The Bracken Woods can't keep me down

The last few months had been somewhat of a blur for the young traveller. Leaving her birth pack to travel solo was not a decision she had made lightly, it had come with months of careful thought and advice from the elder wolves at Arden Lake. Dua knew some of them had travelled great distances in their time, others had been more... tentative and relaxed in their travels. A few had warned her of the dangers of what lay beyond the borders, others had encouraged her to explore whilst she was young and capable of long excursions. She wasn't a young pup anymore, her second birthday was nearing and the call of the wild had appealed to her, plain and simple. 

The forest was dense, the ground littered with scratchy thorns and course ferns that often attached themselves to the white wolf's claws and caused her to pause, raising each victimised limb in turn to shake off the debris somewhat comically, nose crinkling in annoyance. Dua's fear of contaminating herself with dirt and germs definitely made the travelling process slower because she stopped to preen and clean herself far more times than necessary for the average wolf. It was an annoyance, but something she was now more than used to.

It was an overcast morning as she stepped through the foliage, nose bobbing from the earth and up to investigate each scent. One glance up at the sky streaming through the conifers was enough to distract her - only momentarily - but it was at that moment that her front left paw pressed on an unstable twig and it snapped beneath her sleight weight, jolting her leg sharply to the left. The shift in weight threw her forward, bringing her immaculately clean face to the ground with a thud that shook the earth. Ah, a morning face plant. Refreshing.