Red Fern Forest I’ve got no one else to talk to

for @Askan

Things were not going well. She was trying her damn best, but there was good reason why loners usually didn’t have pups, and she was feeling it! In the weeks since giving birth, Nalda had undergone a shocking transformation, her voluminous belly shrunken beneath her previous, healthy weight, looking bizarrely sunken against the square frame of her ribs; a few of which could be seen as dark lines against her skin.

She’d been incapacitated for a while after the birth, drained by the very deed alone, and forced to stay close to protect her offspring; tearing on her own sparse reserves to keep them fed. Eventually she’d had to leave, making sure that her den was as well hidden as could be, and covering her tracks behind her, but it was still a big risk. She was caught in an impossible plight, if she stayed to keep watch, they would all end up starving, but leaving ment exposing her precious to immeasurable danger.

It’s the right choice..! So she told herself, every time she left, even though it defied her every instinct. But this way, at least she might have some degree of success. It was slim pickens, with the increased coyote population decimating the usual stock of small prey as well as competing strongly for even the smallest bit of carcass, otherwise such a boon for a practised scavenger. Still she persevered, mostly travelling north to avoid any hunters from Oak Tree Bend, much more scared of them than the coyotes, whom she had so far been able to outrun; Haven’t quite used up all my luck, yet..!

Word count: 269
"Speech" Thoughts

For once it wasn't raining. And yet, to Askan's dismay the ground was still sodden and mucky, an ugly brown contrast to the red and orange ferns that dominated the forest. Every step he made was slow and calculated, as the last thing he wanted was to slip and fall on his arse, to make his brown coat any darker than it already was. In all honesty, he wasn't even sure why he'd chosen to head out this way. Despite the fact the ferns were more or less on his doorstep he generally roamed the woods surrounding the Falls, saw them as an extension of his terf. Perhaps that was it, he'd made a deal with the leaders of Oak Tree Bend not to impose on their hunting grounds. The Ferns acted as a buffer between their lands, like a red line in the dirt.

Nonetheless, there he was, shoving his way through the foliage with a typical 'Selwyn scowl' on his face. As if he didn't have better things to do.

Through the haze of orange, reds and greens Askan continued on , only to slide to a stop as he squinted ahead. For a moment he thought his eyes were deceiving him, that he was seeing movement where there was none. But sure enough, weaving through the foliage was a tawny shape- too big to be a coyote. So who were they then? That was a question Askan was quick to seek answers too.

"Oi," he said, as way of greeting. "You from Oak Tree Bend?"

It seemed like the natural conclusion to jump to. He moved forward, narrowing the space between them, only to notice that she was just as skinny as the coyotes who used to scramble about these parts, before they got all bold and numerous. Frankly, she looked like shit. His nose wrinkled in distaste, surely she couldn't be a Bend wolf. Would Serach and Aponi force a subordinate of theirs to go without so their stomachs remained full? He doubted it. Clearly there was more to this wolf than met the eye.