Marbled opened her green eyes, light filtering into the den. She pushed Brecken off, and stood up. She was determined to do something useful today! As she made her way out of the den, she glanced back at her mate. With a sigh, and a shake of her noggin, she stepped out.

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Looking around, it seemed that her brother was out of camp already. Great. Was she late or something? She spotted Sorrel, and trotted over to her.

"Heeey, Sorrel, right? Do you want to go and hunt?"

I'm sure we both have things that we can learn from each other. She thought, her brownish tail wagging slowly.

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Marbled sat down to watch the Medic tell off the new wolf. She narrowed her eyes, unsure if she liked this new female or not.

Sorrel was laying on her side half asleep, she woke up quickly at the sound of heavy- trotting- pawsteps toward her. She rolled over with her ears wedged forward to see Marbled. Her tail wagged a little, steadying herself on her stomach with her paws. She sat up with her head tilted and aware.

She immediately started wagging her tail at the offer to hunt. She nodded excitedly and brought up a strong tone so Marbled would hear her over the tiredness in her soft voice. "I'd love to hunt, Marbled!" She remembered this she-wolfs name. Even if she didn't remember hers it was no reason to harbor feelings since they didn't usually talk. She stood up and sniffed the breeze.. snow and prey on the wind. She looked around, facing toward where the wind came from. "I smell deer this way, but I think it's gonna snow soon so we should start sooner rather than later." She looked back at Marbled, poised to start off right away, her eyes drifting off to where Marbled was looking. What was Kestrel up to? Was that the new female? Her ears laid back a little. She wasn't sure what happened but Kestrel's expression was never good like that.

She didn't really realize how apparent it was that she knew her directions very well and that this was quite useful. Her tail wagging. Her body was visibly smaller and less muscular than this hunter but thankfully not by much. Her messy dark grey- slightly brown tinted coat was catching all the right angles in the new sun to show all the colors she had.

Marbled nodded, and also lifted her nose to the air. Was that... snow? She wasn't sure if it was, or if it was rain. She looked over at the scout, her coat catching the sun's rays in the most beautiful ways. She stared for a minute, before blinking.

"Your coat is stunning." She said, her voice warm and welcoming.

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"Are you ready?" She asked, picking up a swift, powerful trot towards the way Sorrel had pointed out. Her ears were perked, and her tail was wagging happily. She couldn't wait to hunt deer! They were some of her favorites.

She paused at the edge of camp.

"Do you want to take lead?" She offered the small female, stepping back to allow her to. Once Sorrel started back up again, she fell into a trot, her head at the scout's shoulder.

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"So, how do you think the prey is going to be this winter?" She asked, ears moving to listen for anything around her. Her green eyes narrowed ahead, watching where she was trotting. She would hate to run into a tree, or trip on a rock. It would make her look foolish, and the Alpha's sister couldn't look foolish.

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Her head was held high as she trotted, her legs under herself as the shoulder blades poked through her pelt.

Sorrel was watching her figure out the smells and pause. Why was she staring? Her face kinda froze at the compliment. Nobody had told her that before. Her face said it all. She appreciated those words so much she wasn't sure the other female would understand. "..Thank you." her voice immediately going soft.

She shook her head to get her thoughts together. "I'm ready!" She said perkily. She sprinted at first- at least keeping a stride that looked like one until she'd caught up, evenly trotting at the she-wolf's hip, slowing down as she did. "Do you want tp take lead?" Her eyes lit up, a new excitement and confidence. "Sure! I'll lead you right to them." She started up slow so Marbled could keep upm then into a trot. Her shoulders squared in a proud way.

Her question was a good one. How would prey be? "I'm not sure, it's been really patchy lately.. I think this deer could be our window to a good winter though. Deer don't usually migrate alone." She didn't really take her eyes off the path in front of her. She was worming through the trees easily and sniffing occassionally. She was riding the wind for the location of prey. She heard nothing yet so they were still a ways away.

"Do you think the packs will do well this winter even if this prey turns out to be less promisng?" Her ears twitched, glancing at Marbled when she'd set a path that she could look away from. A weird pathing maneuver that she was unconsciously doing.

Her pace seemed effortless, one of the smoother trots where she really didn't bounce. She had to slow down a little with this because the evenness was being compensated for in speed. Usually she was alone and didn't have to. Even though she didn't need to, this she-wolf was perfectly capable of keeping up with her.

Marbled watched the females gait. It seemed so effortless.

Oh, how nice it must be to have a smooth gait. She thought, before looking back to the path. Unlike the scout, she hadn't memorized any trails. She went by the markers, not by path. If the marker was nearby, she would go a different way.

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Silently, she thought about how the winters were as a pup...

"I remember winters were harsh, but we were much larger back then. More hunters and scouts to find food, and the prey was... much better from what I remember." She said, green eye glancing at the brown she-wolf.

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As she looked over, she felt her paw hit something hard. Panic in her eyes, she saw the ground coming right at her... or she was going right for the ground. Her nose twitched as it neared the earth, taking in the scents of it.

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Faceplanting wasn't in her books, and she quickly got back up to her paws, ears back.

"The deer are close." She said, noticing scat nearby. She walked over to it, dirt still on her black nose. Bending her muzzle down to sniff it before her eyes zeroed onto a rabbit not too far away.

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Marbled looked over at Sorrel. Did she see it? She met the scout's eyes and then looked at the rabbit, back to Sorrels eyes. She hoped that she could understand what she meant. Marbled got to hunt all the time, and Sorrel was so excited about hunting, so she figured that the female would like the credit for getting a speedy rabbit.

Sorrel noticed how Marbled was moving, she appeared unacustomed to moving through the woods by no specific pathing. Sorrel went by memory. The smells, the sounds sometimes, sight. She had hardly any issue knowing the way back, having an acute sense almost for a compass, they were not far from the territory boundary to the West. She sniffed the air, taking a slight turn that took them further East.

Her ears twitched, one turned toward her as they moved. Winters are growing worse and worse. I hope these deer are coming to stay. Her eyes scanning the land around as she listened, then spoke. "The land is loosing what it has to give, with a smaller pack I think it will grow back." Her voice flowed easy. It was almost like she talked about it like a belief. Like this was god and she believed in the land. Which wasn't far off, her pup-like imagination was a strong factor in her function.

She slowed immediately to a stop, turning when she heard the familiar thud of a wolf hitting something it wasn't suppose to. "Are you alright?" Marbled kinda blew that off, but she didn't mind, seeing the scat along with the hunter who'd spotted it first. She frowned. I missed it? I need to get better at looking for animal sign. She immediately looked around on the ground, seeing faint prints. Those were probably from earlier in the morning, when it was dark.

She watched Marbled for a moment, then saw the look, the hunter look. The look when they see something they don't want to run away and kinda freeze in place. She glanced off to where she was looking, spying the rabbit quickly, then looked back at Marbled. They were a bit close.. Marbled seemed to be prompting her to go after it. So she would.

She turned around a bit slowly, crouching down. The rabbit could see them for sure. But Sorrel knew she was fast. Her ears laid back, she mumbled. "What if we scare the deer? They could be near here, chasing it could scare them off.." She glanced at Marbled, then kept her eyes on the rabbit. They couldn't sneak up on it this late after spotting it. It might as well have already bolted. She was gonna cover all the things she could remember. But deer was better than rabbit. And prey sure did love to run real fast. And scared deer never tasted right.

Veracious felt someone nip her pelt right as she was about to leave. She quickly spun around, snarling at another wolf from Eastern Pack. "Oh, a nosy wolfie huh? You're very lucky I didn't rip your face off the moment I felt you touch me. Your a bit too weak looking for me to do that though. I'm more interested in fair fights, but honestly, I would completely destroy you." She snorted as he told her about the importance of the elders, and she turned to the cowardly elder and the back to him. Meh, my old pack banished every wolf older than ten years old! Why doesn't this pack do the same? She turned her face to a blank expression before walking away to her normal spot without another word spoken from her. To make things clear, her old 'pack' wasn't a pack. It was a band of insanely cruel wolves. I need to stop being so grumpy today... I actually feel bad. No! Don't feel bad! You started it, Veracious! Don't feel bad about that! You can't feel bad!

Cuentista heard paws coming up to her and the rude wolf, and turned her gaze towards the sound- Kestrel! She immediately got happy when she saw the wolf, knowing he was a very smart wolf and he would defend her. Because he respected the elders, not rude wolves! She wagged her tail a bit when he nipped the wolf on the rump, and took her chance to slowly creep away in case the rude wolf charged back at her, but she stayed in case Kestrel needed help. Oh thank goodness! I thought she was gonna kill me! She made a sigh of relief and watched Kestrel deal with the rude wolf before he came over to check on her. "Y-yes. That rude wolf just hurt my leg a bit when she tripped on me." She reached the leg out that was hurting. "Thank you, Kestrel. I though that wolf was gonna kill me." She smiled at him with a very grateful look in her eyes.

"You're very lucky I didn't rip your face off the moment I felt you touch me." Kestrel was cursing the wolf out mentally in such words she might actually have gotten a curse. He wished so badly that he'd said something about her horribleness. We have pups in this pack for herbs'(lol) sake! At least more on the way. Killjoy will be hearing about you.

He leaned over so he could look at it better, touching it with a paw gently to see if it was broken. It didn't seem to be swelling.. but that could change quickly. "I wouldn't have let that stand." He said about the killing comment. "Killjoy wouldn't allow that treatment of you, neither will I." He examined her leg a little more. "We should get you to the medicine den. I'm sorry but I think your walk will need to wait." He said apologetically. He stood up, moving to the side of the hurt leg. "You can lean on me."

He seemed full of energy even though he wasn't really far off from being an elder himself. Luckily being a medic didn't have too much of an age limit since he didn't have to be intensely active like scouts and hunters are.

He braced himself for when she stood if she did lean lean on him. He was running through the herbs.. Calendula could be of help. His stock was getting low though.. He would have to look at what he had again. Even though he'd just organized it all.

Cuentista felt a bit upset when she heard she should wait on the walk, but knew Kestrel knows exactly what to do to help her leg. She slowly sat up, and smiled at Kestrel. "I can always go for a walk another day. I could always go out and gather herbs while it heals!" She said before gently leaning on Kestrel, trying not to put too much weight on him. "Thank you for the help, Kestrel. Also, I've never seen that female around before. Is she new or something?" Cuentista asked the Eastern Pack Medic.

Kestrel could feel her spirits dropping, but it was in her best interests right? He chuckled a little at her offer to help gather herbs. "You know that gathering herbs includes walking right? If you're leg is hurt you're not suppose to walk." He tilted his head, looking at the elder with a bit of amusement.

He was perfectly capacle of holding the elder up, maybe even carrying her. He didn't struggle with it but she seemed to be careful with him. He liked this sweet old wolf for a reason.. "Its fine," His ears twitched as they entered the den. "She was a loner. I haven't seen much of her, I think her name is ferocious or something of the sort."

He helped her to a nest, which was really a bed of moss, he let her lay down and moved off, gazing over the herbs for a moment before he chose Arnica. He picked it up and started chewing it so it would become a paste.