Even though they had claimed their home, the tawny wolf still felt luxate. She couldn't get comfortable in the rocky landscape she now called home. Not just home. Her home. She stalked towards the edge of the lake, a stance she regularly took since the adrenalin left her system. She was still numb. Corinna's final message still burned like a brand on her skin. She had been unaware of Rhysis's plan to form his own pack, she hadn't planned on falling pregnant... There was always a chance that they wouldn't have, and she had been hoping against hope... until that night.

She had been happy with the River wolves and this place just didn't feel...right. She didn't know if she was more angry with him or herself. She had been so foolish. Raised on the stories of her aunt Maia, who fell pregnant to a dog and was cast from the pack. Her own father had broken his sisters leg and watched as she was mauled to death by a bear. Her mate fleeing in fear... He was tracked down eventually too, his own fate just as pretty. It was more than she deserved. She couldn't shake the feeling she had been cursed.

As she approached the lake a small herd of goats fled in panic, but she paid them little attention. She hadn't eaten since they arrived, but she just wasn't feeling that hungry. Sitting on the banks of the lake, she watched as bugs teased the surface of the water, tail resting at her tawny flank, tapping impatiently at the ground. She missed being free to roam where she willed, to collect the herbs she needed for medicine. She missed the roar of the river and the family she left behind. Triell, Ice, the pups... She was going to teach them to heal before it all fell apart. Before he came...

She was torn. But she couldn't leave his side, and she wouldn't risk her pups by crawling back on her belly. An irritated sigh escaped her throat.

The flicker of black in the corner of her eye caused her lips to briefly raise over her teeth. She was in no mood to see Rhysis right now but when the scent of the dark female Ava danced across her nose, her face quickly returned to its calm reflective state. She was yet to properly meet the younger female and a pang of guilt radiated through her gut for not seeking her out sooner before she pushed it down.

She forced the fiasco that bought them here from her mind. The truth was, with Rhysis avoiding her again, and each wolf individually searching out the territory to acquaint themselves with the land, she had ben given far too much time to think on all that had eventuated in the span of just a few days. As the dark girl approached, Naira pulled herself from her slump, sitting more like a leader and less like a moping yearling. The girls obvious submission was enough to put her at ease though.

She met the dark girls golden gaze with a small smile. She could almost be mistaken for her cousin Midnight if only she were a little taller. This girl still needed a lot of meat on her bones and again, the realisation that they were yet to establish a cache, hunt as a family, or establish a border routine weighed heavily on her mind. She would need to address all of this and soon. Her grandmother had run a tight pack, and she planned on doing the same.

"It is lovely up here isn't it?" she questioned the younger wolf. With the gloom now lifted from her vision, she could see the landscape held its own little charms. The small copse of trees near their den could hardly be considered a forest in her mind, it held nothing on the Yukon forest of her birth or the Sacred Grove of the River wolves. Again another pang ripped at her chest, but she forced it down. None of her internal struggle showing on her face. "So what's your story?" she questioned Ava gently, hoping it was less tragic than her own, but also wanting to know what had bought each of the gathered to her that night.

She waited.

The younger wolf seemed positively elated to be asked a simple question and more than willing to answer fully. It was a relief. The more she watched the girl the more common ground she found and the realisation this wolf was much like how she usually was, in mannerisms and her chirpy happy-go-lucky nature, put her quite at ease. Rhysis had made a good choice with this one. As her tale grew to a close, she thought it time to tell her own.

"My birth pack was large, over 30 strong... too large to sustain regardless of how far our borders stretched. My brother Kanosak left home one morning so when me and my sister Aniu came across his trail we tried to track him down. At first it was to try and convince him to come back home, but the further we travelled, the less the desire to return. We were going to see the world together, all three of us... once we found him..." She let her voice trail off for a moment, keeping her quickly rising emotions under control. Leaving the River left her nerves rattled, and she was still finding herself jumping at the slightest sound and getting particularly emotional about very little at all. Perhaps that was why Rhysis was avoiding her...?

"Just before the winter, Kano's trail got confusing. I wanted to go one way, and she wanted to go the other. I should have followed her, she had always been a better tracker than me. We split up... I haven't seen her since..." She managed to keep her voice even, but the guilt shone clearly in her golden eyes as she continued to focus on the mirrored surface of the lake. "I eventually made my way here, as a loner I met Rhysis and we hunted together. Even after I joined the River wolves, it seemed... Well we just kept bumping into each other. He pushed me off a collapsing dam, came to my rescue when I was attacked by a strange wolf and then appeared at the borders..." And now here we are... she added to herself silently.

She left out the part where she had gone to find him to help him with his headaches, about her panicked awakening in the middle of the night and her initial flight to the life of a loner... Only to find her mate had other plans. It was still a strange word to her. Foreign. Wishing to turn the conversation to less emotional subjects, she eyed the spot from which the goats had fled. "I have seen goats and rabbits, have you spotted anything else of substance on your travels?" The adventurous nature of the other two wolves had not gone unnoticed by the tawny lady, but beyond the ritual marking of the borders she just felt far too flat to go gallivanting off herself.

So there was large game about? Well that was a relief. It had been so long since she had hunted moose. "We lived on moose and caribou growing up. My little sister caught a wolverine once, then tried to eat it... she shared it around, it wasn't so pleasant." Ani may have been tiny but she was fast and had spunk. She never would have been bitten on the paw by a beaver. A small giggle escaped her throat at the memory.

"I tried to catch a beaver for Rhysis once, right after he almost drowned pushing me off the dam, he promised me before that he would teach me how to hunt them but of course after going for a swim in the dead of winter he wasn't too keen on hunting lesson. He told me I had to attack from behind..." She was struggling to contain her laughter at the memory. "I couldn't get behind it so I tried to push its head down so I could get at the back of its neck, it works with other animals right? So anyway, I tried to hit it on the head to knock it down and it latched onto my paw... I never realised their teeth were so sharp!"

Taking a moment to get her laughter under control, she looked around the landscape that surrounded her, each moment spent with company making it appear more and more welcoming. More like home. "Anyway, I caught it in the end, and Rhysis laughed at me... that was the first time I heard him laugh..." she added the latter quietly. Considering how upset she had been with him a few minutes ago he was certainly playing a large part in her stories.

"Have you ever had a hunt you cringe remembering?" she questioned yet again, the laughter still shining in her eyes. They were going to get along just fine.

While she had never encountered a goose, she could appreciate the hilarity of a wolf being beaten about by a large duck and she laughed along with the young dark lady. Small talk seemed to flow effortlessly between the two for which she was grateful. She hadn't had such a relaxed conversation since her little sister disappeared. She hoped she was ok. She still wondered where her sister may be, but once again, she was dredging up the past and her mood began to slip.

Getting frustrated with herself internally she decided to put her paw down. She was going to stop letting things from her past drag her down. This was an opportunity, one she had never contemplated for herself. She had been groomed to be a second all her life, and had resigned herself to her fate, until that night. Even if she consciously hadn't realised the implications of her actions, she was grateful for Rhysis's assertive action.

She would have to seek him out tonight and finally get the awkward confrontation over with. Truth was they had been avoiding each other since they settled. It wasn't healthy for them, as individuals or as a pack. Drawing herself up confidently she shook her head with a smile, raising her frame from her comfortable position. It wouldn't do to grow fat and lazy now. She had a pack to maintain. "Care to run the borders with me?" she questioned hopefully. She was enjoying the company immensely. It had really lifted her mood.