to this moment

Prey was scarce, as much of it had fled the volcano even further then the wolf pack had gone. At least they had a decent source of water, and the angle of the red rocks sheltered it from the ash that occasionally drifted even this far South. It was the cold would cause them to struggle, as winter rolled in more fiercely than any other he had felt in this land before… not that he had been here long.

He, too, worried the water might freeze, and leave them without even this vital resource. Such were the thoughts on the tyrants mind as he made his way to the Oasis. What he hadn’t expected to see, was the young child that took a drink by the water. He saw her, and he saw a playmate an a source of warmth for a child of Deathbelle. The frustrated children needed companionship, and the coming winter would prove their need for warmth.

In his way of thinking, the young wolf was trespassing regardless. This was Ashen’s source of water, and a part of their temporary stomping grounds well they waited for the volcano to die down. As he approached her, he caught something familiar about her scent. interesting. he thought. “Why are you here?” the behemoth asked her, his larger than most vultures gliding lazily from the sky to land at his back. Somewhere in the distance, one might catch the subtle whites of the snow leopard as she lay in wait by the deserts edge.