Larksong Grotto ...And further still.

Very little foliage was left to block the searing heat of the midday sun, leaving Novalia panting after only a couple hours of walking. Prey was even scarcer then greenery, a small rodent here and there, perhaps a bird if you were quick enough, had enough energy. 
Which the femme did not. 
Two whole mouth fulls of mouse meat, that was all she could manage to hunt down in this dying land.  It had been two days since she had encountered the scent of those other wolves, but after hours of sitting and waiting, their odor growing fainter and fainter, Novalia had given up and continued along, sticking to the outside of any marker she came across. 

Her situation becoming bleaker by the hour left the loner wondering if this was it for her, doomed to wander this barren land alone until she finally collapsed of exhaustion and hunger. The hot ground burned her pads with minimal grass left , and without the usual birdsong and whisper of wind moving the trees Novalia came to feel very isolated. Up ahead she could spy the faint outline of a mountain, the rocky structure a dense grey against the solid blue of the open sky. 
Oh, how open it was, only bare trees and skeletal bushes to hide between, and little life. 

It was here she began to catch the lingering odor of multiple wolves, atleast five distinct smells and hope glimmered in her desperate jade orbs for the first time in days. And none to soon. The gaunt wolfess trotted a little quicker now, towards hopeful salvation. She needed a place to rest, recuperate,  feed. She need a family, a home.  Novalia needed a new begining. Coming as close as she dare to the looming mountain and the boundary,  Nova tilted her head back and let out a solitary yowl,  begging someone to show. Her back end plopped in the dust, unable to hold her weight any longer. It was here she would wait for permission to enter, lost, alone but ready to finally find her new home.