5/10/2025, 4:10 PM
Spring had made the sea much more manageable to traverse - Chou had wasted no time crossing the channel that split the Rest from the mainland and enjoying the swamp's springtime blessings it had to offer. Thunderstorms and peat-laden scents, fawns tucked in the dappled shade and frogs competing for obnoxiousness amongst the cacophony of renewed life.
She had spent the morning hours on the mainland, foraging around and assessing the prey-scents in the area to determine if it was worth crossing the channel to let the population of food on the Island recover a little. But the huntress now returned to the seaside, chin lifted to let the breeze caress her face as her petite paws picked their way nimbly around rocks and sand.
She didn't notice the man's scent - he blended into the sea seamlessly. His pelt was like the sand scraped off the seafloor, topped with the deepest shadows curled in the waves' cradle. Her mink-lined ears pricked with interest - the wolf stood, staring at the distant purple smudge of the wisteria flowers. Perhaps he knew of the Dynasty, or the Fujiwara clan? Perhaps not - and asking was out of the question, of course.
The huntress approached, angling herself so she'd be well within his peripheral vision before she was within range of his fangs. Her head was cocked slightly with curiosity, as she glanced meaningfully between the distant island and the shadowy stranger. Choumi knew even with the salt-water still faint on her now-dried coat, beneath it lay the possessing miasma that marked her as one of the Dynasty. Do you know them? Do you wish an audience with the Empress? - concepts too complex to communicate clearly, but she hoped he'd extrapolate whatever queries necessary from her questioning gaze to sate her curiosity.
