Cedar Sweep I dropped the berry in a stream

She was actually toward the southern side of the Sweep, but since both Malkaria and Royal Fire Court border it, she could smell wolves on the wind! Sorry it wasn't very clear. I'm definitely cool with playing along with her being closer, though!

For a while, the only sounds she detected were the ones she made, and the natural ambience of any forest. This one was heavy with the trunks of the cedars, and their boughs hung loftily overhead, bulky clusters of needles that drooped toward the ground but could never hope to reach it. Cedars were tall, dwarfing some of the smaller conifers that dotted the woodlands, and deserved respect. They were nothing compared to the sequoias of the coast, but Saena gave them a wide berth regardless. Trees could hardly harm her, but she need not encroach upon them, either.

There was the occasional chitter of a squirrel or bird, the rap-tap-tap of a woodpecker, and then footsteps. The blanket of curling orange needles muffled the sound greatly, but the alert wolf was able to pick it up mere moments before Ragna entered her line of sight. She was impossible to miss in the forest with her pure white coat, yet there was a dusting of brown at least upon her ears to set her apart from another white wolf. Saena stiffened and rose her head, but only enough to seem confident yet neutral and not nervous or suspicious. A nervous wolf was one she would not trust, and so she sought to dispel any illusions on the other wolf's end.

You draw near to the borders of the Malkaria, said Ragna, and Saena's brows drew slightly upward. She'd wandered further than intended, lost herself in the music of the forest. So unlike her, and yet not. "That was not my intent," she assured Ragna, "I have no reason to betray Arunik'ra's trust by disrespecting her claim." She knew nothing of Eshamun or grotesque rituals of baby sacrifice or who else might live in these woods, else she may have turned and left immediately. She knew only Arunik'ra, assumed Arunik'ra was the band's leader, and Arunik'ra had been kind and welcoming, not the sort of wolf that she thought would defend her borders aggressively. Not like Saena herself, she reflected.