Beneath warm, cloudy skies, she lowered her head and lengthened her stride. Having followed the river out from the dark sequoia forests, she had traced them all the way to the valley then eventually parted ways to travel a way she had not gone in a long, long time. Today, she would trek even further than the Vale pack's area and go across the valley entirely, back to landscapes she had not touched in months.

Restlessness had crept deep into her being suddenly and no amount of mountainside meditation she had achieved so far had righted this wrong. In an effort to sort herself, she took to changing her scenery to scavenge and prowl elsewhere with the thinking that a small meal might ease her enough to help. This remained to be seen.

By late in the afternoon she had flushed out a pheasant and ate it, although not all that happily (birds were among her least favorite meals, but beggars could not be choosers). She had managed to doze briefly in a secluded thicket after, but once again, not happily. Dreams of strange, blossoming forests growing rapidly out of seemingly nothing had found her. Their roots reached hungrily, faster and faster still while their sheer energy choked her ragged breaths even before the wood could curl around tight her neck... Naturally, she awoke in bad spirits.

So progress from there on out was slow and nothing more than a frowning march down paths she was less than certain about. It had been too long since she had come this way.. and the memories she had of it were dressed in a different season, too. She proceeded cautiously, especially knowing that the Creek pack's territories were nearby. Amekaze knew little about that pack and its policies regarding loners within several miles of their marks, but at least the members of it she had met were curious creatures. She would not know what to expect with them..

Eventually she lifted her snout and paused. Now there was something more familiar: the very distinct scent of wetlands, where she had usually haunted before summer turned into autumn. Amekaze had been hoping to find them before anything else held her up. No matter that it had taken well into the hours of dusk.

She walked on tiredly, just barely reaching into the shadow of their trees as the skies began to hit full-dark. Her motivation to reacquaint herself with these vistas fully had waned suddenly in favor of finding somewhere better to rest.

The memories of this place crept back slowly. It was the smell most of all that stirred her, humid and damp with the wetlands unique scent that she had never encountered before here. In a way, it was almost refreshing, but she was too worn out to enjoy it too enthusiastically.

Before long, it was pale fur in the otherwise drab, swamp-toned scenery that focused her. She lifted her head and approached more stiffly than she usually did -- the full day of travel's resulting stiffness worthy of much of the blame. But this was a curious change of plans that the loner could afford to entertain for a time. The wolves here may not be quite of the same ilk as those living on the shoreline..

Amekaze chuffed a greeting in return and plainly acknowledged the other with a good look-over that had her squinting in the end. Rarely did she see wolves so starkly.. white. Ame wondered if this was her due to her heritage, or just a neatly aligned set of genes for other reasons.

Steadying her paws, she stopped a few paces away and sniffed subtly, thinking she may have smelled Ferdie on her as well. The Creeks boundaries are nearby? she asked, making a brief assumption once she had realized the pale wolf's scent -- unmistakable and strong, undoubtedly that of the Creek. Amekaze seemed to be encountering their lot often lately, even far from their lands towards the sea and south of here. It only was natural that she would run into them here, too.

She wore her aura of mystery intentionally. Ame liked not being tied strictly to one place and her travels kept the scents on her vague enough. Even by now, the sea-scented tendencies of her had begun to dull somewhat and she had only been away for a day. It was duller than normal at least and already began to tell a different story of who she might be.

Amekaze nodded to the answer she was given, for it satisfied her and did not force her to fret of their proximity. She did know this was free but she always made it a point to steer away from borders without at least an inkling of purpose to go by. Then, to the question given, she shook her head once. Here, I do not. Not any longer. In the waning days of summer, I once did.. and this return did inspire the smallest hints of nostalgia. Now she tended towards the coast although returning to this side of the mountains could be advantageous. I see it has changed some. Back then, no one claimed anywhere in the region, she murmured and regarded the pale wolf watchfully. You are not the first Creek wolf I have encountered lately, leading me to suspect decent numbers in your lot, so thus my concern of treading too close, she elaborated with another nod, feeling like justifying why she had asked of their borders so suddenly.

Amekaze steadied the splay of her ears before it could become too noticeable. While she listened, the subject moved to questions not long after while she wondered of the Creek wolves and still did not know what to think of them. Ferdie came to mind first, but then the ocean-bathing shaman was not long after. Then there had been the sterling brute upon the mountainside and now this (seemingly personable, so far) light-furred yearling.

Since she appreciated the pale wolf's saying she would not mention her, Ame decided she ought to entertain a few answers at the very least. I do, she nodded simply with an idle flick of her tail. Not being the type to elaborate, she was braced for more questions to eventually follow. Not exactly a practicing one, no.. On anyone but herself this was the case. Amekaze only knew enough to keep her own wounds from festering and some bare-bones about herblore.. It was the basics of a skill she had gained as a yearling amongst her father's wolves (necessary, in the violent nature of the times) but hoped to polish to something greater one day though. Why do you ask? her head tilted subtly; no one had ever asked this before so she did not know where it came from, or if anything about her said "healer" in particular.

She reasoned that made sense. Plantlife here was unique. Whereas she had a deeper relationship with the swamp, she saw them for a different worth. Ah, I suppose I could see why.. I however appreciate spaces like these for more than what they can yield, she turned her eyes briefly to the scenery, knowing it was definitely not everyone's preference.

Perhaps, if I learned it would suit me, she replied with an ease that surprised even herself, as it had just rolled off her tongue. She meant it, though, and remembered the sterling wolf upon her favored mountainside not so long ago who. He had mentioned that if she had a need, she may find something to ease it there among the Creek "family".

Amekaze was still not sure how to feel about this, but unsure was better than outright off-put. She would need her time to warm up to the idea and know more. She wondered how much she could get her pale company to share without having to press for it.

Amekaze had only known the creek late in the summer, back long before it had ever been claimed for a pack. Surely it was much the same even now after all that bustled around it, with its occasional falls and deeper depths than one might suspect. She remembered the vibe there as good, to her, much like other waterways in this region, for it had seemed content with an underlying tone of danger.

Inwardly, she was pleased to gather this information as neatly as this. All noted and considered, it sounded not.. bad. Amekaze liked tight-knit (although she would not be keen if they sought to be too overbearing), and nearby mountains to a waterway was also in her interests. The issue in this was the distance from the sea, the place she had begun to grow fond of despite not resonating with the greatest body of water itself..

Ame nodded thoughtfully. Thinking of it now, she knew a decent handful of Creek residents. I have. I met Ferdie not long ago, she said and paused there briefly, wondering how close they were; she could smell him. Also a mostly-sterling male with golden eyes and a scar on his face. I believe a dark male with one ear smelled of your lot as well.. she replied.

I am called Ame, she tossed in then since Bazi had shared her name, and without the garnish of surnames and unnecessary titles as Amekaze could appreciate. She had only said she was an outrider, which she could deem highly relevant information here. Evidently she was doing her job. Others have said I may find company there and this is the first time I have drawn so near to the pack itself. What is your leader like? the loner asked.

Once she had been well-acquainted with several Ridge wolves. So many that she could probably say she knew their majority. Now, that had become much less true, especially since Akhlut's leave and perhaps the Creek was swiftly becoming the way that had once been. Amekaze noted the names Bazi supplied, supposing they fit. Knowing the dark brute was Haunter was mildly amusing.. although it did suit him alarmingly well.

Ame nodded. Evidently Fox was the leader. I see, she murmured thoughtfully. "Fierce" was an appreciated adjective, although "young" was mildly unexpected. Amekaze guessed around her own age, not much less, as she considered even herself a little on the young end for leadership. Then again, she had grown up in a time where the leaders were her well-aged mother and father who was in what she figured was his prime ages; not wolves barely old enough to breed.

However, she knew this place was much different in many ways. Many leaders were relatively young here. She reasoned it depended on a great many circumstances, and if Fox understood where she lacked, it may not be seen as a flaw. Youth does not always have to be a bad thing, I suppose. It may do me well to meet her, in time.. Such as after an appropriate rest and so on. Amekaze was too worn thin from roaming to think much ahead to meeting anyone important at the moment. I believe rest beckons, for now though.. was her way to beginning to say she was nearly done here. She would still have to find somewhere suitable to bed down for a few hours, so there was much left to be done.