Phoenix Maplewood after dusk

she parted with some sorrow from Neasa and the man Terance, but there was no sign of her lost family around the hollow. she waited until her strength was up, traveling. . .well, aimlessly, really. it was only when she reached the fringes of the maplewood did she recognize her surroundings, and she barreled through the first line of trees before faintly registering the scent markings there.

oh, right. there was a pack here, one not altogether friendly to IkKanattuk. they had refused them safe harbor, even though there was plenty of land to go around. and then there'd been a fire, and then. . . but why was everything so faint?

shuddering with unease and exhaustion, the northern woman lifted her head in a lilting song, calling for whomever called these woods home. friend or foe--she would risk anything, at this point, to get her baby girl back.