OOC: Post Prompt for Hunting! Mwahaha.. Saved the best for last.. Teehee. Anyone can join. :D Also..Hidden Tree.. hehe. Also sporting injuries from the fox bites..but nothing severe. XD

She had to go back.. to see them.. find out if Raigo had gone home or not. But her perseverance told her to explore down the river branch she had found just..to make sure.. to see if she could get anything of his scent. Though, Vlarindara was beginning to think Raigo had just..completely gone missing.. Even left Relic Lore. The thought alone almost drew a whine from the female..but she had to keep going....Keep looking to find him. Or to prove to herself that he simply didn't live here anymore. Though if he had moved off or gotten killed, she wasn't sure she'd ever know. A chilling thought; one that was washed away by the cracking of brush and water splashing near by. Instinctively, she crouched in the snow and watched, waiting for whatever it was making the noises to show itself.

The crashing continued, and Vlarindara moved forward, using both the snow and some of the dried reeds along the river bank for cover. She'd caught nothing from the small hare she'd found before having been..outwitted by a fox.. but knew that if she could just get...well.. something.. she would be fine. Granted, her coat may have lost its rather healthy shine in her constant movement of travel, but she wasn't near as thin as she had been upon coming to Relic Lore. Not at all. In fact, while she had lost a bit of winter fat, her ribs were still well hidden.. despite the occasional hunger pangs. Ignoring such things, she continued moving through the brush and muck before the young moose came into sight. Aha...so that's what was making all the ruckus. It seemed fairly small.. with neither antler nor sheer..mass of the older elk.

Despite being incredebly hungry, Vlarindara silently weighed her choices...and chances of managing the thing. She knew that she couldn't eat the entire thing herself, nor could she drag the carcass somewhere.. it was full grown. She thought. just not filled out ...skinny even. Perhaps the winter had been hard on the poor thing. With all of her attention on the creature, or rather despite it..her mind was working at a rather scary pace. Weighing the small injury to her foot, adding up the slight detriment to her speed it might cause..any number of things really.. But they all decided to give it a go. What's the worst that could happen? It would get away..

A roll of her shoulders assured her that the toughened skin over her shoulderblades was limbered up and ready to go. Yep.. A test movement of her injured paw told her that it, to was ready to go and would only slow her down a smidge. Now..she just had to wait. Her mother had told her once that elk could swim.. but she had an idea for this one.. It had been something she'd seen her pack do once.. Keep the creature in the water until it was simply too tired to do much more. Though.. it would be easier if there were more wolves than just her to keep the thing in.. A soft breath, a heartbeat and she began moving forwards. The elk, she knew would be fast, easily able to outrun her if it had the chance.. but in water, it was just as slow as she would be.. well.. a little faster. Vlarindara waited, crouched in the reeds as the thing looked around warily.

Drink, you stupid thing!!! If she could get behind it while it had its head down, she might be able to hamstring it..or at the very least cause some kind of injury to the thing that might slow it down enough to catch. Thankfully.. she was long legged, not just bulky....Though if she'd been male, less naturally streamlined, the size might have slowed her down tremendously..There! Finally.. It had lowered its head to drink and Vlarindara moved a bit faster, keeping as quiet as she could. While she was no cat, she felt she was..fairly practiced. Closer... Closer..Almoostt...Its head came up, and she froze biting back the snarl that wanted to escape her throat. Drat! Remaining stock still, she waited for it to lower its head again, but it didn't.. instead choosing to wander south along the riverbank. Little did it know, that a wolf was slinking along behind it. Vlarindara had seen how shallow the river was here.. and knew that if she ran it into the water, *she* would be the one to slow down, not the moose.

At first, it had seemed a bit wary, as if it had sensed her, but the wind had yet to shift and carry her scent towards the thing.. so eventually it had calmed itself and begun foraging here and there, but mostly just walking. Vlarindara was about to give up the hunt when it moved a ways into the forest.. a burnt forest it seemed like before beginning to move farther. Burnt, charred trees... an acrid smell that burned her nose and lungs just inhaling it. She knew that the ground beneath the snow covering was most likely nothing but ash and soot though in her lifetime, she'd been fortunate enough not to see any of the fires other wolves talked about in tales. What..just where was this thing going? At least there was still snow here..Despite all of her instincts telling her to stop and call off the hunt, she kept going.. There was wolf scent here..but it was old - no new territories. Besides.. If this moose had a bed of sorts, she might be able to find it and take it down when it was laying down. Just what WAS this place?

The moose tramped off, and Vlarindara sighed, deciding to give up the ghost and call off the hunt. Besides.. she wanted to see this area a bit more.. see if she could maybe divine the purpose of this ashen forest. Her paws padded through the snow, crunching more than a few times, but then.. she wasn't trying to be quiet. It was silent a few moments.. Quiet in both her mind and the environment around her, marveling at the sheer.. path of destruction that had shorn this forest of life and greenery. She could smell the old scents of wolves in this area and lowered her head, black nose shifting the snow about, scenting at the ash beneath. Who used to live here? What.. wolves used to call this home? The long dead scents of the previous owners weren't what she had caught onto, but the more recent passings of the different wolves.

Her footsteps carried her past what used to be the front of the den, head lifting as she closed her eyes and simply let the soft breeze that swept through carry the smells to her. Over Large ears flicked this way and that, one towards the den entrance, then back against her neck as she opened her eyes. There was a slightly defeated look to the she-wolf as she once more cast amber eyes around the area...taking in the burnt trees, the dead wood that may never revive itself come spring. Triangle ears fell to either side of her head, a head that lowered with a soft whine, plumed tail slinking down, but not quite tucking between her legs. Had this fire happened when wolves had lived here? Had...any perished in the blaze? What wolves had escaped? Images of the wolves she knew trapped in the woods they called their home as fire roared through it..trapping some, if not all within the walls of the blaze. Just from the imagery alone, her heart began to pound, her breath coming slightly faster. She might be able to protect the alphas from other wolves.. their pups from starvation... but how could she protect them from fire? Whatever wolves that had been here may have made it out.. Or...maybe there hadn't even been a pack here.. but the glimpse of a darkened area in a rather large, ruined tree told her it might have been a den...once.

At the soft tone, Vlarindara lifted her head and looked at the yearling, her amber eyes roaming his coat, the size of him.. and the slight tapering to his body as it filled out.. though he looked..relatively healthy. She couldn't count ribs, at least. The white female smiled softly, her ears shifting to rest against her neck, but she tore her gaze from the wolf and vast it about the area around them. "I apologize...I hadn't meant to intrude on your home..I was...hunting a moose and he led me this way." There hadn't been any discernible territory markers, despite the fact, she took a few steps backwards, watching him quietly. "I'm not ..encroaching on pack lands..am I? If I am, I would gladly leave..I've no intentions of causing problems.." Especially if there were other wolves around, who might follow her back to their den...That, she couldn't allow.

The eerie stillness of this land gave her a soft chill that crept down her back and shoulders, rising the hair slightly before she shook it off. "I didn't interrupt anything, did I...little one?" There was uncertainty in her tone, as she must have, for him to just pop into view as he did. Vlarindara took another careful step backwards, her tail wagging slightly between her legs, that gentle smile still curving her muzzle.

Tainn, hmm? An odd name. She'd never met a Tainn before... or perhaps she had, but never knew the last name. "Vlarindara Windrunner..." The slightly Somber look pulled at her heartstrings and she stepped forward before she stopped herself from going farther, watching him quietly. The comment about this having once been his home made her want to ask if the fire happened before, or after the wolves had left.. but didn't want to bring up any...further memories of the fire.. if that was indeed what he was seeing behind those eyes of his. "The moose? No..I never really had a chance to get him after he turned from the river..Mostly following to see where he would go.." White ears shifted forwards, then back over her neck as she took another step towards him, lowering her head in wonder. "But..since the moose has wandered off...perhaps.. we could get something else to eat? If you don't mind wandering about with a grizzly old female." The last was a joke, and she chuckled softly despite the comments, glancing back at the forest behind her. She hoped that getting this young Tainn away from the tree, she might coax him into conversation.. and away from the.. swath of memories that played a macabre tune in his head.

OOC: YAY!!! Oh boy...Vlar is being precocious! XD

She stepped further, closing the distance without giving herself a chance to think about what she was doing. White head reached out to gently brush her muzzle against a shoulder, trying to be comforting. Despite her warring instincts of nurturing.. wanting to ease his pain and the more..adult instinct of leaving him alone, Vlarindara chose what she always did. She followed her heart rather than her mind. "I can't even begin to imagine..what being in this place makes you feel, Triell. I do know that you are incredibly brave for returning to this place despite whatever memories you might have..." She pulled away, watching him quietly, her ears still resting against her neck, a soft whine escaping her muzzle. "I couldn't do what you have done..It still terrifies me to be near moose that have antlers...I can deal with them if they have none..but..I couldn't do it if they did."