The journey from cat-kin village toward wolf territory took three days of travel through forest that seemed determined to confuse anyone without local knowledge.
Tira led them through paths that appeared and disappeared with the forest's apparent whims, her familiarity compensating for navigation challenges that would have delayed the expedition indefinitely without guidance.
"Way markers change weekly," Tira explained during one rest period. "The forest dreams, paths shift, only creatures who live here remember the patterns."
"Remember or recognize?" Misha asked, her documentation habits struggling with phenomena that defied administrative logic.
"Both, maybe, we grow up learning the forest's moods, after enough years the patterns become instinct rather than knowledge."
Luthra used the travel time to test Void Chains in non-combat conditions, summoning the dark links during rest periods to understand their function without stress of immediate threat.
