Firefly Glen you're awfully quiet

Spree would be awesome, but not required

Contradiction lay in her path and she has little idea on who to trust, save herself. Annaliese will see the north; see if it brings about raging storms and an uncontrollable coastline, or if prey flee there.

West is the goal, and she will get there, but the mountains block, and she must find a way through them. The Glen stretches before her, morning light barely trickling through. Ash still clouds much of the skyline, and though it lessens the further west she travels, it is obvious the effect it will have.

It is a quiet morning without the sound of insects or songbirds. Odd how she has been alone for so long, yet truly feels it now when nothing seems around.

Some time before Wraen's reunion with Hydra, the Sovereign was scouting in her former hunting grounds. A year ago they had been under ownership dispute and diligent hunter had no illusions that, if she happened to run into anyone from Moonpsear now, there would be problems. The difference being that her pack was not in a direct competition with the mountain dwellers and it was possible that she would get away with her hide intact.

Maybe. And because of this unclarity, while Wraen followed the scent trails of small game, she kept an eye and ear open for any unwelcome company. The person she did run into, however, did not belong to Ostregas and for a moment she mistook the bright red coat for that of her cousin Indra. Upon closer look it became clear that this was an entirely different wolf and, feeling a bit of comradeship to the fellow traveller, she approached with friendly intentions.

"Good day, to the fellow wanderer," Wraen greeted her.

Anna is wrong; there is something—or rather, someone—around. The footfalls first catch her off-guard, she lifts her head, ears swerving before she spots her company. Unexpectedly welcoming, and willing to speak to her rather than haunt in the shadows like a creep akin to her other encounters.

Hello, she greets with a smile. It is good to see another out here, it was quiet… Eerie, in a way, but perhaps Annaliese has been thinking too hard about it. How have your travels been? Curious as ever to what other scouts may have seen, Anna casts aside her mission and pulls up a front-row seat. Story time?

The stranger seemed of friendly disposition and had not refused Wraen's invitation for a conversation. Which encouraged the dainty she-wolf to sit down and rest her tired paws, while she spoke. The first thing she noticed that the other's scent did not remind any of the packs she knew. Not a Moonspearan, not a Blackfeather wolf, not one of Mal's companions. Perhaps, a loner or a pack wolf that had come very far. 

"I am a little disappointed to find out that things are no better here than they are, where I come from," she explained, casting her glance around the nearly barren sea of yellowish-brown grass. No hooved food had treaded these lands. No squeak or rustle promised a hunt for a smaller prize. "On the other hand, I should feel glad that we are no worse off than the rest. I live beyond those mountains," she beckoned towards Moonspear. "Where do you hail from?"

Mirroring her companion, Annaliese takes a seat. It feels nice to be welcomed for a longer conversation, after all the traveling she has been doing, and with her minimal encounters with others.

Her smile, however, is quick to falter—her blue eyes following the line of mountains the she-wolf points to. And her heart thuds with a heaviness. Her goal, sadly, seems to be far from a treasure as she’d hoped.

Certainly, Annaliese’s scouting mission could be seen as a gathering of intel at the forefront, but she feels bummed out that it may not lead to the dream home her General, Mahler, wanted.

A pack called Diaspora, she says, regaining her smile, It is the opposite way, residing in the mountain stretch to the east.

I was hoping to hear better news of the west, if I am to be honest. What has happened to your home?

The other's expression told Wraen everything she needed to know about the western lands of Sunspire range and beyond. No need to waste precious energy to go there, because the suffering of wolves was the same. Diaspora's name was foreign to her, but the Sovereign did briefly wonder, how her brother and his pack were doing right now. The last she had heard, he had little children in tow as well, which did not make things any easier. If only there was a magical wand to make everything better with just one wave. How much easier the life would be. 

"The large prey is gone entirely. There were many earthquakes and tremors that changed the course of river and for many weeks our only passage to this valley, leading along the coastline, was cut off entirely. There were storms and waves, towering as high as mountains. Destroyed quite a lot of territories as well," she gave a general sketch of the extent of the damage. "So - no - the nature has not treated us too well this year. And it is only the beginning of winter," Wraen said.