King Elk Forest when the day becomes unbearable, seek refuge in the absence of light

Setting this sometime before the Redhawk drama.

Daylight was not his favorite, but he used it while it was around. The afternoon sun was filtering through the trees of the forest. It created a dappled pattern on the ground which Phox found mildly pleasing. Alas, he was not here to look at light patterns. He was here to track food, and that was exactly what he was doing. Because Niamh had told him of the wolves that might encroach on their usual hunting grounds, he was making sure that they would have food in other places, should they need it. Hopefully they would not.

He had been tracking a herd's location for the better part of the day, although he had no plans to act on it. Alone, he could not take down such a beast. Instead, he meant to report back to the pack and let them know the whereabouts of what would potentially be their next meal. Even if they had food stores on the plateau, it would benefit them to track the nearby herds for the eventual time when they would not.

Once he had spotted them, he made note of the location, scratching several trees nearby so he would be able to find this spot again. If they decided to pursue this herd, it would be easier to pick up where he had left off. With that out of the way, he pointed himself back toward Heron Lake Plateau and began to trot at a steady pace toward the crevice he had claimed as his little slice of the Redhawk domain.

Phox had not gone far when he picked up the scent of a loner and decided to investigate for curiosity's sake. If this was one of the nearby settlers, it would not hurt to get to know them and their plans. If not, perhaps he could turn out to be a worthy recruit. The yearling had a feeling a worthy recruit would put another good mark in the records that Towhee most certainly kept.

When he was near enough, the black and silver wolf woofed to announce his presence.