It'd been quite some time since Diarmuid had spoken to the Xanilov children. He knew now, at least, they intended to stay within these lands and he was confident he could find them again when necessary. Though some of the children were unaccounted for, he was mostly satisfied that the majority of them had reunited. It left him with a sense of calm that he hadn't felt in awhile, and for that he was grateful. It didn't keep him from feeling restless, though. Without a task to do, he had trouble keeping him mind entertained. It was hard for him to stop and simply enjoy his surroundings, and even now as the massive brute trudged through the underbrush he hardly noticed that he was surrounded by various berry bushes. He wasn't quite sure what he had in mind for today, but he figured a meal might be a good start. He wrinkled his nose as a particularly tart scent hit him, his scarred snout wrinkling in distaste as his gaze finally found the berry bushes. Strange. "Talk" "You" Think

the colors of my life
are painted in black and white

Things weren't getting better at home and she doubted it would be a little while before the drought subsided and a much longer time before everything went back to normal. She was almost glad she couldn't see the devastation that the lack of water had wrought. She wouldn't have to see the dried stalks of grass or the dead herbs, but she could feel it as it crunched underfoot as she left the plains that Talis had claimed. She'd managed to find a few healthy herbs closer to water sources, but there wasn't much left and she was worried there wouldn't be enough to patch everyone up after this raid was over. Then if anyone got sick or any wounds got infected ... well she didn't want to think about it.

While things were warm in Auster she was sure Boreas would be freezing so finding herbs there would be pointless. She wasn't about to give up though so she headed in the direction of the land bridge that connected the two continents. They didn't travel very far before Nox tugged her a different direction and the tart scent of berries filtered towards her nostrils. Maybe, just maybe, if berries were growing here then it meant other things might as well.

She didn't travel very far before a series of scents caught her attention. A stale scent of a bear was around, but it wasn't nearly fresh enough to cause her to be worried. She could smell coyote, fox, and prey animals as well. She could only presume that the berries made a decent food source. Maybe the pack could hunt here? It was the fresh scent of a wolf that was the most alarming to her, but she had to reason with herself. The land bridge was most likely close by which meant it was only logical wolves came here. It didn't seem like the hunting would be terrible either.

It was rare that Diarmuid felt true solace. He always felt a nagging sense of duty -- to take care of another, or at the very least to keep an eye on them -- so to briefly feel nothing akin to that was strange. Even in his calm he felt a sense of mild discomfort. Surely if Valeriya were here, she would have some task for him to attend to. Even simply hearing her voice would be nice right now; he tried not to dwell on things of the past, things he had no control over now, because Diarmuid wasn't used to feeling out of control. He snuffed loudly as he passed another particularly sweet smelling bush, nosing one of the fat strawberries lightly with curiosity before abandoning it, and continuing on his way. He hardly paid attention to things like berries and plants and the like, so he hardly noticed that the plants were far less healthy than usual. Prey had been scarce in these lands as of late, but he was used to shifting patterns like that and knew they would likely come back even more plentiful when the time was right. The scent of a female hit him suddenly, arresting his attention from his aimless wandering. He hadn't meant to find her, yet she seemed to have (probably accidentally) crossed his chosen path. Which, in reality, was really quite random. Her scent was accompanied by that of a feline, and his nose wrinkled slightly as he tasted their scents. Only when he drew a bit closer, within visible distance of the pair, would he grunt out a greeting. "Greetings," his deep voice boomed out plainly, his head dipping slowly to her. "Talk" "You" Think