Twisted Slough You've never seen a bastard orphan [m]ore in need of a break

Note to self, this is before he reaches NWF.

This place was.. Strange. In trying to deviate away from the encroaching scent of the sea, Tryphon had gone a bit further inland than he intended. The slough was... Well, not a nice place. Sloughs were very rarely nice, not that he'd have known better. This one had some nice trees which blocked out the majority of the light, but they were very sad looking. He noticed how miserable they appeared — or perhaps he was projecting his own internalized misery upon them — as he tried to pass between their trunks.

At times, such passage was impossible. The ivy was too thick, netting around the willows as they weeped, and Tryphon felt his heart ache for them. But this was just another obstacle for him to overcome, and he would do so readily. The soil was loose and moist through most of the area and that posed a problem, but the thick and seemingly endless root structures were enough to keep him afloat through much of the murk. By the time Tryphon had reached a state of weariness that demanded he take a break, he was soiled by the mud up to his shoulders and hips, but had managed to keep his face clean.

He was panting hard, and didn't notice the scent of the slough — a thick, dark, most odious thing that was practically punching him in the throat with every breath — and when he did notice, he had to pause and gag beneath the hanging head of a black willow. 

It was at this point that another aroma wafted to him, and Tryphon's first thought was of Saghani. 

He slurped his tongue back into his head, closed his mouth, and took a dangerously deep breath of the noxious air. The smell was getting heavier, the wind tousling the willows had dragged it along too, and Tryphon felt a sense of elation that was more than primal. Thinking he had once again found his shadow, he hastily chose to abandon his resting spot and plunged into the murk again. It took him some time to track down the scent once more, but when he did he bayed through the trees — a joyous sound that few had ever heard from him — and he lunged from behind a copse of willows like a gleeful child.

The last time he had caught this scent had been the last time he'd seen Saghani — !