Spectral Woods Closing around a blossom of fire

The sky is dark with storm clouds...

zera tainn At sixteen weeks Zera was growing at the tantivy of the seasons. Her thickening coat began to pleat silver strands as the emerald oak leaves collected autumn's rust. Her eyes matched the yellow-gold blooms of summer's last batch of bountiful tickseed, flashing illuminatingly in the forest's darkening shadows. Maturity molded the young, big-headed girl into a dark princess, bearing the new skin of adolescence. But some things about Zera would never change. She meandered whimsically through the evening underbrush, happily lost in the depths of home's thicket. She didn't need to come home right away -- she was getting older after all. The young Tainn preferred the solitude of an afternoon trek, especially with the erratic flick of distant lightening and the twist of storm winds winding through the trees. She appreciated the power of weather, strangely, while Darrah would have his face burrowed as far back into the hole of the birthden as possible if a flash of anything broke through the clouds -- be it sunlight. Zera let loose a slight chuckle at the honest thought and continued to push lazily through the spectral trunks, paws catlike against the peat-wet carpet of shed leaves. There was nothing more freeing than to be absorbed in the midst of mist and change. Zera rounded the heft of one large oak before she discovered the verge of a sloping ravine, which spilled her view out over a piece of sparse forest. She flicked her tail around her feet as she sat, letting the sky fill her yellow eyes with the gust of chilly wind. The mist slicked over cherry leaves, pooling coolly on her emerging adult pelt. It had been a beautiful day.

Hope you don't mind me popping in here! <3

Sceral, too, was enjoying an evening walk beneath the dark clouds high above his head. Occasionally, he'd steal a glance upwards to inspect how soon it would be before the rain began to pour. The answers was always soon in his mind, but he wasn't a fortune teller or weather predictor by any right. Frankly, he wouldn't be surprised if it didn't rain at all.

It was during his little trot about, inhaling the chilly air that whispered warnings that winter was coming, that the Donata yearling spied a little black figure sat all alone. Clearly, this was one of the pups. The girl; Zera. Sceral paused for a moment, one paw hovering above the ground. He knew the calm of being alone, but he also knew the loneliness of it. And so, taking a chance to get to know his Uncle's kid better, the sun bleached trouble maker altered his course. Meandering towards, acting nonchalant, Sceral silently eyed the view Zera was admiring and smiled to himself. Spectral Woods was a vast territory, eerie in the eyes of many ... yet, Oak Tree Bend's slice was nestled between it and the sun baked red rocks of Sierra Hills. A warm place, despite the hardships and the snows of the year he had lived thus far. In early fall, it really did come alive. Rich hues of copper and rust, orange and flashes of yellow with the gentle tinge of surrounding green from the trees that didn't shed their needles.

Their home was something phenomenal, that was sure.

"Y'know, I always liked this time of year," Sceral commented, sitting next to his "cousin". He looked away from the view down to the swarthy, growing cub. "Pretty soon, its gonna start t'snow. Has Triell--your dad--told you 'bout snow yet?" His eyes twinkled and his lips pulled back into a smile. If he hadn't, then it'd be up to Sceral to have to find some interesting way to tell her all about the snow! And ... about its dangers.

zera tainn Zera felt as though the storm clouds wrapped a humming blanket of comfort over the forest. The trees held more silence than usual and she imagined the tight squirrel roosts and the deep seated bird nests harboring the anticipation of rain. A storm always demanded that sort of quiet from the world when it came and she surrendered herself to it, silently hoping that the would sky hiss through the leaves. There was so much beauty in a rainstorm, especially one that fell with the evening. It was a like a sacrificial means summoned by God. Within that delightful silence, Zera's small ebony ear pricked backward to hear the sound of rustling footfalls, somehow not the blessing of a shower. Her speechless eyes followed the sound to meet the tawny Donata yearling's presence. She identified him by his irises, the color of rain washed soil that somehow promised mud. She smiled widely at him, yellow-eyed youth sparkling with boundlessness. Zera was glad she had company other than her parents and Darrah. It was surely a perfect moment to share. "Y'know, I always liked this time of year," Zera could only nod to the yearling's statement, she knew she loved the burning leaves of autumn chill more than the emerald shade of summer. Just the way the air felt on her skin and the way it all reflected in her eyes made every moment more bearable than the loud-hearted thrum of midday cicadas and blasting sun. It had certainly eased the pack, but also brought on this unspoken shadow that Zera couldn't quite understand. It wasn't clear enough for her to ask about it, she just recognized the looming question of what was to come. Yellow eyes found Sceral's muddy ones once more as he continued his statement. "I've heard of snow, kinda," she started, with a pensive glaze coating her face. She'd only heard vaguely of snow -- the white, bleak ashes of a deadened sky that covered the world in a cold blanket -- hardly much more. "But I haven't got to see it." Zera became immediately intrigued in this so called snow stuff, of course, it must be coming soon if it was all of a sudden mentioned. She replayed the imagined images of this cold, white fluff in her head, brought to life jut by the topic of weather. Her tail pulsed against the leafy carpet and her eyes thirsted the knowledge of winter.