Wild Cherry Orchard What the spring does to cherry trees

@Duckweed <3

Treyah had set out before the sun rose. Her mother had given her a look and the girl had just smiled and pushed her nose into the woman's temple. They needed to eat, and she hadn't had much luck so far. So she' was going to leave the trees and see if there was anything to the northwest. She would make sure she was back before the day was over. Even if it meant walking all night.

By the time the sun reached it's peak, the burned trunks of the wildwood littered with a smattering of evergreens and bare naked branches had given way to the skeletal form of cherry trees (not that Treyah knew what they were, they were just further apart and all bare compared to where she had just come from). Her eyes were quickly drawn down as she nosed through the snow. There had to be something to eat somewhere! Suddenly the cougar marked carcass they had stumbled across on the mountain seemed appealing. She had never been so hungry in her life.

Jaws snapped on snow, hoping to at least line her stomach to stop its awful rumbling. She sighed in defeat. She was going to die and there was nothing she could do to change it.

Why he even bothered was a mystery. Maybe the only reason he kept trying was because he was sick and tired of being dicked over by life, no matter how hard he worked or how much distance he put between himself and his demons or how much bad luck he'd already experienced. A peaceful, functioning life in the Woodlands hadn't been much to ask for, had it? A simple existence, with reasonable and kind leaders, with his mother at his side, hadn't been a huge ask, was it? Not after what he'd quietly endured in the first year of his life? Had he wanted too much?

It was fortunate that the Woodlands wolves were so laidback and calm because it made it a little easier to pretend that he could do what @Aideen had asked him. While the Athesila family were close-knit, the pack itself was a little looser, independent. He hardly ever saw @Inali, for one, and probably would have bumped into @Rayne a lot more if the mere idea didn't send him into a flurry of panic. It took every ounce of self-control not to go crying to the much older man that he couldn't do it, to please take it away, to relieve him of the responsibility. There were only two reasons that he didn't do exactly that: @Miccah had trusted him, and his mother would have been so proud.

The world's sense of humour was sick. Why did it matter what a corpse would approve of? Why was he still driven by what she would want when it didn't matter any more? He'd gone to the mountain, carrying a tuft of her fur between his freezing jaws, and he had climbed as high as his shaking, starving body could manage, and he had let her go, and she had drifted away on the wind like so many dead dandelions.

Everything once beautiful was bloody and ugly now, and there he was, blubbering in the corner, despicable.

The snow crunched easily under his paws as he moved, the occasional drip of water from his nose or chin landing on the white blanket, never to be seen again. Having learned his lesson about not watching where he was going (not that he was still entirely adverse to the idea of 'accidentally' running into something dangerous) his grey eyes flickered anxiously over the wildwood ahead of him, constantly ensuring that the area ahead was clear and empty of wolves. The number of potential encounters he had carefully avoided, now, were in the high double digits. Pack wolf, lone wolf, it didn't matter; if he couldn't guarantee they would attack on sight, he wouldn't take the risk. He knew how to use his small size and pale fur to his advantage in order to slip away before he was seen. Whether or not they noticed his tracks or scent never mattered, for he was long gone. It was easier that way.

This situation should have been no different. The unmistakable scent of wolf was in the air, distinguishable despite the pungent fish he carried, and it was only moments later that he spotted her; a tawny young thing, nosing through the snow, her sides noticeably shrunken. It was not hard to guess at her activities. Ears flicking back in discomfort, trying to push down the swell of sympathy before it made him do something he would regret.

But she was only young, the same age as @Cinaed, @Flair and @Enia... and the thought of them, the fact that the only purpose of his own that he never questioned was to ensure their wellbeing, was what caused him to hesitate before slipping off into the forest, to watch her for just a moment too long.

won't you light my lonely way back home?

Treyah Tainn

It was the scent of fish that caught her attention first, stomach knotting at the familiar scent of food. It almost overpowered the scent of the wolf that carried it until she lifted her head from the snow, an icy smudge still stuck to the top of her muzzle. She almost thought the fish was floating towards her, carried by some angel but no, there were eyes to the cloud that carried it and the girl shrunk down in disappointment. But it gave her a new idea. Her head rose with some level of authority, although her tail still pointed to the ground "H-hey!" she called out to the stranger, hopefully dashing any hope the white wolf had of avoiding her.

"Hey! Where'd you get that?" She had never fished a day in her life but she was hungry enough to try now (she was really regretting passing up lessons with Mako and Marina now). She tried to hide the hopeful look on her face, but she was still only just a child and not nearly so wily as she thought she was. Her ears had turned back and wide eyes stared at the older wolf almost begging. If he failed to answer her then she supposed she could just follow his scent trail back to wherever he had come from, but maybe, just maybe if she was really lucky, he might give her some tips to go with it.