Verdant Basin she may have died; we're looking into it.

--------------------------------------------------

Maegi and Colt had bolted down the Southern side of the plateau through the floodplains, but the smell of the bog nearby was too thick for her to be able to track down a scent that went anywhere beyond it. She circled, criss-crossing through the muck and mire until she was caked all the way past her ankles in the foul smelling sludge before heading for the basin and hoping to pick up their tracks there. Her heart in her throat, Niamh travelled with indecision constantly yelling at her to go back to the pack...But if she did that, she'd have to face Quixote again- and something about that sent anxiety rippling through her. She couldn't do it; and she couldn't lose another loved one by simply waiting for them to never come back. 

Along her way, she caught Rory's scent and found herself passing along it, wondering if maybe the scout might have crossed paths with Colt or Maegi...But as soon as she was able to see a set of tracks, she noticed that they were actually headed in the direction of the Plateau, rather than away from it...And the scent was mildly older than it would need to be for her to have seen Colt. Cursing herself, Niamh pushed forward, but froze when she saw a pale figure in the distance, head down, in hunting pose- heading in her direction. It took her a few moments to catch the hue of his eyes, where he had them squinted- but when she did, she wasn't sure whether she should fear him or hate him.

It wasn't Maegi- but aside from the lack of sooty legs and facial disfigurement, he could have easily been a sibling of hers, considering the hue of his pelt and the unique shade of his eyes. It didn't occur to her yet that he was hunting Rory down- it was his uncanny resemblance to Maegi that made her curl her lip and square her posture, taking a few stiff steps toward him. Teeth chattering together, she uttered a high pitched, somewhat nervous sounding growl to command his attention, and authoritatively curled her tail over her back. He had to be related to Maegi; there was no way this was a coincidence. 

--------------------------------------------------