Aponi and @Serach had made up and from that moment the woman had tried to be a better mate moving forward. But, she was still finding it difficult to go from zero to one hundred, so they had been small baby steps. She had started to sleep by his side again and join him on his border patrols in the evening and some of the anxiety that she had felt before was alleviated. Soon his pups would stir within her once more and everything else would be behind them, and though she hated to admit it her dreams had been filled with the mountain once more. She would probably never ask him to really leave his trees but her own heart ached for the stony peaks and the fact that he was willing to consider it soothed her.

Still, her paws itched in the mornings when she woke up and she wanted to get out and wander, maybe make it halfway to the mountain before turning back. But the stench of her heat still wafted around her and so Aponi knew that she couldn't go very far, even if she did Serach would be hot on her paws. She knew it was just instinct for him to be so protective, but it still grit on her nerves as she tried to recuperate from her cold toes.

Wandering along the borders her blue eyes drifted over the invisible line, aimlessly listing from tree to tree. It was during this bored, only half paying attention state that she detected something that interested her. Abandoning all rationality she crossed the borders and headed out into the woods, recklessly following the smell from her past, not truly registering who she was seeking out.

People have told me I don't look the same

He’d continued his walking, heading towards the northern lands that he could say he was more familiar with when he noticed one scent in particular growing stronger, his brow furrowing as he glanced over his shoulder, his nose sniffing to try and garner more information. He knew this scent from somewhere – it was a female scent, and she was still in heat… but it was more than that. There was something both relaxing and terrifying about it… The confusion shown in his eyes as he spotted that familiar silver form against the dark backdrop the woods provided.

Her scent was enticing, as always… and in a way, it reminded him of Natalia’s, which silently made his heart ache and his mind start to go fuzzy. How was it, after all this time away, the first wolf who he came across upon his return was the one who had done the most damage to him over the years? What was next? Would he run into Jynx? Or maybe his birth mother? He stood still, chocolate brown eyes raking over her form as he analyzed her movements. He truthfully wasn’t sure what he should say to her, if anything. He seemed to recall a situation starting out like this over two years ago… and he’d barely made it out of that one unscathed. "Aponi." He finally mustered up her name, his deep voice holding strong and confident, perhaps unlike his behavior back when they were pups.

Aponi hadn’t registered who’s scent she had been following out of the territory and into the woods until she saw his chocolate form standing there. Her blue eyes widened in surprise and her heart skipped a beat though the rest of her expression remained composed. It was like seeing a ghost, the last time she had seen him was two years ago when she had failed to seduce him. And now, now he stood almost at her doorstep while the itch of her heat still stung her spine despite what her and Serach had done.

What the hell was he doing here?

The corners of her silver muzzle turned up into a smile, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes as they swept over Karpos. He had aged like fine wine, is what she would have thought if she knew what wine was. A slight greying of his muzzle made him look distinguished, and the confidence in his deeper voice, it was all very attractive. Or maybe that was just her heat taking over her brain. Realizing that she had been staring Aponi’s smile grew, ”Karpos.”

People have told me I don't look the same

He couldn’t help but smirk at her as her eyes widened. She still held that famous composure, kept everything inside, he was sure… but at least he managed to pull some kind of reaction out of her. His named rolled off her maw and he raised his chin slightly, tilting his head to the side as if questioning whether or not that was all she was capable of saying. He had to admit, he got some sort of satisfaction at her wordless staring. He was certain it was just the season, just as it had been the last time they had run into each other.

But Karpos had changed, and that didn’t mean he couldn’t have a little fun with this situation.

That smile was equally tempting as he took a small step forward. “It’s been quite some time. I honestly never expected to run into you again.” Not after his rather tumultuous childhood and eventual leave from the Lore… granted, he had also never expected to return to his homeland. He thought he would have been happy, leading beside Natalie and holding their pack strong… it was something he had, however, left in the capable paws of his son Zechariah. “You seem to have done okay with yourself.”

Karpos smiled and stepped an inch closer to her and the silver woman felt her heartbeat increase a fraction. Something about him being here so soon after the explosion with her mate was so tempting, so right. Her blue eyes looked him over once more and in turn she stepped forward, her tail beginning a slow twitch of a wave behind her. She smirked at his words, ”And yet here you are at my doorstep.” Of all the places he could have shown up, this was the last one she would have expected. Did he even know of the Bend? What had happened to him after their last meeting on the mountain?

Aponi snorted in amusement at his statement, she knew how she must look to him. Scarred, cocky as always but perhaps it was the heat of the season that was warping his opinion. He on the other hand, looked more handsome than she had ever seen him. ”And did you get everything you ever wanted?” The queen in theory had, a pack, a mate but there was one key detail missing that always seemed to call on her heart. She never got her mountain.

People have told me I don't look the same

She had a point, even if the point was wrong and he had to fight everything in him with rolling his eyes. “I was born here… just passing through…” He kept his voice low, daring to take another step closer. “I take it you’re in the Bend now…” He remembered them, even if it wasn’t a very detailed memory… just one that he remembered his father in, which meant it was also one he clung too dearly, refusing to let it slip away from him… back when his family was somewhat whole.

She asked him that question and his neck craned to the side a little. “For a time I did…” He was sure that his wandering as a loner was evident that he no longer did. “My mate passed away this winter… there was a mountain lion within the borders, and her injuries were too severe.” He explained carefully, keeping a hardened expression, even if behind it he felt his heart break all over. He couldn’t have stayed there after that… kept telling himself it should have been him. God, should it have been him. An infection had set in, just like his father… and she had died, just like his father.

His voice low and his paws carried him closer, Aponi mirrored the action as if in a trance and she had no control. Maybe she didn’t have any control. Maybe she just didn’t want to. Maybe for just a few hours she didn’t want the responsibility and the worry and the control. It was the mention of the Bend that brought her less than secular thoughts to a screeching halt and for half a second the flirtatious smile on her face faltered before disappearing altogether. The queen stiffened slightly as she nodded, ”Yes, I’ve led the Bend for the last year and a half.” Or almost that long, but it seemed like such a long time when said out loud.

A year and a half.

And she was going to through it away over a little cold paws and a handsome stranger from her past? Part of her thought, yes that’s exactly what she was going to do. But, most of her was disgusted with herself for even considering it. Karpos probably remembered her as some cold bitch, that was the image she had tried to portray when she had been nothing but a scared child who had been left one too many times. Now here she was again, almost giving into the temptation of something she knew was so wrong as if that would do anything but break her further.

Was she willing to be broken? Aponi didn’t know, she didn’t think so but she also wasn’t certain. Her blue eyes averted as she tried to clear her head, find something to say about his dead mate that was appropriate. ”Is that what brought you back here?” Well, it wasn’t condolences but it was better than nothing.

People have told me I don't look the same

She lead it… he honestly had never thought she’d climb up to leadership… to be a leader required some amount of stability that Karpos had never personally thought she had… but wolves changed. Hell, he’d changed quite a bit, and not completely for the better. She had not only been a leader, but she’d been a leader for over a year – about as long as he had lead, and that was no small feat. Perhaps there had been something in her rafter all.

It didn’t matter though… none of it actually mattered. What it came down to was they had made their choices a long time ago. That being said, his brain felt a little fuzzy, his own logic contradicting itself – they’d made those choices when they were different wolves… and now they were faced in this crossroad once more. But was it really a choice? She was a leader, which meant she probably had a mate too. Most leaders did – he had and he had actually stepped down when Natalie had passed because it was what had been best for the pack.

She asked the question and it snapped him back to the situation at hand and he nodded. “Left the pack to my son, came back to where everything had started.” God, that made him sound so old, and perhaps a little too nostalgic for his own tastes. He should just walk away from this situation… but his paws remained glued to the forest floor. “I guess I was just looking for someone to remind me who I really was.” What did that even mean?

Aponi knew she should tell Karpos goodbye and turn around and go back to her mate, she knew that’s what she should do. She was also not foolish enough to not realize that her heat was still strong and what she did now could have very real very lasting consequences. Breathing in sharply through her nose the silver wolf was a second away from doing exactly that, exactly what she knew she should do. But then. I was just looking for someone to remind me who I really was

Exhaling just as sharply her head swum with what could have been all those years ago. Maybe, just maybe she would actually own the mountain instead of just dream about it from the prison these trees had become.

”I’ll remind you if you can remind me who I am.”