Emberwood The sun will shine on a new horizon

Gonna do this a little differently....

trees (health/growth) - eight of cups (oh my god)
wind (freedom/ease) - daughter of pentacles
atmosphere (hunting/prosperity) - seven of swords
soil (future/longevity) - the world
water (happiness/relations) - son of wands

While Bronco left to find something to eat, Fennec thought on what she wanted to know. The big question was what their future here would look like, but there were so many aspects to that. The members they found, how well they'd work together, how she and Bronco would work as leaders. The packs around them, what kind of trouble they'd cause, and would they be friendly to a new group settling? And even... would they be happy here? Would they have more children? Maybe it was Killdeer, or maybe it was this trip, but her insecurities on that subject had all but vanished. She wanted it.

Maybe there were a few things she could read. Fennec turned and stepped slowly sideways, moving until she'd brushed up against a tree. Rising onto her hind paws, she rested her forepaws on the bark and scratched a bit of it away to reveal the softer wood underneath. It came away easily and, when she nosed the exposed wood, she found that it was rotten. The entire tree was dead.

Fennec couldn't believe it. She dropped back down and started laughing, then couldn't stop cackling for a solid minute. Fuck, it was perfect. Maybe if all of the signs were this rough, she might consider a trend, but right now, she was taking this as a huge bonus. This place is absolutely haunted. Or, at the very least, perfect for a witch. It probably wasn't normal that finding a dead tree as her first omen made her feel more at home here than any place previous.

She composed herself, then stood where she was, breathing slowly. She felt the cold wind ruffle through her fur and paused to judge the direction it was going. It was gentle, barely rustling the branches overhead, and didn't seem to play much with the dried leaves at her feet. And there's a boring sign for Bronco, she thought, smiling. If she got anything from that, it was that they'd run into very little trouble.

Everything here was quiet. She didn't want to get all of her info from one place, so Fennec began to move, cutting a roving course towards the water she'd heard and mentally marking the trajectory to where she needed to head back to. Her pelt began to prickle as she felt the slight sensation of being watched, though the stream easily overcame any other background noise as she drew closer. Another check mark in her court... this forest had secrets hidden beneath it's seemingly ordinary surface. She didn't know if it was a history, or a tucked-away place, or some creature living there now, but she knew she'd root it out eventually. (As if she'd needed a sign to delve into the darker spaces of the woods).

When she reached the water, she bent down, testing and then breaking through the thin layer of ice at the stream's edge. The water was frigid but refreshing, and after Fennec had drank her fill, she stood and, idly, batted a small hunk of frozen earth that she felt resting near her forepaws. She listened to it skitter across the ice, then her ears twitched with surprise as it was swallowed with a plop at the middle. She'd figured it would be small enough to have frozen through by now.

If relationships are like rivers, maybe the neighbors won't be what we expect either. Fennec snorted at the thought, but shrugged. She could handle that. If the water had been tainted, that would have been a bigger dealbreaker... for a number of reasons.

On the walk back, she wound her way carefully past the trees, noting the loam under her paws. It was soft, not like the pines in that previous forest. She loved the way pine forests felt imposing, taller and darker than the ones like this, but she had to admit that this ground was more comfortable to settle on. She lifted her head, trying to judge which direction the sun was in, and her field of vision suddenly brightened. She was used to the muted echoes of colors and patterns shifting, but when they suddenly warmed up, she tilted her head back even more and beamed. She couldn't explain why, but suddenly she just knew... they'd be happy here. Really, truly happy. It was one of the clearest signs she'd ever gotten, and even a skeptic like her couldn't argue.

She sat quietly with that until Bronco returned, just a short bit after. She sniffed at the bird he'd dropped, but didn't recognize it either. Hunting's good, then? She asked, running a paw idly over the feathers. Oh, shit, these might work...