With her toes planted in the snow that preceded the ice lining the river, she'd spent a time watching the water flow past and doing her best to let the angst she felt wash away with it.

Lyanna had left the comfortable familiarity of the Vale behind her to make a life of her own. There had been little desire in her to readily embrace the life she'd literally been born for, one that would have kept her within the walls of the mountains that surrounded the redwoods and would have ultimately led to her inheritance of the world her predecessors had created.

It wasn't like there was anything wrong with that scenario. As Mirren's heir, it would have been a prestigious life to have led, but at the end of the day she wanted to create her own world, or at least experience the one outside. She wanted to birth her own prestige, wanted to forge her own path instead of heading down one that was created for her long before she'd even come to walk the earth. She was capable, and if for nothing else, she wanted to prove to herself that she could, so she did; as it turned out, her life's work had begun the day she'd set foot back in Relic Lore months ago.

And look at how far she had come since then.

The way she viewed her situation, she'd done a pretty okay job at keeping herself alive, committing to a pack worth committing to, forging meaningful relationships with those she chose to care about and to serve, and, hell, she'd even had a taste of what it felt like to feel for someone she believed was special. In a relatively short matter of time, she'd grown by leaps and bounds. She'd challenged herself, and she was a better version of herself for it. Didn't that matter?

The answer was yes, it mattered to her. And that was the only reason she needed to live every day like it could be her last, because that was living.

So as it were, by the time Askan appeared on the scene she'd already been deep in thought, mulling over what was relevant and what wasn't. His inquiry rubbed against her grain as if it were a broken record that had played over and over in her head as she'd sat and considered her exchange with Remington, her place in this pack, and whatever meaning her life held to this point. If she'd been a careless person, perhaps his subtle quip would have rolled right off of her, right into the river to be washed away, too. But the fact was that she gave a damn, and the meaning underlying his greeting wasn't really something she took lightly. None of this was.

"If you were, you wouldn't stand a chance," she returned, a single russet ear tipped his way. Resigned, she was actually relieved to see him. Despite his brusqueness, somehow he'd always managed to be part of her soft spot. Lyanna's stoic, golden eyes fell upon his face before taking in the way he moved closer with more caution than she'd seen him take before. "I suppose you've come to question my elusive, malevolent motives," she guessed with a touch of tired sarcasm. Remington had, though for the life of her she didn't understand why her ambition wasn't taken at face value. With a flick of her tail, she was prepared to be met with anything but understanding, or - gods forbid - kindness, today.

The smug look that appeared on Askan's face brought an endearing sort of subtle grin to hers. For a moment she envisioned what such a go with Askan might look like, the two of them dancing around with the devil. She was certain he'd hand her ass to her, so it was a good thing that she had no intentions of the like.

He went on to relay that he didn't really care one way or another before gazing at her with brows drawn. In her contemplation, she hadn't realized that her demeanor was sending mixed signals until he'd told her to straighten up. His irk was palpable then and her ears folded sideways for a second before perking back up, her eyes searching his face before meeting his. "Ah," she sighed, "I'm sorry, Askan. I just - the situation with Remington is...undesirable. It wasn't personal, but she made what she thought of me crystal clear." It was the truth and the insult was still seething but she'd get over it sooner rather than later. Shifting her weight in an attempt to relax for his sake.

"My loyalty has always been yours from the start, that's not going to change," she offered her reassurance. "I don't have an agenda, it's important to me that you know that. I want to do the best I can, is all." Realistically, Askan was the person closest to her and she'd spent more time with him and opened up to him more than anyone else. She wanted and perhaps even needed to be able to confide in him, and she liked the way they kept things as transparent as possible between them. She wouldn't ever be the one to change that. Lyanna hoped that he could see that today she was just bent out of shape, and that he had enough faith in her to know it wouldn't last.

"Sometimes stuff like that feels real personal."

That was reasonable, and though the words didn't make her feel any less...hated, his small effort to give her a little guidance tempered the sting.

"Sure," she spoke plainly, in agreement without sarcasm. She was still the new girl - she guessed - and understood how something as ridiculously simple as a tiff for rank could be both offensive and taken for something it wasn't. Neither of those things changed the fact that she'd pulled her weight as was expected since the beginning. The only point in waiting around longer to challenge would have been to appease the other girls, obviously, and for the bunch of hardasses around here, a temper tantrum was the last thing she'd expected from anyone.

Her eyes fell to the water winding by. If there was even going to be a way to mend it over with Remi, she'd try, some time when the shit that had hit the fan finally fell to the floor. Discord wasn't what she wanted, period - not personally, not in her home, or within the pack, not in general. Her teeth clenched together with distaste. Ugh. What a fucking mess.

Askan went on call her out on her bla bla bla, but the notion that came after was shocking enough that the air was sucked right out of her lungs. Lyanna looked over at him incredulously. Holy. Shit. Was that what all of this was about? Breeding season? The insanity of the last day was piling up on top of her. If she hadn't been uncharacteristically brooding today, she might have erupted into a fit of laughter. For the first time, it was her eyes that rolled. "I'm not some fucking broodmare," she warned, respectfully enough given the implication only because he'd been the one to say it. If she'd even wanted to get knocked up, there were plenty of possibilities that wouldn't result in a litter of eye-rolling, temper tantrum-throwing kids. For fuck's sake - really? "That's a stretch, coming from you of all people. The fact that you'd even consider it is mind-blowing, truly." No offense.

She would leave it at that without even taking it to heart. Eyeing him as if to wonder if he was feeling well, she shrugged. "...I'll make things right with Remington when things have blown over," she redirected, perhaps to save them both some grief. "I don't want any more trouble and I'm assuming you don't either."

Her ears flattened for a moment at Askan's sort-of lashing before relaxing forward. You're not special was a phrase that was like music to her ears, given the thing with Remi and all of the things that had come out of her mouth then. Lyanna would take what he'd said at face value and pay no more attention to the remark about breeding season - he'd made his point and moved right on, so she did, too.

"Good, I don't want to be," she brushed it off before adding an "Okay," quite neutrally at the end. The way he'd looked into the autumn-painted forest had been noticeable and the girl wondered if he was just about ready to be along his way. Surely he'd come to check in and nothing else. "...I was just about to make a round along the borders - anything I can do for you?" The Cow wasn't trying to brown-nose him, just being polite and making certain that there wasn't anything else he needed or wanted from her before they parted ways.

She was inclined to agree with him, it had been awfully quiet around their parts lately. Perhaps it was due to what - hopefully - had been the end of the coyote infestation, or to the change of the seasons and subsequent cooler weather. Or a combination of all of it. She couldn't say she minded, really. The summer had been eventful enough, between the coyotes and the thing with Vigil's Keep, the changes in the pack after the departure of Hawthorne and Kieron and the addition of Lance, not to mention the miles she'd taken on in her scouting. To be honest, a little quiet was maybe what she needed for a time.

Maybe.

Lyanna nodded, conveying that she'd report to either Leader with anything relevant. "Honestly, not much. The coyotes have dwindled or moved on as far as I can tell. Some of the caribou herds have moved on, the one I'd found in Kingsfall is long gone. There were deer southward between Cold Water Creek and Spectral Woods. Other than that, haven't had any loners traipsing near the borders or for miles from here in any direction. Things are quiet up at the lake," she touched on the dynamic between their allies in the Surge and the Keep wolves with a conclusive shrug. No news was good news where that was concerned, right?

"I'll set out in the morning to track down a herd. Be back before you know it." Lyanna offered Askan a tempered, though ever-genuine, half smile as she rose to her feet with a quiet sigh. If he had any further direction for her she was all ears.