Broken Antler Fen there's a fire, there's a flame

The wind buffeted her fur, her hawkish gaze squinted against its gusts. She was alone; she had left her companions to scout ahead briefly, her father's vague directions making her doubt her navigational skills, and wonder if she was leading them too far south. Dusk was falling, obscuring the landscape rapidly, but this was definitely a fen, and south, just as her father had mentioned. The pack, however, was most definitely not here. 

Icy mud engulfed her paws as she tread deeper into the fen, the howling wind and the eeire emptiness giving the territory a melancholy feel. For the first time since the start of the season, she shivered; her thick pelt unable to keep out the frozen sludge. Admitting defeat, she raised her muzzle and howled for @Aditya and @Pema, letting them know that going further south was futile, and she'd be back soon. The mud was foul and, while the territory might have looked lovely in the summer, it was dreary and ugly now; no wonder the inhabitants had moved on.

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Assuming some things :o

Alya had been out during the party's visit to Moonspear, but she recognized their scents, and the pack's grapevine had supplied her with some basic information about their quest. And Alya, for her part, had nothing to add. She wasn't a healer in any capacity, but she did wonder what the other wolves could tell her. As she grew out of her childish self-absorption, she began to wonder more and more about the world around her and the wolves that lived in it.

In short, she was developing a terrible case of sonder.

"Hey there," Alya called out after the sterling shewolf lowered her muzzle. She was a bit out of breath from jogging so far so quickly, but when she'd caught the female's scent, she'd been unable to resist hastening in for a visit. "You were at my pack the other day - Moonspear," she added, prancing closer with a high, wagging tail. "I'm Alya; one of the alpha's many daughters." The words were spoken in a light, self-deprecating way. With much experimentation, she'd found that other wolves responded favorably to humorous self-deprecation.

She hunched her shoulders, thoroughly done with this territory. Just as she was about to stalk off through the mud, a voice breached the silence, amiable and out of place. She twisted, gaze settling quickly on a black wolf, though in the faded light she couldn't tell too much else about her. The girl's words quickly filled in the gaps, however, and Dawn canted her head curiously. She replied in turn, voice light, and a slightly bemused grin on her muzzle. "Dawn - another alpha's daughter, among others." She wouldn't claim there were many, though; not yet, at least. 

 "are you a scout?" she asked, wondering why this girl would be so far south. she hadn't expected to meet anyone in this place, and if so, some sort of swamp wolf or something of the like; not a Moonspear wolf. "or do you frequent this sh- fen?" Dawn stopped short of calling the fen what she truly believed it to be, though her mild disgust as she surveyed the place said enough about her feelings for it.

Excellent - I've disarmed her, Alya thought to herself, mentally giving an evil cackle. This girl - Dawn, apparently - would never suspect that Alya was the least self-deprecating wolf on the planet. What fun! "We're both princesses, then," said Alya with another wag of her tail. She closed the distance between herself and the other young shewolf, deciding the mood the mood was sufficiently friendly, and that this would not be taken as a threat.

"I am," Alya agreed, glad that Dawn was so quick to deduce her skill. "I tracked you all the way down here." Lie - she'd only encountered Dawn's scent a few miles back. "It is a shithole, though. Everything's wet - even when the weather's nice. And it's so flat. Who needs that?" asked Alya, openly disguested. Places that weren't mountains were so... charmless.

The girl answered with an airy "I suppose we are." Her gaze moved back to the girl, brow lifting a little concernedly as she continued. "I am, too. Though I don't usually track wolves around." She was a little worried that the girl had singled her out to track; though she supposed if it were for some negative reason they likely wouldn't be having the amiable conversation they had now. 

She chuffed with amusement as the girl openly expressed her disgust with this place, echoing her sentiment. "My Da told me that a pack used to claim this; though I really wouldn't like to meet the type of wolves that lived in this place."  The girl's thoughts on the flatness of the land she found odd, until she remembered the magnificent mountains on which she made her home. A grin played on her muzzle, wondering how the past wolves of the fen had made a home here.

Although Alya carried on the conversation with an enjoyable feeling of nefarious superiority deep in her heart, she had no real evil purposes in seeking out and talking to Dawn. Rather, she was imagining this was some super important mission where she had to befriend and earn the trust of the other girl.

Almost like real life, but always a bit off key.

"Well, all the packs aside from Moonspear are shitholes," said Alya, who had connected use of the word 'shithole' with her budding friendship, and so chose to use it again. Besides, she knew that the dark woods and the caldera were the only other packs around, and while Hydra had found a friend among the latter, Moonspear had a low opinion of both places, on the whole. "There's a pack of assholes to the northeast, and beyond that, there's - Get this - another pack of assholes ."

Alya sniffed indignantly, assuming that disparaging others was the key to Dawn's heart.

The girl continued to inform Dawn that all the other packs were assholes, all aside from Moonspear, that was. It was at this point that Dawn began to assume that the girl had the slightest bit of a superiority complex, and quirked a brow, wondering and doubting if there was any truth to the rest of the packs being complete assholes.  "oh? that sucks, seeing as our mission is to head to each of them." 

She realized quickly, however, that if the girl know of the two other packs in the valley, however, she might very well be useful to their navigating. She'd certainly prefer some solid information to vague wandering, even if the girl's opinions on packs were biased or something of the like. Forging on, she continued, "Do you know anything about them? What makes them assholes?" She canted a lobe towards the girl, finding her rather novel and interesting.

"Well, my dad just doesn't like the alphas of one of them, but my sister is friends with one of their daughters," Alya explained, happy to be of use to her brand new friend, and even happier to be gossiping about the neighbors. "I hear she's okay at the very least. But the far pack is evil. They kidnap people and attacked our cousin. But I guess my dad is friends with someone there, too. Hmm."

Alya was beginning to see that things weren't so cut-and-dry in this area. How was she supposed to know who to trust? It seemed like her father wasn't exactly an authority on the subject, since he liked someone from Blackfeather, and he hated the Redhawks, even though Towhee was alright (according to Hydra, and Hydra's word was law).

"Where do you live?" Alya asked, curious about where this young shewolf had come from. "I didn't know there were any other packs around here."

Dawn listened quietly, glad for the information and the companionship, however. Her last few words on the subject of packs had her tense, however, and question  "the hell? are you serious?" The response lacked much intelligence, but she was so taken aback by the prospect of an evil, kidnapping pack that she didn't have much time to formulate a proper question. Taken aback, but also intrigued in a morbid sort of way. 

The girl's question was easy to answer, and the girl did so, though half her mind was on Alya's previous words. "My pack's Morningside; we moved to the edge of the Sunspire, for the winter months. We've only been there for a couple months, really" She said, glad to supply the information.

Alya nodded gravely; it really was very shocking. Kidnapping and attacking random wolves? Like, who does that? It totally wasn't cool, and Alya didn't see why anyone should have to put up with it. "Totally. We're about to go to war over it and everything. I think we might even team up with the Redhawk assholes. It'll probably be really badass," said Alya, being rather candid on the subject. She liked Dawn, she decided.

"I've never been as far as the Sunspire," Alya admitted, having to admire Dawn for the distance she'd travelled. "But my boyfriend, Nikai, lives on the other side, so I'll probably have to cross over that way when I go to visit him," she said, dropping the detail about the boyfriend to impress her new friend. "Maybe I can stop by your pack and say hi."