Red sighed, lying down beside an aspen tree. This time she had decided to head away from the lake, keeping to the outer areas of the territory. The lake was gorgeous, yes, and provided the forest-dwellers with water to drink and fish to eat; however she was getting tired of being in one place all the time. She had felt it was time to explore other areas of the forest. Soon enough, though, she had grown bored being here all by herself, and came to rest beside this tree.
Futilely, she hoped someone might come along and join her…
Little did she know that directly north of her, there was another forest being discovered. While the woods she was exploring was dark and gloomy, the one up north was bright, cheerful, and once a year, golden.
Exhausted from exploring the vast woods, the priestess turned north back to the meadows. She was not willing to return to the Spine, not while Jinx was still mad and foaming. She skirted the territories of the packs who resided in the valley, heading farther north to see what lied ahead.
After an hour, she began to see tall green trees with white trunks nestled in the shadows of the mountains. Since she hadn't seen nor heard of the land before, she pressed forward, curious. But near the outskirts of the aspen wood she saw a small reddish creature. A fox? No, she recognized this one. The silent coywolf.
She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts before her friend approached. The coywolf stood, barking a hello, her tail now wagging furiously. She trotted up to Meldresi, had a sudden urge to nudge the female’s snout as a sign of goodwill, and then immediately decided against it. The two might have been friends, but Red could tell there was something… off about the female… Though, she couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was. She instead simply sat down, waiting for news or a greeting or any such thing. Vaguely, she wondered what Meldresi was even doing here, so far from that scary forest to the south.
Red trotted towards her, tail wagging as she barked a hello. Meldresi gave a little smile to the hybrid. "Hello there." she greeted the smaller canine. Her tail wagged in return as she regarded the smaller, quiet wolf. Her gaze went from her to the aspen forest behind them. "What is this place?"
Red turned to look behind herself at Emberwood, which was the name she had decided to use for this aspen forest. What was this place, her friend wanted to know… Well… That was a good question, come to think of it. What did Red think of this place? Over time, it had become more of a home to her than the Sunspire was. And the more wolves she brought here (or she found wandering here, in the case of Meldresi), the more certain she was that she was destined to have a pack in these woods… Eventually. She was definitely not ready to leave Ferdie and the others just yet, especially since she hadn’t even recruited anyone. She couldn’t come here all by herself and expect a pack to simply… appear. That would be the worst kind of wishful thinking.
In the end, she simply turned back to Meldresi and barked. Then she trotted away deeper into the woods, and turned to look at the she-wolf over her shoulder. Her message was clear: Wanna come?
Red had not answered her with a definitive answer, as was expected. The coywolf was not one for words, from her understanding. Instead, she looked towards the forest, got up, turned back to her and barked. She understood the meaning in an instance. Want to come? it said. The dark-furred priestess stood, following the quiet coywolf. "Sure, lead the way."
This forest was a huge contrast to the gloom and silence of her forest back south. It was so alive and vibrant. Though she preferred her Blackfeather, she had to admit that this place was nice. Red obviously liked it more than Blackfeather; it was not a place for everyone.
Red, like so many times before, decided immediately to bring her dark friend to the lake. Everyone she had ever invited into Emberwood came out soaking wet, it seemed, but it was the perfect introduction to this place. She decided that if she did end up making a pack here, the lake would be their meeting place, and she’d probably end up with a den close by for easy access, as it was the biggest source of water here.
As they walked along, the coywolf spotted a deer moving lazily through the trees away from them. Its back was turned, so it did not smell them or see them yet, which was a good thing. Red’s eyes flicked towards Meldresi’s. Her ears went forward towards the creature, and then twisted around towards her companion. Her question was clear: You wanna take it down?
She was fine with either decision, but she thought it’d be fun to hunt. It would make this place really start to feel like home…
She followed the young coywolf, moving through the bright forest. Her indigo eyes wandered across the aspen woods. Birds chirrupped, fluttering around from tree to tree. Her ears pressed back and her eyes narrowed. The brightness was getting to her, as well the constant noise. She wasn't used to it, that was all.
The priestess stopped when Red paused, watching something from a distance. Her eyes wandered to her, spying a deer in the distance. The coywolf turned to her, silently asking if they wanted to hunt. Meldresi nodded in response, her eyes sweeping the landscape in order to find the best way to hunt the lone unglate.
Red also took a moment to view their surroundings. Having to avoid running into trees would slow down both the hunters and the hunted, so they would have to be careful about that. But Red also knew that there was a lake in the center of the woods. Hopefully they wouldn’t have to chase the creature that far, but if they did, it would come to their advantage, as they might be able to trap the creature between themselves and the water. With these things now in mind, the coywolf turned her head a bit to signal to Meldresi that she was going to begin the hunt.
Wolves typically had a few stages of hunting: locating prey, stalking, encountering, rushing, and chasing. And, of course, killing. Sometimes a few of those steps were skipped over, depending on the circumstances. These instinctive steps in the “dance”, so to speak, were ingrained in Red’s brain, so she began the stalk automatically, sneaking up behind the deer as quietly as she could, like a wraith in the trees. She didn’t check to see if her partner was following, as she didn’t expect Meldresi to do anything but follow.
However, only a few feet into the stalking, the deer’s attention was caught somehow, and in a moment, it was fleeing. Red dug her back legs into the soil and sprang forward at a dead run, trying to aim the creature towards the lake. She barked over her shoulder at Meldresi to say, Follow me!