Tormented Tarns Unwelcoming welcome

This was a horrible and swampy place. Large puffy nests of spider within the gangly and twisted trees, the water stagnate and stinking- evermore so with the destruction that had gone off in these lands. No mountain no matter how sharp and bitter, no forest no matter how dense, dark or tangled, no sands no matter how vast and scorching, was as wretched of a place which Vallkyrie found herself in now. 

At the edges of the Teekon Wilds, this was what the young Archer was faced with when she made her debut. Her inky lips sneered and her skin quivered, unable to imagine here in this situation exactly how beautiful the land beyond could be. She would have turned back but her stubborn nature pushed her long legs forward. 

With all bad there was good to balance the world so surely with a place so ugly, wonders would lie beyond.

When standing knee-deep in water, Sarah thought that, perhaps, taking the path through the mountains would have been a smarter choice. Was it too late for that? She wearily looked over her shoulder to the length of the distance she had already covered, then cast her glance ahead, where she could not see an end to this huge marshy plain. She shifted from one foot to the other, because the wet and cold was seeping through her injured skin. In the end continuing on seemed by far the best decision for today. Keeping herself warm by walking was just as good motivation as any.

Still suffering from respiratory infection, Sarah tired soon and was more than glad to have an opportunity to rest upon the only elevated, grassy perch in this mess, where her feet and body would be clear out of water. Canines have an uncanny ability to make themselves small and compact, therefore it was no wonder that Sarah too managed to curl up so that she was both comfortable and warm. She did not notice, when she fell asleep, but she was awoken, when the sound of splashing was coming her direction. She lifted her head, narrowed her eyes and found the black-and-white she-wolf.

The stranger appeared to be a traveller like her (why else would anyone come to this water waste-land), so for now, she contented herself with observing the other quietly.

The trek was lonely, disgusting and tiring. The thick water pulled on her long limbs, caked her fur. She felt heavy even though she was far from it. The land around her was deadly silent, a clear sign of lack of life here. Though, faintly, she began to smell something other then the muck around her - another wolf. Pausing, icy bright eyes searched. The wolf was closer then she expected and Vallkyrie foolishly didnt notice surely because of the stench here. As the other woman looked over Vallkyrie,  Kyr stared back. 

She was a smokey grey and black colored woman and the eyes which watched her curiously now were an equally gray hue, bright with a slivered sparkle. Much of Vallkyrie's blood held these same colorations, if not a darker black all together, even down to the other female's washed out muzzle. If it was not the the cold, mucky waters which she stood in, Kyr might have been able to think the woman resting upon that little dry patch was kin. But Vallkyrie was very far from home and after she was done with her pause and obversiving of the woman, smiled respectfully and began making her way slowly through the muck once more as to not disturb her rest.

There was a long moment, where the two wolves regarded each other in guarded silence. Sarah had no idea, what went on in the black-clad she-wolf's mind, but her own mind was making wagers of, whether this wolf would make the third attempt on her life. Having survived two fights already, she would not take another assault lying down in submission, but she also realized that, should there be violence, it would be her final time in the ring. She was too under the weather. Too tired to defend herself for long.

Then the moment was gone, the attack had not taken place and Sarah's dead body had not been left floating in the bog for crows to feast on. Without saying a word the other female moved past her and was on her way again. "It's a hostile land over there," she finally called out to her, thinking that the stranger deserved at least one favour from her, that of an advice.

Just as the black coated woman began her trek again, the adult spoke, pulling at Kyr's attention. Vallkyrie paused yet again, her icy eyes narrowing in the direction front of her. Where exactly? Vallkyrie thought for a moment as she trained her eye, that beyond the tangles and webs of the Tormented Tarns, she saw a breakthrough by rockier terrain. Once more the young woman turned her attention to the older one. The foothills in the North? She spoke in question to the other woman, her black ears perking upwards in a wonder.

 If this were true and they were dangerous, which way then should she go? Vallkyrie wanted to ask the woman what was hostile about the lands - was in the earth itself, like this, or was it an unpleasant pack there, or larger dangerous predators? She didnt want to bombard her with many question and so, aloud her to know Vallkyrie's ignorance by simply saying, I'm very new here you see, you've just caught me on my arrival to this... Her words unoff. Of course, she did not know the name of Teekon Wilds.

"There is nothing wrong with the land per se," Sarah pulled herself to a sitting position, almost falling from her safe perch in the process, but regaining her balance in the last moment. "But I did not get like this," she beckoned to the most obvious injuries from the two fights she had taken part in," by meeting friendly wolves. Social they may have been, but their way of making acquaintances is not without harm," here she chuckled humourlessly.

"There is a pack called Moonspear as well. They gang up with another and are quite merciless towards lone wolves," perhaps, she was exaggerating a little. Hydra had not tried to attack or eat her. "Consider yourself warned and proceed with caution," she finished and then was caught in severe coughing spell.

Vallkyrie remained both silent and observant as she stood and listened to the woman as she began to explain herself. It began with her lifting herself from the small rise which she rest upon, loosing her balance and nearly flopping back into the muck before regaining her posture. Knowing the other women's disposition, Vallkyrie did not use the same caution in herself as though the other woman were a threat, and instead an amount of concern took her - both for the wellbeing of the woman before her and her own hide. 

After a chuckle, she mentioned another pack which grouped with an ally and took out loners in their path. So that was three unfriendly packs then, already? Kyr could only be left to wonder if all three packs were so ruthless or that the woman before her happened to just have horrible luck. Vallkyrie was not certain but the women's advice would not fall on deaf ears. Thank you for your advice, I will be vigilant. She spoke, a frown tugging on her as she lifted as paw as though to move towards the woman as she began to cough. She had grown sick on top of her injuries, likely because of her weakened state. And where will you go? She wonders of this woman, out here all to herself.

"Do so for your own sake," Sarah nodded, though she was not at all convinced that the black and white she-wolf would get through the valley with her skin intact. On the other hand - she looked over her shoulder on the distant lands of Rising Sun valley - the old battle ax was not sure, if life there was any better. Sure, no one had tried to kill there. But "yet" was just a matter of time. 

"I will have a..." family there? Words remained unsaid. Saying that Lost Creek hollow wolves were a family in the truest sense of the word was just as saying that your work-place you did not like very much was a home sweet home for you. "A pack to return to," she finished. "There is food-shortage and I was over there to see, if things were better. They are not."

The other woman turns her head, looking out into the opposite direction which Vallkyrie had a plan of heading - although she really did not have much of a plan when she'd left home. Finally, though hesitantly, the stranger explains that she has a pack to return to that way. Perhaps, not another very friendly pack? Kyr spoke not, though made a note of it when she said that food was at a shortage where she was from in the east though, it was not much better to the west. What do north? With winter coming, it was not uncommon for food to grow short. Vallkyrie would need to find a group soon if she knew what was best for her. 

I wish you the best of luck then, on your return home. She said, even though the other female didnt seem all too excited about 'home'. Vallkyrie dipped her muzzle in proper farewell and after a moment to listen for any final offerings, began to make her way.

"The same to you," Sarah told the stranger, who seemed to be very keen on being on her way, despite her warnings. She could have told that her beaten and battered look was because of those hostile packs in the west, but, why point out the obvious?

Her gaze followed the black and white she-wolf, until she was nothing but a black dot against the horizon. Then she got to her feet carefully, stretched, while wincing, where the skin was sore and inflamed, turned around three - four times and curled up again for a nap. She did not feel that well yet to continue her journey.

While she slept soundly, the snow began to fall and soon the grayscale she-wolf was hidden under a soft, white blanket, made of fluttering snowflakes.