Monster

Torrent was on her way out of pack lands to find the last of the herbs Pidge insisted that they needed to stock before winter killed the plants - though she herself argued that they could simply make the longer trip down to Auster to seek out substitutes that would still be growing in the southern continent, for what was the northern continent's winter season was by far the better growing season in the south anyway, but Pidge had been outright horrified at the idea of traveling that far in the winter. She had tartly told Torrent that raccoons were not fucking idiots like wolves and she would be staying right in her nice warm den unless she absolutely had to leave it. So that was that, all herb gathering would happen now.

But she had no sooner crossed the border with the cranky racoon - quite fat now in preparation for winter, at that - clinging to her shoulders and Asriel stalking silently beside her, when the tall Imperialis bitch paused. Her muzzle raised, nose twitching, tasting the wind. Yes, a stranger was approaching the border. The scent was growing stronger, as though he were coming more or less straight for her rather than skirting around the pack lands. They could yet turn aside from the border, but it was not a risk she was willing to take with her family's safety. Torrent stayed put until she could pinpoint where the scent was coming from, then moved to set herself solidly in the approaching male's path, her dual-toned head and tail raised in a dominant posture as she waited, all four paws set solidly to the earth and lacking only the loose, lightly bent joints to be a true warrior stance so it would be less than a breath to drop into it.