Otatso Wetlands azure

It was strange to range so far from the rise, but Redd would hunt as she traveled.  She would not be gone more than a few days at a time.

The following spring dwelt in her mind, driving her to distraction in a way she hadn’t anticipated.  New Snow would bring new life, and Lilia presumably as well.  This left she and Relic without a place in the future of things in a way that soured within.  It wasn’t that she resented their futures; she only resented her shortcomings.

To find someone in the spring would be too late.  Both New Snow and Lilia brought stable matches to the rise in the same way Wealda had held Prophet aloft.  If her match did not loyally strengthen them then it could not be given merit.

This was not something a single trip would uncover, but in remaining home she would find nothing.

He’d been unable to take it anymore.

The eyes, gentle upon him. The words. Aquillius had needed to get away. Doedapple had extracted a promise from him to “come back in one stupid piece”. He’d agreed just to get out of there before he started chewing his own ears off at the platitudes.

So he left. Traveling until his legs burned with exertion, until his ribs ached. But it felt good, getting out, running, hunting just for himself instead of trying to fulfill a debt that wasn’t his to take on. Aquillius hadn’t ever truly explored alone before. He’d always had some destination in mind.

Now, he just wanted to go where the wind pulled him for a day or two.

Which was here, knee deep in the wetlands. Like an alligator, smoothly gliding through the dark with his single gleaming eye to mark him. He pulled himself onto land, after a moment, ignoring the drips off his coat in favor of eyeing the water, searching for the flash of scales.

She didn’t notice the creature in the water at first.  Redd had paused and sniffed it cautiously, testing before taking a drink.  It was brackish but safe and better than nothing.  It would be hard to find truly clear water in these wetlands.

The movement was what caught her eye first.  Redd tensed rigid and stared, watching the ripples as she worked out what the threat might be.  Or whether it was something worth hunting herself.

When it came into view it revealed itself as another wolf.  The very thing she had been looking for, but without going the further step of sorting out what she might do once she found one.  So she stood and she stared a while longer, tracking it’s progress warily as it climbed onto land.

If there was one thing Aquillius solidly was not, it was any sort of fisherman. He’d tried, among Sweetharbor’s number, to figure it out, but a lack of depth perception didn’t lend well to catching the slippery creatures.

He could at least still catch those on land. But in the murky water of the wetland, he was just as lost as he’d ever been. The dark coated boy shook out his coat, knowing he’d have to wet it again soon, but forgoing it in favor of huffing sharply at the water like it had wronged him. But, in the action of pulling his head back, he caught it.

A flash of a red coat. He raised his head, twisting it to look for the splotch of color among the trees, and eventually finding it in another wolf. Awkwardly, he stared at them for a moment, unsure of if he should call out, or just leave without saying anything.

In the end, he settled for a sharp acknowledging nod.

It wasn’t polite to stare but Redd did so anyway, watching silently to see what (if anything) he would catch.  She did not wish to interrupt his hunt and a part of her was curious.  She had met none outside her own pack thus far and did not bother to introduce herself.

At length she would allow her curiosity to draw her closer, though her focus would change to finding a place of her own to hunt fish.  She knew that deeper in the more dwelt larger ones, settled into the muck of the bank, so she would slide from the dry land and into the water herself slowly, hoping to tease one out that she could snatch up.

All the time aware of his presence acutely.

The other wolf was a woman, around his age, pretty.

Aquillius felt his throat click when he swallowed, but only used his ear to follow her from his blind side. His eye sought her out when she came into range, before it returned to the flash of scales beneath the murk.

He could even see the roll of larger fish further from the shore, but he had to catch something smaller first, just to prove that he could, before he thought to wrestle with a large fish.

He eventually put his front legs in the water, appearing like an odd stork with the water lapping at his ankles, entirely focused on the scales.

She allowed him to fade to the background as her new focus took over.  She’d come out with the intention to meet just this sort of wolf but it turned out the practice was harder than the plan.  A hunt was straightforward.

She could see what came after.

Redd focused on the mud of the riverbed and remained still, only occasionally shifting her paws ever so slightly in the muck.  There were fish that dwelt in the thick beds… she just needed to find one.  Patience wasn’t something she struggled with.

After a lengthy span of time spent staring, the hunter was rewarded with a shift of mud in the mud near her.  The fish thought her paw was a meal and sought to swallow it, but instead she lunged to catch it as it slid into reach.

It was a heavy catfish and didn’t go quietly.  She tried to wrestle it to the bank without too much upset but it nearly thrashed free a couple of times.  She was suddenly, again, intensely aware that she wasn’t alone hunting here.  Hopefully she hadn’t ruined his chances and he’d already made his catch while she was distracted here.