Fore dated to the 17th, after From these Shores I Sail.
Word Count → 597
Neela gave a satisfied grin as she manoeuvred the Meria Lea out of the river mouth and into the open sea, the ship catapulting out into the waves with the speed it had built up by travelling along the river flow. Neela let the ship travel blindly for a few moments, simply standing back and enjoying the salty air coupled with the spray of sea water on her face, before she corrected her course, heading towards her destination.
Surprisingly this wasn't a north-eastern path as Neela would normally take to loop around the blighted territories that lay to the east. Instead Neela sailed directly north to leave the bay before turning west, skimming along the coast. Neela had heard about the new pack that had settled to the west of then through rumours and passing conversation and she wished to have a look at the new pack, if for no reason other than go get their scent fixed in her mind.
Sailing close enough to the shore that she could catch the packs scent line along the beach was dangerous and difficult, but within Neela's abilities and she was some skimming along the coast, nose stuck out to the side and enjoying the felling of the boat beneath her.
It didn’t take long for the swift boat to cross the short distance between the two packs and all too soon her nose caught a whiff of a unfamiliar scent, strong and built of many wolves; the border. Somewhat unhappily Neela steered to boat to ground just outside the border. Neela swiftly made her way up the ship as it approached the shore grabbing two hooks attached to thick ropes and jumping off, timing her leap so that she missed the worst of the impact with the sand. Running quickly Neela made her way to two tree's that edged the beach and fastened the hooks to them before sprinting back to the ship, jumping up to tighten and lock the ropes taunt.
It wasn't perfect, but it should hold for the short time that Neela planned to be here so the collie turned away from the ship and to the border. Neela was an absolute mess, her fur matted and damp from the sea spray and her arm stinging where the salty water had soaked through her bandage but she honestly couldn’t care; that quick trip out into the sea had brought the listless collie back to life and it was with a greatly improved mood from the last few days that Neela strode up to the border.
As she approached a twinge of pain shot through her arms and she worriedly bent her head to check, but the wound didn't seem to be much worse than it was earlier. Her movements had opened the wound back up and it was visibly bleeding, the white bandages stained red in a line along the wound's location, but it wasn't bleeding any faster than earlier.
Approaching the border Neela took a deep noseful of the scents making up the scent line, staying a few metres away from the border itself as a precautionary measure. The scents were unfamiliar, as to be expected from a new pack, but deep within the myriad scents there was a faint hint of Ichika, evidently an Ichikan had left for this new pack; it seemed they had made it safely.
Giving a curious hum Neela began to follow the border inland at a leisurely pace, walking slowly up the beach to enjoy the feeling of sand beneath her toes that little bit longer.
