Hibernation Point I know it's dire, my time today

The mountain had seemed unimportant upon seeing it, the assumption that she would have to simply go around it has settled in Kateri's mind. The yearling has been pleasantly surprised to nearly tumble head first down a hidden passage, quite literally as she scrambled to keep from slipping down into the tunnel. Her paws caught on the lip of the huge opening, her bottom half sticking from beneath a bush comically. 

Sniffing curiously, Kateri found that the tunnel smelled stalely of bear but it had been many moons before when the carnivore nested here. Thus, the wolfess slipped ungracefully into the passage with a soft thump and shook the dirt from her coat. 

It was uncertain how long she padded along the corridor, following the faint scents of bears and other animals so stale she could no longer tell what they were. Eventually, her head popped up in a cavern on the opposite side of the mountain. It was a small cavern, ending only a foot or so above her own head and only a few paces wide. Kateri squeezed herself up into it, exiting through the small hole opposite her. 

Once out, she paused blinking at the sudden change of light. Her head turned left and right repeatedly, trying to decide where to go from here.

her sides had grown larger, and eshamun fancied that now she could feel the babes stirring within. when among the malkaria, she did not speak of them; she merely carried the sacrifice she would make for molech. but when alone, in the rain-wet glades or the green forests, the woman spoke to her children, telling them of the shamayim that awaited them, and molech would make sure of it. there would be no suffering; their souls would be loosed from their forms and made new again, to be reborn into new bodies. and if eshamun was blessed in the sight of the eight-armed one, in a year's time, molech would give them to her again.

a curious sight distracted the canaanite from her bittersweet, whispered words; a wolf's head, lifting from the ground. eshamun paused in her walking to gaze at the odd vision, the rapidly blinking eyes, and wondered. "what are you doing?" she called, slowly drawing forth.

Her head had been turned the wrong way, the fey approaching from behind and causing her to startle. Her fur bristled along her spine, head snapping around as she skittered sideways a pace or so. Kateri calmed slightly upon seeing the woman, a slender type not unlike herself and belly rounded the tiniest bit.

Kateri remained tense in the legs, ready to flee if the need found her for the yearling was not much of a fighter. This stranger didn't seem violent, rather she seemed curious at the most.

"Exploring," she explained simply, for there was no other word for the tunnel travel she had just engaged in. "I'm Kateri," the femme offered, orange eyes sliding over the stranger curiously.

the woman was vague, sensing no malice in eshamun. she was quite correct on that front -- the tophet-dweller no more wanted to attack than she wished to leave the company of this most interesting wolf. "i am eshamun," she offered gently.  there was no need for titles here, not when they stood upon equal ground.

"you were exploring ... beneath the earth?" she inquired in her softly accented tones, her green eyes bright with curiosity as she tipped her slim muzzle to one side in a quiet sort of confusion. 

Kateri nodded as she was given a name in return, smiling hesitantly. This woman seemed nice now but what if it were a facade? 

No, you musn't think this way any longer. 

Kateri shook her head resolutely, whether to get rid of the paranoia or the dark thoughts was unsure. Her eyes returned to Eshamun as she pushed it all back into the dusty, dark corner of her mind it had come from.

"Oh yes, there are many miles of tunnel beneath there, through that little hole and into the room and then beyond the hole in the floor. It's how I got here," she exclaimed exuberantly.

eshamun sensed the other's wariness but did not speak of it; she did not want to spook the other. indeed, what the little traveller spoke of was interesting indeed, and the canaanite's eyes fell to the gapped hole around the other's chest and shoulders. "i have never heard of such a thing. i believe you are not lying," she added, not wanting to insult the stranger, "but in my homeland, the earth is flat. we cannot travel beneath it."

in spite of herself, eshamun approached. "may ... may i see this tunnel?" she asked hesitantly.

At the stranger's incredulous tone, her ears began to flatten in sadness. She was a young thing and a bit sensitive due to it. Kateri visibly brightened as Eshamun assured that she believed her about the tunnel, tail wagging once more.

"This way," she gestured with what was hopefully a soothing tone. She didn't want to startle away her new friend, did she? 

The yearling led the way back to the small hole in the wall, squeezing her way into the tiny room beyond it. Kateri gestured to the hole in the floor, the musty corridor below as dark as night beneath their feet.

eshamun nodded, breathing in warily before she ducked her head beneath the earthen lip and followed the female under the ground. panic rose in the woman but she checked it -- she would not die here. the walls were thick with packed loam and the ground steady beneath her paws. she could smell crawling things; worms, beetles, the blind moles, and was comforted.

she stared down into the gaping expanse for a moment, then turned her gaze to her companion. "it is through there that you came?"

Eshamun seemed disturbed by the dark dank room, not much larger than a crawlspace in which Kateri had to crouch. Had she known the woman better she might have rubbed against her in comfort but Kateri was shy of touch and it was unlikely Eshamun would want her so near. 

"Yes," she answered, following the slope of the dirt floor into the musty tunnel, staring upwards at Eshamun once at the bottom. 

the other woman descended into the darkness, and the canaanite found herself worrying her lips with her teeth. could she do this thing? panic rose again and once more she quelled it -- it would not do for the ekar-aji of a people to lose herself in such a way. and so eshamun swallowed, drew a long breath, and followed her counterpart into the gloom.

once beneath the earth, the woman fought her fear and looked about, her eyes adjusting to what little light there was. "how interesting," she murmured.