Redhawk Caldera On trees and birds and fire

This is set on the far side of RHC, p'raps a few days in the future. He's about to discover the ginormous lake o'er yonder. If your character's intending to join the pack, this is a good place to make your pledge and help us discover and claim it! :)

Upon returning to Redhawk Caldera, Peregrine debriefed his scanty followers, then climbed to his mate's position. He curled into a ball next to her and refused to move for an entire day. He was exhausted, physically and mentally, and sleep was the blessed reprieve he needed after turning his back on the plateau for the last time.

He rose in the wee hours of the following morning and resolved to stay busy by solidifying their claim. He kissed his sleepy wife's forehead and set off on a course around the base of the crater. He wanted to start by getting an idea of its circumference; these would be his borders. Peregrine achieved a brisk pace as he roamed the perimeter, stopping every few dozen yards and lifting a leg to sprinkle the ground with his pungent scent.

A few hours later, he found himself on the extinct volcano's farther side, a little awestruck as he stared out over a lake that made the smaller one within the caldera look puny. For a minute, Peregrine even wondered if they'd miscalculated and wound up nearer to the coast than previously thought. But, no... this wasn't the sea. The breeze was fresh, not salty, and he could see that the waters — which were rosy as the sun began to rise in the east — were placid.

"It's just a huge fucking lake," he announced wryly to no one.