Firefly Glen count your blessings not your flaws

@Hydra

Rian departed the Heartwood and continued west as the sun began to set on the horizon. The lands once more became familiar as he crossed beneath the scorched boughs of the ancient wood and onto the verdant fields of Firefly Glen. A few little firebugs were already creating quite a scene as they danced low over the waves of amber—the brilliant greens and yellow of their light blooming to life and fading in the same instant, like tiny stars strewn carelessly across the landscape.

He was not mezmirized by their sight—in fact, he paid them little mind as he followed the well-trodden game trails down from the woodland and onto the great expanse of grassland. The Vale wolves had spent enough time here for Rian to be intrinsically familiar with the latticework of rain-fed streams and trails that crisscrossed the territory like veins. The larger trails tended to lead north-south, while the others, smaller, directed the curious to various points of interest.

The Valeian Beta chose the western trail and followed it until it wound up and over a hillock. He stopped at the apex and turned his jade-cast eyes towards the spire of rock that Charon and Amekaze reigned over. A slight breeze from the chilly heights of the western range carried the scents of the mountain kingdom, and his throat swelled. Now he felt the anxiety of months away, and the unknown that awaited him. But he didn't dare approach the mountain, not in the dark—perhaps not at all. Charon's chilly reception of him didn't bode well and he didn't want to cast Vale in a bad light, especially with an Alliance in the works. 

So he curled his hindquarters beneath him as he worked out his next course of action.