Álarr continued after Jynn as they worked their way around the volcano and Habari's territory. At some point his feet stopped moving and he found himself staring at it.

The mountain loomed dark and ominous, dark plumes of smoke billowed from the top, lit up now and then by a flash of golden lightning. The setting sunlight mixed with the billowing smoke in colors of gold, dusty orange and blood red. He could feel the earth shaking beneath his paws.

Álarr steadied himself and took a deep breath, closing his eyes before looking again. The mountain was still, the sky still blue. The sooner they got around this thing the better.

Come down, come down sweet reverence

Jynn marveled at the strange dark mountain that rose above the redbud forest they'd travelled around earlier. Unlike the mountain range of the maw this mountain was dark, almost black. The top of it was jagged and open from an earlier eruption that had occurred before she had arrived. She kept walking but noticed that she didn't hear Álarr behind her. She turned to see him staring up at the mountain with a strange look on his face. He seemed almost frozen. She turned around and padded back towards him, calling out gently. "Hey, are you alright?" It had never really occurred to her that a number of wolves she'd met might have lived through the volcanic eruption. Had Álarr?

Álarr blinked for a moment, suddenly aware that Jynn was speaking to him. He nodded rapidly. "Yea, yea, just thinking. I thought you said we were headed east?" He turned his eyes from the mountain and instead focused on where he was walking, turning himself eastward before glancing back at the woman. He didn't want to be in the presence of this mountain any more than was necessary. Hopefully the woman understood. They were near a pack land anyway so it wasn't like they could really do an in-depth level of exploring. There would be territories in the east they could take their time going through.

Come down, come down sweet reverence

Jynn got the feeling the man was not alright but she decided not to push the issue. She had a feeling he wouldn't be forthcoming anyway and she didn't want to lose her exploration buddy over the mountain. In all honesty while it was interesting it was also creepy. She preferred greenery and plant life to barren rocks and hills. "Oh, yea, I'm headed east but if we go east directly from the Redbud nook we'll hit cliffs across the river." There was a higher stretch of land that housed the Sunset Falls and the Moontouched Cliffs. She didn't want to try and climb right up some cliffs. It would be easier to go around Abaven. Actually… the easiest path would've been to go south through the Hot Springs but she'd taken that route so many times she wanted to try something new.

Álarr was relieved they would still be heading east and he listened as she explained that if they had headed straight east they'd have run into the cliffs on the east side of the river. Ahh… well, that made sense. Of course it couldn't be a straight shot. Last time he'd ventured this way it had been along the Rio Grande and through the Hot Springs. He'd assumed that maybe the land was flat in most of the east. He should've realized that wasn't going to be the case. Oh well, at least he now knew where not to go. Hopefully, on the way back the traveling would be easier. He could see the river winding ahead and started heading for it and away from the dormant volcano.

-exit-

Come down, come down sweet reverence

Jynn had the impression this man didn't travel outside of his pack very often but maybe he'd loosen up once they got into more relaxing territories. She glanced back at the mountain again, taking in the sight of its dark silhouette against the blue sky. With one last look she worked her way down out of the rockier terrain and on to green grass. Up ahead lay the main river channels of the east and that would be its own challenge to navigate. They would need to swim at least part of it. She hoped the man was a decent swimmer. She was to light to haul someone of his size across.

-exit-