Okay, well. She could work with this. Hawe wasn’t really arguing with her, and more importantly, seemed amenable to the idea of a little bit of help. Now, this did make the girl wonder, of course, what would happen if an adult caught them inside the borders of the pack. The child would be fine, certainly, but she could be accused of hurting the pup, or pupnapping, or trespassing…the list of potential crimes went on and Little Crow’s mouth twisted to one side. It was definitely better to stay outside the limits.

“Mmm, okay. We can do that,” she agreed, putting her nose towards the earth – and then paused, trotting over to where Hawthorne stood. The yearling shoved her nose in the fuzzy puppy coat and inhaled deeply before setting to work, this time with at least an idea of the kind of smell she was looking for was they traced along the wet ground. “Y’tell me if anythin’ looks familiar, y’hear?” she instructed her new companion, tail swaying back and forth as she waded through all the various forest scents.

As they continued to walk, another thought struck Little Crow. “Hey…y’the alphas’ kid, ‘er somethin’?” she asked, still looking straight ahead. She was on task, after all.

Oh! Not the alphas’ kid – that was good news for Little Crow. She wasn’t sure if that made her Arwyn’s sister or not…or if this meant little Hawthorne was in a situation similar to what Namir had been in as she grew up. But she didn’t know how to explain it (nor did she particularly want to, especially if it wasn’t the same), and the younger wolf seemed to be pretty happy with her pack-and-family situation, so…

‘Crow! Crow!’

Hawe’s voice pulled her free from the downward smile such strenuous thought would inevitably lead her down, head jerking up as she glanced around for the little grey cloud. It was an excited yell, thankfully, not anything dangerous, but-- “Hey! Wait up!” she yelled after the pup, changing direction violently. Thankfully, Little Crow had long legs (and a lot of practice running) and was able to race after the little girl with relative ease, able to hop over a few logs and dart around a few stumps with little issue. When they stopped, Hawthorne had already set her big old puppy paws to work.

“Good job!” Namir fell into line beside her, quickly doing the same – and turning up a (rather old) rabbit stashed by a previous tenant of White Fire Notch. “Dig in, kiddo.”

Well, I’ll be damned…

“Ain’t never met anyone quite like you, Hawthorne,” she rumbled, something indescribable in her expression. It wasn’t quite awe, but the loner was certainly some brand of impressed as the puppy selflessly offered up the cache even though they’d just met the other wolf. Shit, at that age, Namir certainly wouldn’t have shared, especially not with a stranger. Not even with Orin or Orisa. Not even if her mother had said she’d bring her more later – because that was as likely as true as it wasn’t.

The tawny yearling watched the pup for a few more moments before shrugging and digging into the long dead rabbit. Sure, it was old, but it was entire meal – thanks, whoever left this. Hawthorne’s Mama, maybe. At the girl’s announcement, she glanced up, ears pressed forward. “Oh, yeah. Okay,” she mumbled with a mouthful. “Yeah, sure!”

Hell, why wouldn’t she visit the cub again if it meant she got a free meal? Her tail whipped back and forth behind her, mouth still full. Off went the little girl, back to the pack and her home and her mama, and that was just fine. Little Crow had a meal to finish, and then it was back to finding a safe place to sleep.

Fade.