Noctisardor Bypass Towards The Giant

Zitari Le glanced over the ledge, ahead of them leading down was a stream wading throughout the forest. The night air was fresh, and carried a strong scent of oak and pinewood.

"Caught scent of anything other than wood, Koa?"
She questioned, shifting her gaze towards her brother.

He lifted his head to check, but the many new scents were doing nothing but overwhelming his senses.
"Not just yet.. let's keep moving, I'm sure we'll find something."
He decided, flicking his tail. At least there was water nearby - that was sure to pull in some decent prey.

She nodded, continuing on. Her eyes scavenged the forest for any signs of life. If they were lucky, maybe they’d run into a rabbit that traveled out far from its burrow.

 "Ouch!"
Zitari yelped, a sharp pain shooting through her paw and causing her to stop abruptly. 
"Something’s in my paw .."
 She whined, lifting it up to check on it before showing it to Koa.

He flinched at her cry, lowering his head to look. He assumed she had stepped on a thorn - that would be a quick fix, though just as inconvenient for their travels as any other injury.
"Let's see.."
He sighed, frowning.

"Take it out, take it out! It hurts!"
 She continued on, being overly dramatic about it as always. What terrible luck they’d been having all day. It almost felt like the entire of Mother Earth was out to get them.

"Then stay still and stop whining."
He grunted in response. He leaned forward, carefully grabbing and pulling the thorn with his teeth before spitting it out onto the ground.
"Now go wash your paw out in the river - you'll be fine."

She flinched, a wave of relief washing over her as soon as it was out. 
"Alright, alright. I’m going ..”
She mumbled, trudging her way over towards the stream — a slight limp in her step.

She slipped her paw into the water, drawing it out after a few seconds and beginning to lap it vigorously.

"This won’t get infected, right?"
She asked, a hint of concern in her voice.

"I'm not a herbalist - why would I know?"
He grunted in response, carefully glancing around at their surroundings.
"But you should be fine as long as we keep it clean, right? It didn't seem like too bad of a wound."

She placed her paw down onto the ground, the pain now nearly completely subsiding.
"Yeah, I guess."
A ripple of embarrassment rushed through her after the initial wave of worry.

"A-anyways, let’s keep going. There’s still a long way to go."
She mumbled, shooting up and walking farther into the forest.

thank u for starting <3 is this set outside of Rivenwood? I assumed so but let me know if I need to change anything!

Raised voices drew Anselm from the bypass’s single entrance, drawing him towards a trail filled with tracks of two wolves. Anselm tracked them to the river, where their quiet voices grew louder. 

He scented the air, but could tell nothing about them. Rather than make himself known immediately and risk injury, Anselm studied them a while; one was soft gold in a way that painfully reminded him of Etienne — in color only. The other sported a similar coat darkened by rich brown that was nearly black. 

He did not yet announce his presence, unaware that they’d just extracted a thorn from the she-wolfs paw. His main concern was — what was their motive being here?

She kept on along the river, opening her mouth to catch a better scent of any prey — but something different came across instead.
"Hm?"
 She stopped in her tracks, turning to check if Koa had caught note of the slight change in the air.

 Zitari had always had a keen sense of smell to make up for the bad hearing in her left ear.
"Do you smell that?"

Koa frowned, lifting his head to check for the odd scent she had spoke of, yet it wasn't much different to him.
"No - is it prey?" He asked. "I'm having a hard time differentiating scents here - there's too much." Koa grunted, somewhat irritated by this.

She blinked at him, pausing briefly before replying.
"It almost smell like .. another wolf."
She remarked after a short period of silence, jerking her head up to glance around. Why would another wolf be out here right now? Is it another traveller like us? She thought to herself, wondering if her nose was playing tricks on her or not.

He was quick to furrow his brow, whipping his head to look behind him.
"You're not trying to mess with me, right?"

Koa found himself growing rather tense. It had been some time since they bumped into another wolf, and it tended to become an unpleasant encounter whether because of his poor manners or because they had entered another's territory due to their own naïve and hungry minds.

"Of course not! I’m telling you — my nose rarely ever steers me wrong." She retorted bitterly.
 That’s what she’d said, but she sort of hoped she was wrong. Koa didn’t exactly have a good reputation for being .. well — nice. 

 Her right ear perked up, trying to catch onto any sounds. Perhaps a twig snapping, or leaves rustling on the forest floor. Something to tell her more.

He found himself quick to stick to her side, waiting to see if anything would stand out. Koa had a habit of biting first and asking questions later - but to him it was better than taking the risk of Zitari getting hurt.

He knew he could deal with the occasional wound, but if she was hurt he doubted that he would know how to take care of her.

As Anselm hunkered into a patch of chicory, the wind shifted. He cursed inwardly, for the wind bore his scent right to them. Like startled deer, their entire behavior changed. They were now aware he walked among them.

He wondered how long he could remain hidden. They were on high alert-- and while he knew this area well, two against one was hardly favorable odds. Anselm did not know their intentions, or if they were friend or foe. It would be risky to be too aggressive.

His territoriality got the better of him. Without bothering to disguise the noise of his feet on the undergrowth, Anselm emerged and made straight for them. You are too close to Rivenvood. State your purpose.