Hush Meadow this is what the future looks like.

The meadow was not lush and green as it ought to be this time of year – it was too early for grasses and sedges to start the fall die off. But the heavy spring rains had given way to unblinking sunshine, and even a desert girl such as herself knew when enough was enough. The forest was parched. Even the meadows were being baked, the dirt beneath her paws hard and dry. The meadow made a raspy, hoarse noise as she pressed through.

If she went west, Crow would eventually (probably) run back into Poke-a-stone Scowl, but she was uninterested in that. Annabird was on the Unstable Mountain, and there was the lake, somewhere around here, that housed her Mama’s bones. It was the bones she’d been thinking about. The heat made her think about home, and home made her think about Mama. She was still mad. She’d meet Kajika, but never went to her mother’s resting spot. Maybe she needed that closure.

The wolf scoffed to herself. Closure. What was she, some kind of flowery pup? Maybe she just needed to see it for herself. That was all.

Ooof, Elias was hot. Travelling through the forest hadn't been too bad, as the canopy had sheltered him from the worst of the suns rays. But this meadow offered no protection, there were no trees to hide under nor were there any streams to take a quick dip in. Elias was well and truly melting, or at least it felt like he was. His tongue lolled out the side of his mouth as he slouched along, if it wasn't for the heat he would have been fine! His paws didn't hurt and he wasn't that tired, well maybe a little but he wasn't going to admit it! He was almost there so he had no reason to start slacking now!

Even if he had no idea what he was going to say when he finally arrived, but that was a problem he'd confront later.

Coming to a stop Elias looked over the flat meadow and-oh, for a moment he thought he'd spotted a coyote. A flash of shame ran through his system when he realised how presumptuous he'd been, that was no coyote! It was a friend, sort of? Maybe? Now that he thought about it...he couldn't recall her name. Their meeting had been rather short lived so they hadn't gotten around to sharing names, which was a real shame as she'd been really nice! Second time's the charm, right?

"Hey!" He called out to her as he limped along, pushing his way through the long, dry grass.

Crow was so busy brooding to herself that she hadn’t heard anyone approach. That sort of thing’ll getcha killed, her mind chided her as the wolf turned, eyebrows raising as she realized she recognized the pale wolf limping over. She hadn’t noticed his limp before – they’d been swimming, and then sneaking, after all. Her brows furrowed.

“Awful far from home ain’tcha, Blue Eyes?” she called, halting her slow rambling so he could catch up. “They didn’ chase ya out ‘er nothin’, did they?”

Whether she meant the coyotes that seemed to be omnipresent or perhaps just some vicious packmates, she didn’t say. These days, though, she had no faith in packmates.

Ah yes, he could see why she'd assumed that, he was awfully far from the lake, wasn't he? In fact, it sort of felt as though he'd left that lifetime behind. That he'd stepped back into the past and was once again a Heights wolf. How had so much changed in such a short amount of time? It was baffling, but he'd chosen this road and he had to continue down it, lest he ruin everything. Again.

"No no, I'm fine! Everything is fine!" His grin was wide and reassuring, but his words weren't entirely true. "I'm on a...scouting trip. I used to live in these parts, feels a bit weird to be back. Hasn't changed much, except how dry it is. Though I supposed with the weather it's like that everywhere now. I wonder when it will rain- I'm gonna stop now." His smile turned sheepish.

Elias pulled in a deep breath. As of late he'd been trying to make his words count, but he'd gone and fudged that up hadn't he? How did @Greer and Nin do it? They both made it seem so easy, effortless. He was terribly jealous, maybe one day he'd master the art of being cool, or-and this was more likely- he'd accept his fate as a giant dweeb.

"What about you- uhhhh, I don't think you gave me your name?"Surely he would have remembered it if she had.

“Oh. Okay.”

Crow gave a squint.

“Dunno if ‘everything is fine’ has ever meant ‘everything is fine’ in the history of the world, but okay.” The woman gave a small shrug, ears airplaned out in a lazy expression. If Blue Eyes wasn’t going to give up the details, she wasn’t going to chase them out of him. And while she doubted it was the truth – because again, everything is fine has never actually meant that – the wolf at least looked whole enough for her to find some amount of truth in it.

His endless chatter didn’t seem to bother her. Instead, she just narrowed in on his last request, and gave a little moment of thought. “Crow,” she decided on, a moment later. He was cute and all, but-- “My name is Lil’ Crow. Reckon yers ain’t Blue Eyes, though that sure is a kind nickname, far as I go.”

Better than Buzzard, certainly.

The sudden thought of her former travelling companion stung more than she thought it would and she sighed, ears falling a little flatter. “So. Y’find anythin’ interestin’ ‘round here?”

Elias tipped his head in confusion. He supposed she had a point, how many times had he told himself that he was fine, good, when he truly wasn't? The word carried heavy, connotations that were hard to shake. He couldn't really blame her for not believing him.

"I mean...the way I see it, if things aren't awful then they're fine." At least that's how it worked out in his head. He supposed he was trying to be grateful, after all things could always be worse.

He wasn't sure what sort of response she was going to offer up, considering that she hadn't given her name the first time they'd met but...that was okay! There was no time like the present. And what a name she had. Not for one moment did Elias consider that it was an alias, it conjured up images of black wings and loud squawks. Very unlike the muddy woman he'd met the other day, but again that was fine! No complaints from him.

"Ah, you're close but no, I'm Elias." His tail swished and swayed behind him. He always liked this part, enjoyed the transition from stranger to acquaintance. "I haven't found much, aside from dirt." Not that he had truly looked, he was only passing through. "What are you looking for, maybe I can help?" He was quick to offer. He just wanted to help, that's all.

“Nothin’ in particular. I know some folk up at Fallen Tree Cove. Was thinkin’ ‘bout visitin’. Not sold on th’ idea, though.” It made her tired just to think about it. And really, what good was it going to do, to flirt with forgiveness for a dead woman. From a dead woman? Namir wasn’t really sure which one she wanted, or which one she’d get.

Either way, she vastly preferred the company of those still living.

She shrugged, deciding if she wanted to elaborate, when a fawn (very foolish one) skittered across the corner of her vision. Her stomach clenched, empty, hollow – her chest clenched too. It was lost. Alone. No mother deer. No any other kind of deer.

She was like that fawn. Easy pickin’s.

“Oh. No. No, we aren’t gonna, Elias. Y’hear me?”

Fallen Tree Cove? That name didn't ring a bell, he'd wandered around large portions of the Lore when he'd been looking for Thuban, but he knew that he hadn't seen it all. He couldn't help but wonder where this pack was, what it was like and what they would think of Vigils Keep? As far as he was concerned they didn't really have any allies, which wasn't a big deal but....It sort of felt a little lonely, knowing that they weren't welcomed by their neighbours. That they couldn't all get along like one big group of friends. Ah well.

It was then that he noticed the little fawn, so wide eyed and innocent that it didn't realise what they were, what they could do to it, if they so chose. Huh, not something he saw everyday. Before he could even point it out, Crow was quick to jump to the little one's defence. Yes, he was a predator but he hadn't even thought about killing it. He was maybe a little hungry but...what would be the point? It was a tiny little thing, was still all spotty with barely any meat on it's bones. To kill it would be....not only a waste, but rather barbaric. Elias was reminded of the poor lonely goose, the one he'd been forced to kill. At least then, in a sense, he had put it out of it's misery. But this little fawn had so much to live for, he had no interest in snuffing out it's life.

"Huh? What? No!" He caught himself and bit down on his tongue, if he did that again he'd no doubt scare the little critter away. "I wasn't going to suggest that."

Namir gave the blond a sideways look, eyes squished and ears planed out to the sides as he denied her suspicion (or was he agreeing with her sentiment? It was hard to tell.) as quickly as the words word would come out. Yeah, they were predators, and yeah, evolution dictated that the least amount of effort for the highest gain would always win, but ugh. The idea of it made her skin crawl.

Frankly, she wasn’t sure if that made her a freak, or she was the only sane one in a forest full of fools.

At least it seemed like Elias didn’t need much convincing. Though it was at least four seasons ago, Namir still remembered her run in with Marisol and the ducklings with vibrant clarity. (At least their second chance encounter was significantly less intense.)

The wolf blew a sharp breath out of her nose, not moving as she continued to watch the fawn. It looked a little young to have been kicked already, but. She shrugged. That she couldn’t help with – and hell, hadn’t she been kicked a little young, too? She came out alright in the end. “Y’aren’t so bad, I guess. Some folk are jes’… Jes’ fuckin’ assholes, y’know? Whatever they can do t’ get ahead. At whatever cost. No matter who’s in their way.”

Her eyes narrowed again at a stream of memories before she shook them back off. “S’a reason I don’t like packs much. I ain’t sure if y’all livin’ peacefully in one makes y’smarter, ‘er not.”