Blackfoot Forest you have endured a worse thing

leaving the fishbowl at a prowling clip, astara ranged the hinterlands neighboring. a dark omen had visited her that morning -- the presence of a dead crow at the foot of her den. its little claws were crooked and curled onto each other, the beak grotesquely open -- the eyes sightless. astara knew averna would have known implicitly of the omen's meaning, but astara was a beast of the mortal world and instead, ranged to put her mind at ease.

she scouted for fox, for easy prey -- but eventually, found herself following the faded and snowcovered scent of a wolf somewhere within the evergreens.

against the snowfall, her visibility became restricted. relying on the keenness of her nose, astara bent to the snow and prowled, lurking ever closer to the concealed she-wolf in the pinegrove.