Naira, she introduced herself. Vafri's ears twitched at this mention of liking him, and the big wolf's tail gave a tentative wag. Must be something in the water, he thought, making everyone so kind... or maybe the hot air got into them and made them amiable. No one back home gave strangers more than a warning and the flash of teeth. No one back home dreamed much of forests filled with green and not with white, either. Vafri kept his mouth shut while they walked, content to drink in now-familiar mountain air as they padded along. The smell of blood diminished as the distance rolled beneath their feet, and clean winds brushed his nose. The scent of the female at his side was clearer, too - that familiar earthy smell of wolf and something else, something he wondered if he ought to recognize. He knew the smell of sickness and of fear, but this was different and perplexed he kept pace in silence.


At some point, Vafri thought, they passed near enough the boundaries of true pack land to make him a trespasser under normal circumstances. His nose dipped to skate across the ground, catching the faint scent of the female beside him and the bitter presence of a male wolf, and another female. Maybe not strong enough - or recent enough - to be in the heart of strangers' territory but quite near enough to make him nervous. Vafri's head whipped up at the sight of a dark wolf up ahead, and his lanky figure folded back as she approached. Head down, eyes wary, he let his dark eyes follow the stranger's approach to Naira and then glanced away as the dark wolf's eyes met his own. Ava, she introduced herself. The wonderful hunter, he recalled as he eyed the small wounds on her lower legs. "Vafri Seigaldr," replied the white wolf with a brief nod. "Naira told me about you. Pleasure to see you in the flesh." His manners were holding up, at least. The thought of being surrounded weighed heavy on the white wolf's mind but he shook it off. There was no reason for her friendliness to be a trap... none.


Vafri still tensed visibly when another female appeared from behind them. He swung about to eye the newest visitor while the other wolves lingered in periphery. They were certainly... attentive, Vafri thought. He followed the white female as she, too approached the leader, and Vafri cocked his head. Nothing odd about this, really, beyond his lack of social experience. All the rubbing against familiars and licking chins and ducking his head was long past, and suddenly he didn't look forward to more of it. He thought of what Naira had told him, though, of being one of few males in a pack of females. Of hunting alongside others, of being safe within their circle of allies... When it came down to that, the pragmatic side of his brain beat down apprehension swiftly. The years ahead of him grew shorter by the day so long as Vafri roamed alone. The sky was not a kind mistress; even verdant lands like these would never coddle him.


With another brief duck of his head, then, the white male introduced himself to this Athena - noting, all the while, that she moved with less languid comfort than the other two females. Suspicious, maybe. He tried to make his lanky figure unintimidating. "And I'm Vafri. Nice to meet you. I was just, ah, thinking I might join you ladies. Your leader's promised me I won't have to fight wolverines every day." Dark eyes swept over them again, his joviality a thin veil for cautious optimism.

There was such easy friendship here - he felt it in the way they stood, the way they spoke, the way they fit together like three pieces of the same tight puzzle. It had been a long time since Vafri last witnessed comradarie in any form; he wondered briefly if his own pack had ever been so accommodating, and gave a tentative wag of his bushy tail. "I'd love a tour," offered the white wolf smoothly in response to Naira's suggestions and Ava's brief tolerance of the hint. He found he liked the threads of playfulness running in electric undercurrents just beneath their every word. They reminded Vafri of old tales, of witches and wildlife and furtive grins beneath the frosty curtain-lights of a northern sky. He wanted to smile himself after a time, and wondered if he was only dreaming or if they planned to eat him the moment he let down his guard.

That thought, at least, did bring a brief grin to the big male's face.