Lake Rodney Oblivion Crisis

Snow was threatening to fall again.  She'd kept her journey through the nearby forest brief.  It had seemed like a weird, kinda creepy place, but now that she'd come out on the other side, the lake there seemed lovely.  Zenith's careful steps lead her up to the shore, putting a single paw on the frozen edge of the water -- or what she was pretty sure was the edge, as it was under a fair bit of snow -- and feeling no give, she moved a few more steps out and continued around the edge.

Heading out much farther didn't seem like a good idea.  At least here, she was above no more than three feet of water, and if they had an instant thaw, she'd be able to get herself out.  Since she still suspected Iovan was back a few days' travel (assuming he'd even left yet), she'd take a few less risks than she might if she knew she had someone around to help her out if things went awry.

Zenith didn't think there was too much land left to explore before the sea.  Maybe there was and she just didn't know, but from what was said, she was running out of options.  Hopefully something would be appealing here -- she had a destiny to find, after all.

*weirdly slots this into Redshank's timeline somewhere*

He headed south again, knowing he had met Titmouse at the lake near the caldera once before. He was unaware of what had befallen the Redhawk wolf, and so hopes remained high as he loped in the direction of Lake Rodney. Maybe he could convince the boy to travel with him? They could be two wayward bros just trying to make it through the winter. Titmouse had gone back to his familial pack, and Redshank was low-key salty about that. If his family was good enough to go back to, why had he run from them in the first place?

Keeping questions too hard to answer at bay with a shake of his head, Redshank continued to struggled through the snow on limbs not built for the winter. He constantly stumbled on snow drifts, managing to accidentally bite his tongue at least twice, and just as he was about to take out his anger on all of the frosty white bullshit covering the lands, it finally began to thin.

The lake! He spotted it in the distance from between the trees, and scrambled out of the forest towards it as if expecting Titmouse to be waiting there, all packed and ready to go off on their grand adventure. However, all that met his eyes was a solitary, dark female who was tentatively making her way along the edges of the frozen waters. He scowled, but stalked towards her anyway with a wry smile overtaking his disappointed expression. She was either extremely brave or exceptionally daft to be toying with fate like this. Ice was unforgiving on the best of days. If she fell in, however, it would be no great loss, and would provide Redshank with some entertainment, at least.

Unfortunately for him, the only thing that would happen to Zenith was her tripping slightly on a snow-buried stick that must have been caught in the ice -- and she didn't even faceplant!  She caught herself before she belly-flopped onto the ground, which wasn't exactly surprising considering she wasn't moving fast anyway.  She did turn back and look in the hole her foot her left in the snow to figure out what the heck that was down there, ears flicked forward in case there was some sound of some scampering critter or the like.  Yep.  A stick.  Not even edible.

She wasn't sure what she was expecting to find out there, but it wasn't proving very interesting.  As she turned back to shore, she finally noticed the approaching dark figure.  Her ears flicked forward but she said nothing yet, moving back so it was earth under her paws under the snow as far as she knew.  Though feeling she was taking reasonable risks with the ice, she was being slightly more cautious with the wolves of the region. She had no idea what to expect.  For all she knew, they were all murderers, but she was hoping that this, like many other places, had fair enough sorts that she could have a decent conversation.  She wagged her tail once and waited.

She stumbled once, but caught herself before falling flat, and Redshank's ears fell in disappointment. His face crumpled and he eyed the lake's frozen shore, wondering how hard he would need to hit the ice to cause it to crack. Perhaps he could throw a rock? He glanced back up at her once before doing a surprised double take, realising she had spotted him. He almost guiltily moved away from where he stood as if he thought she was able to determine what he had been planning.

She began moving towards him, so the boy stopped, guessing he was up for conversation. The wag of her tail indicated she was friendly enough, even though her actions led Redshank to believe the stranger was a little thick. Staying where it was safe along the riverbanks, the boy canted his head towards her. "What were you doin'?"

I HAVE ACTUALLY written a reply and not just in my mind this time. :D

Zenith moved a bit closer so conversation would be easy answered his question with a slight shrug,  I was kind of hoping maybe something tasty was frozen in the ice.  My dad found like.. half a moose frozen in one last year -- maybe he used all the luck.  Zenith wasn't particularly disappointed at it.  It was something based on chance and if destiny deemed that it wasn't to be, it wasn't gonna happen.  

She canted her head, looking him over as she inquired, Are you from around here?  He didn't smell like a pack -- at least not a proper one, as far as she could tell from this distance -- and his figure definitely seemed to confirm that.  Should she be suspicious of this guy?  Was he the type who got kicked out of packs for doing unimaginable things to packmates?  Maybe he'd just been wandering longer than her?  She wasn't sure, but one way or another if she was going to start getting information about the region and seeing if it was the proper sort of place for her to start her own pack eventually, she'd have to start talking to people.  Even if they did seem kinda suspicious if she was feeling particularly paranoid.