Golden Glade King of Kings

It was just about time for a good pack hunt again- perhaps nearly time for her children to participate, if to fulfill no other role than to simply help chase from a distance. They would need more experience hunting if they were to become proficient young adults in the spring. Knowing that larger prey inhabited the forests to the South, she made her way in that direction hoping to find a herd of deer- but ended up coming across something much better- the trail of an elk. 

It would be their rutting season soon she figured, and their screeches would fill the forest. Preoccupied by the rut, the bulls might be distracted enough for her to lead a hunt for a cow elk, but she would want to do some research first and see how many elk were in the herds nearby. They could move in herds of hundreds- but that would make things more difficult for wolves to pick one and separate it from the herd. It also meant that there would be many more eyes watching out for predators. 

But the one she tailed was only one- but it wasn't alone. There was another wolf tracking it, and Niamh saw fit to tail after them as well, picking up on the scent of the female wolf and following it as it appeared she was tracking the elk herself. She scented no others nearby, though she was distracted by the potential of having found evidence that elk might pass through this way for their Autumn feeding grounds. In the distance, the mountains reached up, including the summit that the Firebirds had considered a safe harbour during the deluge. And silhouetted against the light was the bull elk, grazing calmly. And in the foreground- watching it with awe- was the female wolf she'd been tracking. 

She had the colour of burnt bark to her pelt, but silver fur aged her, trailing around her muzzle and down her chest. Elderly, Niamh thought- less of a threat. Still- given the news she'd received from Bronco about the dangerous wolves to the North, she wasn't going to trust this female simply because her age made her less of a threat. For all she knew, the oaken female simply had premature greying. And perhaps she wasn't alone. But she was treading fairly close to Firebirds hunting grounds, and had clearly spotted something Niamh considered to be claimed, already. 

"They'll rut soon," She said, as she approached, considering her statement to be neutral ovile branch, something to be extended without risk to gauge the true nature of the woman who gazed with such fascination at the elk in the distance.