Shilah scrambled up the rocky trail, pausing long enough to pear down the drop to his right. Yikes… they were definitely up high enough. He turned around to see how Lynvarr was doing before he continued on. He pressed his left side up against the rocky surface of the mountain. Truth be told he was more of a plains sort of wolf. Mountains were not his forté. Clouds were starting to gather on the horizon and Shilah wondered if they shouldn't start turning back.

He paused as he noticed the path was taking a sharp turn to left. He quickly pulled out his map and charcoal pencil, sketching in the turn as he waited for Lynvarr to catch up.

Lynvarr was enjoying the gorgeous view of the mountain side and the valleys below. Shilah seemed in an awful hurry but the blue-eyed man couldn't figure out why. The sky was blue and clear and apart from some clouds on the horizon they had little to worry about. Granted though, the path was difficult. The rocky terrain of Fenrir's Maw was a work out. The paths twisted and entertwined and some were blocked off by rockslides. When he came to a nearby pine tree, Lynvarr stretched up it and marked it with his claws. Shilah had a map, that was true, but Lynvarr felt a bit better having physical markers to prove their path rather than something that existed in Shilah's mind and on his map.

Her younger sister might have been more comfortable on the flatlands, her birth having taken place down by a lagoon surrounded by meadows and plains, but Morganna Archer’s earlier broods had been born on the top of a sheer edged monadnock that rose out of the tundra like a jagged tooth. She was confident in the steps that had bought her up the narrow maw, and now she was trying to find her way back down. Matilda Archer wasn’t much of a daytime wolf, the way the sun bounced off the snow burning her eyes as she squinted against it, a self depreciating smirk painted on her face when she realised she had already deliberately passed several caves where she could have passed the afternoon sleeping, then used the stars to guide her back to the south, but something told her to keep moving.

The path veered to the right ahead and she continued her descent, not stopping to think for one moment that there might be wolves coming the other way. Maybe a goat or a bighorn sheep but certainly not a wolf... She rounded the corner, looking out at the view over her shoulder, bumping chests with someone hairy, and curled her toes into the narrow snow lined track, not daring to step back without knowing where she was going for certain. That was a sharp turn at her back after all. If the other wolf slipped she was poised to reach out and grab at whatever she could hold to prevent their fall. Stranger or not, you had to look out for each other at such perilous heights.

"speech".

hurricane, running through my veins

Shilah had marked the bend of the path on his map but felt he out to mark the drop off some how as well. How was he going to do that on a two-dimensional surface? Eventually he decided to lightly shade in the area next to the path. Hopefully he'd remember what that meant. The wind picked up a bit, stirring the pine needles and rustling a few birds from the nearby trees. The trees here were thin and gangly. They grew in strange and unusual forms but still they managed to eke out a living on the cliffside.

Shilah rolled up his map and turned to tuck it away in one of his bags. He'd just gotten it tucked away when something ran into him. Without thinking he jumped back with a yell, bumping right into Lynvarr.

Lynvarr paused at another pine tree, repeating his scratching ritual as he sought to make sure they didn't get lost. Not that it was totally necessary on this stretch. A wolf could only go forward or back, there weren't many other options. Lyn gazed out at the mountainous terrain. There were many such narrow crossings. In some ways it was amazing anything lived out here but he supposed it was a haven for mountain goats and bighorn sheep. Predators would need to be sure-footed to hunt in this terrain and he imagined most would prefer more fertile hunting grounds. He was just about to continue when Shilah jumped back into him. Lyn quickly grabbed the man and pulled him next to the cliffside before turning to look at the woman that seemed to be working her way down the path. He dipped his head in greeting. "Hello, how's the climb up from here?"

Normally the Archer was far more composed, but there wasn’t a lot of room to move, and she barely bit back the urge to sardonically reply Backwards for some of us. Instead she looked over her shoulder again and grimaced. "Narrow, but there’re some caves back a bit." It wasn’t like they’d cling to the cliff face like goats if she gave them a shove, as tempting as the prospect might be.

Carefully she slid a foot backwards, feeling behind herself as she rounded the corner once again. It was slow going, but finally she managed to back her way into an opening in the side of the mountain. It stank of stale air, but was surprisingly spacious inside, and seemed to drop away and down towards the back.

"speech".

hurricane, running through my veins

Shilah breathed out a sigh of relief, resting his body against the steadiness of the mountainside. That was a bit too close. He glanced at the woman who stated that the path would continue to be narrow and all it lead to were some caves. He frowned and turned to Lynvarr. "I have to be honest, I'm not a big caves wolf. We could take the turn back at that double pine and head to Mount Volkan if you want?" Shilah grabbed his map and laid it out, point to the two pines he'd drawn at the little mark of a path that headed to the east. The maw was pretty in a deadly sort of way with its twisting rocky trails but the wind was starting to pick up and he was honestly ready to start working their way down…ish. Suddenly feeling like he was being rude he looked to the woman. "My name is Shilah, by the way. If you want to explore what's left of the volcano you're welcome to join us."

Lynvarr nodded at the woman's words, wondering how best they should move past each other. They'd definitely need to move single file across the treacherous terrain. However, it seemed Shilah was ready to move onto the volcano. Lynvarr eyed the clouds moving in and while he didn't think they were under direct threat of inclement weather he supposed it was getting a bit late in the day as far as their plans went. He shrugged. "Yea, that's fine with me." He looked to the woman. "My name is Lynvarr. We're just out exploring, taking advantage of summer while we have it. What about yourself?" He didn't imagine he'd be back to the maw during winter though it was always hard to predict what he'd do for sure.

A volcano? Well she hadn’t seen one of those before. She tucked both names away in case they happened to meet again. "Matilda, though most just call me Tilly." She offered quietly in response. The Archer hadn’t really had many interactions since coming to this place, outside of her sister and that child, but she also wasn’t the sort to settle down without a good reason. "If you don’t mind the company, I’d like to accompany you to the Volcano. It would be good to see some more of this place." Her tail gave an easy wave. If everyone around here was so nice, then why had she spent so much of her time avoiding them?

"speech".

hurricane, running through my veins