Thessaly stood at the edge of a cliff, overlooking the ocean. It was extremely early in the morning, the sky was just now starting to change color in preparation for sunrise. She was going to miss this encampment: the cool ocean breeze, the fascinating sea life, the relaxing sound of the waves, and, of course, watching this beautiful sunrise. Unfortunately, today was the Accolade's final day at this camp. The wind was turning, the seasons getting colder, and it was time for them to move on. She had already scouted out their new location in a forest to the Southwest of here. It had taken her the better part of three days to travel there on her own, so Thessaly estimated it would take the tribe a week to get there together.
The plan was to spend the whole winter at the new location, in an area that, while still cold, was unlikely to see too much snowfall. Even though Thessaly lived in a snowy mountain for most of her life, it was always better if the Accolade didn't have to deal with difficult weather. A lot of thought and preparation went in to choosing a new location for the camp. Thessaly needed to find a place with enough space for her modestly-sized tribe to be comfortable, but she also had to consider space for foxes that they might take in and care for temporarily. There had to be enough food and water for every fox, and the camp needed to be accessible and easy to navigate around for any potentially injured foxes that the Accolade rescued.
The forest they were heading to had a sizeable, unoccupied clearing where they could set up their camp, a wide, rapidly flowing river, and a lot of biodiversity, perfect for hunting and gathering medicinal herbs. There were some stranger features to the area they were going to be staying in, though. Thessaly had noticed some deep cracks in the earth in certain places. Most of them were thin, but she had seen at least one wider crack that someone could potentially get stuck in, or a kit could fall through completely. That one was pretty far away from where the Accolade would actually be living, but she would warn her tribe about it nonetheless.
The cracks in general warned Thessaly of potential earthquakes in the area. She had already told her tribe of that possibility, and would make sure they were prepared for the worst. The threat of an earthquake wouldn't stop the Accolade from moving to an area. You can't avoid natural disasters no matter where you are, so the Accolade prepares for them, learns from them, and works to minimize any damage done and save lives.
Thessaly shook herself out of her thoughts as the sun finally began to peek over the horizon. She didn't take her eyes off the sunrise, but her ears twitched as she her footsteps behind her. Two pairs of paws, she noted, guessing who might be approaching.
Tios and Godric reached Thessaly just as the sun fully came over the ocean. They sat on either side of her, the three of them always able to enjoy a comfortable silence together. Thessaly finally pulled her eyes away from the sun as it got too bright. "Good morning, Godric, Tios," she said quietly, with a small smile. "Are you two ready for the day?" They both voiced their affirmatives as the three of them began walking back to the encampment. A lot of tents had already been disassembled and packed up, since they hadn't had any outsiders staying with them, but there was still quite a bit more to do before the tribe was ready to start their journey
Tios and Thessaly got back to work packing things up, while Godric agreed to gently wake up the rest of the tribe. He walked around to each of the tents and called in a sing-songy voice through the thin leaf walls, "Good morning~! Today's the day, time to get ready for the big move!"
