White Fir Notch Walking on a wire

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Snow had begun to fall heavy earlier in the afternoon. Raela no longer saw the white powder as a thing of beauty, even as it painted the trees and the ground with its pristine luster. No, they were being buried alive in their gorgeous mountain valley; suffocated by the lack of prey and treacherous footing. At first it had not seemed so bad. At first she'd brushed it off as her own anxious mind worrying a bit too much when the caches were growing thin and the scents of prey fading. Now her children were starting to get hungry; they all were.

The Notch Queen could have cursed at the sky as it grew dark that evening, and on the inside she did. The agouti-pelted woman had managed to track down her mate for a long discussion on the situation, but not before calling their brood nearer to the den. It looked like the weather would turn any moment, and the last thing she needed was to repeat Minka's misfortune and have her own children vanish into the storm. The memory lit a spark of panic in her for a few short moments, until each juvenile voice reassured the concerned mother that they were still within the borders. Minka had not been neglectful to her knowledge, which only made the possibility of their loss more nerve-wracking. Kova's sister Noble had never been found.

Gent knew this too of course, and he provided that small bit of security she needed, especially in times like these. There were many dilemmas facing the Notch now; especially with the recent arrival of additional mouths that were in no condition to feed themselves. Sylva had returned to them, at least. These recent events were turned over and examined between the leaders as they sat tucked back into the old bear den, occasionally glancing outside to monitor the storm's progress. It took a while for the wind to pick up, and by then the two Alphas felt that they'd said all they could. They would need to consult with the others, and by the time they were ready and the dusky light was faint, they would have called the pack in anyway on account of the ferocious atmosphere.

It was the matriarch who rose and pushed a few steps into the frigid world. Through squinting yellow eyes she could see the fir trees as they swayed in the gales; illuminated shades of dark blue by the very last of the cold sun's light. She hunched her shoulders and called out, forcing more volume into her song than normal in hopes of it carrying over the growing blizzard. Raela howled several times for good measure, urging her subordinates to come and take shelter. The grizzly den's main area had been slowly widened over the course of the seasons they'd been here for this very purpose. It was still snug with this many inside at once, but Raela imagined that the others would be thankful for the warmth tonight. The injured would be safe enough in the medical den while nature threw its tantrum.

Though the air tussled her fur and nipped with bitter cold where it had parted, worry forced the woman to remain at her post until at the very least, each of her puppies appeared in the white mist and were subsequently ushered inside. Her ears were tense, hoping to catch the various responses to her summons and use them to reassure herself of their owners' safety. If they were going to make it through this first winter in this new land, they would need everyone. The food supply would be even slimmer once the tempest was over.

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With the events of recent days now behind her, Jynx was now considerably calmer. But she was still tense, on edge. Prey had been harder and harder to find within their home, and now that winter had settled in, the animals had vanished completely. The caches would only sustain them for so long, before they too, were empty. Desperately, the huntress searched each and every corner of her home, far and wide for any source of food. It was not uncommon of her to go out like this two, if not three times a day. But each time, her efforts yielded nothing. There was the option of the creek that flowed through the heart of the valley, but she didn't bother with it. Fish were unlikely to be found at this time of year, and even if they were, the water was thickly frozen over. With each failure, the darker her spirits became. There were more of them in the pack now, and the pups still remained their top priority. Add on to that, the effort Emrys was putting in to fill in her shoes for her while she mended, also weighed heavy on her soul. It made her feel disgusted to no end, knowing that she, the best hunter in the pack, could still not do her job to her full potential.

If things had been bad before, then today, they had just gotten worse. The blizzard seemed to herald the onset of the harder times ahead for the pack. She had spent the entire day out searching for prey, her only reward a few measly, old scraps of leftovers. When the gales of wind swept through the valley, accompanied by blinding sheets of white snow, the resourceful young wolf had still been hard at work. She was shoulder deep in snow, her head buried in a self dug opening. Snow was no hindrance for a wolfs keen nose, and she thought she had smelled a trace of a mouse burrowing deep under the surface. Almost finished with trying to excavate her tiny snack, Raela's summons carried through the wind. Abruptly, she pulled her head out of the small tunnel, her russet crown and muzzle dotted with a white sprinkling of snow. She was not surprised her queen, and friend, was calling for a meeting. Releasing a strong, high pitched howl in reply, she assured the others that she was safe and on her way. Reluctantly abandoning the chase, she sifted through the snow drifts as quickly as possible, to reach the den in a timely fashion. Her progress was delayed by the chest high, thick snow, which she had to push through with more effort than normal. Jynx normally loved the winter season, but this was ridiculous.

Flaming eyes squinted against the blowing snow and wind, she arrived later than she would've liked, the tawny coloration of her fur nearly obscured by accumulated snow. Tucking into the den, she breathed a sigh of relief, happy to be inside and out of the storm. Blinking away the snowflakes from her eyes, she surveyed those who were present. Raela was already inside, to whom she chuffed affectionately. But when her eyes landed on Emrys, or more notably Witchazel and the way she was huddled up to him, her spine stiffened. Forcing down a growl on the verge of emerging into the open, she pricked her ears forward. The eye contact she set firmly on the other female was enough of a sign that she was too close for the seconds liking. Without missing a beat, she waltzed up and wedged her body firmly in between that of the cream and rust female, and her companion. Adding in a soft and harmless, but still obvious slam of the hip to hers; a sign of dominance. The display was not meant to be rude, simply a clear means of asserting her position in regards when it came to herself and the white healer, to which her feelings for were evolving. Blame it on winter hormones and her less than stellar mood recently, but if Witchazel needed a body to use to get warm, then Jynx had no objections lending hers. But not Emrys', whose ear she turned to nibble groom gently, while waiting for the rest of the pack to arrive.