Dawnlark Plains pocket full of posies

the heat did not abate. 
four days ago, a hawk had dropped its prey into the vast plains below; a chipmunk made unlucky victim to its talons. beneath the grasses, undiscovered by the wolves that roamed them, the creature began to rot. aided by the sun, and the dozens of tiny creatures that crept beneath the brush, the process was quick. should the sun have failed to rise that morn, been obscured by clouds or rain, perhaps the decomposition process would not have peaked as it did. perhaps, if the chipmunk had fallen a few feet in any other direction, and not alongside the half-rotten, storm-blown branch, the breath of wind would not have combined with the heat of the decomposition and the acres of surrounding fuel to produce the spark it did.

violently did the flames rear their heads, growing from a spark to a burn to a blaze in a moment. the grasses bent and reached towards them, as if eager to be consumed, and the flames did comply. above them, the sky was heavy and somber, a uniform slate that stretched in every direction. 

---

the smell of smoke was foreign and unfamiliar, at first, but ignited an instinctual fear she knew would be disastrous to ignore. gaze swept the plains, her view dismal from where she stood at the bottom of a hollow. a moment, two, and then she saw the flicker - red, orange, yellow - as the fires began their descent. she was struck by the oddness - as if a piece of the sun had fallen through the clouds to land on their plain, and stagger its way through the grasses. her voice rent the air a moment later, alarm evident and with a message to move. the smoke swirled against the sky, dark against the clouds. she moved for the rendezvous, issuing another summons for any nearby once she neared, thinking of the vast quantity of pups there that tended to wander straight into danger. 

this thread is MANDATORY for all members! paging @Aditya, @Sunny, @Sebastian, @Loir, @Aviana, @Pema, @Radcliffe, @Padma, @Meadow, @River