Bramble Falls you're sending out signals

RE Event: The sky darkens with ash from a distant forest fire.

Chan stood by the waters edge, face hardened with solemnity and muscles tensed for action. Dawn had come and gone but the sky remained dark. Sunlight only made it to the earth in a thin gold haze, smothered by the smoke of distant fires. Was this the answer to his questions? Where did this ominous ash come from?

The urge to scale the mountainside and find Nash was strong, but the threat was not immediate and he was not a wolf that panicked. Instead, he moved away from the waterfall and slunk toward the wood. He would follow where the wind was coming from, and try to get more information before acting, or at least get a feel for just how far the actual conflagration was.

CHAN EASTFALL

If anyone wants to join the boys, go for it!

Nash was woken from his afternoon nap by a faint acrid smell. He sat up, sniffing and searching the sky with bleary eyes. It was darker than it should have been for this time, even during winter. Suddenly fully awake, Nash was on his feet and looking around the densite, searching the skyline for smoke. He couldn't see any clear direction from where he was, but the scent was distant enough that he didn't believe the fire was terribly close.

Even so.

Nash sniffed the air again, this time searching for a particular smell. He caught it and began heading down the mountain to find his brother. Even if the fire was distant, he would feel better at Chan's side.

She had gotten up quite early to go foraging through the dense underbrush of the woods, still hopeful she could find anything with medicinal properties that she had missed before. So far nothing bad had happened to the group of wolves she was sticking close to, but anything could happen, and she was so terribly understocked! However in her determined search, often involving her sticking her nose into the snow around bushes, she did not notice the darkening of the sky until she had sat back on her haunches with a huff, head tilted back in frustration.

The frustration immediately turned into worry - worry for anyone who might be caught in or near the fire. It seemed distant, however, and she could not locate the exact direction the ash was coming from within the forest, and so she decided to head towards the falls where a small clearing was located. Maybe there she could see where the wind was blowing the ash from.

However, before she could even reach the falls she nearly ran into another wolf in her hurry, coming to a stop just a little bit in front of them. "Oh, sorry about that!" She glanced at the wolf for a second, taking note of their tawny and black colouring and larger size, but much more focused on the distant fire. "Do you know where the ash from the fire is coming from?"

Chan did not get far before he was stopped mid-stride by the abrupt appearance of another wolf. His eyes widened briefly in surprise, and she asked him his own questions, making it clear they were in the same boat about the situation.

"No idea, but I'd like to find out," he answered grimly, eyes casting up to the hazed sky above them. If he'd had any experience with fires, he might have been able to discern something from the drifting ash, but as it was Chan had nothing to reference and the only instinct kicking in was the one warning him that danger was approaching.

His ears snapped back as the sound of movement came from far behind him. Looking over his shoulder, he caught sight of Nash and sent out two sharp barks to the young man. Seeing him was a relief, as Chan preferred that his remaining family stay close by, but it also meant he wouldn't be able to go as far as he'd like to. Nash was grown, but the older Eastfall remained protective of him nonetheless.

Nash hurried down the mountain. He didn't need the stronger scent to know he was nearing his brother; he could hear voices before Chan came into view.

Who was intruding on their land?

Nash had to take a deep breath. Nothing was official yet. He'd always been protective of the cove and often wondered what he would do if he came home and found another group had claimed the lake as their territory.

But that hadn't happened and Chan didn't seem worried so Nash contained himself and sidled up beside his brother.

"Has to be a ways off," he said, having caught the last part of their conversation, "but if we're getting ash it's too close for comfort."

She nodded in agreement, also wanting to find the source of the fire, except instead of being curious about it she just wanted to find out if there was anyone who needed her help. But fires could be unpredictable, and she did not want to get caught in the blaze and surrounded by the flames which meant she could not just go charging in. Her gaze followed where he turned to look over his shoulder, silently watching as a dark wolf emerged seeming out of breath as if he had raced his way through the forest.

The two seemed to know each other, given how the darker wolf sidled up next to the tawny wolf she had exchanged brief words with. They both seemed just as worried as her about the fire, though probably for different reasons. "Do you know if anyone is nearby who might be caught in the fire?" Maybe they could point her in the right direction, but from their words it was apparent they also did not know exactly where the fire was raging. "We should be safe here in the forest, the snow and damp will keep the trees from catching fire too easily, but it would be best to move everyone nearby to a more open area, just in case." The snow would limit the fire's ability to spread, but there was no telling what the wind would do.

Chan nudged Nash's shoulder with his own in greeting once the other Eastfall fell in line beside him. He agreed with what both wolves had to say.

"No, I don't. The forests have been pretty empty from what I can tell, but that doesn't guarantee anything," he answered the woman, before turning his attention back to the mountainside. 

"Could you see anything from up there? Should we climb the falls?"

Nash shook his head at the stranger’s question. ”I’ve been all over all the local territories for the last two years and I’ve rarely come across another wolf. If the fire’s anywhere near that close, I doubt there’s anyone there.” Which was one good thing about having nobody around, Nash figured.

He did agree with the woman’s assessment of the forest though; he was curious about how the fire started in the first place, with how wet and cold it was.

”I couldn’t see anything from up there,” he told Chan, ”But it wouldn’t be a bad idea to head up to the lake. If a fire does get close, that’s probably the safest spot?” he looked questioningly at his older brother. He didn’t have much experience with fire.

Clover exhaled in relief when both males expressed that they had not seen any other wolves in close proximity recently. She had been quite worried, but if it was unlikely that someone was in danger then she had no need to get any closer to the fire. It was unnecessary to put herself at risk if the two males were sure no one was in the danger zone, and now her worry shifted to the wolves she  had been grouping up with recently. Hopefully they were aware of the fire and ash and were making sure to be safe.

She nodded at the darker male; getting to higher ground, especially near a large body of water, would not be a bad idea. The lack of burnable material on the mountain would keep the flames at bay, at the very least. "The two of you can head up that way if you choose to, but I have others who are back in the forest that I need to return to," Surely at least Viorel would worry about her safety, even if Vayko seemed not too pleased by her presence.

(This post was last modified: Jan 23, 2021, 11:45 PM by Clover.)

Chan nodded; it was certainly safest for them, the best they had out of very few viable options if the fire did spread into the Lore. As much as he wanted to investigate the source as well as make sure that the forests and their inhabitants were safe, his first priority had to be Nash's wellbeing. That meant staying out of any possible danger.

Then Clover spoke again, and mentioned others.

"Are you with a pack?" he asked, hopeful that they'd finally found themselves a lead. At the least, it was certainly good to know that it was more than just a handful of them that had returned to the land.