Porcupine Ridge luxuriant adonis is dying

erzulie fled the ridge of ravens.
whatever occurred, she had extricated herself from it. her body continued to simmer with heat despite the falling snow.
she looked back toward the coastline; she needed to go back. for rosalyn. for mireille. but the obsidian was exhausted, tangled and strained by her cycle.
she burrowed into a drift below a pine tree, seeking coolness and a short slumber.

The fair maiden had suffered along the shoulders of the mountain range for long enough. Like an endless wall, they stretched toward the West, to where she knew the earth would end and the sea would begin. There it was, she hoped, she should be reunited once again with her love. 

She realized though, that she was not made for rocky terrain when she had had enough of travelling along the foothills, growing impatient with the jagged mountains that offered no clear passage. When she thought she'd found a way to pass through with relative ease, she found herself swiftly corrected, and too exhausted from her climb to safely make her way back down. 

Disheartened and hopeless, she traipsed as carefully as she could along the ridge, seeking somewhere to find shelter, doing her best not to dwell on her failure. Had she made the wrong decision? Oh, why couldn't she have just been patient, and continued to the coastline where the salty seas dissolved the mountains into sand? 

Regardless, she'd have to rest for the night and had begun to poke around a copse of trees when the winds changed, and brought to her the scent of another. Musky, strong and feminine- in such a remote place, perhaps she had come to weather her cycle in a place less likely to draw her attention from suitors. Thresher might have left the other well alone had she not caught the distinguishing scent of salt mixed in heavily with her scent. Almost as much as she smelled of hormones, she smelled of home. Hoping perhaps that she might have some form of fortune smiling upon her that might rekindle a long-lost friendship, she began to follow the scent until she saw the tawny haunches of a wolf, busy digging what looked like a burrow near a tree. 

Thresher's breath caught in her throat; digging so close to a tree on the mountainside could be treacherous. Tree-wells could swallow a wolf whole in an instant. "Hey! Do be careful!" She called out urgently.

erzulie whirled, tail tucking as an ominous growl started. it stuttered to death in her throat, replaced by the same ache of envy she had experienced upon hollis joining them briefly. the stranger was beautiful, pristine in her loveliness and with an expression of worry on her exquisite face.
"better de snow den a man," the obsidian rejoined, her tones dry. she wondered why the woman had stopped at all. they were rivals of a kind, she supposed. though maybe she had not come to find anyone, and this wanderer did not feel the same way.
erzulie looked around, then gestured the other closer with a wave of her tail. she resumed digging. "join me for de night, if you be wantin'."

Immediately, she deferred to the other without question when she whirled like a toreador spinning on their heel. Her tufted ears flattened and her doleful gaze widened, as though she feared she might be reprimanded more severely. She didn't unfold from her crouch until Erzulie made it clear she'd been forgiven. Her cheeks flushed; given her comment, she wondered if the female had indeed sequestered herself in the mountains to avoid males. She pitied her, if that was the case- and felt compelled to extend her companionship and comfort...Protection, as well, if it was necessary. 

She swallowed hard, and her frightened brown gaze fell to the hole dug near the tree's base. More out of concern than obligation or will she timidly approached, her bushy tail wriggling even though it was held low. Her tufted ears flicked forward and back with each step as though to express the war she felt within herself. 

She tread carefully, lightly as she approached the tree, stepping out tontest the snow with her forepaw before settling her weight into it. She peered into the hole and was relieved to see that the snow was not so deep that it might prove dangerous. She sighed in relief, and bowed her head apologetically. 

"I am sorry. I have been warned not to go too close to trees in the mountain- especially softwoods." She explained. "I did not want you to fall into a tree well."

a tree well? erzulie glanced down into the den and then back toward the stranger. "i be from de coas'line. perhaps dere is more to be learned here den i recalled." because the other had not indicated a stranger, the absence of this well, the seawife sank down gratefully into the fruits of her labour, settling against the other she-wolf.
"i be erzulie of sapphique," she told her compatriot. the two-toned gaze again traveled with curiosity across the face opposite her own. she was not in season, but still, men would be aggressive. bone-toothed and roving. it was good that they had found one another.
erzulie thought of the seacliffs and rosalyn, of her children there. she wondered if this heat would pass and be unabated by a man. the concept of this did not worry her or bring sorrow; if it was not meant to be, then it would not. 
even at its peak her body felt less sure of it this year. thankfully she knew it would only be a handful of days, and if she kept close to the mountains and in the shadows of long stones, she might be able to recoup the loss from her stupidity.
the woman tucked a paw under her chest and gazed out into the night.

Thresher's features warmed. They shared a love for the sea, and even if Erzulie might not have known that fact about Thresher, she treasured their secret little similarity as she drew closer to join her in her bunk. The snow wasn't as deep as she'd thought- they would be safe here. 

There was something distant about Erzulie-s gaze that made Thresher wonder what she'd been going through. Here she was, hiding in the mountains to avoid men. And Thresher, hoping she could find hers once the mountains yielded. The thought of it made her sigh heavily, and set her head on her forepaws.

she too was resting, though brought her head up upon hearing the younger woman. "i do not know if it be your time. but keep safe. keep close to de mountain. dey will leave you alone."
she arched a brow and smiled, though it was a cooler look. "i do not suppose you have seen a half-grown child wit a brilliant red pelt?" she asked, expecting the answer but wishing all the same it would not be so. it was hy she had come so far, after all; caught out here by nature and the wants of men when she should have been focused upon locating mireille.