The Heartwood Heartwood Snacking

Hiya :)

Wanderlust had struck again, compelling Koda to leave the Plateau behind for a couple days and set out on a solo journey. On his previous excursion, he'd followed the river Northwest to the Ravensblood forest. There, he'd set his yellow eyes upon the Sequoia trees for the first time in his life. This time, he'd decided to explore the other side of the map, following the river South until he reached the Heartwood.

Koda was giving himself a tour of the inviting woodland. The deciduous trees that grew here made the woods feel very familiar to him, as he'd grown up among the same kinds of trees back home. To him, these woods seemed like an ideal place to raise a family. The forest provided shelter and food, and the nearby river was an endless source of drinking water. How strange that the woods seemed empty of wolves. Maybe, he and Kesuk could move in, once they were ready for pups of their own.

Well, maybe not completely empty. Koda soon came across the first sign of other wolves, a set of tracks winding through the trees. He lowered his head and inspected the prints, finding them to be very fresh. The wolf who'd left them had passed by only minutes before.

At the end of the trail he found a brown, no, a white wolf covered in mud, munching on the long dead carcass of a deer. Koda immediately assumed the worst: this poor creature was a lone wolf, living out here like an outcast, eating whatever she could find just to keep hunger at bay. The Blacktail wolf announced his presence with a quiet chuff, keeping his distance in case this wolf turned out to be a bit overprotective of her food.

"Surely, you can do better than that," said Koda. He knew what it was like, scavenging on carrion just to survive. It was no way for a wolf to live.