Barrow Fields Cover your crystal eyes

@Thistle Cloud Hope this location works!

Following a particularly vicious nightmare about wolves on fire, Saena made the decision to leave the territory for a little while. The fresh air would do her good, even if she feared another episode of passing out inexplicably, and the alpha would be lying if she said she wasn't worried about her pack's dwindling numbers. A couple wolves had come and gone with very little interaction and their fleeting presences made Saena uncomfortable and wary. She feared their decisions would soon influence the core members, and she shuddered to think what might happen if they lost anyone else. She was too proud to admit that the only new blood they'd seen in a while were two coyote puppies, so she set off for the coast, determined to find and recruit at least one wolf along the way.

Three hard days' travel brought her past the decimated Redtail Rise. For a time she lingered, staring at its distant blackened outline with a mix of sorrow and pain painting her face. The hawks hadn't returned. Saena doubted they ever would. She missed the ridge something fierce, but refused to get any closer to it for fear of losing herself to despair. The image of a black-and-white wolf burning to death flashed across her mind's vision, a grisly re-imagined scene from her dream, and she hastily moved on.

Going further east took her to a hilly field. She wasn't far into it before the hair along her back prickled as if someone was following her. She pressed on, making it to the top of a hill before turning around to confront her stalker, only to find there was no one there. Feeling uneasy, Saena seated herself and turned her ears this way and that, surveying her surroundings carefully.

Works just fine

Thistle did not know where her son was, the only remaining of her first litter he was gone. She had no idea where too. She missed him, but she also respected his choices. She hoped that he was being respectful and mannerly to his new pack members.


Thistle steadily walked from her pack territory. Herself needed some air and some peace. Her irritation and angst taking form in that of a freckle faced boy. She was so upset with Charon, she honestly didn't know how to feel about it. She wanted to pull his ears. She knew it was  decision they all needed. One that was warranted, but she wished he had thought to ask. She maybe a lot of things, but one thing she still was, was an alpha and that station alone deserved some respect. It was a blatant show of disrespect in a way. Thistle shook her head.

Honestly it's not like, i am angry. No he just needs to understand the position he put me in. I am more hurt than angry, yes hurt sounds right.

She soothed herself with that thought alone, and she froze when another form took her eye. She chuffed gently to let them know she was near. She couldn't tell who it was from the position she stood in. She stood quivering on the copse of stay or run, waiting for the other to turn to determine friend or enemy.

There was no one there. Saena even glanced over her shoulder several times to affirm it. Yet the feeling of being watched persisted in the absence of an observer. The alpha grew less and less certain of herself the longer she sat upon the hillock, and she was almost to the point of actively searching for whoever was watching her when a voice nabbed her attention. Her hackles lifted as fright jolted through her, but they smoothed again when she caught sight of the fawn-coloured female. A stalker wouldn't have revealed themselves, she told herself, and anyway, the sensation didn't go away now that she had eyes on the other wolf.

She forced herself not to think about it anymore, and chuffed a deep note in return. The stub of her tail waved neutrally, free and serpentine, to indicate she was nonthreatening. So far from her pack, Saena hardly had a right to try to exert anything, least of all force or dominance. She might've been a warden, but Saena was no fighter. She was an inexperienced yearling and petite to boot, not much of a threat to anyone. Thistle's similar physique meant nothing, for her scent alone indicated an age advantage that Saena was unwilling to test.

Not only that, but it was faintly familiar. Saena couldn't place it, but she knew the scent that was wound into Thistle's aura along with sea and sand. "Hey," she called out upon reaching hearing range. "D'you feel kinda weird here, like someone's watching you?" If Thistle Cloud didn't feel the same way she did, then Saena would conclude that it was just her friendly ghosts and would leave it alone. But if the other female did feel similarly unsettled here, then maybe they could jointly figure out what the deal was... if there even was one.

Thistle sometimes felt the eyes of others, but she simply assumed it was the birds or the seals or even the gods. So it never really bothered her. She had always figured if something was going to attack her, it would do so no matter where she was. She had proof that other creatures could even come into the places you thought safe.

Thistle studied the female in front of her, thinking hard. She looked so familiar, but even Thistle would not have been able to put two and two together that this was the pup Junior's sister from so many seasons ago. She had grown far too much since Thistle had seen her so many moons ago. Thistle looked to her more closely, it was strange to see another wolf petite as she was, perhaps even smaller. She was always the small one.


Thistle shook her head. No I don't I'm sorry. But I also maybe used to it if there is something watching. ANd she would be used to it. Having lived here now for so long. There was no pin prick of fear for here though. Slight wariness of the girl in front of her now, but nothing major and nothing to make her so uncomfortable she would leave.

"Hmm," mused the yearling. There did seem to be something watching them, of that she had no doubt, but whatever it was, it was unseen. Malevolent or not, it posed no threat in hiding. So she tried to take a leaf out of Thistle Cloud's book and ignore the sensation, though she wondered, "isn't that sorta dangerous, getting used to being watched?" Saena had a healthy dose of respect for her surroundings. She might not be the strongest or fastest of wolves, but she had the good sense to stay alert always, and that enabled her to flee if something did happen.

"I'm Saena," she introduced, turning the topic from spooky stalkers to the wolf in front of her. "I run the Phoenix Maplewood pack, back that way." She gestured with her snout, clearly proud of her standing. Saena never usually wasted the opportunity to introduce herself as an alpha. While she didn't believe she was some kind of whiz-kid for being a yearling with a pack, she knew it was a feat and, deserve it though she felt she may, not many wolves put that much stock in a yearling.

"You smell like the ocean," she stated, gathering from the woman's aura that she'd either been to the ocean recently or frequently spent time there. "What brought you all the way up here to the north?"