Nhevaris

Nhevaris welcomed the shade and gentle breeze of the Sonnet Forest to the blistering heat of the Domes and even the Prairie, where the heat of the sun seemed to be trapped and held against the ground. Here, the trees offered respite from the summer sun, as well as the promise of cover where humans and other unsavory creatures would have a harder time seeing them. Upon broaching the border and stepping deeper into his terrain, the ebonite wolf, with his sepia tinted sides and silver-speckled forehead, continued to flag his tail high in the air. He'd stop here and there to mark a prominent bush or tree trunk before continuing on, leading his new friend onward.

Eventually, Nhevaris' determined trek lead them to an old cabin, it's roof long caved in, along with three of its four walls. A single mulberry tree was growing up from within one corner of the house, its canopy already reaching over two dozen feet across in testament to just how long this house had been abandoned. Moss and vines covered most of what remained of the structure, and a rotted cellar door off to the side offered entrance to an unnatural but perfectly sized den. Nhevaris stood at the entrance of this man-made den, head raised proudly as he looked to Naiche for approval. "Found this gem not too long ago. Something made by human hands I'm sure, but no scent of them remains. It's a great place to shelter, even heavy rains don't fill it with water."

Naiche

Naiche's tongue was lolling from her mouth, occasionally catching a blade of grass or the fuzz of parachute seed. She'd scrunch her nose and do her best to scrape the annoying bits of fuzz away, only to have another bunch tack on a few minutes later when her guard was down. By the time they'd reached the shade of the forest, the wolf's tongue felt more like cotton than anything, and she veered to the nearest stream she could find to wet it back down and quench her thirst.

A quick spring brought her back to Nhevaris' side. "This is near Pike's Lake, isn't it? My hom- my old home is on the other side of the lake." She informed, not sure if he knew where the Parnassian Meadows was, or who lived there. For a moment she felt a bolt of homesickness and a strong desire to flee back to it, but the young fae stubbornly squelched those feelings and continued along with her new partner until they'd made it to the collapsed cabin house. Caution soon bled into her body language, slowing her steps and stiffening her movements, "A human den, all the way out here...? You sure they're gone for good?"

Nhevaris

He read her subdued fear, loud and clear. His body language reflected nothing but confidence and assurance, with his dense black ruff still expanded. "My nose has never led me astray before. Go ahead and inspect it yourself, you'll find no scent of human anywhere." To prove his point, and show his new companion that there was nothing to be frightened of, Nhevaris slipped into cabin through the busted door frame. The door itself was flat on the ground, half buried in a shallow blanket of leaves, with a twisted sapling prying up through a fracture in the wood. He turned and peaked his head out, giving a soft woof to invite her along.

Naiche

Naiche was not going to let her unfounded fear of the two-leggers disgrace her pride now. She was to be an alpha after all, wasn't she? Forcing her tail to raise a few inches, the young wolfess pressed her auds forward and took a few steps towards the dilapidated structure. "I guess you're right, I don't smell them..." The wood of the fallen door felt giving beneath her pads, and almost a little spongy, like the trunk of a long-dead tree that lay rotting in the woods. She sniffed at it anyway, then drew her dark muzzle towards the mossy door frame. Only the odor of fungus and earthy moss greeted her. Those things were familiar and comforting, and so despite her reservations, Naiche's tail wagged a little. With her confidence returning, Naiche slipped in through the entryway, brushing past Nhevaris. A mix of dark shadows and beams of light converged on her eyes, making it a little difficult at first to see what was around her. But as her sight adjusted, she found herself looking at a fireplace, and then an old iron stove. A single piece of eroded cutlery lay on the ground, its tarnished handle peaking out from a layer of leaves. "So strange..." She murmured, spending time sniffing at and surveying each of these lost relics.

Nhevaris

Nhevaris stood near the entryway and watched the femme explore the ruins. Auds twitched at the soft fall of her paws against the ground, and the gentle rustle of leaves that shifted under her cautious weight.

-She has a lot to learn.-

Ebony and sepia brute padded after her, stopping at her side when she approached the litter-covered bit of trash. A deft scrape of the paw pulled the weather-ruined utensil towards him, and out from beneath its bed of leaves, where he could properly sniff at it. "Strange is one way of describing it." He murmured, but his mind really wasn't on the two-leggers. He gave her a few more moments of silence before shifting the conversation elsewhere. "You say you grew up in the Parnassian Meadows?"