Dahozhoni Meadow Wirbelwind

"Alright, kid - turn your nose to the wind and decide, where it tells you to go," Dwin instructed @Frolic , when they had made all the way from the Brecheliant to the new, curious lands that she had discovered a week earlier. They could have started their scouting journey earlier, were it not for the sickness that had spread through the pack like wildfire, leaving people coughing, wheezing and feeling the various levels of not being okay. Dwin herself had managed to pull through with rather mild symptoms, though, if she talked too much, she could still feel the strain in her throat. 

It had taken a bit of convincing dad that Frolic was good to go and the latter had probably been more effective than her older sibling, who still had some doubts about, whether this adventure was not going to be doomed from the very beginning. But they had made a deal and for the first part of the journey Dwin was in charge. Now that they were here - it was Frolic's turn to be independent and make decisions. Dwin's task was to make sure that they weren't lethal. 

Made some assumptions. If anything needs to be corrected - give me a heads up!

They voyaged to the south, their arrival in the region heralded by a loud cough from Frolic. They still came every so often, as dry as they were loud. The child had long since stopped paying them much attention. She felt fine otherwise and, besides, there were much more interesting things to capture her fascination.

The sisters came to a stop at the edge of a colorful meadow, for instance, and Frolic marveled. Behind them, the trees of Haunted Wood flared in half a dozen bold, seasonal hues. Ahead of them, the colors were bright to the point of neon. Sprinkled in with the classic greens and golds were bursts of ultraviolet purple and even pink.

At Ceridwen’s prompt, Frolic sniffed the air. Then her nose dropped as her tail lifted. She began combing hither and thither across the meadow, roving through its splendor with all her senses open. Sometimes the grass gave way to pebbles painted in all the hues of the desierto florido.

Frolic halted and raised her head to glance back at Ceridwen, proclaiming, I never wanna go back!

She laughed, coughed, then broke into a trot rapidly accelerating toward a gallop, very much looking the part of a wild filly.

"Yup, that's, what I thought too the first time," Dwin remarked, taking the role of a "been there done that" sibling, who could not longe be surprised about anything the world had to offer. When - in fact - she leaned to agree with Frolic. This place was quite spectacular and unlike anything she had seen before. Forests and meadows, and mountain ranges would forever be the roaming grounds her soul would always feel at home, but it was nice to change the scenery and compare the two. 

Frolic took off and Dwin went after her. The girl had done some growing up lately and Dwin had to put in some effort in catching up with her. But soon she did and snapped playfully at her sister's heels. She kept up with the kid, until she would be out of steam or inclined to stop. It was her party after all and Dwin was a guest. 

Frolic squealed when Ceridwen caught up to her and began nipping at her heels. Her black tail tucked between her legs as she scrambled ahead. Their little chase carried them eastward toward what looked like a dry riverbed in the distance, though Frolic slowed and began to double back, keen to explore the meadow a bit more thoroughly before they went elsewhere.

There were quite a few varieties of plants here that looked very exotic to Frolic. She wondered if their dad knew about them. The ones that drew her attention the most were the ones that resembled pine cones. Flowers sprouted from their tips in an array of pinks, yellows and whites. Upon closer inspection, many of these Coryphantha cacti were covered in what looked like puffy white dandelions.

She sniffed closer to a particularly eye-catching whiskerbush and took a very unexpected jab to the nose. Frolic didn’t yelp, though she scurried backward and clapped a paw over her snout, eyes watering. Her opinion of this place immediately dropped a point or two.

Dwin had never taken any particular interest in plants (unless they were useful or edible), so up until Frolic pointed out to the curious prickly bulbs and cucumber shaped things sprouting out of the ground and being the dominant species, she had not noticed them at all. They looked very alien to, what Dwin was used to seing, kind of pine cones with needles. As she stopped to sniff one and appraise the other's shape, she idly wondered, if this place was the graveyard for all the great things the maker of the world had created and discarded as not fitting the scenery. 

"At this rate," Dwin remarked, coming closer to have a look at Frolic's nose, who seemed to be the most-suffering part of her sister's body, since she was so prone of getting tangled in her own feet and tripping over. "That nose of yours will one day tell you that he has had it with your shenanigans and will go and find a proper muzzle that treats noses better," she said. "In case that thing was poisonous, put dying a horrible and painful death off, until we return home. You will be quite heavy to drag all the way," she teased, inadvertently pressing the side of her chest against a tall prickly plant and letting out a quiet yelp, when it grazed her skin.

Still holding onto her schnoz, Frolic’s watering eyes widened a little when Ceridwen mentioned poison, then promptly jabbed herself on another cactus. The pup couldn’t help but snort. If those prickles did contain toxins, the two of them were going out like Thelma and Louise: together.

When she finally pulled her paw away, she checked it for blood. She didn’t see anything, though her nose still smarted. She wriggled it, an action which triggered a memory. Frolic glanced in the direction of the mesa, wondering for a moment how @Inji was doing these days.

But then her attention returned to Ceridwen and the fact that neither of them seemed to be expiring. Frolic bounced on her heels, ready to resume exploring. She looked around, trying to decide which direction to go. Despite the mishap, she still thought this place was way more interesting than, say, the caldera.

I didn’t know plants could bite, did you? she queried before cheerily proposing,. Maybe we should take one back to papa for a gift! And that suddenly reminded her of another previous encounter with @Kilgitsuk, alias Winterhawk. Hey! That Whitehawk guy never brought our deer!

"I have heard stories of plants, who can swallow you whole," Dwin remarked. A long, long time ago she recalled Eljay taking his kids for a botany lesson in the fen. And there they had encountered tiny little, green plants with thick leaves covered in tiny needles. If you poked them, their leaves closed and reminded of a set of jaws. Dad had told that these plants feasted on bugs. Why not exaggerate this truth for her sister's sake?

"I want to see you try," she shook her head, smiling, trying to visualize, how on Earth would they (or rather just Frolic) uproot it and then carry it home. The plant had chosen its weapons well and thus spared themselves the sad fate of becoming an unwanted souvenir. "And you believed him?" she had no idea, who this Whitehawk guy had been, but the likelihood of a perfect stranger bringing a whole deer to another stranger was just as high as Dwin becoming a ballerina (if she had known, what it was). 

"A good hunter never reveals another hunter their best hunting grounds. And most wolves do not share food," she said.

He offered, Frolic countered. He said he was a trader. He brought some fish but I told him I didn’t want it. I hate fish, ugh! She waved a dark forepaw in front of her throbbing nose, as if someone held a stinky fish right underneath it. He asked what I wanted and I told him I wanted a whole deer to give to mama and papa so they’d stop being so bummed out.

In his defense, he’d said he’d have to be lucky to capture an entire deer. Nevertheless, Frolic scowled as she realized he’d failed to deliver on his promise during her family’s time of need. Frolic supposed it was a good thing she’d never breathed a word about this to anyone until now. Her family didn’t need any more dejections.

Anyway, the youngling declared a beat later, clearly over dwelling on such matters, we should find something cool to bring back with us, for Glee and Badger too, else her littermates might never forgive her for leaving them behind. Let’s try this way, she proposed in the very next breath, pointing southeast.

Dwin rolled her eyes, but did not say nothing, seeing it was pointless to argue. However, one word Frolic had used "trader" stuck with her and she wondered, what would the trade have been, if that guy had fulfilled his promise and brought back the deer. What her younger sister had entirely missed, when engaging with the stranger, was that he was not offering stuff for free. What where the chances of her sister brushing with the devil himself or his associates at least and had barely avoided selling her soul to something as trivial as food?

By the time she finished that thought, Frolic The Whirlwind had taken off again and Dwin followed her lead. "Maybe not the spiky, prickly thing," she suggested, catching up with her little companion. "Then they even might get more upset," but it was just a speculation. Blackthorn children were not only fearless (with an exception of Sylvie and Eljay) and reckless, they also had peculiar taste in their choice of toys. Maybe a cactus would become THE toy. "Do you have anything in particular in mind?" 

No, Frolic replied, moving off in her chosen direction.

They were in agreement about the strange, stabby plants. But she didn’t know what kind of souvenir she’d like to bring back instead. Her eyes cut from left to right as they trotted along, searching for inspiration. The bright, colorful flowers soon faded on either side, leaving the pair of traveling pants sisters in something of a dust bowl.

Frolic halted suddenly to reassess, the sparkle of water catching her eye in the distance. She veered slightly to the left after exchanging a glance with Ceridwen. If nothing else, they could fetch a drink. This place was rather dry and dusty.

"Yup, let's go and have a drink," Dwin agreed to the suggestion, only now realizing that despite the alien and colourful specimens of botany, there was little to no green grass, the earth felt very dry and there were no puddles or waterways either. The further they went into this terra incognita the starker the difference of the landscape became. Turning to look South, she noticed that the flat, orange-yellow treeless terrain reached the horizon and further. Just as there was an endless lake in the North, here was an endless - yes, what exactly? If luck would have it, they would hopefully meet someone to give a name to it. 

"I think that rather than bringing something back, we can explore this area properly, map it and then bring them here," she suggested, hoping that this would not mean just trying to herd and discipline three boisterous teenagers, who knew better and who would claim that the old Dwin did not understand anything about her life. "If this place stays just as warm as it is now during winter - it will be a nice way to warm their toes and give a break from cold and snow," she said and then realized that Frolic probably did not know, what a winter was, because she had never experienced it. 

The river was more of a stream, Frolic noted as they approached. Aside from the plethora of colors at first glance, the youngster was feeling kind of disappointed by this expedition so far. She arched a skeptical eyebrow as she toed the waterline and bent down to take a drink of cool water with a strong coppery tang.

If you say so, she replied dubiously to Ceridwen’s suggestion, wiping a black foreleg across her dripping mouth as she straightened. Do you think anyone lives around here? Frolic asked in the next breath.

Her bright eyes scanned the desert horizon and she swore she saw a tumbleweed blow past in the distance.

I figured we can fade here, since it segues perfectly into our next thread? :)

"I do not know. Judging by the fact we did not meet anyone on our way here, nor did I catch any scent trails, I would say know. Not in this area," Dwin's guess was just as good as the next person's. This place was so odd and different from, what she was used to, that she half expected to wake up any moment and find out that this was all a fancy dream. With Frolic included in it. She had to wonder, what did she prefer better - having her sister on adventure in real life with all the potential dangers and numerous ways of dying included or having a relatively safe trip inside dreamscape, where you could always wake up, in case things went south. 

Though... she side-glanced at Frolic - knowing her luck, she would managed to get stuck in some brain-fold and get into trouble regardless. "Let's find somewhere we can stay through the night. I guess that with no trees to shelter, this place could get really cold in the night," she told. "How about that way?" she suggested a direction that led them to their next adventure.