Flamin' Knowledge

He rose before dawn’s light filtered through the gap in the ravine and into the main chamber of the cave’s den, peering through the gloom, more from sleepiness than any sense of difficulty seeing in the dark, and glanced around as he stepped from his alcove. It had felt odd claiming his parents’ old alcove. It had been where his siblings were born, and where, many, many years before, his own mother and her siblings had entered the world. It was also the leader’s alcove. He would occupy it, and later his mate, whomever that may be, would birth their children there.

A yawn parted his jaws, before he padded quietly to the alcove that Solveiga slept in. He peered in, making out the sand and cream colored healer, and smiled, before turning away to pad out of the cave, down the ravine, and out into the plains. A full patrol later, and the sun was well on its way to its zenith in the sky. With that, he decided it was time to explore, for once. He’d been a bit of a home body since the pack had been founded, what with the fact that Ganja had joined, negating a reason to go anywhere beyond visiting other leaders at their borders.

He felt like going out, spending a little time getting to know the lands around his own. He thought about calling Baine or Solveiga to go with him, but decided against it, since he’d already gotten a fair distance from the pack lands. It was several hours’ worth of travel later when he came up against a strong border, one that carried Faite’s scent. So this was where… he paused, sniffing more deeply. There was Zuriel’s scent. This close the whole time, and she hadn’t once come to visit?

He could detect the scent of children in her traces, and frowned. She had kids? He stepped away, shaking his head. He would think about it later. For now, it was a day for himself. He skirted the boundaries of Emerald Valley, thinking back to the day he’d been driving an elk toward his family in hopes that they could bring it down in the Estuary. He’d encountered a female there, Evangeline Imperialis. She’s been pretty, but somehow unnerving, but he’d come out of the encounter with only a bit of fur missing. Why she’d wanted the tuft of crimson fur was anyone’s guess.

He came to a familiar landmark, and slowed, memory washing over him. The Willows. His place of birth. Was that why Faite had placed Lirim where she had? Had she wanted to be close to where their lives had begun? He padded through the grove, fathomless eyes sweeping to and fro. There was the place where he’d found Cinder as a kitten, lost in the snow. Here was the den where he and his siblings had been birthed. The place where his grandmother had slept.

He sat at the pool of water fed by a stream, soaking in the memories, before he rose again, crossing the river ahead at a shallow point. The climate had begun to change, just a little, as the west merged into the northern portion of the continent. He’d come a long distance, and he’d likely end up holing up somewhere for the night, or at least some of it, and would probably end up getting home long into morning the next day.

A gap in the earth ahead caught his attention. Moreover, the scent coming from it riveted his attention to it, and he padded toward it at a cautious trot. He wasn’t sure what it was, exactly, but at a guess, the word that came to mind for the scent was ‘hot’. And perhaps with a faint hint of old eggs… A snuff left his nose as he stepped to peer into the crack, a cave that led down, down, down into the earth.

It didn’t take long for his natural sense of curiosity, and the sounds emanating from the cave to entice him down the path. As he went, he became aware of the heat under his paws growing more distinct. It never rose above mildly uncomfortable, and as he saw the glow ahead, and its source, he forgot about his hot paws. Gods above and below, what was it?