Blackfeather Woods a

a howl shuddered through the forest, sending a cloud of black crows skyward. astara watched as their dark forms blackened the sky, moving eastward to less disturbed roosts. 

that call had been for her; she knew it — her eyes trailed the shade-dappled forest for their leader. it took a few failed attempts to find kove: first she looked in his den, then she popped up expectantly where she had often seen him sunning, and then she was sure he would be near the caches... but he was not there. 

in fact, he was not at all where astara had come to expect him to be, and so when she finally found him, there was a grim semblance of confusion to her features. her solemnity did not last long before the white sovereign — nuzzling his muzzle, she wondered what she had been called for — and why he looked as if something had chewed at him all night.