Wild Cherry Orchard Sleep on Water

It had been a long journey from the mountain to say the least. Although hardly wearing on her well travelled paws she had to worry for her son. Leaving the boy to rest, she had gone in search of food, their travel patterns easily slipping back into what they had been - with the exception that he now argued he was capable of feeding himself. Be that as it may, she would not have an exhausted child attempting to get by on his own when his mother was here to feed him.

The wild cherry orchard was a place she had found herself in before. She had no particular attachment to the place however, she seemed to prefer her trees packed so tightly they blacked out the sky, or not at all. Still, she moved with confidence through the snowy landscape, spying the cedartrees to the south and knowing they must not be far now. It would be a relief to get back to her mountain home. She was still unsure of how she felt being so far from her family with the threat of illness looming on the horizon like so many storm-clouds.

She set her nose to the task of hunting down a meal, fresh or otherwise to feed her now almost grown son, and with any luck it might line her stomach as well.

Destin had strayed a little from camp. He had a wish to explore more outside of the boundary lines as well as inside. The encounter with the rabid fox had given him quite a fright, and from then on he decided to stay away from the cliffs and move towards a more open area. His reasoning for this was he would be able to see anything coming at him, and it wouldn't be pitch-black at the time either. Therefore he moved away as far as he was comfortable, slowly feeling better in his own skin and also more confident in himself and his abilities.

The thought of leaving Relic Lore came to him every few minutes as he walked from the main camp. How would the others react when they found out? Did Jaysedy have an idea of where they were going? Destin believed in his leader and felt that he would be able to follow her to the end of the earth, but it would be nice to have a destination in mind. The unknown always seemed to make him nervous and the thought of leaving what he knew after so little time here made him feel a little uncomfortable.

A snowy landscape stretched before him with dead trees dotting it. Bare bushes were scattered every couple of feet. The large male tried to imagine what it would be like during the summer, to laze about and eat the berries from the branches here. He vowed to himself that, if they stayed long enough, he would once return to this place and savor it while he could. Sitting down he tried to enjoy the little heat the sun yielded to him.

As he thought about these various things, his golden gaze caught sight of something peculiar. A brown dot was approaching on the horizon, though it was getting bigger as it moved closer. Once it had neared enough the male was able to recognize it as another wolf. Destin's eyes widened as he watched. Whoever it was seemed to be getting steadily closer to Grizzly Hollow territory, and the subordinate knew it was his responsibility to let her know or stop her altogether. Standing up now, he decided to walk closer to her while attempting to keep a confident gait (though in reality he was anything but). Approaching the wolf, he noticed that it was about his size, perhaps even larger, with a brown-ish cream coat and striking orange eyes.

"Excuse me," he called out to the wolf. "You are getting close to Grizzly Hollow territory, I'd suggest you stay away from the border." It was a light, polite warning, or at least that was what Destin was going for. He remained firm in his stature as he watched the wolf closely.

(This post was last modified: Feb 23, 2013, 10:42 PM by Destin.)

Her stance was kept neutral as she approached the other wolf. She was still a ways from the Cedarwood yet but a pleased smile crossed her face at his words. It seemed the Hollow wolves were as vigorous at maintaining their borders as her own and she slowed, allowing her eyes to rove over the man before her in appreciation. If the others they kept were like this then she could not foresee any conflicts with the faceless leader she had come to call on.

"I believe I still have a short ways to go before I find myself amongst the heart of the Cedarwood." she teased with a small smile, her tail taking on a slow wave between her hocks. The area here was still quite open in comparison to the closeness of the Ghastly Woods, and as ever it seemed she would be unable to make a journey without attracting attention. An ear turned at the crack of a branch in the distance, probably her son off galavanting ahead, but for now she saw little danger from the man in front of her.

She thought he bore a familiar scent beneath the mish-mash of others, maybe even two. Ava was easily distinguishable, the other left her puzzled. She could not know with the change in her home that the scent of her sister Aniu would have changed so much. "Besides, I come to the Hollow on most gracious invitation." She finished with a smile. Her words may have been cryptic, but she was feeling exceptionally lighthearted today. A rare occurrence indeed.





The reply from the female wolf allowed him to relax slightly. Destin could not sense any hint of aggression in her tone. She was a good distance away from the border, but even so the male did not let his guard down for one instant. Jaysyek accepted him into Grizzly Hollow and expected him to do his best, and he would be damned if he allowed himself to be a truant wolf and have someone hurt his family. "It doesn't hurt to be too cautious," he replied with a good-natured smile. The announcement from Jaysyek, his experience with the rabid fox, and the news of the stolen child caused him to become even more paranoid. What if something like that happened to Grizzly Hollow under his own watch when he could have stopped it? There would be no way he would be able to forgive himself.

Her second sentence surprised him slightly, though he did not question it. If she was asked by Jaysyek or the other dominant of Grizzly Hollow to pass into the borders, Destin would let her go without any protest whatsoever. The white leader knew exactly what she was doing, the male was sure of that. Perhaps this wolf was going to help them? The large male did not ask any further questions regarding this statement and accepted her words at face value without any hesitation. "Where are you from?" he asked curiously, looking her up and down with golden eyes. A sudden crack caused his head and eyes to immediately turn towards the source of the sound, his fur raised on end and his ears perked in alarm. Was something else here watching?

(This post was last modified: Mar 14, 2013, 02:40 AM by Destin.)