Fairspell Meadow due west

It had been many weeks now—maybe months—since Kohia had set out from Ascalon. At first she'd made great pace, winding her way through forest undergrowth and up into the foothills that surrounded the valley her family had called home. Adrenaline had fuelled her more than anything else, though she couldn't deny the effects of anger and fear. For those first few nights, the she-wolf had hardly slept, haunted by the very real possiblity that she was being followed. Worry for her family had made her slow down her pace in the coming weeks, but despite her best efforts at navigating west—the one instruction her mother Etena had given her and her siblings—she'd never ran into any wolf she knew. It was Nahoa and Maru that worried her the most. They'd set out with their mother, both being adolescents, but Kohia knew what might happen if the wolves who'd killed her father—may he rest in turmoil—caught on to the scent of a mother and two pups.

Inhaling deeply, she closed her eyes as she let the thought dissipitate back into the darker recesses of her mind. There was no use dwelling on it anymore. Siaki and his pride, his carelessness, had cost her pack everything. It had been difficult to accept there was nothing she could have done, but eventually she'd had to make her peace.

It seemed she'd been traversing grassy foothills for what seemed like an eternity before she came upon the open field. It stretched on as far as her eyes could see, though, as she squinted, she was almost certain she could detect the hazy outline of a hill on the horizon. She must keep going west. A tentative sniff of the air and a cautious glance around was all she needed—she descended fast into the flatland, allowing her silhouette to be swallowed by the meadow's grassy embrace. If her nose had been correct, she wasn't too far from packlands. It was always difficult to tell, this far away, which scents were simply passing wolves and which were something more cohesive and unified, but her instincts had never let her down before.

It was a worry, certainly, though she doubted the field belonged to anybody. It wasn't as though she meant trouble. Letting these thoughts reassure her, she made haste towards the horizon.