Redtail Rise the second coming

tagging @Moon Runner for visibility for formation thread (and free to join), AW

red dusk walks the border at first light.

the rise falls away beneath him in quiet slopes and old paths, firescarred trunks giving way to new green. scent lines mark where the land ends and the world presses back. he reads them all. stranger. prey. wind.

the wealda’s presence settles heavy in his chest, not as worry, but as purpose. this ground must hold. she must be kept from harm. the rise cannot afford fracture again.

he stops often, nose lifting, ears tipping to the far edges where the taiga waits. nothing moves that should not. still, he watches.

red dusk presses his pads into the soil and moves on, sealing the border with scent and memory.