Firestone Hot Springs making faces in the clouds

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The air was heavy and hot, a welcome respite from the wavering temperatures that were fast approaching with the onset of Autumn, and a heart-wrenching reminder of summertime in Shearwater Bay. As she pushed her way past waterlogged ferns and over spongy wet terrain, she pushed any thoughts of home out of her mind, focusing singularly on her task: to examine the hot springs for their uses to her, as a voodoo priestess. Back home, it had been difficult, if not impossible, to prepare infusions and baths due to the lack of warm water in their area, but with these hot springs so close by, Jinx was excited to expand her practice into new and unfamiliar territory.

First, they would have to be deemed suitable. If they were so hot as to scald the flesh and weaken a wolf's physical form — for injury did just that, and left the spirit within vulnerable — then they wouldn't work for her. On the other hand, if the water was not hot enough to boil the essence from herbs and pull power from stones, then it was equally fruitless. But they were proving somewhat elusive; the steam hanging over the entire region was telling, but so widespread she couldn't be certain of its origin. All she had found so far was wet foliage, wet moss, and wet stone, and a pool of water nestled at the edge of it all that was definitely not a hot spring, as she had found out when she dipped a forepaw into the chilly basin.

Her fur was damp from trekking through wet undergrowth, and so Jinx took a moment to seat herself in a stone-floored clearing. She twisted her head around to lick firmly at the fur framing her shoulder, pulling some of the moisture from it and settling it into its proper arrangement, or what she deemed proper. The humidity had already made the ends of her fur begin to curl under somewhat, which gave her a poofier appearance than she often wore, but there was little she could do about that. A quiet huff punctuated the abandonment of her attempts at taming her coat; instead, she turned her eyes toward the nearby mountains for a moment of scrutiny and reflection. She only needed a brief break before she picked herself back up to search for the hot springs once more.