEASE REVIEW! I know it's annoying for authors to keep begging for reviews, I get annoyed by it all the time but really as much as I write this story for myself I want to know if people are enjoying it as well. On that note, thank you to Name who reviewed last chapter! I hope you like this one just as much!

Chapter 3

Connecting to the Earth

The forest was silent. Not unnaturally so, this was the silence-that-is-full-of-noise kind of silence. Toris could hear the birdsong in the trees even if he couldn't always see the bird whose throat made the liquid trills, he could hear the rustle and scamper of small animals in the underbrush. The few fallen leaves and the branches on the ground occasionally crunched under his feet, making noise that the otherwise soft grass and loose dirt could not. Twisting his head around Toris scanned the forest; peaceful though it was he had never been this deep before. His eyes looked to the sky for a moment, taking in the large canopy barely allowing the glimpse of blue sky.

He had been traveling for a day and a half at this point; he couldn't wrap his head around how big the forest was. He could remember the lands to the west that he had grown up on, the clan of water lived near the coast, appropriate that it was, and he had never questioned the fact that it only took a day to travel from the water's edge to the central neutral grounds. This forest seemed to stretch on forever, not that the thought distressed him as much as he thought it would. Toris stopped and dropped his pack to the ground, sitting beside it. It had been a long time since he had walked for so long without stop; now his feet hurt something fierce.

Smiling ruefully, Toris pulled off the boots encasing his feet, the socks too. It was warm enough of a day to have less layers, the walking just made it worse. Sighing happily he let his bare feet touch the dirt as he closed his eyes, taking in the sounds of the forest and the scents along with them.

He couldn't remember the last time he had just sat in the woods; this past year had been full of trying to keep his mind busy and (unsuccessfully) off of Feliks. Before the blonde had been chosen they had never really sat silently in the woods either. Sparingly in their clearing, but not where Feliks couldn't see the sky. He also tended to chatter, filling the silence, calling it oppressive. Now, though, Toris relished the chance at peacefully sitting and relaxing without making noise. Perhaps it was his new sensitivity to the world around him, the feeling of something calling deeply into his soul, and the much fainter response from within.

That was when he heard it. A faint sound, a combination of high pitched whines, and a few scattered barks; Toris rose slowly to his feet, grabbing his pack and boots he headed towards the sound. Slowly he moved, not certain of the animal creating the sounds, but unable to turn away from the increasingly obvious, distressed noises. Ducking his head under a branch he slipped around a tree only to stop and stare at what he found.

The creature was a wolf, smaller in size than his expectation; it was probably very young, he examined the beautiful creature. The wolf was lean; it's fur smooth and sleek. The colour was a shifting grey, so much like the look of iron. As his eyes passed over the haunch, he saw what was causing the distress. The poor creature's tail had been caught in what looked like a trap, the end of the tail looked ragged, and the wolf had clearly been caught for a while; its tugging and pulling to free itself had stripped some of the wonderful fur from its tail.

Toris couldn't help but feel a rush of sympathy for the helpless creature. He needed to help free it, but how was he going to do that without the wolf turning on him? Slowly he walked closer, making soft noises to alert the wolf to his presence hopefully in a non threatening manner. The wolf's head turned and looked at him, a soft growl rumbling deep in its throat.

"Hey now easy," Toris coaxed softly, still moving towards the tail, he could feel something, coming from the wolf, an awareness maybe? Either way he tried to put out a calming aura, smiling slightly as the wolf's tense muscles relaxed slightly. It was clear that the wolf was still wary but it no longer was on the verge of attack. Toris moved closer once again, still murmuring soft words of encouragement and trying to keep the wolf relaxed. He finally reached the tail in the trap and he examined exactly what he could try to do.

The trap was simple; it looked like a regular trigger system, with a bar that snapped into place presumably breaking a small creature's neck, though the tail thankfully didn't look broken. Toris reached for it, trying to keep from moving the tail too much. Pulling slightly at the trap, Toris found the release mechanism and triggered it. The bar that had kept the trapped tail in place fell away, the wolf rushing forward a few steps to swing its tail around, chasing it for a moment. Toris laughed, smiling widely; setting the trap once more on the ground he sat down near it watching the near joyful wolf. He hadn't expected the gray wolf to react like a joyful puppy upon release, so he was enjoying the scene. He fully expected that the animal would calm down and slink away into the forest within a few moments.

He didn't expect the wolf to turn and start walking towards him! Green eyes widening as the predator moved fluidly towards him, the varying shades of silver and grey in its coat blending together to look almost like armour. For a moment Toris stopped breathing, as he stared into the wolf's deep amber eyes.

~?~

Jumping slightly Toris' head spun around looking for the source of the noise, only to look back at the wolf, which was now close enough that he would barely have to reach his hand out to touch.

~?~

Hearing the 'sound' again Toris felt something in him respond, the same thing that had responded to the soul deep call of the forest earlier. Recalling the idea that he could sense an awareness from the wolf Toris tried to mentally reach out again, mimicking the way the soul response had felt. Reaching out with what he was starting to think of as his 'awareness' this time he was sure that he met the wolf's mind. Foreign feelings assaulted his mind, gratitude, respect, affection and curiosity. Reaching out physically with his hand, Toris kept eye contact with the wolf, waiting to see the response.

It happened within an instant, the wolf butted it's head right up against his palm nuzzling Toris. The feelings that he had been picking up from the wolf changed to a flood of emotion, mostly affection, acceptance, and love. The flood trickled down into a steady presence in the back of his mind as the wolf came even closer for Toris to fling his arms around the neck of the wolf, a stray tear or two leading from his eyes.

~Bonded~ Toris heard the word echo in his mind, the voice was young and feminine, Toris' eyes widened slightly as he realized the word had come from the wolf's mind. It, no, she nodded to his unspoken, barely thought question. More emotion swirled through him, this time of reassurance as Toris pulled himself away.

"Well that was unexpected eh?"

Hope you liked this little shorty! Review!

~Pen