Sun Mote Copse times are changing

Here, have a dummy to practice on. <3

"Damnit."

Niamh had been clawing at the ice of a stream where a fish had been frozen, and had eventually broken through- but the block of ice holding the fish had also been pushed below the water and had been carried down stream, under the shelf of ice, well beyond Niamh's reach. What she hadn't expected was for the ice to break so suddenly beneath her front feet, nor had she expected it to be as deep in that part of the creek as it had been. So when the ice cracked and broke, she fell through- smacking her chin on the ice ledge, which caused her to nick her upper lip- where her upper left canine no longer existed. Her feet hit the bottom, but the water came up to her elbows, making it unpleasant and tricky for her to back up and pull her front legs out of the ice without dunking her face. She was able to do so, breath hitching in her throat from the sudden feeling of icy water against her legs and chest, and stepped back from the small hole she'd created, hissing out of spite. 

When she looked down, she saw the blood on the ice first, and licked her lips, assuming that that was where it was coming from- but the blood trailed up her left front limb where she'd managed to scrape the fur and skin on the outside of her foreleg badly enough to make it bleed. The icy water had numbed the pain instantly, but the realization made her grimace nonetheless. It was no more than a simple flesh wound- and would scab up without leaving too much of a mark when it healed- but the scrape trailed all the way from her ankle up to her elbow, making it look much worse than it actually was. Niamh didn't know that, though, and had a flair for being over-dramatic, so she set out to find someone who could tell her what she was supposed to do with it. Raven was back at the plateau- but she'd caught wind of Eljay, and knew that he knew enough about this kind of thing that he'd be a help. 

She was still quite surprised, frankly, that Eljay had gotten where he had. He wasn't a leader by any means- not by rank or, in her frank and short-sighted opinion, in character- but he was certainly comfortably placed at the top of the ranks. She wasn't sure how to process that- but then again, this pack was different than the Redhawks. All of her experience as a guardian, warrior and hunter were likely less valued here, where strangers were to be greeted with a welcoming nature. In that respect, Eljay deserved every bit of his rank; she'd just have to get used to the standards being different...But they weren't different in a way that made her feel anxious. No- this sort of life she could deal with. This was likely where she was meant to be, anyway. This would help her get rid of her triggers and her quick-to-act nature. This was where she could learn to be the best version of herself, she was sure of it. 

She tracked him down, knowing that he'd been spending a lot of time at the big, awesome-looking den with Wildfire. Again, she had to do her best to strangle her judgement. It was no secret, after all, that Wildfire had gone into heat; and from what Niamh could tell, as the busybody she was, Eljay had been there with her quite a bit. Niamh had passed by the area a few times, more nosey than anything- and had already leapt to the assumption that Eljay and Wildfire had something going on. It made her feel....Giggly. Of course, that was only after she'd realized that the two weren't actually related. The Redhawks and Blackthorns were all adopted in amongst each other- but weren't related by blood. At least, not yet. Regardless- she knew where he'd been stowing himself away, so she found a fresh set of tracks leading away from the area and followed after him. 

"Oi, Eljay!" She called out, when she saw his silvery shape in the distance, hoping to halt him so that she could catch up without pushing herself too hard. The fur of her legs, ruff and chest had frozen by now, but she'd shaken most of the water out before it'd done so, so that her skin was dry underneath. She sped up to reach him and was pleased when her leg didn't protest- the only pain that came from it was related to the cold and the little spinky hairs that were frozen together and pulling on each other.