Raela was very much preoccupied. The russet woman was tearing through the powdery snow behind an equally white and fluffy rabbit, a rabbit that was incredibly startled and streaking for safety. It was a good use of the woman's time and pent up aggressions with her season bearing down. Her scent was stronger now though, and it had alerted her quarry much too soon. The critter was zig-zagging wildly between the timbers, skipping across the snow's surface while the heavier wolf sort of blasted right through. It was so hard to track movement in the flurry of white, and this hare was a sprightly one. 

Predator and prey dashed through the valley, both oblivious to any other living things in the vicinity. Raela had already pursued this thing for too long, it was going to find a place to hide soon and she was going to loose it. That, or give up and save her energy for a less botched attempt at lunch. Before the thought could even fully materialize the varmint was ducking down into a burrow, leaving the frustrated wolf behind. Raela skidded to a stop just outside the earthy shelter, sticking her nose into the entrance and pulling back with a snort. It was gone. 

So many hunts ended this way, and it was nothing to get that upset over; there wasn't a hunter in the world that didn't fail at hunts, and certainly no wolf that caught more animals than they lost. The Queen of the Crest wasn't supposed to be pouting like a child, but she was. The woman turned from the burrow, body almost seeming to snap with agitation. She took a deep breath. It had to be the hormones; she was so on edge and tense and she hated it. It wasn't like her at all. Raela's sunny eyes turned up from the valley to one of the hills above, unaware of the fact that someone up there might very well have caught a glimpse of her ill-fated hunt between the trees. She angled herself toward home, and began padding back beneath the pleated at an easy trot; head lowered to a meager shoulder height. She would find something else to eat. 

She was plodding along, still feeling a little of the sting of failure and the overblown frustration that the season had brought when her brilliant yellow eyes just happened to drift upward. They picked along the rocky hillside, finding the standard trees and shrubs and not thinking much of it. That was until they snagged on something not so tree-like. Raela was lost in her own thoughts enough that it took a moment for her usually attentive self to realize what the smudge on top of the ridge really was. Her honey pools widened in acknowledgment and she came to a stop. Just how long had they been watching? Had she looked like a fool in front of a stranger?

The Queen of the Crest wasn't sure if this was a sinister encounter, or just another wandering yearling. It was too hard to tell from her position below him and the wind was not being helpful. The woman simply stared for a moment, before her jaws parted in some sort of howling-woof; a shortened call meant to cross the considerable amount of frigid air between them. Her eyes locked onto his shape; glowing with a sort of curiosity and some apprehension. Who was he and what was he doing up there? The matriarch's tail came up to sway back and forth a couple times in tentative greeting. Raela at least, was not here to eat him. 

Her autumn-colored ears stood on end to receive his salutation; one that was not entirely unlike Raela's own. She was grateful for the placid, even amiable tone as her tail came to rest easily at her hocks. Golden eyes tracked him until he backed away from the ledge and vanished from sight. The pack wolf had a hunch that the stranger was trying to find a way down to her from his perch, and so she waited with rapt attention. Her hearing pinpointed the male's footsteps as he descended. When at last the youth's russet coat emerged and swept easily through the trees Raela took him in fully. 

The thinner frame of a yearling stood there in the snow, but he was definitely her superior in height. If he hadn't been so tall she might have wondered if this one had Asurn blood in him. Thankfully it seemed to not be the case. She met his similarly colored eyes for a second, not wanting to make prolonged eye-contact and irritate the boy. He hadn't spoken a single word yet, and, seeing as they were now within conversational distance, the Queen steeled her nerves to greet him properly. 

"Hey," she started tentatively."What brings you here?" Well it might not have been her turf, it was still land in some proximity to it. It was better for the Crest Alpha to know what was going on in these parts and who was passing through them if she could. Even better, if she could find more lone wanderers to add to their pack. The ranks were in sore need of males in particular, so perhaps she was in luck.  

His answer was quite normal and she was ready to dismiss the lad as a typical vagabond, until he mentioned that he had 'woken up' here. Confusion took her golden eyes as well as her expression. How could one just wake up somewhere else? Her head tilted to the side gingerly in thought. She wanted to ask him, but just how took the woman a moment to figure out. Raela's brows furrowed and she lifted her gaze to look the boy over once again. "You just... woke up?" Her voice was soaked with curiosity. 

"What happened?" The  question seemed to follow naturally. She was perfectly fine with the yearling doing some exploring or whatever, but this was something she had never heard in her almost four years in the world. No member of her pack and certainly no loners had ever said such a thing. There was a hint of concern seeping into the Queen's tone as she realized that perhaps this could affect one of their own. Had he been ill? Should she even be standing near this wolf right now? The tension returned to her muscles reflexively as her sunshine eyes swept up and down his lanky form. He looked fine, so either this occurred long ago or it had not caused him physical harm. However, that made it no less dangerous; she knew of ailments of the mind. Sometimes those were even worse.