Blackfoot Forest It ain't that easy

@Siki sorry for not having this up sooner. 

​Sorin had wandered a little ways to the south, reaching an area he had visited once before. However, Blackfoot Forest was no longer the dead place it had been last winter. Now, it was full of life; the trees adorned with their leafy crown and numerous creatures scurrying in the undergrowth. Most noticeable in the wood were the foxes, hunting voles and digging holes in which to store their kills. 

In other times, less broken times, Sorin would've been content to silently watch the little predators. Foxes had always been a strange source of comfort for him; due largely to Viggo's lessons. Now, he simply wandered through the shadows, cursing his luck that no prey made itself known to him. Sorin was still quite haggard from hunger and his inner demons. His pawsteps fell loud and heavy on the forest floor and Sorin just tried to stay on the move. He couldn't stop for long, couldn't let his mind dwell on the grief and the pain. Dwelling would only make the fight worse. So he kept walking, moving, wraith like, from shadow to shadow, breathing heavily and shaking slightly from malnourishment.

sorry for the wait!

She may not have spoken the language of tongues but the girl knew hunger. 

It was only providence that she'd earlier happened upon a bear's kill. The mongrel would never know what had drawn the black bear away - she'd not stuck around to find out - but the scavenger had profited off its efforts regardless. The limb of a stag hung in her jaws, long and cumbersome, nearly enough to topple the wisp. 

Only fate that he passed her by, nestled safely amongst the thorns with her prize, a dark reaper: skeletal and ragged, emeralds deadened to the world as he staggered through the forest. 

Siki watched him pass for a moment, undetected, in blatant shock (though he couldn't see her) that soon melted into silent compassion. The mute took the mule deer's foreleg in her maw once more, pattering after the male on hunkered, hopping steps. 

Her ears pinned as a whispered whine, muffled by her offering, escaped around the food. She was quick to drop the leg as he turned, stepping back instinctively - as if expecting him to ravage the meal as her brothers might have. 

No worries. 

Had Sorin been in his right mind, he might have heard her soft footfalls behind him, might have caught her scent even before he came upon her. But what one would call a right mind had fled from Sorin long ago. So he continued on, past her hiding place, and for a little ways after she began following. But the whine was unmistakable.

Sorin whipped around, his fangs already bared at whomever dared to stalk him. As he caught sight of her, his aggression instantly melted away, replaced by a look of utter shock. For a moment, a wildly hopeful moment, he mistook her for Liri. 

His eyes lit up for the first time in days, and he moved forward to touch her, to make sure she was real. But as he did so, he took more notice of her figure. A leg which was damaged but not lost, a scarred pelt yet not the same scars which had cut Liri. Most importantly, the scars on her heart were not the same as the women he searched for. 

His ears fell flat, his posture losing its eagerness to be replaced by a despondent heaviness.  His eyes smoldered and then burned out once more. Seeing this woman was a rather cruel blow to the heart. In that moment, he realized what Liri might have felt when she first saw him. He couldn't be certain, having never met her old mate, but he had long suspected that Liri had mistook him for Kavik when they first met. Now, he was on the receiving end. Now he knew what such pain felt like. 

He couldn't be angry at the woman before him though. It was hardly her fault for being somewhat similar in appearance to the soul he sought. So he dragged himself from the pain, if only to explain. "I'm sorry, I thought you were...someone else." The familiar words echoed painfully in his mind. He shot her a small grin, a paltry attempt at easing his own pain. 

"Names Sorin," he whispered briefly, an ear flicking slightly as a bird called from within the trees. He looked down at the stag's leg she had offered, wondering why she was being so charitable. Nonetheless, he moved forward slowly, keeping an eye on her should she prove duplicitous. He laid down by the offering, giving her plenty of room if she wanted to share.