For the first time in her life, Nalda had slept alone, away from the Pines. After yesterday's experiences, she hadn't felt like heading home, rather, she wanted to continue exploring. It had been easy to find a small crevice in the rocks where she could curl up for the night, and she had fallen asleep surprisingly easily despite the strange, lonely surroundings. The next morning she awoke to snow once again falling, a thin layer already covering everything, and seeming to stick. As she unfolded her lanky legs, she felt the chilling bite in the air and understood why the white cover wasn't melting; Too cold... But she doubted it would last long into the day, one the sun started to warm everything up.

Trailing along the foothills of the mountain, she continued southward, feeling exhilarated by all the new, and the fact that every step brought her further and further from home. Even as the day progressed, snow continued to drift down between the trees, the sky above covered in lead grey clouds, and it was almost like the sun had gone into hibernation, its heat never truly penetrating the dense atmosphere. The russet youth felt her resolve starting to falter, the growing snow drifts making her fear that she would not be able to find her way back home. And in the end, despite her rebellious mindset, she wanted to go back home.

Word count: 235

The snow had come again!

Kyna greeted the chilly day with a pleased wag of her tail, unbothered by the nip in the air as she danced out of the family’s den. Her agouti coat had gotten quite thick as the days grew shorter, her mixed lineage preparing her well for the harshest months of the year. The girl seemed to almost double in volume (though most of was simply fluff, for she’d always remain slender in skeletal stature), and she found herself quite comfortable on her mountaintop home, even as autumn gave up its dying breaths, rolling over as winter sunk its claws into Relic Lore.

She did not call for Wren this time – their last exploration had proven fruitless. Even with the fresh blanket across the earth, they had not found anything leading to Ace (or towards Aponi, either). Unwilling to disappoint her friend again, she set forward from Silent Moon Plateau in a new direction, confident that her own paw prints would lead her home again. (That an increased rate of snowfall might erase her path never occurred to the young girl, and she carried on happily through the chilly day.)

Descending back into the woods, Kyna had half a mind to call for her pumpkin patch friend. She was certain that @Sahalie lived around here somewhere, though her actual location was unknown. ‘In the trees’, the other girl had told her, and there were plenty of those to be found. About to call for the other pup, she tipped her head to howl when she realized she was not alone – another female of similar stature caught her eye. The pup bounded forward excitedly, thinking her friend had read her mind, but closer inspection revealed this wolf to also wear reddish and brown hues. She looked nothing like shadowy Sahalie.

“…you aren’t Sahalie,” she stated, immediately scolding herself for blurting out the obvious. The other girl certainly knew who she was…or wasn’t. “…what’s…your name?”

The grey and russet girl had come almost to a standstill, for the first time feeling the nip of the cold, beginning to seep through her fur, that had yet to fill out fully for winter. She found herself at an impasse, her insecure side pulling her homeward, while the stubborn rebelliousness urged her to continue on; She had slept out here last night, she could do so again, right? Honestly, she didn't much want to anymore, she was cold and kind of hungry, and she did miss her mother, just a bit.

Then a sound made her head turn back from gazing homeward, ears perked curiously, while her tail tentatively curled in between her legs. At first she could only hear something else shuffling through the snow, and she felt a slight tremor across her back, a mixture of excitement and anxiety. Then another wolf slowly came into view, unusual, warm golden fur standing out clearly against the snow. Initially Nalda's ears both flattened back, head lowering instinctively into a defensive pose. But as the stranger came closer, she slowly raised one rust-red ear, tilting her head a little; She's… Like me? Granted, she still wasn't very experienced with identifying other wolves, but she felt quite sure that this female was close to her own age, a pup from this last spring. It made her feel more at ease, at least, the girl wouldn't be a threat. But she continued to watch her in silence, not sure whether to initiate, she'd always been more for studying rather than socialize.

In the end the choice was taken away from her as the lighter pup caught sight of her too, leaping happily through the snow before suddenly stopping, a rather disappointed look on her face. Nalda, who had taken half a step back at the sudden advance, head rearing up, startled, now stretched her muzzle forwards, slowly, wrinkling her brow a little as she looked at the stranger. I light, almost outraged voice lifted from the lass' maw, her statement making Nalda's brows unfurl and rise slightly. "I'm not." She confirmed, voice neutral, while she wondered who or what Sahalie might be; It's a name? Another pup, probably… Suddenly she felt a little more uneasy, there were more?! The unsociable girl had to restrain herself to not look over her shoulder nervously, hoping that these others would not suddenly appear; One was more than enough. Then the stranger spoke again, drawing Nalda's full attention back to her, the question voiced in a much more hesitant manner than before.

Presentations, another thing the young Zamora had little experience in, and for a moment she felt like she shouldn't answer; Isn't she supposed to say hers first? But in the end, she decided to try and be properly polite; Probably her mother's influence pushing somewhere in the back of her head. "I'm Nalda." She said, looking up to meet the other girls orange eyes briefly, before turning her own golden's down, shyly scraping at the snow with one paw; Now what..?

Word count: 508