514AV, 1st Day of Spring.
A solitary set of tracks trailed away from the fading water hole. Tani swiped a claw at a nearby strand of grass in annoyance. One rabbit was hardly enough to feed her, even if the scent was strong enough for her to follow. Still, it was the best result she had seen in days of prowling the few water holes she knew of in this part of the Sea. She wasn't sure how many times she had diverted from her original course to inspect such areas, only to find a dried-up mud bank where she was certain there had been a flourishing oasis - and that was when she found anything at all. More often then not, these diversions left her with nothing besides a slightly emptier belly and an increasingly confounded sense of direction. She doubted she could find her way back to Endrykas now, even if she wanted to. Her own tracks had long since faded, and the city itself had no doubt moved on by now, taking her bondmate's clan with it. One way or another, she was irrevocably committed to the journey now. For some reason, the certainty was pleasantly reassuring.The grass looked no different to the day of her departure, if a little cooler, the earth before her all but saturated by an ocean of brown foliage. Setwards, for Tani had started to think of direction purely as a function of the sun's passage, the land curled up slightly, creating the bowl in which she and the near-empty waterhole sat. The sun was a thin line on the horizon, a handful of chimes away from vanishing altogether. That much, at least, she'd managed to time correctly. Travelling by night was far preferable to risking herself in the daylight. A black cat in a sea of yellows and browns was no-one's idea of inconspicuous. She'd spent the day resting, wedged between the exposed roots of a tree half torn-up by a storm and covered with a few handfuls of grass. It felt too much like a burrow for her liking - burrows were for prey, after all - but it had kept her safe and moderately cool. Night was a different matter.
This rabbit was evidently a creature of habit - the tracks doubled back to a well-worn trail inching away from the water hole. The watery mud that was all that remained of the water hole made tracking the animal almost laughably simple for the first few chimes, mud-encrusted footprints sinking into the dirt of the trail. The air was thankfully still, and the promise of rabbit hung on the wind - a small, fearful thing. She couldn't tell where it was, not exactly, but she was certain it had come this way - the odd pile of droppings alongside the trail, damp enough to be recent, only serving to solidify her certainty. Her heart trilled a familiar beat, lips curled back in expectation, thoughts of her destination momentarily forgotten. Yes, this was what she was meant to do. There was prey out there, and it was hers to find, to hunt, to kill. The thrill of the hunt settled into her bones, lending a new energy to the overworked muscles.
The trail passed beneath her in a steady blur, Tani moved at a rapid walk, the impact of her paws padded by the crushed grass. A part of her ached to run, to give chase to the prey she knew was waiting at the end of the trail, but she forced it down. It wasn't time. Not yet. The smell of rabbit grew stronger, passing over Tani in waves. Perhaps there was more then one. She grinned at the prospect. It would be one of the first decent meals since her departure. Maybe she would even risk shifting to cook it. Her nose twitched, and she froze in place. There was something wrong with the scent. The breeze had changed direction, blowing back towards her, carrying a familiar, metallic, odour.
Blood. She could smell blood on the wind.
