Barrow Fields a long way to go and a short time to get there

Please allow @Koi, @Currituck, and @Lucas to post first.

Again with the fields. Moorhen still didn't like this place, but she figured following along the mountain rage was a good way not to get lost. She wasn't worried, per se, about losing her own way - but she wanted the kids to have a good landmark to go by, should they somehow get separated.

"If you are lost, keep the mountains on your left shoulder until you smell the sea," she instructed as they walked, pointing to the mountains that were just now coming level with on their right side. From there, she hoped they would be able to spot the ocean, and then the island. She'd already pointed out the Totoka river to them, and the sandbar just beside it - but she was always going to worry. Losing Koi on this trip was her greatest fear.

They soon passed the bare bones of the moose carcass she'd come across last time she'd passed this direction. Moorhen pointed out the velvety antlers, thinking the kids might get a kick out of this. They were about due for a short break, so she released them from her earlier command to follow and took up a post near Szymon to keep watch.

Koi’s spirits had dipped considerably once her parents — their mismatched silhouettes forming one united figurehead that stood proudly at the drawbridge of Wheeling Gull Isle — disappeared from view. She trotted obediently at Moorhen’s heels, and when the caravan halted and the guppies were set free, she froze in her tracks. A little tentatively, she looked to Currituck and Lucas for social cues, feeling totally out of her element. A few quailing steps were taken toward Moorhen, but Koi abandoned that tack once she realized her protector was going to stand beside the colorless male. “Look,” she suggested tentatively to her peers, one forelimb tucked against the slope of her chest as she “pointed” at the moose carcass. “We…together?”

At Moorhen's instruction, Lucas drew his head up to stare at the colossal peaks framing the sky in the distance. He'd been too little to really marvel at them when he came through here with the troupe, and his attention span had been limited to ceaselessly asking them questions and trying to learn their tricks. Now, it seemed impossible that anyone should get lost with such a massive and easily visible landmark to help guide their way, and he felt sure he would never lose his way again.

Moorhen dismissed them and Lucas wasted no time in turning to his similarly aged peers for ideas on how to spend their time. He didn't want to admit it and tried to give no outward indication of it, but he would have preferred to be with just Currituck and Koi on this journey, though he understood and even agreed with an adult presence. Szymon just plain creeped him out, while Moorhen made him feel curiously like she could see right through to the less likable parts of him. Neither of them inspired his company much, which was a painful thing for Lucas to feel. The feelings reminded him a little of someone from Bearclaw Valley, but he hadn't really met the guy, so he didn't remember him well enough to make a proper comparison.

His eyes landed on the fuzzy antler in the same instant Koi indicated it and tentatively spoke. Shooting both Currituck and her a mischievous side eye, Lucas suddenly shooted, last one there's a rotten egg! and lurched off toward the moose carcass, though it would be a wonder if he wasn't quickly overtaken by the slighter and likely faster juveniles.

When the trio seemed unlikely to wander far past the carcass of the moose, Moorhen let out a tiny sigh and laid down. She resisted the urge to set her head on her paws, not quite trusting herself not to nod off if she did, and continued to watch from a distance.

Anyone else can feel free to hop in at this point.

Since Koi is PPC now and Mica wanted Curri powerplayed for these, I'll fade this one here so we can focus on more recent ones!

As expected, both Currituck and Koi sped past him and reached the antler first. Bummer. Luc didn't want to be the rotten egg, but he laughed good-naturedly as they taunted him for losing his own little contest. Currituck was quick to latch onto the antler, followed by the playful but more hesitant Koi. Lucas held back for a little while, watching merrily, before he dove in to take a third tine and wrestled with both of the slighter wolves. He wasn't strong enough to overpower both of them, but he did give them a run for his money before they all grew tired and piled around a dozing Moorhen to get some rest.