Shadewood but you wear blood well for one so gentle

forward-dated for sometime early next week to give him time to get from the northeastern coast to here. for @Ketzia.

it is within the shadowed shelter of the woodland with towering oaks and elms that unatak heads towards as the snowfall grows heavier. the heavy powdered snow shifts beneath each step he takes until it thins and tapers into the crunch of faintly dusted bracken beneath. a glimpse towards the canopy of the woodland tells the razorback that it collects most of the snow upon thick limbs and spindly branches and for this he is grateful.

he gives his coat a good shake to dispel the snowfall that has collected on the coarse hairs of his winter coat before trudging deeper into the forest. it's not as exactly inland as he was hoping to remain; ever kindling distaste for the sticky saltwind of the coast remains faint in the air here ( though his fur could easily be saturated with it for all he knows ). it would do, he decides with little other choice.

Tags only for reference.

So far from home, her heart seemed to whisper, and yet the sylph’s mind was firm upon its resolve to place a distance from the mountains. It still could not stop the stray gaze of glinting emerald as she continued onward—but Ketzia was no stranger at having to begin life anew, and it was with purpose that she strode now, honeyed form drifting toward the protection of trees from the storm.

She gave pause, sharp gaze now rounding to briefly study the wooded lands before her. She had always been fond of forests—and now that she sought to lay claim for her own, she surmised the terrain she now stood upon was just as good as any to truly inspect, now that she had surpassed many of the more open meadows at the mountain’s foothills.

@Trench, @River and Argent were never far behind, though her trio of now-grown children maintained a certain distance from her. The mother bear tried not to take particular insult to the quiet offered from her offspring. After all, she had taken them from the only wolves they knew—and not just from the memories of their stalwart father, but of the General, who had more than once stood in place as a father-figure.

Pale ivory dappled with snow, Ketzia’s exotic muzzle swung lower to the grounds, her senses keener as she realized another was not far—and only then did her eyes play upon the flash of coal fur—as if either of the previous men in her thoughts were haunting her here as well.

the razorback's steps slow as he come across a couple of criss-crossing scents: those of small woodland creatures. a far cry from the aggressive wildboars he was used to hunting with the chaotic and vying personalities of those who called the plains their home. safer as far as hunting goes, he admits to himself with a small, near inaudible snort. at least failure hunting one of those did not mean certain death by gutting of sharpened husk. an incident far more common that made unatak, in moments where loyalty to the chaotic pack with its unstable leadership became a two-way mirror to see the insidious roots of what lay beneath, wonder why it was even worth it. given the distance he's put between himself and razorback plains the clarity did not fade back to a mirror as it always had prior.

thoughts dispel at the sound of dried leaves whispering across the woodland floor, the crunch of those that have not entirely decomposed under foot lighter than his own. jackolantern aglow gaze falls in the direction of the other; a woman of pale fur that would easily camouflage her in the thick of snows with a gaze of cut emeralds. pretty; in a way that is almost exotic he settles upon of first impression.

❝ma'am.❞ unatak greets her with a dip of his head as a cowboy of olden might tip his hat in greeting.