let it snow

navigate the broken world

Solo Skill Post -- Word Count: 821

They had started to move towards the south, though she knew they would need to cross multiple strange terrains before reaching a warmer climate. The winter was settling in nicely, and she was fortunate to have wolves with her. She couldn’t imagine surviving a harsh northern winter by herself. She’d never needed to, and while she could navigate them to water and find her way through terrains, learning about them… well, hunting was not as strong of a forte as her sense of due north. She glanced up at the sky, bringing a deep breath in as the biting cold snaps bit at her lungs. The soft flurry of flakes fell from the sky to mark the cooling of the air around them. The wind blew south, and she could tell from how the flakes fell, seeing their slant for what it was: direction. Everything had a direction and a magnitude, and it was in her fortune that she had learned to read such things. The clouds blocked the sky, but she could tell from the fading of her surroundings that nightfall would soon be upon them. She had moved forward to scout ahead, but she knew that she should be joining her mate and his brother soon. They would need to rest for the night.

It was easier to move in the light, even when a storm such as this settled upon them. The snow made it harder to visualize her surroundings from farther distance, but provided it’s own subtle help every so often. The snow could give hints of harsher weather blowing in based on it’s intensity. Eirnan had observed such last winter, and had made use of it when it came to moving under cover. The snow in melt could allow scents to fade faster, and the snow could give away prey tracks. It made hunting easier for a skilled hunter, but to the untrained eye or unsteady paw it would almost certainly make things worse. Still, she was not a hunter, she was a navigator and a tracker. It was her job to find the hunting paths and allow others to guide the hunt. Sure, she still participated but strategy was not up to her. She could follow another’s strategy. Still, she would prefer to make her way as far south as possible as the winter settled in for the long haul. It would be best to get to a warmer climate total.

She squinted lightly as a gust found her face, her eyes closing for a moment to prevent the cold snaps from drying out her eyes too much. She hummed softly as she sniffed about. There were elk tracks heading south towards the water source she had seen earlier from the thralls of the icy point she had scaled… through the flurries she could see the steam in the distance, almost as thick as smoke though it held the wrong sight and smell to be a fire… and a fire this far north in the middle of winter seemed unlikely. She couldn’t help but frown, almost certain she had interpreted what she had seen earlier wrong. If that was steam, the water would be too hot to safely drink from and they would have to find some other way to access the necessarily fluid. Perhaps they could try someplace to the east. Heading further south would likely only result in injury and she regretfully knew that. It was something that she and her companions could not afford, at least not in the current moment… or really ever. They needed to start their lives, but first they needed to find a place worthy of it.

She had to admit she loathed winter. She much preferred the warm breezes of summer. It was easier to tracks, as the foliage could be used to navigate lands. Yes, summer was by far her favorite season. Fall had to take a close second, being not only the season of her birth but the crisp fall breezes simply warmed her heart and guided her true as well. Spring was nearly as bad as winter, dealing with the thaws, the potential for flooding from them and the mud that followed after. No, summer was her favorite season, and winter no doubt was the worst in her mind. Still, she persisted. She just needed to guide them through the winter. It was promising to be a rough season. “I don’t think we’ll be able to head farther south.” She mused aloud, sensing a presence behind her though she had no idea whether it was Caed or her love. “The storm is blowing south and I think it’s safer to traverse it rather than fall in line with it. It’ll be a little better for visibility, and the steam in the distance suggests that the water I saw earlier is not a viable source.” How she hadn’t noticed such things sooner was beyond her.

"Eirnan"