Rain Heart

Chapter 1: Nadja I

The rain that fell intermittently upon the Steep Forest was fine, almost like mist, the kind you ignore until, before you know it, has soaked you to the bone. It reflected the moonlight and gently bathed the leaves on the trees and the mosses on the rocks, which drank eagerly from that early autumn nighttime drizzle. Summer had been dry and all the creatures of the forest were grateful for the newly arrived wetness.

It fell also, almost like a caress, over Nadja's mottled fur, down in the undergrowth. The she-wolf's white, gray and reddish spotted coat provided perfect camouflage under the shadows of the trees, swaying gently in the breeze. What really concealed Nadja was the humidity in the atmosphere, which trapped and muffled tracks, but hiding wasn't something she was worried about yet.

She stepped carefully, with silent paws on the leaf bed, but she did so out of respect for the forest and its song, and the other creatures around her. She felt safe in the heart of her home, though her steps were leading her towards the border, down the mountain, where great dangers would lurk. But in that instant, during those moments, she was the only predator in the forest, and therefore it was her responsibility to guard its peace and silence.

She took a deep breath and the rain-dampened scents surrounded her. Dozens of faint traces of lesser creatures crossed here and there, some fresh, and most healthy. The forest was recovering from a scorching summer, she thought to herself contentedly, and told herself there would be good hunting soon. It would be needed, for the pack's reserves were low, and winter would come soon and be harsh. But she wasn't there on a hunting mission. Not that night.

That night was a patrol night. A simple mission entrusted by Daichi himself: to check the marks of the Steep Forest, to make sure that there had been no intruders in the last few days and to renew the scent signs. The usual thing for such missions was to send two people together, but the pack was too busy replenishing food supplies now that the prey were returning. It was the same reason they hadn't patrolled the border with Stormcloud territory for so many days. So Nadja was walking alone down the mountain towards the east, where the creek and the beginning of the pine forest served as a natural border with the Cloudy Forest. 

She slowed her pace when she could hear the rushing of the water. Her hearing was remarkably keen, so that still meant she was quite a distance away, but there were trackers with the same or superior talent as her living in the woods on the other side of the stream, and she didn't want to draw their attention. She felt the trees nearby tighten around her, as if seeking to give her a sheltering and concealing shadow, and she thanked them in a short, silent prayer. She ducked her head to sniff the damp ground, but her ears gave away her alertness.

She approached the first scent marks, conscientiously scratched and rubbed logs that gave off a strong, if somewhat old, Rainwind scent. She scratched conscientiously at them to leave her own trace. There was no sign of enemy presence, but there was still some distance to the border, so she wasn't finished.

From there the scent marks became more common, and Nadja took her time to renew all the ones she encountered on her way. She even detoured on more than one occasion to reach one, so that her route drew a series of erratic curves until she could see the stream beyond the trees. She approached it with extreme care, not making the slightest noise and on the lookout for any suspicious smells or sounds, but after a few seconds of vigilance without perceiving anything she took a few licks of cold water and scratched her head and neck on a nearby tree. She could smell Stormcloud marks beyond, in the first pines of the Cloudy Forest on the other side of the strip of no-man's land between the two masses of trees, but there was no sign of them having crossed it. She relaxed a little.

She began to walk her side of the border towards the south, going over the markings and sniffing out anything that caught her eye. She knew how important her mission was, but she had never been very good at staying focused. She would travel some distance, get distracted by something and quickly plant her ears back on alert. Anyway, it was good for her to have something to do alone, away from Hearth, accompanied only by the rain and the breeze in the leaves. There she could breathe without feeling everyone's gazes riveted on her and especially on Dacko, as if expecting them at any moment to... do what? What did they all expect of them?