The summer heat was breaking, making way for cool evenings, and chilly nights. Celandine enjoyed this time of year, but she knew that it wouldn't be long until the snow began. They'd have more trouble then, with so many young mouths to feed, and not so many adult bodies to gather it. A warm sigh puffed into the crisp evening air as the alpha turned for home. They'd do what they could while prey was still plentiful, and after that.. They'd survive. That's what they did. That's who they were, and it's all they knew, because they were Archer's, and Argyris's, and Lyall's. They would be fine.

Celandine turned to face the inky girl, her gaze easy. She knew Seejay's voice and scent as well as she knew her biological children's, and so she hadn't been shocked to find them lingering in the air behind her. "You know you're not supposed to be this far from home." Though her tone was sharp, and firm, the warmth in the alpha's eyes betrayed her. She'd grown to care for the girl, as much as she did Pookastone's other kids, and maybe she was ever so slightly impressed that the youth had been able to keep up with her for so long. "Care to explain?" With this, her brows rose a fraction as she stared the younger girl down.

The girl's assertiveness made one corner of Celandine's lips turn skyward. "Well, right now I'm chiding you for leaving the Scowle, and before that I was walking." Not that she had to answer to the girl, but such is life with children. "And when I'm finished scolding, the two of us will head back home." Her eyes flickered over the girl, who had grown considerably since her rescue, interested in her reaction to the previous statements. Cubs were fascinating in that she couldn't always gauge their reactions to things. What Cela herself might consider an issue, the children often breezed over, and what the queen might find unimportant often sent them up in arms.

SeeJay might have prodded further about where she was walking to or why she was walking but the pale female quickly made it know that they would be walking right back to the Scowle. There was a brief flare of his nostrils, perhaps in inward protest, but she did not scream or cry or have any sort of tantrum. Why would she be upset to go back to the place she knew best? While memories of her mother and sister were hazy, tucked away to be triggered by the occasional night terror, she had primarily relied upon the wolves of the Scowle. Especially the pale Celandine.

"Okay." Was all she managed before her eyes drifted towards other movement. Part of her tensed, seized with fear to think it could be a coyote. Even when her orange eyes landed on the young prey she still seemed to struggle to relax. She no longer felt brave or emboldened by her brief trip.

Awkwardly her ears pushed back against her crown as her eyes looked anywhere but her caretaker, in hopes she wouldn't mention anything.

Celandine turned away, the fawn's movement, and the thought of an easy meal grabbing her attention. "I guess..." Whatever she was going to say died on her tongue as the woman's gaze swiveled back to SeeJay. The youth seemed uncomfortable, her ears plastered to the roof of her skull, and her movements anything but excited at the prospect. Pale brows knit themselves tightly together as she considered the girl's state. Maternal instincts kicked in as she moved forward, attempting to nuzzle the girl's nape. "What? What happened?" She'd hardly even chastised the girl.

Her usually smooth brow was crumpled with the frustration of not being able to pinpoint the issue. Children were complex creatures, full of emotion that, try as she might, Celandine had a hard time understanding. They lashed out at nonsensical times, they cried for no reason in particular, they were afraid of things that seemed miniscule to her. It was just... odd. "I'm sure it's not." Actually, the woman was sure of the opposite, but that was something best kept to herself. Children proffered their emotional beings to be validated. "Tell me, darling." She offered that last statement with another lick to the girl's ear, hoping to goad her into it.