Heron Lake Plateau most of the world is not

she was tired of poor attitudes and dramatics. so she decided to treat herself with an extend tracking trip. which was well within her rights, a condition she had made clear at the beginning of her stay with hildibrandr. so heaven help her if she returned home to more poor attitudes — or drama.

as it stood now, she found peace among the plateau.

although she had lost the trail she had been following, she could not deny the simple pleasure of being allowed to just exist.

however she had not accounted for the thin patch of ice she was on and the way it cracked beneath her suddenly. an icy splash of murky water up her underside induced a brief yelp.

Tybault?

Opheeeeliaaa!

Their names only ever returned as an echo of his own voice, and he hoped his brother was having more luck. But besides call for them, what else could he do? They’d lost their only trail - and they needed Tybault’s to know where their sister had gone. Without Tybault, they had no luck of finding Ophelia.

Well, they did have Everett’s vision.

But that was dubious, at best.

It’d been a while now since he’d called for his siblings, and the sun almost piqued mid sky. About time his brother would be rounding back to the meeting place.

Evander broke through a tangle of shrubs, and called out one last time.

Opheli-HEY! he broke into a run when he heard the great splash, and saw the shadow fall! A wolf! What - where had the ground gone?! You alright mi-ACK!! The same dirty water splashed his belly with a freezing shock as he, too, plunged through the ice.

she had no time to process as a voice suddenly joined in on her embarrassing chorus of surprise. she had no clue if that softened the blow or made it worse. maybe a mixture of the two as she clambered onto...not dry land, but something a bit more solid than the cold muck.

you gonna make it out?

she shook free and out from her came an ice shower of nastiness. quickly pale eyes scanned for a body, wondering if it'd come back up too.

He sank in deep, nearly over his head, before his paws kicked the mushy underground in his panicked attempt to dog-paddle up. Between his wild splashes he heard the other call out to him.

The splutter of a breath, what the heck just happened? and he grabbed for footing on the nearest piece of land -

- only for that, too, to give way underpaw to leave him flailing again, albeit on shallower ground.

What the heck is this stuff?! Why does the ground keep - ACK! he placed a paw and the surface snapped again, WHY DOES IT KEEP BREAKING?!

Forgive Evander, he had never experienced winter before hahaha xD