Mudminnow River Stop for nothing

They were closing in on their prey now, having tracked it through the evening, night and into the wee hours of the morning. A fog rolled in from the uncharted wilderness to the east as Wildfire led the small hunting party further and further south, slanting ever so slightly away from the glare of sunrise. It was especially thick over the river they approached. When they reached the bank, Wildfire paused and tried to discern whether their quarry had gone east, west or across. She thought she knew after a few moments, though she said nothing, waiting patiently for @Freyja to find the trail.

While she waited, she bumped her nose companionably against @Gavriel's shoulder. "There's something I'd like to talk to you about, maybe on the way home?" she said lightly, her teeth digging into her lower lip as her heart suddenly doubled its beat in her chest.

The south was quite spooky of this particular evening and Freyja couldn’t help but feel on edge due to the conditions. Their days of work were almost coming to a close  and the conditions were only getting worse for the hunt ahead. To make matters worse it seemed as if the trail ended abruptly as the grass under paw turned into mud.


She went to work to attempt to find the trail and was entirely too preoccupied to even concern herself with the conversation between her father and Wildfire. With her nose hovering above the ground, Freyja toddled eastward as she caught a trace of the smell and soon found some markings in the ground.

“Hey!” She called, turning to glance over her shoulder. “It’s this way! They’re traveling along the river.”

Gavriel doesn't notice at first that Wildfire has slunk back a little to by near him but by the time they'd reached the river, he'd picked up on it. He'd kept a close eye on Freyja, even though he knows Wildfire has done the same, but most of the time he's doing the same thing he has since they'd left. Little changes as they move on but it catches him off guard when Wildfire speaks directly to him. He turns his head slowly to look at her, ears curious upon his head, but Freyja shouts her discovery loud enough to temporarily distract him.

The idea of letting a man climb on top of her—even one as trusted as Gavriel—made Wildfire's heart hammer and stomach clench. But she knew she would do whatever it took to have children. And she knew the guardian would be as swift and gentle as possible, if he agreed at all. She hadn't really thought of the possibility of him declining it, yet there was a teeny, tiny, horribly irrational part of her that wanted him to refuse her so she wouldn't have to go through the motions.

He turned to look at her even as Freyja shouted, breaking the tension building in Wildfire's slim body. "On the way home," she repeated, unwilling to disrupt the girl's tracking expedition. As she spoke, she turned and trotted eastward along the riverbank to join Freyja, saying, "You're right on target, Frey," in a praising tone of voice.

She smiled at the adults and offered a wag of her tail as Wildfire made her approach. Her smile only grew at her mentor’s words and before long her attention was back to the trail. “I think that we’re gaining on them, too,” she offered as she beckoned to the physical tracks that the herd had left. “They’re not that new, but they’re also not super old,” she commented as she turned her attention to Wildfire and then Gavriel.


“We need to keep going and close in on them,” she decided, picking herself up to stand a little taller as she addressed the adults. “I don’t want to lose them.” She would do everything in her power to ensure that they wouldn’t lose them.

They were definitely gaining on the herd. They had been perhaps a day or two behind them and now Wildfire was fairly certain they could catch up in a matter of hours. When Freyja peered at her, she nodded to both acknowledge and confirm the girl's guesses.

"We're not going to lose them," the Bandrona promised. "But where have they gone from here?" According to her own recognizance, the herd had gone east along the bank here and then crossed, the scent trail ending abruptly. It would of course pick up on the other bank. But had Freyja picked up on that yet?

On the way home.

His ears flatten against his head when he shoots back toward the fiery girl. His curiosity holds him close for a few seconds longer, as if she might turn and ask him now, but she moves forward with instructions and guidance to the girl. Caramel eyes hold their placement for a moment longer, left to contemplate what she may want from him. Having been in the dark for a while about his leaders, including the newest one, he realizes there is likely a lot more he doesn’t know with plenty left to question.

Unable to do anything about it now, Gavriel shifts back into mode—though the questions still lingers—and he begins to fall back into the perimeters to keep a focused eye on their surroundings.

There was the question lingering between them of just where the deer went. Freyja looked around, drawing a blank as the cogs within her mind began to churn. Quickly, Freyja lowered her nose to the ground to take in the scent as her eyes wandered to the watery shores.

Was it possible that they had crossed? Could deer swim?

She was unsure, but despite this she gave that option a go. “Did they cross the river?” She asked, looking up to Wildfire with a look of hope upon her young features.

Wildfire waited patiently for Freyja to solve the puzzle, offering no telltale glances or hints otherwise. In fact, her eyes momentarily tracked Gavriel's movements, shooting him a quick and slightly apologetic smile. She hadn't meant to leave him on a cliffhanger, though the hunt must take precedence for the moment. Accordingly, she snapped her head around when her trainee spoke.

"Yes," she replied with a nod. "They probably looked for the shallowest part and crossed there. So you need to do the same, so that we can cross safely and pick up their trail again."

Feel free to skip me after this!

While he is meant to blend into the background, when there is threat for separation, he draws himself closer. When they cross the river, even at the shallowest part, his attention will shift focus. As Freyja decides where that spot may be, Gavriel looks up and down the bank for other areas near enough shallow and landmarks should the need arise. As his own evaluation is completed, he shifts into line behind the teacher while his daughter leads them to the other side.

“Yes,” came Wildfire’s reply and with this answer Freyja smiled, glad that she had been able to pinpoint where the deer had gone. But, with her correct guess also came a challenge: to find the trio a safe path across the river. Nodding to this, Freyja turned from her mentor and towards the river that ran parallel to them.

She hesitated as she looked, her lips falling to a frown as she carefully surveyed the river that ran parallel to them. How was she to determine what the safest path was?

She broke off from the group at that point, lowering her muzzle to ground to sample the deer’s scent. The trail ended a few steps away from the party and looking from the bank and to the river Freyja knew that this would not be their safest option. Pulling herself from that spot and downstream.

She took her time in observing the river until she eventually found what she thought would work best. Though the river itself didn’t look shallow, Freyja noted that there was an elevated section of land in the mid-section. Turning back to the party, Freyja beckoned with a yip and asked, “What do you think?” before turning back to the river and her picked path.

They should do this.

Wildfire hung back, watching Freyja as she inspected and rejected their options. When she seemed to locate a promising route, the Bandrona trotted to stand beside her, eyeing the river critically. The water didn't seem particularly shallow here and the yearling opened her mouth to ask why the girl had chosen this specific spot. Then she noticed the formation in the center of the river. She nibbled her lip instead, pondering.

"I think..." she answered slowly, peering over at Gavriel before angling her snout to face Freyja, "that's it's as good a spot as any. Remember what I told you about the buddy system? We're going to use that, only we're going to level up. Gav!" Wildfire raised her voice in an attempt to capture his attention and summon him over. "I'm going to insist we hold onto one another's tails, just in case there's a current or an undertow that tries to sweep us away." She had experienced such things before and figured it would be much harder to drag three wolves downstream.

Omg. They should!

Wildfire’s idea was an interesting one, to say the least, but the child had total confidence in her mentor’s decision. Despite this, she felt the need to quench her curiosity with a question of her own.

“Will you lead?” she asked, looking to the leader curiously. Or would Freyja?

She didn't answer the child's question right away, instead taking a moment to contemplate the logistics of it. In the end, she decided she (Wildfire) should lead, with Freyja in the middle and Gavriel bringing up the rear. That way, they were botch attached to the pup in one way or another. If the current tried anything, she would have twice the safety holds.

"I'll lead us across the river, then you can take point from there," the Bandrona replied, giving Freyja a quick nudge before assuming the position. Once the Feisripa had latched onto her tail and Gavriel had done the same to Freyja's, Wildfire then slowly and carefully guided them across the river. Thankfully, they managed to reach the other side without incident and only paused long enough to shake off their wet pelts before locating the scent trail and following it due south.