Just outside Anathema borders, midnight.
Word Count → 515
Neela struggled forwards, her posture bent in an attempt to protect herself against the raging winds and hail that assailed her from all sides. The harsh weather and exhaustion generated by travelling in such conditions was doing a fine job or producing an unhealthy chill that penetrated even Neela's thick, warm fur, and she wasn't sure how much longer she could keep moving.
This night had started off bad and had only gotten worse. Sometime in the last few days Neela had gotten turned around and lost in the unfamiliar territory outside of her new home. Travelling for roughly twice as long as it should have taken her to get back to Ichika no Hoen had led her nowhere, and at this point her having been going in circles was one of the best case scenarios for her.
Neela had lost hope of actually making it back to Ichika any time soon when the light had taken an abrupt turn towards pitch black, and the growing hailstorm had only solidified that pessimistic expectation. Now her only goal was finding shelter enough to survive the night, and even that was seeming unlikely.
Grynn had been forced out of the sky long ago, and was now clutched protectively in Neela's arms and pressed deep into her chest fur-collar, the collie doing all the could to keep the bird warm; Grynn was much less well equipped for conditions like this than Neela.
Braving the act of raising her head for a moment Neela checked her distance to her current destination, a distant mountain range which she could just see silhouetted by the moon. Mountains meant caves and shelter, but also meant a way to find her way back to Ichika's own mountainous territory.
Just when Neela began to hope that she might actually survive this night, despair flooded through her as an unfamiliar scent flooded strongly into her nostrils, a pack scent boundary.
Neela had little to no knowledge of the local packs beyond Ichika no Hoen, which was not a good position to be in. She had no idea how this pack would react to somebody trespassing on their land, even in conditions such as this, or even if it would be safe to call a member of the pack for assistance. It also meant that she had no way of using the pack's presence to find her own way home.
With the pack boundaries cutting off her previous hope Neela tried to think of a way out. If she changed into Secui form Neela could likely survive the night herself, if only just, but doing so would mean abandoning Grynn, and even with Neela doing everything she could to keep her warm the little bird was in a bad way.
Neela's mind came up blank and with a wail of despair she slumped against a nearby tree, huddling in on herself to try and make the most of the insufficient shelter provided by its canopy, trying to ignore the stinging impact of hailstones as they seemingly went straight through the canopy to thud into her body.
