Sun Mote Copse A cornucopia of goods

Fish feast at the Falls of Hinterlands. One-rounder. I will archive it in three weeks. @Finley , Penn , @Elwood , Avery ,  @Eljay , @Towhee , Sugar Glider , @Niamh , Bronco , @Weejay , @Fennec , Maia , @Sundance , @Dorea and whoever are also are in the process of joining the pack.

An earthquake and a rockslide, which followed soon after, had changed the scenery in the area of the waterfalls. The riverbed had changed, a huge pool of water had accumulated. When the first freezing temperatures had hit the lands, it had frozen over and, when the cold had persisted, the river had got a nice cap of ice as well.

However, any land that lies in the vicinity of a large mass of water - be it a huge lake, sea or the ocean - can never expect the weather to remain stable. At some point influx of warmer air had graced the lands and begun to thaw the snow and the ice. Wraen had not paid particular attention to the weather change, until a week later, when it was still somewhat warm, she happened to track along the eastern water borders of Sun Mote Copse. 

The first dead fish she had come across had been a pleasant surprise and without thinking twice about it, she ate it whole. As she walked further, she noticed that, where the river bank met the margin of ice, there were more fish. This piqued her interest and, when she reached the place, where the rockslide had changed the scenery, her eyes grew wide. In the little pools that had formed, where the ice had thawed, there were numerous dead fish. 

Unbenownst to her - the sudden and lasting cold-spell had reduced the oxygen level in the water and fish had suffocated. What she knew was that there was yet another chance to feed her pack. She tipped her muzzle and called her family for a feast.

She hoped to single out each and every Firebird for a lesson, starting with her older brother, yet Towhee hadn't been able to pin him down yet. There was one other name near the top of her list, though, and she managed to track down Sugar Glider pretty easily. She found her little sister beneath that same evergreen, awake and staring off into space. That same sense of wrongness washed through the mercenary as she approached and cleared her throat, snapping Sugar out of it. Towhee tried to decide: did Sugar Glider need self-defense lessons more or less than everyone else in the pack? Whose blood?

Before they began, Towhee tried to make conversation. Sugar didn't seem particularly enthused about either talking or training, though she came along willingly enough when the Tradesman coaxed her out from beneath the tree. And when Towhee made a passing mention of, "...finding your Aunt Raven," the youngster perked up a little. Seeing the hook catch, the mercenary continued by recollecting her recent conversation with Wraen and the idea of sending Sugar to train with Raven in the spring.

Then they were squaring up for a spar when Towhee saw Sugar display the telltale markers of someone reacting to a noise. "It's Wraen. There's food," the youth translated when she saw Towhee's curious look. "I'm not hungry but you should go. She's calling from by the falls. Come find me when you're done." And before Towhee could attempt to strong-arm her little sister into coming along, Sugar slithered back under the evergreen.

Leave it... Towhee told herself as she swiveled and galloped toward the indicated neck of the woods. When she arrived, the sight of the fish littered all over the ground pushed any lingering concerns about her younger sister to the back of her mind. She blinked down at them, then up at Wraen, then back to the fish. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, she bent to snatch the nearest one, gulping it down quickly. It tasted a little funky but that didn't stop her from eating a second, a third, a fourth... soon, she lost count.

"...and I never saw that lynx again," Finley finished with a thoughtful smile while Penn looked on, bemused, "Which is probably a good thing as I don't fancy getting disembowled and forced to eat my own heart." The boy snorted appreciatively at that. He used to be inclined to doubt his mother's tales--some were simply so tall that only an idiot would believe it. The knowing smiles Elwood had shot him whenever he tried to question her had taught him that when it came to his mother, the idiots were the ones who didnt believe.

"So you're saying if I ever steal a kill from a lynx, I should find a patsy to take the fall for me?" Penn asked with a grin at the appalled look Fin shot him. "Absolutely not! I'm saying that stealing is wrong and you shouldn't do it," Fin answered, then paused before adding, "...that's fuckin' genius, though." They both laughed then.

Before they could begin to discuss just how to best set someone up in this particular scenario, Wraen's call distracted them. Penn glanced at his mother, not wanting to ask the obvious question--was Fin strong enough to come answer with him? Her call came from within the copse, but she didn't sound particularly close... Finley frowned, clearly thinking the same. But before Penn could tell her he'd go and let her know later what was up, she was setting off ahead with a familiar stubbornly determined look set upon her face. Knowing it was best not to mess with that, Penn followed in her wake.

The scene they came upon was unexpected, to say the least. Penn's mouth began to water as he looked at the feast piled upon the shore for them. Like Towhee, he wasn't one to question it. He wagged his tail happily and charged forward to nab a fish. Finley followed behind him, though more slowly. Her hip was howling from the trip across the territory. She did her best not to show it though as she greeted the others and picked out a few morsels for her own meal.

Wraen's call drew the Firebirds from far and wide, and Elwood wasn't surprised to see Finley limping onto the scene just as he arrived. Penn was a few paces ahead of his mother, and Towhee had been quick to respond, too; she was already bolting down fish like her life depended on it. Elwood's own stomach gave an appropriately-timed gurgle, but before tucking in, he padded to Finley's side and took the last few steps with her.

They had been lucky as of late to have these feasts bestowed upon them, and he hoped that it meant their luck was turning. He chuffed a thank you to Wraen, for alerting the pack to the smorgasbord of fish, and then he gulped down a few in rapid succession.

In the past months Eljay had lost a lot of weight. When the call came he was eager to come into motion, hoping that it was food. He did not worry particularly for himself, but he worried a lot for @Weejay, who was still growing and she needed the food that she could get. Eljay searched for his daughter until he found her and only then would he come to the fish feast with Weejay in tow, finally able to enjoy the feast that was presented to them and grateful for the sustenance, wherever it'd come from.

Puzzled by her father's insistence to follow him, Weejay did so -- but not without some lagging. She was so tired all the time, so sleepy -- and lately, had been grumpy too.

This was new for Weejay, and, known to many, a side-effect of being perpetually hungry.

What she came upon, however, caused her to root in her tracks. Fish, on land. Not just like fish pulled from the banks, but fish on stone like flowers on a field. The where what why hows she would normally ask (and the polite greetings she'd have given to all present, Wraen, Penn, and Towhee) were formally done away with. Without even a curtsy, Weejay dove frantically for the nearest fish and gobbled it down.

Fish had never been one of his favorites—but he wouldn’t deny the call of Wraen, his newest leader, nor would he deny the sustenance she informed them of. Others had gathered—a suspicious amount of silver wolves that indicated to the golden Ostrega that many of the Firebirds were related, allowing him to feel that much more an outsider.

Casting a glance in the direction of Towhee, Pippin didn’t bother to call out to her—it would have been pointless. Instead, with a nod to any who looked to him, the newer member of their ranks delved into the fish, eager to satiate his hunger despite the crinkle of his nose in distaste.