Viorel had been restless in the few days since his cousin had reappeared without Vanadis in tow. The leader had begun spending as much time outside of pack territory as he could get away with while still tending to his responsibilities. He wanted to be alone, out here in the lands that were beginning the deep freeze of winter. A couple inches of snow lay in most areas, lakes were still open but smaller water sources had frozen solid. And his bulky dark form moved through it, almost untethered.

Though Viorel had had every plan of staying alone during this venture but had quickly abandoned that idea when he had come across Isla’s prints in the snow. When he found her inside a den snuffling around he hesitated and decided to hang back. He would wait until she was done doing whatever it was she was doing, then he wasn’t really sure what he wanted. To spend some time with the family he did have he supposed. An odd thought, but they were now reaching the age they no longer needed him as much and this time last year his daughters had left to be with Clover’s family.

There was nothing he could do to make them come back, but he could try harder now.

The Valle man’s yellow eyes zeroed in on the cuts on his daughter’s face but he chose to say nothing at all. Short of serious loss of life or limb he didn’t mind his children learning how to tussle, and interrogating them would discourage that. He looked up to her eyes instead as she joked, and then Viorel looked past her to the den that she had come from. Almost introspectively he answered, ”Sometimes things like this hold onto their memories pretty tight. I don’t know who or what used to live here, but Uncle Vayko and I weren’t particularly keen on moving into someone else’s home rather than making our own.” He didn’t address the second half of her question. He hoped nobody would move this close to him, but they would be well within their right.

He used to be chattier, and in a different mood maybe he would have said more right away, but instead he was quiet for a few moments. Then he questioned, ”If you were going to pick, what kind of place would you want to live in?” Maybe she would have a better idea than they had a couple years ago. Right now, anywhere seemed better than where they were

Viorel smiled softly when his daughter hummed with a thoughtful expression on her face, even though she didn’t answer him on his thoughts on memories. He knew she wasn’t the kindest of children, but he still loved her dearly and worried about her. It was all well and good that she was queen of the castle amongst her siblings, but the world would knock her down quickly if she kept this up. And he wouldn’t always be around to protect her.

Nodding in agreement with Isla, ”That sounds like a good place. But, we already have a creek, wouldn’t you want something different, a lake maybe?” A wave of nostalgia came over him, a yearning for home that he had not experience in a long time. Maybe that was why Vanadis didn’t come back, maybe she had found her perfect place. He smothered it, ”You know, you and your siblings will be able to go visit the mountain pack this winter, and from what I hear they’ve got a decent sized lake up there. You might like it, though I don’t know how many trees there are.” He wouldn’t love his kids going to join the Cove, but at least he could visit there.

Viorel wasn’t so sure they would be so welcoming of his chaotic children this year as they were last. They were certainly less polite.

The father couldn’t help but laugh at the dramatic look of disgust on his daughter’s face at the mention of a lake. Who knew she was going to have such a strong reaction to the suggestion? He followed behind her as she began to wander, content to let her lead the way in this exploration. He grinned, ”They’re kind of like a big puddle I guess. But because they’re so big they have lots of different fish, and prey come to drink very often.” What else could be cool about a lake? ”Plus some lakes have cool caves to explore.”

Ah, a loaded question came next. He might not be the brightest wolf in the pack, but even he knew how much time his daughters spent gossiping amongst each other. He gave her a pointed look and answered, ”They’re our closest allies. And I would expect you to be nice to their members during the exchange.” And all of the time, but that seemed like too much to hope for. He kept following behind, just happy to be spending time with her.

Isla did not seem fully satisfied with the leader’s answer but she also seemed to let it go. Good enough. Had it been one of the other children he would have been tempted to give a less diplomatic answer, but he had overheard enough of Isla and Sephrina’s gossip to know better. If he said anything that could be construed in any way as negative, it would be spread amongst their visitors within hours of their arrival and that would be a mess.

She pulled something from the snow then, long and curved and mostly flat on two of the sides. It was much too large to be from a wolf, but didn’t seem as curved as something that had come from one of their prey. Coming closer to give it a sniff, which really didn’t give him any clues given how long it had been dead and buried beneath the snow.

Still, he had a pretty good guess and his face lit up with excitement. Looking back to his daughter he answered, ”It looks like it might belong to a bear, or something equally big.” Glancing up to the sky and realizing how much time had passed he continued, ”Come on, I bet if you bring that home your siblings will be jealous beyond belief. I can help you carry it if you want.” He would wait for her to respond before beginning the trek home.