Ravensblood Forest a graven life, the stain of her memory

He nodded in agreement with Dante's suggestion, though he wasn't really convinced. His mind thought it was a legitimate possibility, but his heart was feeling hopeless and discouraged. An entire pack of wolves hadn't been able to find her trail. He felt like all the possibilities had already been exhausted, all the ideas already tried, all the trails already followed. "Yeah, you might be right," he replied to Dante after a moment of consideration, looking around as he spoke. "Let's try--"

Suddenly, he was interrupted by a newer member of their pack. Fireblaze caught up to them quickly and immediately began running around, looking for signs of a trail. Atticus tried to be appreciative of her assistance but he wondered what, if any, help she could offer, as new as she was and as relatively unfamiliar as she was with Junior. He figured three noses were better than two, though, so he accepted her help without complaint.

A moment later, she shouted that she'd found something, pawing at a rock. Atticus approached a gave it a sniff, his nose wrinkling with annoyance. "That's not Junior's scent, Fireblaze," he commented once he was certain of it. (Osprey Jr.'s roleplayer has made it clear that she doesn't want Jr.'s trail to be found until she gives permission for it, so that's why I had Atticus say this!) He moved away to begin sniffing and searching anew, when suddenly from behind him came the sound of collapsing earth and a shout of pain and surprise. He whirled, bristling and ready for a fight, thinking Fireblaze had been attacked or something. But she'd just misstepped and collapsed some soggy ground layered over rotten wood, dropping her into a depression a few feet deep. It was an easy jump for a wolf, but her hind foot appeared to be caught under a rock.

Sighing and resisting the urge to growl with irritation at the delay, he jumped down into the hole and, placing both of his forelegs on the rock and digging his claws in, he heaved several times. The rock budged a little, but it was planted firmly in the mud and wouldn't move enough to free Fireblaze's leg. He was afraid of injuring her further. They needed to get this rock off of her in one swift movement to avoid crushing her leg any more. "Dante, can you come down here and help me move this rock?" he called up to his packmate, figuring that his strength combined with that of the stocky Gamma's would be enough to do the trick.