Blacktail Deer Plateau lost in the backwood

For @Harlyn, because we need an up to date thread. >_>

I'm also taking some liberties here so if they're off from what you had imagined, shoot me a pm/txt/whatever. <3

It had rained again, though brief and sporadic.  It had washed the ash down and out, pushing it further from its original starting place.  It left the air musty and stale as the heat of the day came rolling back in after the rain had passed, and Mordecai still wanted to believe he could smell the faintest of residue of the fire.  He had chosen to stay out in the elements (which he often did anyway), once more letting it wash him and wash away the soot that had clung to him.  He had made another round through the charred woodlands.  And when the rain came he had left them, venturing further and deeper into the forests that stacked themselves on the plateau.

He plowed through a stream that was more shallow than it was wide, uncaring that it did little to dry out his drenched state.  He imagined he would dry, at least somewhat, before he found Harlyn.  He presumed that she was still laid up where she had been, staying somewhere cool and in the shade to keep whatever ailed her at bay just a while longer.  Either way, he was aware that she was safe and alive, and other than a venture along the river some time in the past, he had been not so keen to stay too far away.  So when he came up upon where she had been resting up and found himself still fairly soaked, the tawny Ostrega set about to shaking loose water from his coat.  And once that was about as good as it was going to get, he slipped forward towards the den mouth and whined curiously.

After all, there was always the chance she didn't want him to be a resident noise maker.

16 horsepower — beyond the pale