So… maybe she hadn’t meant to get them this lost, but it was another opportunity for a lesson, right? Each of the younger wolves that trailed along with her had their own reaction to their predicament, the crowding trees and the creepy fog, the twisty turny deer paths that closed in further to become little more than rabbit runs. The atmosphere was positively claustrophobic, and for a wolf as large as Modesty, well, she wanted to get the sky back open above her as soon as possible. “Alright,” she sighed, forcing a confident smile onto her lips as if this had been her plan all along. “how do you suppose we find our way back to the cedar trees and the waterfall that will lead us home?” She knew they had two options, she supposed three, since most of them had birds to rely on, and Deluge had a spare she could loan to her brother. But what way would the children want to go about it?

“Speech.”

They said that I got to keep it sweet

-lesson 1/3-

She had been convinced her mother didn’t have a clue where she was taking them from the moment they stepped into these shifty woods and her eyes narrowed as the other woman wiped away her worry with a disingenuous smile, as if this had been her plan all along! Deluge couldn’t contain her snort of derision, her eyes rolling as her cat claws flexed in the musty earth beneath her toes. Now she had the gall to make the kids drag her out of her mess? How typical.

But, this did present a tantilising opportunity to rub her god given gifts in her mother’s face. The very gifts that seemed to make her mother hate her more than any of the others. She even made a point of reaching up and raking her nails down one of the trunks, throwing a sidelong glance over her shoulder in the process. Just checking for rot, after all, when one weighed as much as Deluge did, you could never be too careful. "I’ll see if I can see anything up here," she threw to the other youngsters before pulling herself up to the first branch with a flick of her stubby tail. Even so, the canopy seemed so thick up here.

"Speech"

The tension between mother and daughter flew right over the young boys head, and he knocked a pebble back and forth between his feet. Sure the woods were creepy and all, but at the end of the day, so was a lot of stuff down here. Mostly, he was just be glad to be out of the direct, sweltering sunlight that seemed to be trying to bake the boy like clay. Where was the snow? Rain even? Nah, not in this place. While it was fun and all to come this far, he wasn’t sure that he’d be following star lady again in a hurry. Even Deluge seemed to be crankier than normal, and he couldn’t quite put his paw on the why (to be honest, if it hadn’t been for this trip, he probably never would have realised they were mother and daughter in the first place), he loved spending time with his mum.

Sakana wasn’t quite sure he trusted the tree that Deluge was climbing, not only did it look flimsy and twisty, the whole vibe of this place seemed to be trying to swallow them whole. “If we keep going downhill, won’t we hit water at some point? And all water goes to the ocean eventually, right?” But the ground was pretty level here, to the naked eye at least.

“Speech”

the rougher the seas the smoother we sail

Accustomed to the rift that spread between his mother and sister, Scald kept quiet as they journeyed back home. Well, what their mother kept telling them was the way back home. Not until they stopped in the middle of a dense forest full of twisted trees and thorny bushes did he see the flicker of uncertainty in his mother's eyes. Scald looked at her quizzically, hoping to whatever god they believed in that she still had some idea of where they were headed. When he looked to Deluge, Sakana, and the new girl Rheum, a frown began to crease along his lips. The only one who seemed to have any inkling of where to go was Rheum, but she only knew the way to her home which was south of her. When their mother asked which way to the cedar trees, Scald took a look around. His ears tuned in to his sister who began climbing a tree. How ridiculous, but he supposed that could work. When Sakana spoke up, Scald hummed under his breath. Possibly that was a good idea but there was so much fog surrounding them that he wondered if they even knew which way was up or down. "Maybe we can use the vines to mark a path so we stop getting turned around," he mentioned as he looked back to his mother. Truly the maze-like forest couldn't be that hard to navigate... S C A L D

Her uncle had always told her to steer clear of this forest. The oaks and cedars were safe enough for her to travel within, but this place had been off-limits. Spiraling branches, large thorns, thick fog, an eerie feeling that you were being followed... It was everything that summed up Wraith's Woods and had kept her away until now. It was the promise that they would make it out alive that convinced her to follow Modesty and the other three kids into the treacherous maze. Winding this way and that, making blind lefts and rights, Rheum was not surprised when Modesty stopped. Did any of them know where they were?

Rheum's own brow would wrinkle as she listened to the rest of the group converse about which way was best. Thinking quickly, Rheum glanced this way and that before looking to the companions that Deluge and Sakana had brought. "Could we not use the birds to help?" She asks softly as her bright yellows move over to Modesty. Of course, if this was a lesson in navigation, one might think using a bird would be cheating, but also would it not be considered clever?

Navigation Lessons 1/3

Modesty bit her tongue as Deluge started to climb a flimsy looking tree. The girl insisted on learning from her own mistakes, her mother wasn't going to stop her. The red coated girl had mentioned an interest in healing in passing so if her daughter ended up with broken bones, well, that would be on her. It would be a long walk home.

Sakana suggested finding downhill and Scald wanted to mark the path with vines, they were all great suggestions. Rheum was the one to suggest using the birds, and Modesty nodded her agreement. Her kite would have the best eyesight of the three but the lapwings would have the loudest call. "Water rolls downhill so if anyone needs to go, nows the time to stop holding. We certainly should mark where we have been, scratching with claws on trunks or leaving a scent trail will work just as well, but if you can distinguish your vines from the others, you should give it a go," as for the birds... "The canopy might be a bit dense, they might go up and loose sight of us, and struggle to find us again. We should try and get to somewhere we can see a bit of daylight first, but Moo has very good eyesight, and he's very good at finding me again so we'll send him up first." She nodded to the bird who tilted his head with a soft peep before taking flight. Once Deluge decided to join them on the ground again, they could set off.

“Speech.”

They said that I got to keep it sweet

-lesson 2/3-

None of them were quite two yet so when their mother suggested marking instead of following vines, Scald's head gave a light tilt. She had taught them about marking territory, using it to their advantage and disadvantage, but he hadn't thought about using it in the sense of navigation. When he lifted his nose slightly and really gave the air a good sniff, he could scent a variety of different scents. Is that what everyone did? He honestly liked his idea of following the vines though. It seems less exhausting than scratching or peeing on a bunch of trees. Plus these trees had thorns... Well so did the vines though. Looking around, he realized that there were a lot of vines and those vines were all the same color. Really, they all looked the same. Okay so maybe his mom had a point. Being able to distinguish his vines from not his vines would be hard. "Just in case the birds lose us, I'll scratch some trees along the way," he mentioned half-heartedly, not wanting to insult his mother in the process. Moving off toward the closest tree, he gave it a good scratch so that it was noticeable from a few feet away. S C A L D

Rheum couldn't help but giggle at Modesty's comment. Unlike the others, she knew that it wouldn't keep going downhill. Maybe unlike Boreas, Auster wasn't nearly as hilly or mountainous. Full of dense forests, there were really only a few places she knew of that had any high altitude. Listening in on the rest of the lesson, Rheum felt proud and then maybe slightly discouraged. The birds really sounded like a good idea... If she had a bird of her own, she could teach it how to help her navigate!

Moving her own gaze up to the dense canopy, she wondered how much farther it was until the sky opened up. It was sort of hard to see what with all the thorny vines and dense fog lingering around them. Disappointment hit her as she realized she could have warned them before going into the forest that they should've avoided this place. Her uncle had warned her that nasty creatures hid out here, waiting to take those who were naive enough to traverse the forest. Was she being that naive? "I hope your bird doesn't lose us," Rheum says softly as she inches closer to Modesty for safety of course.

Navigation Lessons 2/3

It was harder going than she had realised, pushing her bulk through the twisted canopy, catching herself when the branches broke under her weight. Even her antlers got tangled in the thick canopy overhead. Just as she thought she was about to break through, her mother's bird zipped past and into the open air overhead. The girl huffed and kept pushing upwards, struggling to maintain her balance the higher she got. When finally her head broke through, well...

Canopy, as far as the eye could see. In every direction. They were doomed, she was sure... but if she squinted, was that a different shade of green? Moo seemed to think so as he circled wider and wider, his pattern growing more oval as he went, but how would she remember the direction once she was down? The girl grimaced. She couldn't even stay on one side of the tree trunk with all of the branches in her way, which would stop her from dropping anything either. What a waste of time!

She shuffled back down to the ground, shame burning the skin beneath her fur. "I saw tree's,"  the girl was short of breath, of course she saw bloody trees, "differen' colour, but I couldn't figure out how t' mark the direction." Her head dropped in defeat. "Might'a been that way? Moo was cirlc'lin' towards them, seems like our best bet... if that was the way he went... " It was a big if.

"Speech"

It seemed like the other wolves were getting worried, and Sakana was just confused. Sure they'd got a bit turned about, but the woods had to end somewhere right? He moved a short distance away from the group to do as Modesty had suggested and see what way his pee rolled but it just kinda sat there, in a sad puddle. Were they supposed to dig their way out then?

His head canted as he considered this conundrum, he could hear the tree cracking and creaking as Deluge made her way down (he wondered if she'd be bleeding after contending with all those thorns but he couldn't smell any blood). Something else broke through the canopy and landed on a branch just ahead. He knew that white head and chest on the coppery coloured bird. “'S Moo!” he called the attention of the other wolves gathered, thinking Warrimoo far too much a mouthful. The bird seemed to hop between the branches in a particular direction before breaking through the canopy again and landing a few trees further down. “Looks like he's found a way.”

“Speech”

the rougher the seas the smoother we sail

Modesty bit back a smile as Sakana moved off to relieve himself, staring at the results as though they would roll right on off and show him the way out of the twisted and gnarled woods. The ever present fog was disconcerting and discombobulating to say the least. She even managed to not roll her eyes when Deluge told her she had seen trees of a different colour but couldn't keep track of the direction, though at least it might offer the others a glimmer of hope, the end is in sight and all that.

She gave Scald a reassuring nod, and smiled when Sakana's declaration hopefully put Scald's concern to some ease. "Try marking the trees he lands in, and move together. We don't want to get separated in this fog." Modesty took up position at the rear, hoping to keep the children together with her kite taking the lead. As they continued through the trees the sound of running water grew louder. "What was that about all streams leading to the sea?"

“Speech.”

They said that I got to keep it sweet

-lesson 3/3-

Rheum gave the forest a good long look as they began to follow the birds. How was it possible that five of them could possibly get lost? Didn't that sound a bit ridiculous? Overall, she thought the idea of scratching the bark was probably the easiest way to not get lost. What with the birds possibly getting lost themselves. The way her paws squelched in the mud and how the branches moaned in the wind, Rheum was starting to get more concerned. There was a reason everyone called this Wraith's Woods. And it wasn't a good reason either...

It wasn't much longer when Rheum too heard the rushing of water. Both of her ears turned forward as she picked up her step. Careful not to trip over the thorny vines, she couldn't wait to make it to the stream. "All water leads to the ocean so if we follow it, we are bound to get to the edge of the forest! The forest we're in doesn't reach the coast!" Rheum's excitement is hardly contained as she looks over at the others to see if they agreed.

Navigation Lessons 3/3

Scald was glad that he could contribute in some way. While he didn't have a bird companion that was good for scouting, he could at least mark some trees. That was easy enough and unless they started turning in circles, it would be able to help them find their way. Right? Unless they started scratching too many trees... "What do we do if come across a tree we've already marked?" He asks in genuine concern as he eyes his mother. Did she even know what they would do? Looking around at the dense fog, Scald began to feel uneasy. Even though his mother was an adult, she was still pretty young and he wasn't sure if she could be totally trusted. He may be the one who felt the closest to her, but she was still getting them lost. So far, he felt really lost. Why would she depend on yearlings to find their own way out of this creepy forest? Everywhere he looked there were thorns, deep shadows, and gnarled trees. It was a very creepy place. A lot creepier than the crypt he, Rexx, and Ajax had visited earlier in the year. Keeping close to the group, Scald did his best to mark their path. explore a new land 3/3

The fog didn't do much to alleviate the spirits of the young band of travellers. Sakana pitched in with Scald marking the trees Moo landed in and tried to stay huddled close enough to the much larger wolves in the party. He was probably the most likely to get lost with his dirt brown coat blending right in to the dark, moist earth beneath their paws. It was also clear that this place hadn't seen sun in an age just from the smell. He had to wonder if breathing all this stagnant air in was any good for them at all.

“At least then you'll know you're walking in circles.” Though Sakana wasn't sure how that would help. “Hey, wouldn't it also be leaving a path straight to you for predators too?” Sure, if someone was out looking for you, they could follow the marks, but who was to say whoever that was had good intentions.

Before the boy could really panic about the sound of a snapping branch behind him, the distant sound of a running stream broke through the thinning trunks of the trees, if he squinted, he thought he might even be able to make out some daylight. He was relieved that Rheum at least knew the woods didn't go all the way to the ocean.

“Speech”

the rougher the seas the smoother we sail

As the boys leapfrogged their way where the kite landed and her mother bought up the rear, Deluge shook her coat to coax it into a gentle glow, so at least if Sakana got separated from the group, puny as he was, he would be able to find them again. But the glow wasn't needed for long as sunlight began to break through the thinning canopy and the sound of running water filled their ears. Deluge smiled at Rheum's enthusiasm.  "At least that's behind us now." She muttered to Scald with a rueful grin. She hadn't even found what they'd come here for yet. "Do you reckon we'll find coyote balls before we hit the coast?"

"Speech"