Naira nosed at the newly created cache, pushing snow back over the chunk of meat she had managed to tear from the abandoned carcass. She was hard of hearing, so it was pure luck she caught the sound of @Kerberos's howl, pushing the last bit of snow into place before she made her way back to the den. There he was waiting and she greeted him with a smile, a nudge and a wave of her tail. He had also called for @Triell but she couldn't be sure where the dark wolf was. They could be waiting a while.

"Thank you, for taking such good care of the children," she had noticed how Reiko seemed to shadow the man, and how he handled the extra burden with ease, even Treyah had taken a liking to the man. If it weren't for Kerberos and Maera they would still just be a little band of loners trying to make it through the winter. "Is it something I can help you with or would you rather wait for Triell to join us?" She was more than hapy to wait but if she was going to stand still for too long she would have to fetch her stick to save her joints from stiffening now that she was up and about.

It was all so easy once again, and perhaps it was the way she had mellowed in her old age, or maybe she just didn't care so much anymore, but she felt this little family was going to be one that stuck around. A harder, younger Naira might not have thought to trust such friendly wolves so easily, nor let the familiarity of a name draw her in, now though, well she realised a little better each time that if wolves were going to leave then they would, and hadn't she done the same herself more than enough to let it slide if others chose to do the same? "Do you have itchy paws or something?" It was a good natured tease as she raked through her memories of this side of the mountain, wondering where the best place to start might be for the aspiring scout.

"There used to be a pack in the Willows, to the east, south of the Grove, just below the mountain, and there was one in the marsh south of us too. From there, north-west to the Cedarwood as well, and then north of them in the thicket had been a pack as well. Her sister had been in the Cedarwood, she wondered if she still was? And Nina had loved that thicket... "It's been some years, of course, and whether or not they still stand..." she shrugged. No doubt there had been changes in management and others had vanished entirely. At least it would give him a direction to aim for.

Not exactly, she managed a smile in response. She couldn't fault him if he did, she, herself was a nomad at heart, wandering wherever favourable tides would take her. It wasn't a life for everyone, but the adaptability it gave her was probably the only reason she still survived today. That the willows still stood wretched her heart in two directions. "Just be cautious," she warned with a strained smile. An alliance might be too much to ask of that particular pack, unless things had changed since that blundering idiot dragged one of their youngsters days in the wrong direction. She couldn't blame them for reacting as they had, but she had also lost her mate to the conflict, shadows of dark memories clearly danced across her face.

She was broken from her thoughts as Triell joined them, his cheerful tone enough to drag her from her memories. She offered the dark Tainn an apologetic smile as she considered all that this could mean for her, and them. Perhaps they had chosen the wrong place to settle, maybe they should have gone further north? Not to the Ghastly Woods, she couldn't live there again, but perhaps to the spring or even down to the lagoon? Anxiety beginning to mount she shifted her toes through the snow, trying to ground herself, to remind herself that everything was okay, after all, hadn't she been the one to bring up the Willows in the first place?

Why hadn't she checked as they past? How could she have forgotten?