Trees! He could see trees, and every step he took was bringing him closer and closer towards them. The sheer excitement he felt was tangible, real and solid in everything he did. From the way he bustled forward like he didn't even feel his hurt paw to the way his tail was wagging hard enough to have his hindquarters swaying with the movement. And it was all because he could see some trees a few meters away from him. But could you blame him, though?

He hadn't seen trees in, like - in, like, forever! And maybe he was using the word forever wrong, but he couldn't help himself. It was just that the last time he had saw trees it was before he had gotten lost and before the snow had tried to eat him, which in his defense, felt like it stretched on for an eternity. He was pretty sure one whole eternity was a long time, too. But that was all behind him, now. Which meant he could hurry up and find Victoria. Then they could all go back to exploring and adventuring like they had been before the mess of Avery getting too nervous and Cottongrass getting lost.

He liked the idea of things going back to the way they were the way before. Because that meant no more endless plains of white, no more being lonely, and he just really wanted something he could understand and control. Was that too much to ask for? He didn't think so, which was why he kept on waddling towards the nearing treeline.

Once he got past the treeline he could find those weird rocky hills, and then find the place where he had last seen Victoria. She might not have found him, but he just told himself it was because she knew she didn't need to or something. He got lost a lot but that didn't mean she always needed to be the one that found him after. Besides, he had Reyes for that now!

He threw his head over his shoulder, looking the way he had came while still walking forward. Because he had something he needed to say, not sure what it was but still opening his mouth to blurt it out. There were a lot of things he needed to tell Reyes like about Victoria, everything he knew about her, how he had gotten lost, the way the snow tried to swallow him up. And -

His chest collided into something cold and rough, and he started. Violently. So violently his head snapped forward because oh geez, what did he just bump into? But all he succeeded in doing was grinding his face into the cold and rough thing, scraping his tender nose on whatever it was. He blinked in sheer bewilderment, taking a few waddling steps backward from whatever he had just bumped into. His eyes crossed and his visioned blurred while he looked up at it, eyes focusing weird before he blinked it all away.

When the world came into focus he realized he had just walked into a tree, chest first. His tail wagged, slow and bashful because that wasn't his brightest moment. He threw a cautious look over his shoulder, seeing if Reyes or anyone else saw what he just did. He didn't know how he'd explain this to, well, anyone.

Someone had saw him, and he flushed with his ears rolling back against his head in a moment of bashfulness. Because there was no avoiding it or pretending it never happened now that someone else knew. Not unless he made something up. Fortunately, he was the best at making stuff up and the she-wolf would just have to see him in action. He fluffed himself up and holding his breath, went to face the girl.

"Sure you can." He chirped, emboldened by her teasing to keep up the charade. Because now, he absolutely meant to walk into that tree now that he had an audience. "It's just not the, uh, it's just not the right type of tree. I was testing it." And as if to say see, he softly bumped his nose against the rough grooves of wood. His nose didn't go through, and there was a brief moment where he was almost expecting it to. He shook his head, pulling back and facing the girl head on with a smile spreading across his features. His tail wagged behind him, very proud of how that just played out. Suddenly it wasn't about how he walked into a tree, but how she didn't know that you could walk through some trees. It all made sense in his head somehow.

He drew his full attention to the she-wolf as she approached, bewildered but standing still when she came up to him so close. Did he have something on his face? Did he just do something to warrant a muzzle grab from her? His mind went blank and his heart skipped a beat when he felt her wet nose against his snout. Well, two could play at that game!

With a goofy smirk on his face he slowly started to move again, confusion fading away and his tail giving a pleased wag behind him. "Cottongrass." He chirped, and with the utmost care on his part he leaned forward. His eyes crossed as he tried to focus on her muzzle so he wouldn't poke an eye out or something. And very gently he booped his nose to her snout, and he pulled back with a giddy look on his face. Did he do it right? He was pretty sure he did it right. Boop the snout, ask a question, the game made sense to him. Which left him with asking a question.

"Who are you?" It wasn't supposed to be a demand, but it came out sounding a whole lot like a demand. But at least it was a happy demand. He didn't think twice about it, still preoccupied about the nose and snout bumping that had just gone on.

This girl got it, and he couldn't help but beam at her when she talked about the firmness of the trees here. Because yeah - that's what he meant. He didn't just decide it was true when she said it, or anything else, because he was smart like that. His tail gave a pleased wiggle. If anyone knew about the firmness of the trees in this area, it would definitely be him. He had just walked into one. Or rather, he had just tested the walk-through-able-ness of the tree if he were to be professional. Which he definitely was. Either way her sarcasm was appreciated, even if completely misunderstood in his mind.

He smiled, standing patient and ready before her. And as a joke - he ruffled his hackles for only a moment in response to her comment about him being fluffy. He was like, the fluffiest! It's how he got his name in the first place, by being so fluffy. And really, she should see him when he was shedding his winter coat because that's when he was at his max amount of fluffiness. Except he bit down on that comment in favour of hearing her name.

Cas, he decided, was his friend. Even if she didn't seem to realize the game they had going on when she asked him a question without bumping his snout. He'd just have to bring it up later or something, when he wasn't busy answering her question. "I'm not out here on my own." He chirped, and without messing a beat twisted to look over his shoulder. "I'm traveling with my friend Reyes -" His words dropped off when he realized the older wolf wasn't right behind him like he thought they were. Well then, he'd just have to do the talking for the both of them. It was a good thing for her that one of his many gifts was that of talking.

"We're looking for my friend Vic." He said, twisting back around to face her again. And maybe a better way to word it would be to say he was looking for Vic, and he sort of just had Reyes stringing along for the adventure. There was also the whole deal of once he found Vic they would find that other wolf, and he still had to meet Neha up in the mountains and he really hoped she wasn't waiting for him, and then there was Rigel... But Cas didn't need to know any of that, did she? He turned his full attention back to her, tail swaying behind him.

"What about you, what are you doing up here on your own?" He asked, parroting her own words back to her with a soft smile on his face. And before he could forget, gave her another little boop with the tip of his muzzle. If she let him, that was.

He was pretty sure that if boop-the-snout-and-ask-a-question were a sport, he'd be the very best at it. And if it was actually a game they were playing like he thought they were, he'd have won a long time ago. Which would mean that Cas would have lost a long time ago, and he didn't want that. But the other part of him, the very competitive part of him, wanted to claim his victory and crow about it for the whole world to hear. He decided the only right thing to do would be to forfeit, but only for her sake 'cause he was nice like that.

When he heard her offer to help him look for one of his friends, his heart started to hammer away inside of his chest and he perked up. Because the more wolves that were involved was the better! He could remember the days of exploring with Vic and Avery, and he suddenly craved those moments again. Even if Avery worried a lot and the siblings seemed to bicker for days on end because of it, and sometimes Cottongrass would feel terrible and all he wanted to do was be alone. But in that moment he forget about the bad parts about always being around someone else, and he was suddenly so sure that things with Cas would be different. He didn't know how, but childish belief told him it would be somehow. And as he listened to her every passing word, he only grew more sure of how perfect of a traveling companion she would be.

"Hey hey hey." He barked, practically bouncing on his heels as he did so. Because he had it. He had the perfect idea and she was going to hear it and love it as much as he did in that moment. "I'm trying to do the same thing, too." And maybe it a little lie when he really left home to forget about his dad's disapproving eyes and his mom's frustrated whispers of why couldn't he just try to be good. But that was boring, and the way she worded it sounded so much better and fun. It was the best way to word it and he loved it. The words fell faster from his mouth as he tried to forget about the truth. "And I'll - and I can even help you on your adventure. 'Cause my friend, my friend Vic she's only a day away and I know how to find her. And that way you can explore with me for a little bit, and meet her." He stamped his paws in giddy joy as another thought struck him.

"After you can even meet Reyes, 'cause I know he only fell behind a bit and I bet if we left right now he wouldn't even notice I'm gone. And, and -" it'd be so perfect "Yeah." He finished, still rocking away on his heels and his butt wiggling with the forcefulness of his wagging tail. His bright yellow eyes shined with the excitement he felt, and he couldn't help the silent plea written across his face. But he was just so tired of being alone, of losing his friends, and as his heart continued to swell with hope - he decided it was time he changed all of that. He waited on her response with his head cocked and his ears pricked forward.

There was no way she was going to say no, right?

Somewhere inside of his chest, hidden beneath the layers of flesh and muscle and pearly white bone, his heart crumpled. Because he already knew where Reyes was. He had seen the older wolf moments before, before he had walked into the tree and before Cas had shown up. And for him - there wasn't any mystery or adventure in finding Reyes. The other wolf had been right there. All he needed to do to get back to Reyes was to turn around and follow the paw prints that were still fresh in the snow. It wouldn't take him a full day, it wouldn't even take him a quarter of the day as long as he didn't get distracted or wander off.

His gaze dropped from her face to his own paws, now still on the ground. There was no more wiggling or bouncing on the spot, and his tail hung limp between his hind legs. All he could think about was maybe he was too loud, he was too enthusiastic, he was too annoying, he was too much and she didn't want to deal with him for any longer. Or maybe - maybe he didn't realize something at the start of the encounter that he should've. Because he did that a lot, didn't notice something until hours later when the guilt was biting deep.

A part of him tried to say that it was okay, she was just tired and everybody got tired. It didn't have anything to do with him, she couldn't help it. But the rest of him just said he had done something wrong and she was trying to get him to go away. She just wanted him to bother someone else. He drew in a careful breath and tried his best to look happy.

"Okay." He swallowed down whatever was trying to build inside of him. "He's uh, he's only uh, somewhere over there." And with a shaky smile on his face, he swung his muzzle in a vague arc to somewhere behind him. To where the ground stopped dipping up into rocky foothills covered in trees.