Hideaway Strath Tell it on the mountain

*decided to cut her loose*

Despite her best efforts to lay low, Bat couldn't avoid her mother forever. When Wildfire tracked her down and told her about the encounter with Artaax, the youth didn't say much. Wildfire left to go find Raven and Bat went in the other direction, her tread carrying her slowly toward the borders. There was her brother's scent, all right, leading off in the direction of the distant coast. Bat swallowed, contemplating everything she'd been told. Then she swiveled, facing to the south now, and bolted.

She ran through the neighboring glade without stopping, then drew up short when she reached the foothills of a peak. After a brief deliberation, Bat decided to go east. She knew she would find the falls if she turned north again, though as soon as she reached the bank of the river, she followed its flow southward, into a territory she had never explored. Crags rose up on either side like some sort of gate and she passed through, feet crunching in the deepening snow.

The carpet of white thinned again when she walked into a forest like many others. And just like every time she came creeping into a strange wood, Bat found she had company. She slowed to a stop, eyeballing the stranger from a distance before woofing to announce her presence.