So she said, "What's the problem baby?"
What's the problem I don't know
Well maybe I'm in love, think about it every time
I think about it, can't stop thinking 'bout it

Tenzin satisfyingly drew his soft, pink tongue over his white-and-red chops. He wanted to know more. He stifled a yawn, his energy was running low from all this hurrying around the haunted forest he called home. He watched her confused expression after he had embraced her, yet he hadn't really cared. But what the fair maiden before him said made him spark with curiosity.

"I was going to challenge my way back up... Until that dunderheaded Hervok intervened." Oh. So this is why she hasn't just earned her way back up the ranks. 'Hervok' was quite the unusual name.He made sure to make a mental note of this man, who seemed to bother her. He smirked, thinking of what they could do to get this male out of the way of their plans. Then, with no doubt, the next thing that came out of her maw fueled him to follow her cause. "No better than that rat Kamota, with his puffed up sense of self importance, thinking I would harm my own son." They were on the same page. This was good. Very good.

So good that it gave Tenzin Laylani bliss. Just after she said that, Tenzin busted out in a devious laugh. His voice sounded like rocks, raspy and undefined as he chuckled. Eventually, when he died down, the brute managed to giggle and rasp out, "Would you believe me If I tried to tell you that the rat with a toad head is my little brother? Of course, he did decide to change his last name after he was somehow... traumatized by something that happened when we were pups."

He gave her a snaggletoothed grin, glad to have someone..anyone on his side. But it didn't matter to him whether or not if people stood by him. It always seemed to be like that here, this new land, not a single wolf takes your side when you most need it most importantly. "When the time comes... would you come with me Tenzin? Would you come to the Lake and help me get my babies back?"

This time, her response took his off guard. He did say he would help her, but didn't expect her to go all emotional on him. He couldn't understand the need to pro-create and have pups. He never would, but Naira did. That was all that mattered at that moment, when Tenzin Laylani looked her dead in the eye and muttered a simple response, "Hell yeah.

So I called up the Captain, "Please bring me my wine."
He said, "We haven't had that spirit here since nineteen sixty nine."

Tenzin watched the tawny mistress sit with a ragged, devious smile that became truly beautiful to him. Yes, a gorgeous start for a new alliance. Naira seemed to be thinking. Somewhere behind those golden eyes were thoughts and dreams he wished to hear; but he knew they would have to wait for later times. "You know, Naira...I know this is a sensitive subject. I wanted to ask what your mate...is like." The large viking grunted, his voice curious but not emotional one bit.

"It wouldn't hurt to know..in case I run across him." Tenzin murmured thoughtfully. A moment later, he watched the girl rise and approach. She pressed her frosty nose against his icy fur, sending chills down his spine. She kneaded her head into his pelt, warming his skin as her ears went down and she rested her head under his chin. Her soft fur brushed against his head, and it made him smile. He titled his head down and lapped at her forehead affectionately, waiting for her to step away. But he definitely wouldn't mind her staying there forever.

He watched her tawny head move slowly to his shoulder, her mouth coming into view so that she could answer. His liquid orange eyes blinked a few times, hardening in a manner that brought back a serious air around him. She seemed to think for a moment, which made him want to take a walk inside her mind for a little while, and he started aimlessly pondering about what she thought about. His eyes glanced to the light grayish blue sky. He took in a whiff of the air. It never seemed to alter, and the only thing fresh that hung in the dense fog was the scent of the individual beside him.

"He is a large wolf, longer in the legs than wide. His coat is mostly black and he has grey eyes with flecks of blue. There is some silver about his face, and he speaks with a southern drawl... although I don't know how much good it will do. He didn't even know himself the last I saw of him." Naira's voice seemed to have a tired rasp to it. He became somewhat sleepy himself. As she spoke, he began to form a picture in his mind of this wolf. Handsome, he guessed. But in Tenzin's mind, the man seemed fast and lanky. Hopefully, not too fast to catch. If that was the case, he was probably going to be a problem for the Laylani brute.

Naira abruptly moved back from him, exposing the area of fur her head had warmed to the cold breeze. She took a deep breath and looked defeated already. A familiar sore feeling penetrated his gray and red chest, making him swell up in frustration as she began to speak and ramble about how she just couldn't do it. "Who am I fooling? We don't stand a chance. Even if we do manage to get them back I have no way to support them through winter." Ten's ears perked with newfound surprise to this woman. Doubt? He hadn't expected this, but every wolf had their pros and cons in life. Actually, he did expect her to break sometime soon. She was just feeling like life was impossible. Her situation did indeed look depressing. Children put in the paws of another pack ruled by another lady who wasn't their mother, and a physco mate who ran off.

She was desperate for a way to do this the easy way, but until Ten saw all of the options she had, he couldn't offer a single one except for this, "Look, Naira, this may seem impossible, but it's only going to be worse from here. I simply can not promise that we will track down your mate and bring him back. But one thing I can promise is that we'll get those pups back and you'll find a way to keep them alive through winter." He saw flecks of unreadable emotions in her eyes, but he didn't try to read them. He looked at her, hoping she could just pull herself together. What he said wasn't emotional or to appeal to her and what she wanted to hear. They were facts.