Bramblepoint the winding road

sorry for the delay! holidays amirite

It wasn't often that Finley left the borders of the Caldera anymore. She had given up her Scout title quite a few months ago, but she'd given up the actual hobby long before that. She would never admit it to anyone, but she missed it desperately. The greater Wilds held just as much fascination to her as it ever had. The excitement of adventure still pulled very strongly at her, but she had long ago learned that she couldn't trust herself to answer that call. She was too easily swept away in it and she simply couldn't afford to fall back into bad habits, not with an entire pack to care for.

Fin wandered further than usual today only in the interest of tracking what her nose told her was a small group of deer that she was assuming had inadvertently separated from a larger group. The trail told her that they weren't too far ahead of her - perhaps half a day, at most. The Blackthorn meant only to follow long enough to determine which direction they had gone upon reaching Bramblepoint before she would turn back and send her packmates after it. Willing the group hadn't headed towards Blackfeather, anyway. She paused to give a glare to the dark forest that hovered upon the horizon in the far distance, allowing the thought to distract her enough to allow another scent to prod at her consciousness.

The alpha tensed as she turned to peer through the trees. The scent was wolf, but a moment's inspection told her it was not Blackfeather. Better sense told her to move on, but she moved forward in search of the stranger anyway out of curiosity. Falling back into bad habits indeed.

It took Fin a few minutes to find the woman. She seemed pretty travel worn, and the scents of other wolves she carried upon her told the alpha that this one was not alone in her journey. She narrowed her smooth, chocolate eyes as she shifted into a guarded posture and stepped into view of the other. Fin chuffed to get the stranger's attention before getting right to business and asking "Who are you?" She didn't think this one would be a threat, but she wasn't willing to take the chance so near to her own borders.