Moonsong Glacier lamenting

Thankfully, Moonspear had kept Opalia busy when otherwise, she felt like drifting into herself again. It was the push of some duty that gave her cause to keep going, at least, so for that, the pale Drakru was infinitely thankful. She felt better than she had in months thanks to this routine, though. Physically.

But, even in the many hours of hiking the slopes or patrolling the forests, tendrils of unease had still come in when she was alone. She identified it first as a homesickness for the coast and a fresh wave of sorrow over everything she had lost since she had left the shores, an old foe, unfortunately, but a rising threat as the days got longer. Her heart just hurt and the nights were cold. She had all of Moonspear to turn to, and yet..

Then, the scent of fever had lurked near the mountain, tail-spinning her right into that new edge--the smell that killed Dacio in the end after that toxic wretch's teeth that set into him. She had that to be prickly about too... so once again, it was welcome that matters were usually bustling among the Moonspearian sorts with no shortage of something, somewhere to do, mundane or not, to keep her away from that until it faded--resolution or death. After a time, she did notice it was gone, but had no explanation. Did she even want to know?

The official claim in the Glen was drawing effort, the pups were covering more ground, lots of hunting for winter, and they had news about the enemies from beyond--all exciting, she knew, but it just didn't sing quite right in her soul most days. She felt like she should just feel more, but, she was tired. In the end, she reasoned, a little visit to beach was okay.. something just for her. But, she wanted to go north. Was it too overzealous to want to see Dragoncrest again, she wondered? It was awfully far. She had fought the urge off before thanks to that. Though, it could do more harm than good.

So she had ranged off to check things out with word that she would be back soon, and headed north. West sometimes, but mostly north. She would take the long way to the coast and see where that landed her. For some reason, she kept thinking of Ravensblood forest's vicinity, the beaches beyond there, the river that led the way. She knew that area from past travels, but calling it a destination was too much this soon.

Still, she covered her ground and eventually, looming ahead of her was a mountain where she got lucky and nabbed a small rabbit. There, picking at her kill, she admired her next move. The mountain she was almost certainly sheltering the forest from view, but an icy expanse came first, too. She finished up her kill then kept going until something vaguely familiar keyed her in along the way. Tracks, wolf ones, and.. one not so far removed from her memory skimming the borders of the claim. That was what made her linger.

Opalia hesitated on checking this out further given her personal distance to her pack's finer workings, or all of Hydra's dealings, the ruling family. It felt like a complicated situation, but she wasn't interested in that alone. Maybe also the distraction of something else to think about besides herself appealed too much. She went after the vaguest hint of scent after that long deliberation, shook off reluctance, and finally got going--nose low, and path set for a lake she had never visited before.

she hasn't had a new thread in a minute and has a lot of junk to sort ._. long....