Once again, Askan found himself inching down a snow covered hill. Each foot was placed with the upmost care, as the last thing he wanted was to do was tumble to his doom down the side of this goddamn ravine. Sure, the snow might cover his fall a little, but snow or not a fall from this height would hurt. A lot. Why was he even here anyway? Didn't he have better things to do than to skid down this hill like an otter in deep snow? Of course he did. He'd much rather be at home, tending to his duties at the Field, but something was worrying him. He had to deal with the issue now, otherwise it would bother him to no end.

After several more moments of tedious skidding and sliding, Askan's feet hit flat ground and he huffed a sigh of relief. He was still in one piece, all four legs were intact, thank the Gods. Shaking himself off, Askan glanced about. Nightingale Palisade. He'd been there a few times before, but he'd never come there with a purpose in mind, a goal he wanted to achieve. And what was that goal? To help better Wild Rye Field's relations with White Fir Notch of course! Why else would he venture out in this goddamn snow? If he wanted to go for a leisurely walk, he'd have gone somewhere with flat terrain. Maybe somewhere with not a lot of snow.

But no, he was on the hunt for the Notch border. By no means did he intended to swan right in, like an unwelcome guest. That'd do nothing but ruin their chance of positive relations with the Notch wolves, even Askan knew that. He'd be polite, or as polite as he could manage, and see if they could work something out perhaps? He didn't know what- per se- but in the end he hoped his efforts to visit would shine the Rye wolves in a positive light. They had to be good neighbours if they wanted to live in peace, that was something Askan had come to realise after a while of thought.

"Right, come on Askan you can do this. Just let the Notch wolves know we're not here to cause trouble. Simple." He mumbled to himself, an uneasy frown on his face. Like it would be so easy. As though he could be so civil.

Askan had simply been muttering to himself, it wasn't his intention to catch the attention of another. But that was irrelevant it seemed, as even though he hadn't meant to, someone had overheard him. There was nothing flattering about being caught in the act of talking to himself, it was something weirdos did, or the lonely. Not Askan, he wasn't weird and he certainly wasn't lonely. He had a pack and even if he hadn't, solitude suited him well enough. He'd never fallen so far that he'd resorted to his own voice as a source of companionship. Rather than call him out though, the strangers voice merely called out for a response, as though they weren't sure whether they'd heard his voice, or were simply hearing things.

Askan frowned and glanced about, trying to find the source of the voice. They weren't so close that they had been talking conversationally, but they hadn't yelled either. Their voice had carried on the wind, but only a little. They were close, but not so close that he was in danger of walking into them. The Rye wolf mulled over his response as he trudged along, still hunting for the source of that voice.

"I'm here." Askan responded, his voice firm and steady. He continued forward and noticed a somewhat flat outcrop on the side of the hill. It was hard for him to be certain, but he thought he saw a white wolf blending into the white scenery. Hopefully they were a Notch wolf, he'd feel like a tit otherwise."I'm from Wild Rye Fields, from the Lowlands. You a Notch wolf?"

Askan cleared his throat and gathered his thoughts. Okay, he'd found a Notch wolf-not one he recognised but that was fine. It'd probably make this easier, as they wouldn't know what he was usually like, they wouldn't know how callous he could be. But that didn't matter now, he could do this, he just had to mind what he said. He could be polite, he had to be.

"I was hoping to see if we could work on relations between our packs." Askan explained, reiterating his previous thoughts. "The last we spoke, things got... Tense."

That was putting it quite lightly, to say the least. But thinking about that too much now wouldn't do him any good.

But now that was all said and done, and Drestig had helped smoothen things out between the packs. That wasn't to say they were best of friends, because they truly weren't, but things were far better than they would have been if Askan had handled the situation alone. Even he could admit that. So this was his way of helping, of making amends. If the two of them could come to some sort of agreement then perhaps their packs would be on better terms. That was what he hoped for at least. But for that wish to come to fruition, Askan had to be nice. He had to be civil. He'd done it before, so he knew it were possible but that didn't mean he found it any less taxing.

"My name is Askan Selwyn, Wild Rye Field's second. What's yours?"

That was a good place to start, right? That was polite, civil, no one could be offended by that. From what he could tell this Notch wolf seemed the approachable, reasonable sort so surely he would accept his request. And he'd introduced himself in the proper manner, so no matter what it couldn't be said that the Yukon wolf had conducted himself inappropriately. He hadn't snapped or snarked at the Notch wolf, he was on his very best behaviour. For now, as long as he could keep this up. He wasn't going to make any promises he couldn't keep. The way he saw it though, as long as the white wolf was reasonable he'd do the same.

He was willing, good. By no means was that a firm yes, but the fact that he said that meant he was at least going to try and help Askan out. He wasn't making any promises, and Askan didn't expect him to, but this was better than he had predicted. Being the glass is half empty sort of guy, he had sort of assumed his request was going to be turned down and that the white wolf would send him packing. Askan couldn't help but let out a huff in relief. But before he could respond, the other continued, seemingly curious about his first encounter with Notch wolves.

Askan wasn't sure what to say about that. He'd been there, so he knew firsthand what had happened, but how much information was he supposed to divulge? He assumed that Gent and his mate would have told his underlings about their encounter with Wild Rye Fields, but apparently not. Maybe he had forgotten, or didn't deem it necessary. Either way, it wasn't really Askan's business what Gent did or did not tell his subordinates. Still, Askan felt as though telling the Notch wolf what happened would help his case, it would make him seem agreeable, as though he was willing to play the game by his rules. So with that in mind, Askan cleared his throat and began to explain what he'd meant by 'tense.'

"It was a few months back, Wild Rye Fields wasn't officially established yet. Gent and your lead female approached the borders, I intercepted them- as is my job. I didn't know who they were at the time, probably could have used a bit more tact, then my alpha showed up and they had a talk. Gent wanted to know what we were doing, whether we were a threat and all that. Like my alpha said, we just want to live in peace."

That was about it, he'd left out a detail or two, like how accusing and crass Gent had been, but that was neither here nor there. Besides, he doubted the Notch wolf would appreciate Askan insulting his alpha like that. If this Notch wolf did the same to Drestig, well Askan would have a thing or two to saw about that. But it was clear he didn't have to worry about that, this Notch wolf was reasonable if anything.

"Nice to meet you Emrys, and all that." Askan responded with a quick dip of his head. Wasn't he being so good? So civil. His mouth tasted like dirt, as though he was kissing Emrys' feet. How shameful, but it needed to be done. "As for what I had in mind, I was thinking of something along the lines of... Gent seemed concerned that my pack's location would cut off your access to the caribou herds in the lowlands. We don't want that. There's more than enough for everyone. I just want to see if there's anything I can do to help, ease things a little. In case any bitterness remains."

Askan didn't really want to go through it again. Wasn't once enough? At least, Emrys was sorry about it, and Askan supposed he wasn't entirely to blame. He simply wanted to fully understand the situation between their packs before he made any promises. He wanted to approach the situation with all the relevant information at hand. Askan could respect that, even if it was a little frustrating. Resisting the urge to sigh, Askan nodded, accepting his fate with as much grace as he could muster.

"Nah, don't worry about it. I get it." Askan dismissed his apology with a shrug.

This was tedious, for sure, but like he said he understood where the Notch wolf was coming from. If they were going to try and straighten things out then they both had to be on the same page. Otherwise, was the point of even trying? If they weren't equals in this then neither of them would truly have anything to gain.

"I can't remember their exact wording, cause it was a while back. But I know for sure my alpha made it clear that we weren't, nor would we ever be a threat to your pack. It's not in our interests you know? Not to sound rude or nothing, but with winter here we've got better things to do with our time and energy. And even if it wasn't, from the start my alphas have always made a point that they want to live in peace. And from what I could tell, your alpha seemed to accept it. Was a little pissed whe'd settled so close, but was willing to take my alpha's word on it. And since we've been here we've done nothing to make trouble with you lot. In fact, you know my alpha's kid is friends with one of Gent's kids. Ryker, I've met him myself. If we really wanted to make trouble you'd know about it by now."

Askan wasn't used to talking for such a prolonged amount of time. But in doing so, he hoped he'd gotten his message across. They were not a threat and unless things went sour between their packs they wouldn't ever be.