Starfire nodded before speeding his horse up to a canter. After a couple minutes, he came upon the large clearing. In the center was a small cottage and a large hole. The hole was usually filled with prey but it would all be gone due to coyotes and foxes by now. He slowed his horse down before stopping completely. The small brown cottage looked so out of place here but it was his temporary home.

Getting off his stallion, he tied him to the tree before going up to the house. Going inside, he immediately scanned the place before walking around. He noted that his brother's bag was gone as was several knives from the kitchen. The first aid kit was gone too. He was here recently. Starfire thought before going back outside. "He's been here recently but looks to be gone by now. For now, fan out and see what we can find, a clue of where he might be going."

Ayesha follows, clicking her tongue and leaning forward. Urging her steed into a canter behind Starfire. When they arrive in the clearing, Ayesha slows her horse down glancing around. Nice cottage. "Nice place." She says, before bringing the gelding to a complete halt. Swinging off the gelding, wondering if the horse knew of drop reins. Ayesha drops the reins on the ground, guess I'm about to find out. As Ayesha took a few steps away, the gelding stayed still. Nodding Ayesha follows Starfire up to the porch, but no further. When Starfire remerges, she bobs her head. "Alright. Meet back here in ten?"

Starfire nodded to Ash as she said, "Alright. Meet back here in ten?" He looked around before walking towards the hole, looking down before walking over to a small almost-invisible ladder to one side of a tree. Starting to climb, he almost groaned with the effort. It had been a while since he had tried getting in the tree using the ladder. He usually just flew up there in his eagle form. Can't do that with her here. He thought before pulling himself into the hidden treehouse.

Inside, there was a small beanbag with several books scattered everywhere. Normally, this would scream that something bad had happened. Starfire would just say that a Thunder Storm came through there. Which was his brother, disorganized as weeds. Shaking his head, Starfire started going through the clutter.

Ayesha sighs, wishing she had her tracking dog, Atlas. But sadly he died of cancer a few years back. As Ayesha sets off, she fondly remembers her favorite companion. A very loyal and very energetic German Shepard, it had been hard to watch as the cancer took control of him. Making him skinnier and less energetic, and near the finally minutes he just wanted to lay there and sleep. Ayesha had tried to get him treated, but in the end she decided it was best to put him to sleep.

Ayesha glances around,"So far nothing." She mutters under her breath. Remembering which direction she came from. Filing that away in her memory so she wouldn't get lost in the woods. She wished she had snagged a weapon from her pack she had left with the gelding. The forest was eerily quiet, and it made her nervous considering she use to love roaming the forest. But she also had Atlas with her during that time.

Starfire rifled through his brother's things before finding his favorite book open on the floor off to the side. Notes scattered around it, untouched by anything else. Studying it closer, he realized it was a map with notes. Picking it up, he remembered something Thunder had said, When I get to go out by myself, I'm going to Rock Crasher!

And now we know where he's going that idiot. Starfire groaned to himself. Rock Crasher was where the shifter games took place...and it was overrun by hunters at the moment. There was however, tunnels that led underneath that could be used to get to a small hidden cave underneath the mountain. Hunters would get lost and die, so they stayed away from it. All shifters had the map buried in their minds so that they wouldn't get lost. Sighing, Starfire tucked the map away before heading down the ladder again to find Ash.

Suddenly Ayesha stopped, before taking a few steps backward. There, just barely were a few footprints. Headed...Ayesha lifts her head glancing at the sun. "He's headed North." She mutters to herself before she turns around and walks back. She had something, hopefully it was useful enough. But if it wasn't well...Perhaps Starfire had found something. Who knows? Perhaps those tracks weren't even Starfire's brother's. Maybe someone else had made them. But Ayesha was going on a hunch.

Starfire walked across the clearing to the house. Packing food, water and another pair of clothes, he put some jerky in his bag as well as a couple matches. Putting his pack back on his back, he walked back out with the map out. He had cleared away the notes that had shifters except for a book in his pack. He wanted to study the traditions better so that he could properly bury his mother. Looking through the map, he looked north before getting out his compass. The path would go north and then go east for a mile or two before turning back to northwest. Now, he had to wait for Ayesha to come back.

Emerging from the forest, Ayesha saw first that her gelding was still standing still. That was useful, the gelding having been trained to do drop reins. Then she saw Starfire looking at a map. She joins him,"I found some tracks, faint, perhaps a day old. Headed North." She sighs,"We could probably track your brother better if I had my tracker dog." Atlas' nose was powerful, and he was the best tracker of the whole little dog pack they had.

Starfire turned to look at Ash, "I know where he's going. He would be on foot which would give us the advantage but he has a day headstart." Not to mention, he can turn into an eagle and fly there. Starfire thought to himself before looking back at Ash, "The games I was talking about, the place up there is where he is going. It has been overrun lately with wild hellhounds. Hence, why I was in a fight with some of those dogs. They can be very dangerous, especially in a pack like that." Truth, half-truth, truth, half-truth. Technically I'm telling the truth. He thought as he said this before getting onto his horse. "Now the question is how to get there..." Starfire muttered to himself, staring at the map.

Ayesha turns to walk over to her gelding. Her eyes narrowing slightly at his story, as she picks the reins up. Ayesha nods, though finally she was done with secrets. "Hellhounds?" She swings up on her gelding, reminding herself to name him later. Ayesha steers the gelding towards Starfire. "Look, I hate to push. But I would love to know what I am getting into." She rests the reins on the geldings neck, as she looks at the sky before back at Starfire.

"For one you were being attacked by a dog like creature that was way to big to be a wolf, dog, or wolfdog. You healed really quick for a human. You are not human." Ayesha tips her head,"I've heard legends, legends of beasts that are larger then normal. Some hybrids, some not. But they are half human, half animal. They have a human form and an animal form. They are hidden, sometimes even among the humans themselves." Ayesha narrows her eyes.

"You're a shifter, aren't you?"