Overture Downs even

@Kitimat for reference/is v welcome to join at any point

It'd taken him a while to place the feeling — but he'd realized today that he missed the sea. That made sense, of course: he had Corten genes on either side, and their grandfather had been a great lover of the ocean, and his happiest memories were made there at the Plateau, with their first family all around them...

The same could not he said for the woods. Katmai had been dodging them as covertly as he could, not wanting his brother to know that he was made nervous by them. What kind of wolf was afraid of trees? To cover his tracks, he made frequent comments about enjoying the sunshine and the open air — and, truly, Katmai did love these things.

He stood now in a beautiful, sprawling meadow, so full of color and floral fragrance that it was almost too pretty to be real. He might've thought it was the place he was searching for, if not for the lack of the distinctive landform he'd been told to look out for.

But they were getting close, he felt, to the place where the hills touched the sky.

Anyone there? he howled, hoping to hear from his uncle once more.

Demoiselle was not made for a lonely life, but alas a lonely life was what she had been cursed to.

Who knew that a band of dogs could fall apart so easily? Who knew that the others would never make it to them? But she had powered through everything, carrying troubles that she knew must amount to half of her weight.

Overgrown paws took her through the meadow in search of food, her experience in hunting keeping her fit after all this time. It was only a howl which forced her to pause. Head turning, her eyes soon settled on the source; a wolf, of course, but this one seemed.. young. She was not yet sure how to act in the face of it.

Young though he was, Katmai was still a great deal bigger than the other canine. He thought at first that it was an oddly-colored coyote in the distance, but something about the way the creature moved was not quite right. He watched a little longer, and gradually, realized that the creature was watching him back.

Uncertain, Katmai took a few hesitant steps forward. Then, changing his mind, he called out to the stranger in a friendly bark instead. He had no desire to corner an animal he knew nothing about. Not right then, anyway — he wasn't nearly hungry enough, and the ghostlike creature, though friend-shaped, may well prove to be trouble.

The wolf took notice of her unflinching form quickly, the pair staring at each other in a way distinct of two predators. For an animal she shares such similar DNA with, Damsel has always been blind to the majority of their shared blood. The difference was clear to her; wolves were wild animals, vicious and unthinking, she was born with a purpose and an ability to know right from wrong, but were they really so different now?

The bark broke through her thoughts, made her wary. Pure habit set off her alarm; the howl-bark distinct to a hound which she once used to communicate to the rest, whether it was a warning to retreat or a call to action. She cut it short this time, remembering they were nowhere near. Her nerves were showing.

She never fully understood why they had to get so big, or how they managed to eat enough in the early days to get to that size. Maybe they had to, maybe it served a purpose, or maybe it was another way for mother nature to scare off outsiders.