Neela is in lupus
Neela padded slowly and carefully along, ears swivelling as best they could and head scanning from side to side as she walked, eyes, nose and ears all constantly looking for any signs of somebody approaching her. This was the first time since the attack that Neela had been able to force herself to leave the safety of Casa and she was extremely nervous and paranoid; the collie had been taking erratic paths and constantly scanning around her the entire trip up.
She didn’t want to be here but at the same time knew she needed to force herself out; she couldn’t stay cooped up in Casa for the rest of her life, jumping at ghosts and shadows until old age took her. There was another reason, the reason why she chose to go this far north. Rumours had filtered down to Neela's ears about the state of Casa and though the collie didn’t want to listen to them, is was becoming all to apparent how truthful they were as she started to approach Ichika's border, to be met with a distinct lack of scent.
Neela's ears and tail drooped as she caught sign of one of the border markers. When she had last been here the markers were clean and well maintained, draped with fresh flowers. Now the flowers were so long dead even the husks has vanished, the marker itself pitted and crumbled. The stone was devoid of any scent expect the stale odour marking the passing of a bear some time ago.
Half in shock at the confirmation of what she had heard Neela dropped down onto her stomach, pressing her nose against the rough surface of the stone as though by getting closer she could wring some last drop of Ichika's scent out of it. Ichika hadn’t been an ideal home for the collie, her time there had been fraught with self doubt, but it had been a home and had taken her in when she was at her worst, kept her sane when otherwise she would have sailed to her own death.
Sadly Neela raised her muzzle, letting a mournful howl ring through the air before she lowered her head again, returning her nose to its resting point on the stone and closing her eyes, thinking back on the people who had once roamed these lands.
Word Count :: +391
.Holder {width: 640px; margin:0px auto;}
.NeelaFor { background-image:url(http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/4457/neelaforest.jpg); background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:center bottom; border-radius: 15px; background-color:#ffffff; width:500px; margin:0px auto; text-align: left; padding:15px 0px 345px 0px; color:#; font-family:georgia, serif; font-size:12px; line-height:18px; }
.NeelaFor b {color:#f5000f; font-weight:bold; opacity: 1; }
.NeelaFor p { color:#008416; text-indent:40px; padding:5px 15px; margin:0px; }
.wc {color:#000000; letter-spacing:0px; text-align:center;font-style:italic; padding:0px 5px; margin:0px 0px 0px 15px;font-size:11px; }
.ooc {color:#000000; letter-spacing:0px; text-align:center; font-style: italic; padding:0px 0px 0px 15px; margin:0px 0px 0px 0px;font-size:11px; }
</style>
[/html]