Stormrunner & Agarian

Agarian had kept to Hawk's instructions and let Firelight take the lead, even if his excitement urged him to run faster and find the wounded deer they'd caught scent of. By the time the young wolf had left the mountains behind and entered the vast prairie fields, he'd all but forgotten about the scent of bear earlier, or the fact that his mother had fallen behind the pack. His nose was alternating between sniffing the ground and testing the air, and at the moment he'd come to a stop in order to rear up on his hind legs and get a better vantage point when he found himself in a swath of tall grasses.

Much further behind his children, Stormrunner was dutifully checking his stride and keeping pace with Iopa. He was hoping the change in elevation and a more even terrain might help her labored breathing, and kept a grey ear swiveled in her direction as they went.

Crow, Hawk, Waterlily, Iopa, Firelight, & Icara

The pale-coated Firelight was bounding leagues ahead of her companions in her eagerness to pursue the deer. She stopped only now and then to make sure she was still on the trail before pushing forward again. Autumn-faded grasses and brown-leafed shrubs whipped past the yearling as she went, relying mostly on her sense of smell now that they'd gotten into the thick of the prairie.

Icara kept a steadier pace, following her cousin's suggestion. Mirroring more of her brother's actions, the stockier she-wolf would stop now and then to peek above the billowing grasses, hoping to catch sight of their prey, or at least see what direction they were going in the sea of prairie plants and rolling hills. Upon Agarian's latest pause, Icara came up beside him, panting lightly, "See anything yet? We've got to be getting close, I don't think a wounded deer would go so far!"

Hawk had taken a quieter approach than his little cousins. The golden-eyed brute had teamed up with Waterlily and fanned out on either side of the three youngsters, with him on the right and Lily stalking on the left. Together, they would help keep a lookout for any danger, allowing the yearlings to focus more on their injured quarry. Aiding them in this wide net was Crow, who'd hung back a little further behind Agarian and Icara; if the deer managed to double back and escape either of them, it'd be running straight into the old wolf's jaws.

Dropping further and further from the main pack, Iopa's rasping breath hadn't improved much since coming down from the mountains. "..I'm sorry, Storm. I don't want to hold the pack back; let me rest here, and you go on ahead." Her paws slowed and came to a stop, while her sides continued to expand and contract with more effort than they should for the light saunter she'd been moving in. Hanging her sable head downward, the alphess added, "The kids need you more than me right now; I just need to catch my breath, and I'll catch up after that."