Dark chocolate-brown ears swivelled this way and that atop the shadowy agouti's head as he padded quietly through the trees. His movements were not those of a frightened man, nor his vigilance as he walked a symptom of unease. Peirus Asurn was a cautious man, yes, but that caution was a pragmatic one. No one who wandered carelessly came away from the experienced unscathed, and if he must waste time and energy battling an inferior opponent, he would prefer to have the element of surprise solidly on his side.

Even a blind mouse may be lucky once, after all. A smirk twisted his lips for a moment. Surely the same must be true for worthless mutts. Logic dictated as much: Any dull creature with even the merest iota of instinct could be fortunate enough to deliver Peirus one day less to be living should he fail to notice them before their attack. Constant vigilance was merely another tool by which the mutts and all their fellow beasts were kept in their proper places beneath his creamy paws.

Burning orange eyes took in the man's surroundings from beneath a perpetually furrowed brow as he paused for a moment to raise his head and taste the air of this new place. Good, there was water nearby. That was truly a fortunate turn of events, for Peirus had managed to choose a route that lead him near few sources of clean water, and his last drink had been several hours ago. Now his throat was dry again, and he doubted that the blood of whichever creature he brought down next would be enough to sate his thirst alongside his hunger.

It was not much longer after he tasted the scent of the water that he found the source of its siren call: a gleaming, mirror-flat pond surrounded by thickly growing trees and foliage. The morning sky seemed to have found its twin in the undisturbed waters, and the sight was a lovely one even to a man who had little time for lovely things. Peirus allowed himself a brief moment to pause and take in the view before he tread down the the edge of the water and bent his head to drink, sending ripples scurrying across the surface. His seething gaze flitted out beyond the surface of the lagoon, joining his restless ears in maintaining his surveillance of the rest of this unfamiliar environment.

It would be a foolish interloper indeed who attempted to surprise him here. He would hear or see them coming, and he now had a prize worth defending should the need arise. Black claws dug into the soft earth of the shoreline at the thought of the punishment he would mete out should he be attacked; his brown and black-carved tail wagged slowly in anticipation. Truly, a part of him nearly hoped the need would arise for him to rend and tear; it had been far too many consecutive days since the last time his teeth had met in another predator, and he was eager for the challenge.

It would seem Peirus was not doomed to a lonely drink, after all. One ear pricked forward, settling as his eyes did upon the shapely young woman across the lagoon. He did not lift his head yet; the woman had not noticed him, it would seem, and he was too thirsty to bother with her until she did. Only the ripples his tongue sent dancing across the water to her seemed to alert the darkling wolf to his presence, and the Asurn could not help but smile as her eyes finally came to rest upon him. Even still, he did not raise his head to greet her; it would seem she was considering trying her paw at one of the myriad fish that appeared to inhabit the water.

Peirus sat back after another few laps at the water, idly licking away the lingering moisture across his lips and muzzle as he continued to watch this newcomer quietly. It was early yet to consider approaching any woman with the intent to woo her to his side, but that was of little concern to Peirus. The sooner he had some pretty thing eating out of his paws, the longer he would have to ensure she would bear him worthy heirs to strengthen his power. And the winter is coming on fast, ready to kill, he mused. Best to have strong roots set down before the frost touches the sapling.

Of course, for the moment, all of this was speculation. He had yet to see how this woman before him fared with aquatic prey; though he was no expert in the capture of fish, Peirus saw this as a chance to monitor his erstwhile companion for any signs of speed or agility. An Asurn could not build his power on strength alone, after all. A very large rock rolled down a steep cliff was only dangerous to that which did not move more quickly.

All the same, if the woman had neither speed nor agility to her name, perhaps there was some cunning there instead that might be worked with. The ability to sway the foolish with a pretty bromide here and there was another rather important trait for a worthwhile wolf to possess; if this woman was slow in the physical sense, perhaps she was swifter within her mind. Again, her attempt to snare any fish - should the attempt be made - could prove an invaluable insight as to whether this one was sharp enough to be worth his time.

Peirus couldn't help leaning forward just a tad as he waited for the woman to make her move. He could just make out the shadow of a rather large fish - a sturgeon, if he had to guess - beneath the surface. If that was to be her prey, he would be well and beyond pleased to see any sort of success come of the other's venture. The beast of the lagoon appeared at least double either Peirus' or the woman's length, and likely had the muscle and girth to match.

At last, the woman struck; Peirus scarcely flinched as the sturgeon's tail cleared the water in an angry slap, erecting a white wall of water and foam behind it as it thrashed in response to its attacker's ill-aimed lunge. Cunning and courage appeared to desert her entirely (if indeed they had ever been present before,) and the woman bounded free of her quarry and made her way clumsily to Peirus' side of the lagoon. Well... he had looked for speed as well as intelligence, and where she clearly lacked in the latter she had an abundance in the former. He had seen fish cross deep water like this nearly as swiftly as she did, and her lack of grace as she fled seemed to slow her down not at all.

Finally convinced to move, Peirus side-stepped away from the area the woman steered herself towards, and managed to put at least the sturgeon's length between them by the time she finally dragged herself onto dry land on legs that shook. She stank with fear, and her breathless mutterings as she watched the sturgeon patrol the bank in her wake only served to further convince Peirus that both she and the fish were equally aware who had won that little... encounter.

He finally allowed himself a quiet snort as the woman turned her wide eyes on him and voiced her question - no, certainly this one was not possessed of any wit. What sort of fool attacked something she could not identify? She had been closer than Peirus to the beast; surely she must have had the opportunity to sense, in some way, that it was an incredibly ambitious target for a single wolf to go after.

He supposed this still could not be deemed a complete loss. Idiocy did not tend to be a dominant gene, in his experience, and the idiocy of whoever his future pup-mother might be could prove useful to actually getting pups of his own into this world. Speed, now, that could be useful; Peirus was stronger than he was swift, and his offspring could benefit from having parents who had a variety of physical assets to pass down. Very well, he would give this woman another chance - she certainly had the size of a timber, not to mention a rather lovely black pelt and suitably warm-colored eyes. Perhaps she was at the very least a swift learner.

"Can it be you fear to die to a scaled creature with less than half a brain?" he teased, his voice light with good humor and his words nothing but bromide. "That, my dear, appeared to be a sturgeon - and a rather old one, at that. A more experienced huntress would not have chosen such a challenging target - even small ones can be difficult for more than a handful of wolves to bring down."

He dipped his head politely as he continued, "My name is Peirus Asurn. Might I inquire as to yours?"

Definitely a fool, Peirus mused as he listened to the woman rattle on. If she was so terrible at fishing, why had she made any attempt at all? Although her lack of skill with the process certainly explained why she had thought herself sufficiently prepared to go after a fish she had clearly not taken the time to properly size up. He kept his thoughts hidden behind a polite smile and tilted his head to the side as he commented, "I suppose we all have our shortcomings--"

He saw her shift and again moved out of the way, though this time he was not quick enough to entirely avoid catching more than a few stray beads of water. How lovely of her to give him no warning at all besides her own body language... oh, well. At least she still seemed happy to speak with him for the moment, and her idiocy and... interesting accent and speech pattern were all relatively minor barriers, easily overcome with a little patience. It was about time he saw how he might turn this encounter into something a bit more beneficial than the mere spectacle it had been thus far. He didn't mind having been entertained, of course, but he really should get around to addressing some sort of actual business.

Once she had finished drying herself off, Peirus returned to his seat beside the young Archer and smiled again as her next question addressed his business here directly. Well, at least she knows enough to do her job properly... And yet not enough, it would seem, for any hint of caution to color her tone. He sincerely hoped she didn't expect him to answer her question honestly. She really was far too pretty for that sort of nonsense.

"I am merely wandering, at the moment," he told her, making sure as he spoke to support the sincere tone of his voice with the calm behavior of an honest man. "I left my old pack behind when it became too crowded to support the lot of us." Which was not a lie, but neither was it the entire truth. There were reasons why he had felt he could no longer thrive in the original Asurn pack, and their size was only one of those.

He sighed quietly and through his nose, allowing his shoulders to drop just a fraction as if weighed down by weariness. "It has been a struggle, I will admit." Gleefully so, were it not for the façade he needed to maintain at the moment. An in was an inn - or something of the sort. Some idioms tended to go in one ear and out the other for the Asurn... In any event, he had no qualms about pretending to need to support of a pack if that was the effort required to infiltrate one. "Still, I think I have managed rather well - as well as any lone wolf can, at any rate." Here he flashed another smile at Morganna, curious to see how well he was winning the woman over with his performance.

Peirus allowed himself to display no amusement as Morganna sized him up, and instead merely glanced towards the woman again as though he was waiting for her to respond somehow to what he had said. From the thoughtful expression on her face, she was clearly weighing something against the other behind those lovely eyes of hers. If Peirus had to wager a guess, he would put everything to his name on the odds that she was considering the benefits of having him as her pack's newest member.

The next words out of her mouth seemed to confirm as much, and her leading question almost made him smile. Almost. Do I fight? Dear woman, is your life just one more lie? He kept the sardonic thought to himself, however, and patiently heard her out as she clarified what her pack seemed most in need of: "bulk," as she so charmingly put it. A newborn whelp would know what that meant; he wondered why she could not simply tell him they were looking for warriors. Perhaps her vocabulary was not broad enough to clearly state as much, the poor thing. Living in the company of mutts must have that effect on a wolf.

"I do fight," he answered calmly, dipping his head again as a sign of respect. "I would even go so far as to say I am fairly good at it." Again he swallowed back the urge to grin at his own joke; she would not have recognized it for one, surely, and laughing over such a comment might ruin his chances of being allowed entry into her pack. He had taken note of her failure to indicate that she wanted him to demonstrate how well he fought; until she spoke further on the subject, he could not be certain whether that was the result of forgetfulness or of a weakness of the body. To that end...

"However," he added, hesitating as if uncertain he should continue. "I have avoided getting into any tangles on my journey thus far for the sake of simple necessity; it would have been difficult to travel while nursing any serious injuries. I may have grown a bit rusty as a result - nothing irreparable, of course," he added, quickening his words just a hair to suggest concern that he had put her off of inviting him to her home. In the dark, private corners of his mind, he ultimately could not care less if she turned him away; there were always other mutts to beguile.

"If I may," he began, and now he kept his voice low and careful, as though he was concerned he might be overstepping a boundary with what he had to say. "I have a great deal of experience acting as a guardian; it was my primary role in the pack I left." And with that, the bait had been set out. Now it was time to see if this little mouse would snatch it up or thumb her nose at it, instead.