"Well, this is underwhelming." Harbringr bent his head to sniff at the strange green sand. From far away the island looked lush and green but now that he was here it turned out to be barren with only a few trees and shrubs. The plant life that was there didn't look terribly healthy. Hari reached out a paw and swept some of the green sand into the air. It had a weird metallic scent and he wondered for a moment if it was safe for them to be walking on.

Harbringr looked skyward, taking a few moments to observe the sky. Streaks of pale cirrus clouds were forming in the sky above him which was mostly a good sign. The weather would stay fair for at least another day though the streaks in the clouds seemed to indicate a front would be moving in. Hopefully, it wouldn't bring anything nasty with it. It was hard to tell some time sin mid summer.

Zee watched quietly as Hari inspected the land, lips tightening as he observed the sky and the clouds. The worst part for Zee of going on an adventure was the possibility of being caught in a storm away from shelter, and she'd not quite grasped the concept of predicting the weather as her friend had. She trusted him however, and knew that if they were in for a bad one that he'd see it coming and warn her.

Unfortunately, the Emerald Island was barren and odd. If she needed to find a cave to take cover in, she doubted there'd be one on this island. The trees were dead and dying, the sand an odd green. She lifted a paw to her chest as if the ground might be infected, reminding herself to bathe well before returning home to the pups. "So far west.. the volcano can't be to blame for this." She nodded her head towards the dead trees. "I'd worry if it's safe, but I smell wolves. A lot of wolves. Stale, but someone lived here recently. And I see no corpses." Surely if a pack had taken this ridiculous looking island for a home, it'd be safe for them to explore right?

Hari leaned up against one of the scraggly trees and lightly scratched his side before sniffing the ground. "Yea, I don't think its too toxic but I don't really see how anyone could live here comfortably. There doesn't seem to be any signs of prey." He wandered toward a small pool of water, bending down to sniff it before wrinkling his nose. "Everything smells metallic. I wonder if some sort of metal deposits are responsible for this."

The temperature was cooler than he'd expect for this area but again, that wasn't surprising. The volcano made it cooler everywhere. He imagined when the effects of the volcano had passed the temperature here would be as hot and sweltering as other barren areas in the west.

Hari moved to inspect the land and Zee followed him, jaw dropping to speak when he leaned down to the water. Thankfully he'd had the sense to only sniff it, and Zee sighed with relief. "Yeah something tells me that you shouldn't take a sip of that one. Between Firefly Lake and here you're going to be infected with half a dozen things, and Lucretia has enough to worry about with her pups. Let's not bring home a plague." More and more this Island - which looked beautiful from afar - was turning out to be a terrible place.

He spoke of metals, and her head tilted as she considered it. And then she realized he'd scratched himself on one of the dead trees. She moved forward to brush off his side, making sure none of the tree's sharp branches had broken the skin on him. "Give yourself tetanus why don't you." She accused with a laugh. "Well, metals would explain the smell. And the... green." As she spoke the latter she kicked at a pile of the odd-colored sand. "No prey, dead trees, no fresh water, I wonder what drove a pack to claim this land. The volcano?" She hummed thoughtfully,

Harbringr chuckled. "Yea, that's all we need is Lucretia on our cases. We'd be lucky to be let out of the pack borders again." Not to mention Deathbelle would likely give him a serious talking to about sticking things in his mouth that ought not to be in his mouth. All in all this island was definitely a wasted trip but at least they knew now that the color was not from plant life. He glanced and Zee and nodded somberly. "That would be my guess. It's about as far from the eruption as you can get heading west. I can't see why else someone would try to live here."

The wind began to pick up a little. It ruffled his fur and he glanced once more skyward. The breeze was coming in from the north which was unusual, bringing cooler air with it but as far as he could tell the clouds didn't foretell any concerning weather. He smiled at Zee. "Looks like the weather is still on our side, want to try for another?"

Hari agreed with her with a chuckle and Zee rolled her eyes. "Let out? Half the time they don't even get notice that we're leaving. We're definitely unstoppable a duo." She nudged him affectionately with her shoulder, and then followed his gaze towards the sky. One thing was sure, this trip was definitely a waste. Emerald Island was the most manipulative of a name and while it promised beauty and wonder they were left with death decay and definitely the wrong shade of green. She was not ready to end her adventure on such a barren and ugly place, and nodded at his words. "Onto the next, lead the way!" She didn't look back as they left the island, deciding definitely that she'd never come this way again.