Firefly Ravine the water i consume is you

2°, partly cloudy, late morning

Since her return, Thuringwethil has not ventured much farther than Drageda’s borders. She always wants to be somewhere close should the call be made that Wildfire is home, even though another part of her knows well enough it is not likely. At this point, if Wildfire is alive, she wouldn’t withstand the travel between the caldera and the cliffs. It is nearly a week for the healthiest of wolves, and one coming back from starvation in the threat of winter would take significantly longer. If something were to happen, she can only hope they’d send someone so they were not left clinging to lost hope.

The itch to stretch her legs holds out no longer and she finally gives in. She moves south, around the sound, until a narrow rivers appears from the tangle. Everything has already been mapped by several wolves that she moves with a confidence of conquered land. The cliffs in the distance open up to a ravine and she stays low, letting the walls of the gorge cloak her in shadows from the partly cloudy sky above. It has been a few days since snow has fallen, holding off a little while longer, and she simply moves with little intention to impact her surroundings.

She has not spent much time through these lands where a pack once called home. The death of their leader on her paws while her corpse remains on Sleeping Dragon. As far as the rest of them, she has no idea where they’d gone off to or if there are even any of them left. They barely hold a few thoughts in her mind before she wanders off again, surveying the distance across the river.

283

She left the territory without purpose, simply crossing the borders and wandering like a lost sheep, investigating anything that seemed novel and interesting. She chanced upon the scent of heda when the sun looked as if it had almost reached its peak, obscured by the clouds as it was. She wavered a moment, wondering if it would look bad to track the leader, who she admired and revered with a kind of nervousness. But she had not seen the commander in some time, and the predicament of her brother had her curious. 

She loved her brother as one must if bound by blood, but could not help to think how different they were as she grew. There was something menacing, dark about her brother, something that had her shy away from him as the days grew short and winter's chill crept in. This change she pondered as she idly tracked the commander, pulled from her thoughts by a flash of dark in her peripheral vision.  "heda?" she called tentatively, stilling on her path and angling her ears towards the movement as she hurries towards it, tail wagging benignly.

The wind comes in through the ravine, blowing against her, and she thinks going against the wind in such a place is a bad idea but it does not slow her down. Her ears remain erect on her head and she uses her nose as she would anyway, noting the scents the wind carries along with her. She does not notice that of her own pack from behind until she hears the call of her name. Thuringwethil slows to a stop and turns to see the grey girl not too far off. She stares at her for a long moment before she properly engages, turning all the way to better face her.

She has not spent much time with Dio and Portia’s children but she’d been fond of Dalia when she’d been young. Sirio hasn’t made much of an impression and she does not suspect he’ll last much longer and she isn’t sure how to address it with her wocha and healer, two wolves that have been faithful to her since nearly the beginning. They’ve become part of Drageda as any wolf from the northern branches and perhaps they will understand. For now, however, she puts her attention on the other girl and takes a step closer.

“Have you been following me?” she calls out with a curious quirk of her brow.

222

It is Heda; though it could most certainly have been no one else, the tiny doubting part of her that said that she might have happened upon the wrong wolf was silence. Her question she answered truthfully, first, the answer slipping out easily. "yes" But quickly she realizes how foolish she's been; surely the Heda does not wish to be followed. Amending her answer quickly with an explanation;  "I wanted to explore, and I found your scent - I'm sorry" She dipped her head, quite suddenly nervous. Perhaps the Heda was doing something important, or simply did not want to be bothered. And here was she, some foolish pup, hard on her heels. "should I go?" She offered after a pause, glancing up at the woman and yet not quite meeting her gaze.

“I see,” she says softly once the other explains. Her expression remains blank for a moment but she frowns when she hears the quiet, should I go? Thuringwethil waves her tail a little, recollecting the first few times she’s been around the girl. She’s quiet, but she’s blossomed. “No,” she adds a beat later. “I was also exploring.” For the hopes of common ground, she doesn’t mind the company and it could possibly be a chance to teach the younger generation their history.