Waking Up

A distant whimper reached Amaretto's ears as she stirred. Her head was swimming and her vision hazy, and she was forced to lay still for several long seconds as the world seemed to shift under her. She blinked away the haze and an unfamiliar world swam into focus and brought with it the realization that the whimper she'd heard had come from her own lips. Blankly she stared up at the flowering tree, its pink buds and vibrant green leaves swaying merrily on a gentle breeze. Slowly she sat up and began to look around. A sharp and sudden pain in her tail very nearly brought a gasp to her lips and forced her to lurch forward onto her paws to relieve the pressure. Amaretto looked down her and was shocked to see her tail hanging at an angle. Not only that, but further inspection brought to light crimson spots.

Alarmed now, Amaretto took a quick catalog of her injuries. By the time she was done with the tally she was beginning to grow numb. She had bites and scratches from her scruff to her tail. Her tail was broken - there was no doubt about it - and the skin above the break was peeled back as though someone or something had grabbed it and tried to pull her backwards. Amaretto didn't know what to make of any of it. Had she been attacked? Why didn't she remember what happened?

Forcing herself to take deep calming breaths, Amaretto tried to form a rational game plan. She didn't know what had happened so she needed to find someone who did or some place safe to hide out until she could piece together what was happening.

She began to walk, to retrace the steps that had brought her to the water's edge. It was clear that she had followed the fast moving and muddy stream for some distance and though she was out of sorts and in pain, it took Amaretto all of a minute to find her own tracks in the tall grass. She followed her tracks, her gaze darting between the river, the uneven and rocky ground, and her surroundings lest her attacker (attackers?) return.

Absently she noted that the stream was a temporary thing. Through its muddy water she could see glimpses of a bottom covered in long, yellowing grass - a sure sign that water hadn't been flowing there for long. Sure, the ground the water rolled over seemed made for its passage, but the growth along the stream's shallow banks made it quite clear that quite a bit of time had passed since last the water had flowed down it.

She noted her paw prints at the water's edge. Noted how her nails and toes had stabbed down into the mud while her pads had sunk in shallowly and at an angle. And she noted that this meant she had been running. Mixed among her own tracks were the tracks of another wolf. A lone wolf, probably bigger than her if his or her longer stride was an indicator.

Amaretto paused beside a great swath of muddy, torn up ground at the stream's edge. She noted the many gouges in the soft earth and how their edges were soft and rounded as though time had passed. She noted the flecks and small pools of blood throughout. This was where she'd fought her attacker.

...Why did she know that? Why did she know any of that? Amaretto was baffled by this torrent of (seemingly, largely) useless information.

She was overwhelmed and felt sick to her stomach. It was just too much! Amaretto was exhausted. She'd woken up in a strange place with numerous injuries and no memories of how she'd gotten there or what had happened to her. She'd-

"Lament!" The name was said breathlessly as the scent registered. Immediately Amaretto abandoned the path she'd been on in favor of following the scent. Not far from where she'd fought her attacker she found tracks that belonged to her...? The relation was on the tip of her tongue. He was important; that much she knew. A terrible thought struck her and she panicked briefly, running from the place he'd trod to the site of the skirmish in search of shared tracks. There were none. It hadn't been him.

Relieved by this information, Amaretto collapsed at the water's edge. She was so tired and the knowledge that Lament hadn't attacked her was a bit of good news she'd desperately needed. But she couldn't rest here, could she? The area around the stream was wide open and offered few hiding places. If she was still in danger she needed to get out of the open and if Lament was ally she needed to find him. Even though she wanted to, Amaretto knew she couldn't stay by the water.

Slowly she got her paws, feeling every ache and pain in her body as she did so, and turned to face  the last place Lament had been. Now was not the time to curl up and cry. It would do her no good to lay there and feel sorry for herself. No, she needed answers. She needed shelter. She needed aid. None of that she would get by the stream.

It was time to go.