Verdigris Ravine Eldritch

The Candlekeeper had been quiet. Her children grew and needed her less, though she still watched over them dutifully and taught them The Tribe's ways. Summer had passed in a lazy haze; autumn crept in bit by bit, and Candle sensed that the time would soon come to expand their family again. A few more moons, perhaps, but that wasn't so long.

But wolves still frequented their desert, now more than ever. This in mind, she sought @Zoug, bringing a limp rat as both offering and reminder; he was her mate now, father to her children, but she would never truly stop courting him.

with candle, zoug felt that he could exist more easily.

the single eye was warm. he greeted her with soft licks and a whining, sighing sound reserved only for her ears. the season has occurred to him as well, and he thought of four new pups, redfurred and skilled in their ways.

he tossed the rat and caught it with a wave of pleased tail.

Candle whined her own soft affection, stretching into a lazy bow of greeting as Zoug toyed with the gift. But soon her expression sobered, turning thoughtful. There are too many wolves in our desert, the coyote told her mate in a mix of Clan words and the common tongue.

It makes me nervous for our children. She spoke not only of the children they had raised but those they would soon bring into the world. The ravine is safe for now.

But...

candle was more than right. each day he saw new wolves; each day he had to take his hunting parties in another direction. the antelope were more easily frightened now, killed in droves to feed the appetite of the wolf.

zoug stared at the ground for a moment, then back to his mate, warmth and wariness in his single eye.

where? he signed slowly, resistant to the very idea even as he looked to her for guidance.

Do you remember the hidden place I showed you?

The waterfall. Somewhere we can disappear in the fog, and lose our scents in the water.

Candle nosed her mate's cheek gently, knowing he loved the ravine in his way. When the wolves move on, we come back. They would move on, she assumed. Their numbers had surged and fallen again many times since The Tribe had come to the ravine. Candle still held to the hope that this surge was only the largest, and not the last.

you want to move all tribe?

she spoke truth: they must leave. they could not remain here while the wolves grew in number around them. 

the waterfall.

the south. as far as they might go. would it be far enough to keep their peace?