Felltree Marsh If that's what it's all about

When the breeze moved inland and off the ocean, it brought a thick blanket of fog with it. It roamed as a wall of moisture well beyond the Cliffs, trailing through the Tangle and even permeating parts of the Rise in the early hours of morning. Lilia, who had been hunting frogs in the swamp, found herself watching mist drift in until she could no longer see more than fifty metres or so. It certainly didn't make hunting any more difficult- she could prowl through the muck with very little visibility, and still catch the frogs which seemed to have gathered in the thousands to spawn in the shallow waters. 

They weren't terribly tasty, but they took very little energy to catch, and she thought perhaps the kids might enjoy having a regurgitated meal of something that tasted almost like chicken.

He trudged heavily through the marsh this morning, lips curled as with each step his paws return to him damp and mud-slick. It was truly a vile thing, clinging to his belly fur like a wanton woman pulling him down into her embrace. Progress was slow and it irritated the soldier - he would have to bathe later once the sun was up.

A deep sigh could be heard as mist rolled in, further obscuring his view. It seemed that not everything in this new land was sunshine and rainbows, especially when he had unexpected company. A shadow - a wolf? No. He slowed, watching as it flitted and danced. The fog did well to cloak everything in grey. In this moment Castiel couldn't be sure if he was surrounded by one or even a hundred shadows.

Muttering a silent prayer, he pressed onwards, hackles raised and senses primed as he spoke firmly. "Who goes there?"

Lilia eyed a pair of frogs nestling together, side by side in the water. Likely watching over a brood of frogspawn that floated like a glob of jelly in a small pot of water. She crept closer, until she could pounce. One of the frogs dove into the water but the other made to leap away- and was caught. She tossed it into the air and caught it, swallowing the creature whole as she gulped it down.

A voice called out, and she had to swallow a few more times to make sure her throat was clear. Due to the thick fog, she couldn’t see anyone. She didn’t recognize the voice, either. She shrugged. 

”Nunya.” She responded.

Luckily, the shadow responded. Castiel followed the sound of its voice until, finally, the figure of a wolf emerged from the fog. He let out a low chuff in greeting, hackles remained stiff, though she didn't appear threatening. "Apologies, I mistook you for something else. This mist is quite the nuisance." 

He hadn't missed the sound of a splash earlier - grey eyes flicked once to the frogspawn and then to the wolf as he put two and two together. Did she... actually eat frogs? Perhaps on an emptier stomach, the soldier might have joined her, but the thought of something that wriggly and slimy inside him? Castiel wouldn't class himself a picky eater but it certainly made his stomach churn.

A bemused tilt of his head, he spoke again. "Who are you, Nunya?"

The stranger emerged from the fog that rose in swirls around his frame, like a great juggernaut pushing its way through heavy waves. Lilia froze, eyeing him warily out of self-preservation now that she knew how much larger the other wolf was than her. Her conviction held, however- with the graceful gentling of his features and earnest, albeit somewhat tired apology. For all the scars he sported, he seemed fairly tame, perhaps tired of conflict and the pain it brought.

The yearling girl, however, had not yet forgotten the appeal of testing another wolf’s patience; so with the gall of a gadfly, she lifted her chin slightly to curl her lip and snort. 

She’d set it up- now she’d slam it out of the park.

”Nunya buithneth,” She said, and cackled so abruptly she snorted.

Lilia was right in her assumptions, though neither she nor Castiel would know it. The more his great grey eyes studied her, the more he learned. She was small, but almost everyone was small when you were someone the height of him. And she bore scars too - great gashes that lined her chest and smaller ones on her face too. He wondered what her story was, another time perhaps.

She'd hit it and it had landed perfectly. A deep, guttural laugh erupted from the soldier's chest, perhaps it was exaggerated if only to hide the discomfort he felt from the bog.

"Well that's a fittingly strange name for someone who eats frogs," he meets her gaze with a sharp-toothed grin.

He laughed. 

It wasn't a cackle or a spiteful sound, which would have irked her and likely triggered an attack just for the sake of trying to smother the noise. It wasn't often that Lilia made others laugh and so at first, she felt uncomfortable. Normally when she laughed, she was laughing at someone else, and it was intentionally cruel. But this....This felt like he was laughing because she'd been funny. She managed a slightly hesitant, toothy smile, still thinking at any moment he might change into something unhinged and unstable. It seemed more likely that he'd end up being wild and unpredictable, than her actually being funny. 

But it was a compliment- it felt good. 

"Hey, don't knock it 'til ya try it," She said, side-stepping to investigate another small pool of water in the muck. "Name'th Lilia. What'th yourth?" She said, as she began to search for another frog- with the intention of making him step outside of his comfort zone, and eat it. 

She'd look for an extra warty one, just for him.