Felltree Marsh Iron

@Sitka -- she's out of the Marsh now, near enough the Sanctuary to have smelled it but not near enough to be a disturbance and heading toward The Tangle!

Sangilak was now beyond the snowy plains, well fed and content. Tatkret had eaten his fill, and she now ranged ahead of them. They had rested the night within the proximity of the carcass, and eaten once more in the morning. They could go on for a long while yet without any more food, and if they must do that, they would. But Spring had come, and the season was bountiful. Were it Winter, Sangilak would not be so content to wander any. As a dispersal wolf, Sangilak sought to find where it was she would linger... be it temporarily, or where she would lay her roots. Her age meant she had no desire yet to breed or be with child; where her ambitions rest was hard for even her to discern. She was not so ready as her sister had been to stake her claim and begin in that manner. Sangilak wanted something else, too; she wanted to know the wilds, like her sister had not. She felt she would be wiser for it, and for the while this was her motive. Sangilak also sought migratory herds and where they headed, but as of yet she had found none. She followed her nose and fretted not; they would be found.

Her eyes caught sight of wood destroyed by a tempest. She paused before the ruin, wondering at the safety of the route. But Sangilak imagined something of worth could be found here; be it a hidden herd safe from the eyes of the warier wolves or be it more knowledge of the vegetation and landscape, she would know it for herself. So she struck forward and moved through the marsh.

Each and every sound she was implicitly aware of. The safety of the land around her was questionable; fallen trees rest upon trees that had remained within the earth but only just, their roots exposed and clinging to the earth. There were signs of life's return here, too, but Sangilak noted that the marshlands were uninhabitable and offered very little but for the thrill of making it out unscathed. It would be a challenge for one as hefty and weighty as she, but she had been in more challenging positions. Sangilak plod through the land, hearing the birds all around her. Their sounds were revealing, too; they had quieted some upon her entrance, but as some time had passed since then they sang again, no longer bothered. They were out of her reach, and to hunt here seemed like a fools errand.

By the time she escaped the place, she was covered in mud and wood and burrs; she panted heavily, and was thankful for the cover of cloud overhead. The atmosphere in the marsh had been suffocating, and she had decided that she would return to the Taiga another way. Ahead, in the far distance, was the crash of the sound. Her tail twitched at her hocks, pleased with the days success. Ah, but there was a pack nearby. She could smell the heady scent of wolves and her eyes turned toward the direction of the Sanctuary. An upturned lip was all she afforded it, before she angled her direction now toward the Tangle.