Noctisardor Bypass Every morning, got a hollow where my heart goes

Mae had invited herself in, and now she invited herself to stay for a couple of days. She didn't linger within the territory but just outside of it, only crossing into the faint borders to drop off the things she hunted for the Rivenwood wolves. When night fell she slept alone in the grove outside the bypass. And she tried not to think about Skáld.

On the day she decided she would depart, Mae went looking for the other girl mentioned by the widow. @Ava Amara. She carried a squirrel as she searched, determined to make a good first impression on Dinah's sister — or, well, she thought it must be Dinah's sister.

there was another wolf here. her pawprints lead out of the bypass, her scent as light as her presence. like the wind, in and out -- never staying long enough to become acquainted.

ava had become somewhat of a recluse since their stay in the bypass. she did not trust adults -- their motives were often confusing and wrong. and she did not often long for company -- her world, lonely as it was, was a colorful world. a world of fallen tree boughs and carpets of soft moss; of stone older than time, of gentle rivers and the sound of cold settling within.

fresh scents were laid on the wintery forest floor. ava paused from her task of visiting the cache, peering in the direction mae had gone. there was another scent braided to mae's that ava only barely registered as blood.

The wind shifted and brought with it the scent of the girl she was looking for. Mae turned immediately, following the scent until the girl was within sight. Hey, She called out as she approached, muffled by the squirrel. Ya hungry?

If the girl did not retreat from her, Mae went right up to her and dropped the squirrel. So this was Dinah's sister. Huh. Didn't look much like her.

as the wind changed its path, so did the stranger. ava's watchful gaze grew somewhat cagey, though she let mae approach.

ava recognized her as one of the transients. that's what others in their lives were, wasn't it? a knife of hurt thrummed in her heart to think of her brothers and sisters gone, her father, her friends.

she eyed the rabbit, but shook her head solemnly. there was warmth to mae that ava could not quite muster, though she shyly tried a half-smile to dissuade any sense of rejection.