The Bracken Woods ride on through the night ride on

The wood was thick around her, with thorns and brambles grasping like talons at her sides— and though she'd certainly hear anyone that sought to sneak up on her, Rook still felt vulnerable and exposed. Traversing unknown territories was a talent that ran thick in her blood, but the woman usually had the strength of the Corvidae at her back. For the first time in her life, she was truly alone. It was thrilling, and she moved with an excited, nervous energy; she wondered if this was the feeling her sister had left them for. If so, she could no longer begrudge her for it.

A bird crowed from above, sending a chill down the dark woman's spine, and she paused to search the darkening canopy above. She could see nothing in the shadows, and so moved on. "Silly to be frightened of a bird," she murmurred, "I must be on edge."

Wildfire left the territory before the sun was up properly, having woken from a terrible dream about Gavriel rejecting her again (much more horribly this time). Unable to go back to sleep, she left her mate's warmth and headed north, the sunrise warming her right flank as she aimed for some woods with the intention to hunt. Feeling exhausted despite herself, she curled up between the roots of an old and aromatic false cedar instead, tumbling into sleep.

An indeterminate amount of time later, a voice woke her with a start. "W-what?" she blurted sleepily, blinking owlishly before quickly pushing herself onto all fours. Groggy and sleep-warm, Wildfire scanned her surroundings, her eyes landing on a black wolf half a dozen yards away.

A sleepy voice rang out through the wood, and Rook's ears went back as her body instinctively lowered. Her eyes swept the darkening forest, searching for its source, and she imagined there were eyes watching her from within each thorny bramble— the feeling of being hunted was unnerving and unnatural, for what could hunt the top of the food chain? And yet still she felt it as she carefully moved through the woods, nearly jumping when her eyes finally landed on the fiery coat of another wolf.

She grinned sheepishly, "You startled me," as her posture returned to one of natural confidance. "I'm new here and, ah, not used to the loner lifestyle."

Although she was on edge, Wildfire couldn't bite back a sudden yawn that forced her jaws to split. "Ex-excuse me," she said even as a second, smaller yawn clobbered her. She shook out her ruff, trying to wake herself up a bit more. "Same here," she responded with a faint laugh. "I mean," she clarified, "you startled me. I was asleep."

She smacked her lips quietly, trying in vain to fight a bad case of cottonmouth, and tilted her head. "You fresh out of a pack...?" she wondered, taking a step closer to the dark stranger.

"Sorry to wake you," she said genuinely, prepared to move on to allow the other to get back to her slumber-- but despite her yawning, it seemed the fiery stranger wished to continue the conversation. Rook had no complaints; she was a social creature, and the solitude was already making her paranoid. "Sort of," she answered. "They're nomads, and I'll probably meet up with them again someday. I thought I'd take a detour and visit my sister-- she settled down somewhere near here, last I heard."

Wildfire shrugged and smiled a little sleepily. "No worries. I didn't really mean to fall asleep." She said nothing more on that subject, her head cocking when the she-wolf declared herself freshly detached from a band of nomads. This type of lifestyle had always appealed to her to some extent, as a scout and ranger, but it wasn't one she had ever successfully managed to pursue. Now it was too late, in a sense, but the Bandrona had no regrets.

"Do you know where?" she wondered conversationally, black tail flicking as she tried to blink herself more awake.

Rook had been informed of her sister's storied history in the Wilds, including the discovery of some half-siblings; that, too, provided the dark woman with some motivation to explore the area. Family was important, but were they really family if you didn't know them? "A place called Redbird... something," she answered slowly, struggling to free the name from her memory. That didn't seem quite right, but it had been almost a year since Rook had last spoken to her litter mate. "I think it's further to the south. Her name is Maudlin," she added, though she didn't expect the first wolf she ran into to know of her.

The word Redbird woke her up more than any amount of blinking and yawning could. Curiosity effectively piqued, she queried, "Redhawk?" to see if it rang any bells. Assuming it did, Wildfire continued by adding, "Redhawk Caldera. My parents live there. They rule it, actually." But she hadn't lived there in nearly a year now (wow!) and the given name didn't ring any of her own bells, so she didn't have any other helpful information to add.

"What did you say your name was?" Well, she hadn't. "I'm Wildfire. Redhawk," she added the surname as an afterthought, smiling softly because it made her feel connected to her family despite the vast distance between them.

Her fiery companion seemed to perk up at her pathetic attempt to remember where Maudlin had settled, and the correction she offered inspired Rook in turn. "Yes, that's it!" Redhawk Caldera, and a wolf that could presumably direct her there better than her sister's half-baked and half-forgotten directions.

"I didn't," she answered, echoing Wildfire's thoughts. "I'm Lyahel, but you can call me Rook. Y'know, my sister might've gone by Magpie," she added as an afterthought.

Lyahal, she repeated in her head, alias: Rook. But her thoughts scattered completely when the woman mentioned Maudlin's alternative name: Magpie. She was fully awake now, amber eyes widening and lips parting in surprise. Not only was it startling to hear her aunt's name after such a long time, it quickly dawned on Wildfire that that made Rook a blood relative via Fox.

"It's a small world after all," the yearling murmured, then explained, "If your Magpie's my Magpie, that makes us relatives. Did she look the part?" After waiting for confirmation, Wildfire's face drew into a somewhat pensive look. "Magpie actually lived here—well, in my pack nearby—up until she vanished a couple of months ago. I don't know where she went." She paused. "I suppose it's possible she might have gone to the caldera." Honestly, though, it seemed unlikely.

All the same, Wildfire took the time to describe the best route from here to caldera and wished the woman luck on locating Magpie. "If you do find her there—or wherever—could you tell her that I'd love to see her again someday?" was the yearling's parting request before Rook headed off on her search and Wildfire shook off the last dregs of sleepiness and set off to hunt.