Ocean's Breath Plateau old souls

Leaving @Szymon to guard their home (after convincing him that she would be safe, she would avoid the flames, and that Deirdre might need her), Doe had set off to find the pale witch of the woods. The storm had been confusing, chaotic, and Doe hadn't caught sight of Deirdre through all her panicked searching. Maybe today, in the aftermath, the forest queen would be found.

But Doe doubted it. Many had gone missing, lately. Her own daughters - one dead and one disappeared - and then Murgash and his young charge. Skellige, too, was now among those departed, along with his infant son. This scored her heart more deeply than the rest - of all the wolves to have left her, she was most shocked by the abandonment of the Leviathan. He'd been her first true companion in these strange lands. He'd taken her into his home and allowed her into his family - she'd nursed his children at her teats.

And now he was gone. And now Deirdre was gone, just like all the rest. Had it not been for Szymon and his stalwart support, the red woman was not sure what she would have done. For now, though, she persevered. There were injured wolves to care for, young puppies to look after, and a territory to set back into order. She would focus on the first two while Szymon handled the last just as soon as she returned home, but for now, she owed this to the forest queen - to the girl she'd come to think of as family just as surely as Skellige.

It became apparent very quickly that Deirdre was not within the woods. If there was anything in there, it was not hale enough to answer her calls. Deirdre was dead or Deirdre had fled, and Doe mulled over those options as she passed by the tall sentiels and headed further down the coast, no longer really searching for any of Donnelaith's former inhabitants. She was not ready to go home, and her paws carried her along a path that soon became familiar to the vapid shewolf. The plateau she'd almost called home was just ahead, and upon it, there stood a rugged and handsome figure. The shewolf paused only a moment before moving forward once more, with a little more caution this time. She could smell no border markings apart from hers and Donnelaith's own, but that did not mean there were not other wolves around.

"Hail, stranger," she called as she drew near, coming within a stone's throw before she came to a halt, fire-singed nose twitching as she attempted to take in the other's scent. The smoke off her own pelt covered up most of what she might've gleaned.

Ignore my rambling lol