The insects had fled, or died from feeding to burst, but left behind what could easily be the apocalypse.
Sitiyok left the barren glacial woodland behind in search of food, knowing a full belly would get him through what could easily be the most difficult year of his life. It took him the better part of two days to reach the lowlands from the coast. Everywhere he passed was skeletal and haunted by the cloud of voracious insects that had taken, and taken, and taken until there was nary a scrap left behind. But what frightened him most was the silence. Not a bird sang, nor an elk bugled. He caught glimpses of movement in the trees, but nothing was sedintary. Everything was moving, shifting, changing.
When he finally came to a stop beside Whitebark Stream, he was starving. Quite a few locusts littered the bank here, too. They were everywhere. His skin crawled with the sight of them, constantly reminded of the damage they'd wrought on the Teekon Wilds. It stung like a fresh wound.
His gaze shifted to the cool and clear waters. A drink would slake his thirst, and perhaps numb his hunger, so he waded ankle deep into the stream and dipped his muzzle to the surface. He lapped at it, watching the ripples of the moving water, until a flash of silver drew his attention. His ears twisted and peaked, brows lifting, and water dripping from his chin. Another flash of movement. Fish.
The swarthy male lunged, seeking the silver flash, but his teeth clipped together with a crack and the prey vanished. His momentum carried him into the deeper water where his feet lost purchase and he crashed into the water with a great big splash.
The deed had been done. She and Sitiyok had consummated their mateship many times over; her heat was at its near finish, and her mind was less-clouded and overwhelmed. She had rest upon the beach, thinking of Drageda, knowing she must tell Thuringwethil of the decision she had made. Sitiyok had gone to hunt, and she, exhausted and spent from days on end of copulation and flirtation, did not join him. He had no reason to worry; upon their stretch of the beach near Dragoncrest, none had come near. The earth was thick with the scent of them, the place all but claimed.
He could have went for oceanfare, but he had decided on something else to fetch. Midafternoon came and went, and when he was still not returned, Sangilak began to scale the cliffs where the edgers were steep but not sheer, moving up the same way she had gone down. He had been gone a little over a day which was not strange in their world; hunts could take a long while when one was a lone wolf. What she saw was the devastated world... and she grunted.
Her own travels took her good time. When she arrived to Sitiyok, finding him in the barren world, she moved to the edge of the waters. She saw him just as he fell into the river, and her pace quickened. Sangilak's ears perked as she scouted for proof of life, letting out a low and anxious whine.
The stream didn't possess the dragging current that the rivers nearby did. He wasn't carried away, or trapped beneath the churning water. Instead he floated there, suspended a bit off the bottom, fuming at himself. If he could not catch a simple fish, how was he to care for his new family? He blew a bit of air out of his nose. Realizing he was soon going to run out soon, he kicked his hind feet out and paddled up until he broke through the surface a few feet down from where he'd fallen in.
His ears flicked back and he tried to shake the water off his face, succeeding only in dunkng himself further. But his ears drained and he heard the sound of a whine; an almost pleading tone. He looked up and beheld the face of his new mate, brows turned upward in alarm, and expression tight with worry. His heart sank. She'd witnessed his folly though, strangely, didn't seem put off by his inteptitude. Was she actually concerned? Truly this was a partnership, then.
Sitiyok pulled himself out of the water and moved to meet her. Though his pelt hung off him like a damp rug, and he looked rather ridiculous, he still carried himself with the bearing of a dominant male. He pushed his nose into her cheek and rubbed his own into her's with a warm, rumbling chuff. He was pleased to see her well. He had no food to offer for his two days away, and it was dawning on him that it would be more difficult to find the further inland they went. There was no herds left on his glacier, nor here in the lowlands.
The swarthy rogue rumbled a note of discontent, his expression distant.
No matter how sure ones footing was, the earth could still give beneath them. The strong survived, the foolish perished, and the weak outright died. Nature was the strongest of them all; it would be moronic to presume dominion over her, for if the current of Natures river was strong, there was no amount of strength that could conquer it. Sangilak was relieved when Sitiyok emereged, and as he came toward her she nipped at an ear after nosing his cheek in turn. He had failed in his fishing, but that did not mean it would happen again. He would be a provider for her and their cubs, now.
Her gaze looked to the world surrounding them. We must keep to the ocean,
she intoned, her glacial blue eyes turning back to him. There is nothing for us here, when the green is gone. The ocean offers much.
If he did not know, she would teach him.
The idea of leaving the mountains behind for the endless sea didn't sit well with Sitiyok.
He was bred, born, and raised on the reaching spires; of their bountiful herds, lush greenery, and numerous pitfalls. The ocean was a mystery to him. It was not that he was terrified of the notion; far from it. But, rather, doubting. How would they, terrestrial animals, hope to conquer the beasts of the waters. Two seperate entities not meant to mix. However, in that same vein, he trusted her. He knew not why he put so much faith in the she-wolf, but she resonated with his soul, and he could not hope to argue with her wishes.
Sitiyok set his ears back and looked towards the water. "And if we cannot find what we seek there? What hope is there left in these wilds, then?" He asked. Truthfully, perhaps it would be better to move on, but Sitiyok wasn't one to give up that easily. The coming months would be telling for them both, especially for their cubs.
None,
she responded succinctly. We will leave this place. For now, we stay by the ocean, until the world is green again and provides. Then, we move to the mountains.
She looked to the horizon and then back to him. She was a wolf of fathomless depths and unreachable heights; Sangilak understood the monstrous ocean, that was merciless and unforgiving, as she understood the mountains, that were stalwart and strong, cold and cruel.
Our cubs will survive.
One way or another, they would. She felt this in her bones, knew it in her soul. He was strong, as she was; the two of them would ensure it. If the naked lands could give nothing, they would leave them.