In Dire Straits

(OOC: Please let Awina post first.)

Moonachie was going to spend her first hibernation without her children.

They were old enough to leave mom and be adults.  She would miss them...and with most of the wolves she knew gone, a tiny loneliness fought against her calm nature.  She should have socialized more with the Inarian wolves.  But she was a bear...a grizzly bear.  A small one for her species yes, but a grizzly bear still.

It was quiet though.  How much trouble could finding someone get her into?

The bear had to eat to prepare for hibernation.  Fish was a good start.  So a water source was the best place to go.  So she did.  When she went to the closest lake she sniffed out, there was just one problem:

When did the grass get so TALL?

"Ugh," she grumbled.  "This grass isn't even edible."  Moonachie stood on her hind legs looking for any wolves around.  The last thing she wanted was to step on one or startle one.  She had faded claw marks as proof.

"Coming through!"

And she bulldozed the grass in a trail to the lake.

Back and forth on the border. Everyday, on the border. Rain or shine on the border. This reoccurring theme and constant monotony was wearing on the young wolf’s mental. Boredom was drowning her, it was encompassing her in a thick haze. Colleen had met a few new wolves, but these new comers had wandered off in the pack land to familiarize themselves with their new home. Maybe she would find them again soon?

Being a rather fresh face to the Inarian pack, she decided that she also should leave the border and go deeper. How could she ask others to live here if she didn’t even know what the land had to offer? So, she had made the mental decision to head towards the lake she had been told about upon arrival. She, coming from a pack on the open plains, hadn’t much experience with large bodies of water, so it had peaked her interest.

Her happy little pace trotted her along as her large ears fluttered about and eyes danced about the forest. She always enjoyed exploring and investigating the strange, one major factor bringing her to Inaria. Since being born and raised in an open land, she had grown to find it lacking the stimulation she needed. This forest was always changing, it seemed like her home land only had two seasons and there was never any fresh newness.

Meeting up with the piece of river that went to the ocean from the far end of the lake, she followed along side it. It was much like the water sources she was used to. It was completely unintimidating. Under the softly flowing current, small fish dashed from her looming form and pretty little rocks sparkled. Occasionally to entertain herself, she would hop shoreline to shoreline. Giggling when she came up short and splashed the crisp water, still cool from the night before.

As she moved more inland, she noticed the happy little stream becoming wider and deeper. She ceased her happy shoreline leap frog and her spunky trot slowed to a walk. Colleen absolutely loved discovery, but water did scare her, since she lacked any ability to swim. Along with the river growing, the land began to incline, and the plant life began to thicken. The thick under brush forced her closer to the bank, and made her anxiety rise. It felt as if the forest was trying to push her off into the water.

Colleen’s ears laid back and her tail dropped low, she didn’t like this claustrophobic feeling. Then finally, she crested the lip that kept the lake at bay. Before she could let the size of the water fixture overwhelm her, a voice boomed, "Coming through!"

Her head snapped to the direction on the voice, then the small wolf scrambled into the grass the hunker down just a few feet from the trail the bear bashed into the grass. Comically her bushy tail stuck out of the brush, hair on end like she had licked a light socket, as she hid from the unknown.