Noctisardor Bypass Like a Bad Penny

For @Warlock, yes?

Bedraggle-furred and limping slightly, Brou paused on the last small rise before the territory borders proper to gather her thoughts and attempt to sort out her feelings. Triumph? No. Vindication? Eh... Relief? Well, maybe a little. It had been an unexpectedly long journey, and for once she was surprised to discover that it truly was good to be home... at least a little bit.

She gave a small, disgusted sigh and leveled a quick little glare at the sore patch on her paw whence a little thorn had worked its way in-between the pads not that long ago, however, before she stumblingly marched onward. She'd wiggled the thing loose with a bit of blood and a lot of half-muttered curses and imprecations against whatever malevolent plant had left the damn thing lying about, but it was still fairly tender. It had been in that one white forepaw she had once considered her "lucky" one, to boot; nowadays she was really starting to doubt that characterization. Regardless, it would still bear some weight, and she ruthlessly pushed forward on it along with her three more-cooperative paws even if her pace was a little more halting than usual.

The scents of home wafted through her nostrils, both familiar and strangely alien at once. The breeze seemed to be moving the scent molecules along faster than her actual paws were going, a fact that did little to improve Brou's mood. Still, she was not particularly upset, as she halted and raised her nose to get a better whiff. Having actual familiar scents among the bouquet in the air was enough of a balm to her soul to counterbalance any irritation trying to take root. She raised her head a smidge further as she sorted out one particular scent from downwind, and turned with an uneven soft crunching of the layer of old snow beneath her paws to prick her ears and look the source of it measuringly up and down.