Duck Lake Young men's love doth lie ne'er in their hearts; only in their eyes

Set after the Veran thread!

Marina came to a lake when she finally stopped running. She was reasonably certain the dark-masked man would not follow her here. So finally she allowed herself to calm and catch her breath, strolling along the lakeside as her breathing slowed to normalcy. She thought of spring.

It would be here in full force soon. Maybe she would join a pack? Hmm. No, maybe not, Marina decided, glancing out across the lake. She wasn't quite done traveling. Or, perhaps more accurately, she wasn't quite ready to put down roots. Not when she wasn't even certain what sort of soil she might thrive in.

springscent dressed her, pungency of only blood what can water seeds of life.

and it brought churning disgust to her gut.

she stalked in wide berth parallel to palepelt woman, who was sickly-weak and stupor-bound, like doe driven to baseness by rut of deer.

starveling-she drifted nearer, red eyes agape, until wormpelt woman saw her - and the svartravn's maw split with bonewhite grin.

god dag, fremmed. the svart grinned. looking for something?

A woman found her this time. Dark-furred, red-eyed, nonsense on her tongue. Marina abruptly began to back away, unsettled by her grin and her emaciated appearance. There was something deeply wrong with this wolf. Sickness of some kind, though it was nothing she had seen before.

Whatever it was, she did not want it for herself. Solitude, Marina snapped in response to the only words she'd actually understood. Her hackles bristled, and she watched the sickly woman closely.

bonewhites remained on display, pushing red orbs into crescents.

"fremmed liar." chuckled she, and stepped back. "fremmed find filling friends." the little repeat of sounds made her chuckle.

another step back.

the grin dropped. the bloodmoons shone full.

"kvitblood womb-waters drown little babies."

and she, giggling, fell back.