She was falling. Cadeau reached her paws up to grab for a foothold, anything that would save her from the bottomless abyss below. Her jaws opened as she cried out for help but no sound got passed her lungs as she crashed into a large mass of raging water. The sounds of howls met her ears rather than the churning moans of the river, all around her in the darkness she could see glowing golden eyes, black forms somehow weaving about without a single struggle. Cadeau flailed her paws about, she widened her eyes as panicked thoughts consumed her mind. No! Get away from me! I'm not one of you! Cadeau managed to break the surface of the water however above her a wave loomed, shaped with distinctly sharp ears and a long muzzle. There was no escaping it as it slammed itself down, forcing her back under...
She woke up in a cold sweat, Cadeau jerking like a doll with strings. She expected to find herself washed up on some riverbank but instead she was safely snuggled beneath the furled roots of a old giant tree in the forest. She shivered, catching her breath as she assured herself it was all a bad dream. Cadeau closed her eyes, brows furrowed tightly at her forehead. It wasn't the first time she had a nightmare since setting out into the wilderness, it must be all the stress the new lifestyle was giving her. It even followed her into the realms of dreams. Cadeau forced herself to stand up, now that it was night it would be a good time to go find some supper. She shook her fur out after stretching her stiff muscles, the cold outside the protective embrace of the tree's roots was not one she was looking forward to facing. With one last steadying breath to quell the rabid beating of her heart, Cadeau stepped outside and began to scout out possible locations to find food.
she settled on the trail of the canine for the sole reason that this one was the first the huntress had seen since re-entering the wilds. in her purpose here she stood fast, and in her oath she was steadfast. but now that she'd made the journey back, Dawn was left with a great deal of land to range and faces to find, debts to pay and vows to keep.
the wind pushed through the copse, surely pushing her scent towards the woman she'd so far been trailing at a distance. gaze blinked and focused on the woman as a sudden flurry of snow danced between them, obscuring the canine for a moment, two. her chuff, low and deep, sounded as the woman made her prescence known, steps becoming longer as she closed the distance between them. sterling coat pushed upward as a second onslaught of brisk cold took with it the echo of her call, making her look much bigger than her winter-thinned frame truly was.
Cadeau felt eerie during the midpoint of her journey through the woods, as if there was something following her. She turned her head around, trying to see through the thick plumes of snow for a clue. There was nothing, yet the feeling persisted, a prickling against the back of her head. You're probably just imagining things, Cad. Cadeau took a few steps forward before a noise caught her attention. She paused, wind ruffling her brown fur and snow painfully pelting at her hide. A wolf, as if made of the snow itself, materialized from the darkness and made its way towards her. Cadeau regarded the stranger with caution, stepping back when the wolf got too close for comfort. "Can I help you?" Cadeau asked in a leveled voice, testing to see if this stranger was friend or foe.
the stranger was uncomfortable. this she recognized, and paused in her approach. molten eyes, fiery in hue but lacking once natural intensity, traced the shape of the girl. an odd one it was, but the huntress merely dipped her head in affirmation at the stranger's question. "I need to find someone." she knew the fluidity of packs, the nature of her brother, and knew it would not be easy. she would not look for him. he deserved so much more than the knowledge that she had not somehow perished after the fire.
"do you know the nearest pack?" she did not know what had happened to Alarian's clan, and she knew better than to hope that Morningside still stood - there was only so much the group could weather, and she would not allow the hope to fester in her chest.
'Do you know the nearest pack?' Cadeau would hope not, she had no intentions in mingling with any of the groups that made their home here. She wasn't going to risk anything. "No, I don't," Cadeau told the wolf bitch. The provider in Cadeau that wanted to make sure others got help wanted to pop its head out, she pinned her ears. You seriously need to stop that, you should focus on helping yourself instead of some random strangers. "Who are you looking for?" She met a few wolves so perhaps if she got a name she may have been lucky enough to cross pathes with whomever it was the stranger was seeking out.
the woman provided no answer. perhaps the taiga was once again barren, and Easthollow would then surely be the next rational destination. "a boy - Sunny." he'd be a man now, he'd already been when she'd vanished. "looks like me." she didn't have much hope that this woman would know him; he was not the type to go without a pack for long, and it sounded as if the woman had very little to do with them. the wind pushed against them again, and her limbs burned with cold where sterling fur gave way to the ugly burn scars that concecntrated along her lower limbs. her tail-tip twitched briefly with discomfort, and she shifted slightly against the wind. in the least, it stood no chance against her thick mantle.
"Sunny?" Cadeau echoed the name, cocking her head in a curious fashion to see if the name meant anything to her. Unsurprisingly it did not, she'd never met anyone named Sunny before. "I'm sorry but I've never met anyone named Sunny before," Cadeau said an apologetic tone. She hoped the next question wouldn't be too personal. "Who is he to you?"
"a brother." a debt, a failure. she pulls upward, shifting against the northern wind which again rakes through her pelt, not quite cold enough to dispell the warmth she holds close to her skin. she sees nothing else to gain here and so she dips her head, making to turn and move back the way she'd come. "thank you." with that, pushing her shoulders forward against the wind. she seeks to disapear quickly to the south, something made all the easier by the snow that begins to blow alongside the wind.
Cadeau felt a pang in her chest, guilt that she couldn't help the stranger in what she sought. She was searching for her brother and as a littermate of one herself she could understand the pain and worry of never finding him again. Cadeau called out to the wolf, knowing she was going to regret this. "If you would like," Cadeau paused, frowning. "I could help you look for um... Sunny."
she paused in her step, turning back once as the woman offered her assitance. she offered a small smile of gratitude, but said only, "I need to do this alone." the words lacked edge, but were firm. besides, there was every chance that he didn't want to be found, at least not by her. dipping her head once, wishing silently the woman found luck in her travels, she stepped into a lope once more and pressed south, head low.