11-13-2008, 02:47 PM
Dampwoods. Foredated to the 29th.
The snow had been falling throughout the night and when the woman had woken she'd found that the eldest of her childen hadn't made it through the bitter weather. She'd known that he was ill and she's suspected that he'd only been slowly suffering since the day he'd been born from the extreme temperatures he'd been born into. He'd joined his younger brother in death while Iskata and his last sibling had slept by the fire in the cottage. Iskata had grieved for the babe, leaving Zana with Magdalena to watch after her as she went out into the snow to lay Alek to rest where she'd buried Anaz.
After she'd set up the marker next to his brother's gravesite the woman had began her journey back to the cottage. The lowing of the cattle had caught her attention as she noticed that they were rather restless and staying rather closely packed together. The Matriarch had shifted down to her wolfen form after buring the child and made the decision to check on the herd before returning to her daughters. Squeezing under the fenceboard she made her rounds along the large field the herd was stationed in, their scents mingled with fear as she tried to figure out what had been going on.
When the winds changed she finally caught what she was looking for as she reached the far pastures of the farmstead. The musky scent of bear was on the wind and she could see in the snow where the creature had been roaming along the fenceline. She snarled at the thought of a bear loose at this time when they normally were nested away for the winter. The scent of blood was in the air as she ran the fence, coming to the fallen body of a young calf, mauled but laid open with no flesh taken from the beast. She dropped her nose to the ground as she could tell the calf was freshly killed. Why the bear hasn't taken the calf was worrying the woman and instead of turning back to her family she left the corpse where it lay and followed the tracks of the larger preditor.
The snow was beginning to hide the steps of the bear but she quickened her pace as she moved further into the dampwoods to investigate. The footfall of the bear seemed to be off but Iskata couldn't place what it was that was catching at her mind as she moved down into a gully between two hills in the woodlands, the start path of a stream that ran down a ways before disappearing underground. Her paws carried her down the slope and into the area that widened into a small sheltered cove of sorts. Iskata realized a little too late that she didn't want to investigate any further as the strong scent of bear filled her muzzle, the grunting and huff of the ill creature in her ears as she began to back away from the clearing before the cave's mouth.
The snow had been falling throughout the night and when the woman had woken she'd found that the eldest of her childen hadn't made it through the bitter weather. She'd known that he was ill and she's suspected that he'd only been slowly suffering since the day he'd been born from the extreme temperatures he'd been born into. He'd joined his younger brother in death while Iskata and his last sibling had slept by the fire in the cottage. Iskata had grieved for the babe, leaving Zana with Magdalena to watch after her as she went out into the snow to lay Alek to rest where she'd buried Anaz.
After she'd set up the marker next to his brother's gravesite the woman had began her journey back to the cottage. The lowing of the cattle had caught her attention as she noticed that they were rather restless and staying rather closely packed together. The Matriarch had shifted down to her wolfen form after buring the child and made the decision to check on the herd before returning to her daughters. Squeezing under the fenceboard she made her rounds along the large field the herd was stationed in, their scents mingled with fear as she tried to figure out what had been going on.
When the winds changed she finally caught what she was looking for as she reached the far pastures of the farmstead. The musky scent of bear was on the wind and she could see in the snow where the creature had been roaming along the fenceline. She snarled at the thought of a bear loose at this time when they normally were nested away for the winter. The scent of blood was in the air as she ran the fence, coming to the fallen body of a young calf, mauled but laid open with no flesh taken from the beast. She dropped her nose to the ground as she could tell the calf was freshly killed. Why the bear hasn't taken the calf was worrying the woman and instead of turning back to her family she left the corpse where it lay and followed the tracks of the larger preditor.
The snow was beginning to hide the steps of the bear but she quickened her pace as she moved further into the dampwoods to investigate. The footfall of the bear seemed to be off but Iskata couldn't place what it was that was catching at her mind as she moved down into a gully between two hills in the woodlands, the start path of a stream that ran down a ways before disappearing underground. Her paws carried her down the slope and into the area that widened into a small sheltered cove of sorts. Iskata realized a little too late that she didn't want to investigate any further as the strong scent of bear filled her muzzle, the grunting and huff of the ill creature in her ears as she began to back away from the clearing before the cave's mouth.