Big Salmon Lake roses

The land would have been beautiful were it not for the plague that had struck there. The rangy frame of the golden male seemed to traverse with care. His matching gaze sought to find any life that may have belonged there. The scent of wolves was on the wind but how could they survive in such desolation? Even he had turned thin in his travels, but surely those living in those wilds were skin and skeleton. He turned his head to the water and frowned. Even the ripples on the surface spoke of famine. Breathing deep, there was the faintest scent of salt from the distant sea and faded passing of other wolves. A startling lack of prey. 

Sawyer drew himself toward the waters edge and allowed the cold liquid to meet his paws and soak to his ankles. The breeze caught his pelt and breathed the promise of rain. The golden dog hoped that it would allow for the green to return to the surrounding wild. He wondered how many had died at the fault of that tragedy. The loss of the woods. 

The scent had led her here- the faintest taint of salt, and that scent that only meant a huge body of water. That, and the horrible unsettling feeling that the bare wilderness had given her. This place was desolate, barren- who could survive here? Maybe, she should head further south. But now she wasn't sure what to do- maybe this barren land reached down even further. Althaia certainly was not up to another long journey, seeing as prey here was minimal and she had yet to catch anything that was not scrawny and thin. 

The pale grey she-wolf lopped steadyily toward the water now in her sights. Her delicate frame was covered in a pale coat white, grey, and with some hinks of a pale tawny. As always, it was slightly ruffled, seeming never to lay smooth. As the earth beneath Althaia's paws turned to sandy dirt, she soon came in sight of the lake. Giving the tiniest whine of excitment, she ran for the waves, stopping just at the edge of the water and letting the waves lap over her paws. Too caught up in her excitment to notice the male around the next dune immediaetly, she flung herself into the lake. Powerful strides took her further into the water, further, and further. Having never before encountered such a large body of water, Althaia was  in utter dismay and shock when she did sneak a glance at the mainland, only to see it much further away than intented. 

With a strangled yelp, the small female spun and battled hard against the current. The water now felt alien and cold, and she feared the waves around her. She angled to shore, and within minutes found herself close enough to the shore to make out shapes on the shoreline. To her excitment, Althaia discerned the silhouette of another wolf on the shore- she headed toward him. She shook herself a fair distance away, sending droplets flying- hopefully not in the direction of the male. Stopping a few feet from the golden male, the waves lapped around her paws as her pale green eyes flashed. She bobbed her head in greeting, unaware that she may look slightly discourning, being soaked and having swum toward him from quite a distance away. Exctited to see another member of her species, the trembled with excitment and fought to stay still. "Hello. I'm Althaia. I'm a loner, but I haven't seen anyone else here." Hardly hesitating, she dissolved into a torrent of questions. "Who are you? Are you from a pack? Where has all the green gone? Are there any other wolves here?" The excitment of finally seeing a wolf canceled out the apprehension and catuation she should probably display.

In the ripples of the water, there appeared to be a bobbing figure. The golden male squinted his eyes to focus on the form that was slowly making its way across the lake. When the strange shape took form, he noted that appeared in the embodiment of another wolf. When the female emerged, she seemed to shake with a strange sort of excitement. She sought to close some of the distance between them. As she drew nearer, he could scent the water and algae that clung to her pelt. But he had very little time to adjust to the mer-wolf before she began spouting questions at him. 

She was a loner. He could have assumed as much. Her fur did not hold the aroma of a pack. It seemed she was just as new as he was to those lands. Sawyer flagged his tail for a few short beats and watched her with careful flaxen eyes. If all the wolves of that land were just as eager and friendly, he didn't forsee much trouble arising from the Teekons. 

"Well... uh... darlin' I'm pretty new to these parts m'self," he drawled. His voice carried a soft southern lilt to it. "I'm Sawyer. Don't know much about the green goin' missing. And you're the first I've seen," he tried his best to respond to her inquiries. Brows furrowed, he awaited the next mouthful that would surely fall from the strange woman's lips. And for a moment her eager nature made him miss his family. 

He responded positively to her rapid-fire questions, something that made the corners of her muzzle lift upward into a smile. Stepping out of the cool water lapping at her paws, Althaia stepped further onto the beach, where she sat and settled her feathery tail over her paws. Her ears peaked at his odd accent, his words had a lilt to them she found rather interesting.

He had stopped speaking, but rather then answer immedietly, she reached down and delicatley plucked a stray piece of seaweed from her leg. She smiled up at the vibrant male. Sawyer. "I haven't seen anyone yet either- perhaps they've all died?" Though she doubted the whole wolf population had been eradicated bacause of some missing leaves (Understatment), it could very well be that many had been wiped out. Who knew how long the famine had been raging?

The woman seemed eager to have found someone so willing to converse. She moved towards him a few feet before she paused to make herself comfortable, curling her tail around towards the front of her body. She then began to clean the remaining sea foliage from her limbs. The golden boy watched with a curious glint in his gaze for a moment before she seemed to come to life with a remark on the lack of wolves in the area. The right half of his face curled upwards in a smirk and he chuckled faintly.
 
“I sure hope not. I got family out there somewhere,” he remarked with a nod of his head, thinking fondly of the other Crowfeathers who may have been lucky enough to find themselves in the Teekon Wilds. “I’m pretty damn sure we’d be seein’ plenty more carrion birds too,” he then thought aloud with a furrowing of his brows and a glance towards the sky that beamed down on them in clear blue.

Althaia too glanced to the sky, half expecting to see a flock of crows descending on them at that very moment. But the sky remained clear, and so she turned back to Sawyer. "I do hope they are alright- do you think the green will return soon?" She wondered just how many had lost their lives to the famine, how many had lost someone. How many had to resort to drastic measures, just to stay alive? For the wolves that made their homes here, the famine would be so much harder, as they watched their beautiful home idsapear, only to be replaced by death.

The kindly little female seemed to be quite genuine about her remark regarding his family. To it, he lowered his head out of thanks, and his ears fell back a bit to his skull. It was not often that strangers showed kindness in such a nature, and though it could have simply been a comment made out of sheer politeness, it was still appreciated by the gold-clad wolf.
 
She did go on to inquire about the green returning to their lands. His light gaze sought their surroundings with a thoughtful frown and a curious expression on his handsome face. “Y’know, I do believe that we ought to be seein’ some buds comin’ out those trees pretty soon,” he answered her with a hopeful and encouraging nod. Mother nature had a way of healing herself in dire situations. Though it may have taken her a short time, she would make all well again.

Althaia brightened considerably. "Do you think, Sir? That would be great! I miss the summer, and the spring." She hoped that the blooms would return quickly- then, hopefully, the prey would return too. That would be spectacular, though she wished the prey would hurry up. It simply wasn't right when the predators had no prey, and the prey no predators. She imagined, for a moment, a world where wolves simply did not exist. The rabbits and other stupid creatures would quickly eat everything, then all starve and die. No, one needed another, and the prey had to return so that the wolves may survive.

“I do, darlin’,” the gold and ivory man confirmed for her with a sweet chuckle of his velvety voice. His pale gaze glanced around to their surroundings and he nodded his head slowly but surely. Flicking his tail upwards, Sawyer seemed to agree with the girl on the subject of summer. He would never forget being a younger boy and seeking shelter under the great stretching trees, hoping to keep out of the heat for a short period of time. The temperature had seemed to drop several degrees once the shade of the wood had been found. Sawyer breathed a fond sigh at the nostalgia that had filled his gut.
 
With a charming smile, he looked to his companion and his features seemed to rise. “Food ought to be comin’ back with the green. This great big stretch of land will look beautiful before you know it,” he spoke fondly of the Teekon Wilds, though he had only known them for a swift moment. Sawyer believed in the underdog; he liked to see triumph come from the impossible.

Althaia smiled wistfully. "I hope so, sir. I can't wait to see what these lands look like, when they're alive" Her green eyes followed the horizon, imangining it beautiful once more. She couldn't wait for that day, but knew that it would be a while. She had immensly enjoyed this talk with the stranger, and his friendlyness. But she was on a journey, and could not tarry for long. With a dip of her head, she said "Thank you sir, for your words. I should leave; but I do hope we meet again." Althaia's paws lifted her up, and with a final glance at the stranger she set of at a brisk pace further inland, wondering what adventures would befall her next.