Blackfeather Woods Purple Spotted Zebras

The prospect of an all-new home excited the little boy beyond belief, though the absence of Vuk still unsettled him. She was late. He was sure that his mother would be here soon, she was never one to leave him for long. The boy had left his caretakers to go on another adventure, wanting to discover his new home. Of the many scents here, none were very familiar. 

The woods he pranced through now where dark and totally unfamiliar, and little light shone through the foliage. The boy did not find the darkness, the constant cries of warring crows frightening, no, he found it all rather exciting. He was silent as he trotted through the forest, pausing often to sniff at things, until he found something that rather interested him. It was a plant, a weed, and from it grew a single purple flower. It was spiky, and exciting looking, and Seff bumbled closer for a look. 

The boy wondered where everyone was. It was silent, otherworldly, here, and his odd feeling came rushing back. He missed Vuk. He missed the mother who had always been with him, always seen to his wounds and played with him and loved him. Moon-lady was nice, exciting, but moon-lady was anything but mama. Sure, they shared a slightly similar coat, but mama was so much more. He gave a little whine, plopping down on his rump and wondering when his mother would get here. She had to be coming soon. She always found him when he was lost. Always.

*grabs another @Seff thread* Mind if we forward date it?

Potema wandered through the Woods, wondering where the little hazelnut Spiderling had gone to. The Glen was crowded with pups: one born and one on the way. She was thinking of having Seff stay with her; that way she could keep a much better eye on him.

But she had to find him first. It was surprisingly hard to find a single brown wolf out of the black, gray and white ones that inhabited Blackfeather Woods, but luckily for her the Spiderling remained in the Woods, sniffing a purple flower.

Potema was immediately wary of the flower, unable to see its features from here. She hoped the pup wasn't stupid enough to try and eat it; what if it was Deadly Nightshade? She approached him, opening her mouth to greet the unnaturally somber pup. Hello Seff. Is something wrong?

He was startled out of his thoughts by another, one he immediately recognized as moon-lady. Maybe he felt a pull toward her because she resembled his mother so, except for the fact that her pelt was a pure white, and, of course, her weird eye thingy. But he was okay with that. Admitting his thoughts made him a little trepidant, but he did not want to think about sad things now. His mother would come, of course she would. Right now, he could do fun things with moon-lady!

"Nuttin" he said, shifting his weight as he tried to think of happy things. "Moon-lady? Can you do adventure-things with me? I wanna learn sumtin." he said earnestly, though not as cheerily as he might have normally. He wanted to have fun in this cool new place instead of being boring and sad. He had better do something cool to tell his momma about when she came.

She flashed a smile — Sure, follow me, — and turned towards the Grotto. She warned the boy to stay away from the swamps; he was too small to be treading through the treacherous depths. But with the right supervision, he would be fine walking through the muck and grime of the eastern edge of the Woods.

The shift from Woods to Mire was audible; the caws of the ravens and crows melted away in favor of the croaks and chirps of frogs and insects. And then, near silence. There was something about the Grotto that kept it protected from loud keening sounds or annoying insects. She long theorized that it was the magic around the area, the same factor that allowed for the wisps to float gently in the breeze around them. They never ceased to amaze her, but she kept walking towards the Temple, intent on showing Seff every aspect of the Woods.

He bound along behind her, tail wagging as they moved, first through the marsh, in which a number of things amaze him. Like the obedient child he was, he had not tread in the marsh alone, but it was all very exciting, and had tempted him once or twice. She sheer number of organisms here was overwhelming, and he poked his nose into almost everything, delaying their journey quite a bit. The sudden drop of sound alarmed him slightly, wondering where everything went, but then something else drew his attention.

"Moon-lady! What dis?" he questioned, nosing something. Small, brightly coloured and scaly, like a fish, the creature looked for all the world like a weird worm. The stench of death emanated from it, and half of it's body was torn away, shortening it's supposed length drastically.

It was not long before he asked questions. Her gaze went from the path in front of her to the small scaly creature Seff nosed. She bent her head to sniff the scaly creature — A snake, half eaten, She diagnosed. I do not know the breed, but beware of all snakes. Even when dead they can pose a threat; their venom is still potent, These were creatures in the sphere of Namira, not Mephala or even Vaermina. She knew little about them, only that all were to be feared. Their bites, venomous or not, were harmful, and constriction was damaging to blood flow.

She led the boy on, deeper into the swamp, until the land dried up and dipped slowly. This is Nightcaller Temple, She said softly, the reverance she had for this place audible in her voice. The magic of this place ebbed and flowed around her as she walked in, as if the presence which gave this place its power recognized her own. It was here that she made contact with her mother a moon ago, and she couldn't forget that moment, even if she tried.

She explained, and he understood well, however, a few words were outside his range of understanding. "What's venom?" he asked, it sounded a dangerous word. He could have sworn he had heard of it before, yet now it slipped his mind. But he followed the pale woman without complaint, deeper into the swamp. He was amazed by all matters of life around him, the plants and herbs, some which he recognized from his studies. 

When she land suddenly dried, it was too his great surprise, most of his attention on the things around him. Then they were there. Nightcrawler Temple The name enough sparked wonder, the place itself even more. His eyes widened, as he looked around, feeling something...different about this place. Something special. "Woah." A tiny, small voice echoed out in the stillness.

Venom, She began, Is like poison, but it comes from animals instead of plants. It is much harder to gather, She knew no one that ever harvested the venom from snakes. Such a thought was inconcievable; there was no way of doing so without ingesting the venom yourself. Unless you wanted to build up an immunity...but such a thing was nigh impossible here in the colder lands. Perhaps down south. Inigo would know wouldn't he?

As they entered the temple, the child's questions faded away; he only gasped with awe. She stood at the precipice of the Temple for a moment, letting Seff drink it all in, then she moved forward, breaking the mist with her body as she approached the altar.