She had to push down the roiling in her gut. If it didn't stop bubbling and writhing, she'd vomit... and she hadn't eaten in a few days. Bile did not taste good. Not that there was much lately accounting for taste, with all of the everything that had transpired.

Her aunt was missing. The school, everything she'd worked for, had seemed to crumble away in her absence. They had so few warriors and eager wolves were already prowling the borders. Filthy opportunists, she thought dismally as she skulked along towards the prairie. The weather matched her food: chilly, spitting cold rain. Winter had begun to give way to Spring in the ugliest of fashions. Everything was grey and wet, but somehow alive. I'm here. I'm alive. Fable stumbled over a rock half-sunken in mud and hissed as her toe caught the brunt of it. "I'm FINE!" she shouted to no one at all, her ego more hurt than anything else.

They'd shuttled the children off safely back home, but in the wake of it all, with the halls empty and the teachers whispering nervously and Theory still gone, she'd felt so powerless that she felt compelled to do something. Anything. And so she left. Maybe that made her the worst of them, but it felt like no one was doing anything! If she kept moving, maybe she could pick up Theory's scent. At least she'd keep her skills sharp on the way. Fable had gotten so used to fishing that she felt as if she was losing the knack for chasing prey on land and there was no time like the vast, empty present to sharpen her skills. She put her nose to the ground to pick up a scent, determined to find some way to pass the time until a new opportunity presented itself.

Corbie wasn't an expert on people, not really, but when someone said "I'm fine" in quite that tone of voice, she didn't really think that they were actually fine. So when the shout caught her startled attention, she was concerned. It didn't take her long to track the source of the shout, since the plains were all but empty of wolves right now, so as soon as she found a hot scent nearby she knew it was right. Moving faster now that she found it, she came across a much larger, younger woman. "Excuse me," she called out softly, not wanting to startle her. "What's wrong?" Because obviously something was wrong.

She was so intent on trying to find the scent of prey that she missed the scent of any other wolves at all. Corbie's gentle inquiry startled her. "Oh, uh," Fable laughed nervously, looking around as if she expected more strangers to start pouring out from the tall grass. She was a wolf who typically had a goal, and now to have nothing at all to work for... she was more than lost. "I..." My aunt is missing, my home disappeared, everyone gave up without even trying... At least, that's how she felt. She knew Corvus had tried to hold things together, but so many wolves were antsy with Theory's disappearance and they had been entrusted with so many children... she had been convinced it was the right thing to do, to send them safely home while they searched for her aunt. But it still felt like giving up. "I'm hungry," she lied. It was a bad, terrible lie, but she didn't want to lay it all out. It was too fresh and painful. "I'm hungry and my name is Fable, nice to meet you."

The girl seemed flustered at Corbie's appearance, and her question. She hesitated, then gave an answer that felt false, though Corbie couldn't quite decide why. She banished the concerned frown that started to form, though. If she wasn't comfortable telling her what was really wrong, Corbie wasn't going to push. Besides, being hungry she could help with. "I'm Corbie. It is a pleasure to meet you too, Fable. I could help you hunt something bigger than small game if you're hungry," she offered. A full stomach would make other problems less daunting, and concentrating on a hunt might get the girl's mind off whatever was bothering her. Corbie could at least help with that much.