Heron Lake Plateau I've got my heart set on anywhere but here

wc: 564
Tag just for visibility- and for a laugh, heh. 

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With each light snowfall, Niamh found herself fretting more and more about the den. Her old den- the one she’d first dug when she’d joined the pack- had been full of feathers and fluff, but it had long since been abandoned. She hadn’t exactly had the time to hunt birds endlessly since she had joined the leadership, and she’d been devouring almost every piece of every meal she caught, wanting to put on weight before the winter came, so pelts...Well, they were torn apart and eaten as much as she could handle it. She’d tried to ‘groom’ some extra fluff out of @Colt, but he hadn’t taken to her ministrations very well once he’d realized that she was using his fluff to line their den. She used some of her own, of course- so the fur that lined their den was a combination of brown and gold...But it just wasn’t enough. She’d have to think of something else before she went fully into nesting mode.

She was on the hunt for something to eat, though, when she heard someone calling from the borders. Quizzically, she stopped to listen, not recognizing the voice or the name that was called. Surely, though, it came from the borders...Or somewhere very near them. Figuring perhaps that someone was either confused or lost or searching for someone they had lost (and didn’t that pull at her heartstrings)- she paused to answer...But what to say? It wasn’t exactly someone calling and asking for a leader, or to join. Nor did she want to lead the other wolf to believe that she knew a Bat...So she simply picked up a swift gait and made her way along the borders until she caught the scent of unfamiliar wolves in the distance. Assuming it must have been one of those wolves who had called, she followed her sense of smell until she came upon the small gathering, her eyes immediately drawn to the fiery wolf among them.

For a moment- as it had when she’d seen Kaala at first- she immediately thought it was Ceara. She scolded herself, though- not every red wolf on the damn planet was Ceara, but her brain willed her to see what she wanted to see. She did recognize the female, though, so her tail began to wave as she combed through her memories. It took a few moments, as she approached the female and her younger companions, before she remembered how she knew Wildfire, and her mouth opened with the realization.

”Wild...Wildfire, right?” She asked, though with each moment she felt more certain that she recognized the figure before her. She and Tegan had travelled on their first scouting mission to Drageda, and Wildfire had been the one to greet them- at that point, her pups had only been about a month old, she seemed to recall. ”Sorry- I’m garbage at remembering names...I met you, at Drageda,” She said, likely pronouncing it horribly, ”Back in the Spring, with Tegan.” She said, figuring that she herself hadn’t exactly been memorable. She’d said all of 5 words, after all. ”Are you looking for someone?” She asked, tilting her ears forward. The howl had not been without a tinge of sorrow, so she intended to cut to the chase, lest someone’s wellbeing be at risk.

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