Since Naira had left the Pass in search of Aponi - and he had relentlessly followed - Mapplethorpe could not help but continually wonder about the boy his daughter had stumbled into so far from home. Yes, he had made an excellent addition to the pack's growing collection of wards and showed much promise in ensuring the pack remained strong in numbers, but what Mapplethorpe wasn't so sure of was whether or not the boy had run off on his own... like Taima had. The last thing he and Naira needed was an angry patriarch showing up on their doorstep in search of his long lost son and heir. Through the light snow, the grizzled man wandered, placing to memory whatever distinguishing tree mark he could manage to remember. What he couldn't recall on a second pass through this particular part of the woods, he made sure to press his rough paw pads against to establish a scent marker.

Once he had found himself back on track and following in the steps of his pack mates, he lifted his head from the hard-packed snow trail and, allowed his thoughts to stray once more. He was just about to turn sharply to the right and forge his own 'highway' of sorts when, lo and behold, there he was. Slayer... snuffling about in the snow at the corner of his eye. A sly smile crept up along his muzzle and with reorienting himself, he slowly began to approach the dark-pelted boy. His ears remained vigilant and skyward and, though his tail rose from previously being level with his spine, he let out a deep bark, a sort of warm salutation to balance the intimidating facade he normally put up front with the cubs. His eyes, however, remained as they were, seemingly vibrant and much too eerie as they focused on Karpos and what it was he was doing.

"Hello," he slowly pronounced, his tenor voice reaching out to the boy's ears with a hint of curiosity. He opened his mouth to ask something but was diverted when he came to realize that Aponi was nowhere to be seen. "Funny... to see you out on your own," he casually commented. "No doubt Aponi is nearby?" A whiskered brow rose inquisitively and his tail gave a slight wag, but by no means did the concern and suspicion on his face give way just yet.

The boy seemed to have been staring something but Mapplethorpe didn't even have to look. Just taking one step closer to Karpos was all that it had taken to have the odor of stale bear musk and frozen moose invade his senses. Perhaps the lad had been practicing his tracking skills... and for that, assumptions and all, the Leader found he couldn't particularly be so distrusting or loathsome of him. Karpos, in turning about to briefly meet Mapplethorpe's face, immediately greeted him. His mud-colored eyes averting as his voice dropped to a mere whisper.

"Mapplethorpe," he corrected, his tone sounding a little more stern than he had actually anticipated. "But, 'sir', will do..."

For what seemed like hours, the man studied the young Slayer's face, what little details he could pick up within the sea of midnight black fur. "I went out on my own this morning, sir." The Leader's brows evened out, lending a soft "Mmmmhmm," in reply. He caught Karpos' gaze for a second before the cub looked away again. "What does 'Tace' mean?" His lungs filled themselves with the chilly winter air and he released it in what could have been translated into an obliging sigh. "There are no bears here," he stated, the volume of his voice rising into its usual timbre and fullness. "They've gone to hibernate for the winter. You've no need to be afraid."

He took a step to one side then lifted a fore paw and held it in the air for sometime before taking another step towards the blood-spattered snow in the clearing ahead. He waited for Karpos to follow his lead or even make a move to confirm that his confidence had been recovered. "Tace means to 'be quiet'," he answered at last. "It's from an ancient tongue my ancestors had once spoken." The partial smile that had initially been on his face grew into a more amiable one.

"Eamus," he prompted, eyeing the moose carcass now and moving slowly towards it, "Let's go."

The moose looked and smelled like it could have been dead and frozen for nearly over a day but before the masked brute could even think of stepping closer to the kill site or investigating the heavy footfalls that had left an uneven trail into the deepest reaches of the Ghastly Woods, Karpos fired off another question. "Sir, how did you know my last name?" Standing before the mangled body of the hoofed creature, Mapplethorpe turned again to acknowledge the boy, attentively listening. "I've only ever really told Aponi, well at least, the only one I talk to anymore who knows it is Aponi, perhaps did she tell you?"

"No," he admitted without shaking his head. "I was there when she found you... when Naira came to bring Aponi back home, just waiting to escort them back to the Pass." He lowered his head to touch his near-frozen nose to moose's frigid shoulder then snorted to dislodge the scent from his nostrils. As if waiting to see what Karpos would do in light of finding such a fortune near the edges of their threshold, Mapplethorpe walked away and began to peer through the spaces between the crooked trees, walking in a wide arc around both Karpos and the dead moose. The cold air and the snow it had brought to the east might have muffled an assortment of sounds but from what he could tell, the bear that had preyed upon the antlered beast had, indeed, been gone for several hours.

Without even looking at the boy, still too preoccupied in scanning their surroundings, he asked, "Was that all you were curious about?"

If they had been accompanied by the pack, Mapplethorpe would have minded if Karpos had lowered his head to sample a bit of frozen moose. Being that it had only just been the two of them, it actually pleased the tawny Leader that the boy had taken a chance in sampling it. Though the boy's question lingered for some time, the russet-muzzled man stared thoughtfully back at him, watching, just waiting for him to take another bite. "Try something not so close to the pelt," he suggested, turning his attention now to how the corpse had sprawled out. "If you still don't like it, well... suit yourself then. Hunt for yourself."

He casually walked around the kill site once more, golden eyes scrutinizing what he could see on a first impression. What had been left by the bear was more than likely still edible. The clusters of ice crystals he discerned along the snow-covered wounds, he resolved, wouldn't be a problem if they cached it away within the hour. But first, he eyed the Slayer lad again before artfully reaching down to wrench a rib out from beneath a flap of thick brown hide. "Here," he offered, pushing the curved bone over the moose's spine towards Karpos with his nose. "Eat. We are going to stow this whole thing away. The pack is going to need it."

Quietly, he helped himself to the tougher muscles along the moose's neck, peeling away the pelt in long strips before he was able to get to the remnants of exposed shoulder that he wanted. With a crunch he separated the moose's forelimb from its torso and once he had settled down with it between his red-stained paws he finally answered Karpos' question. "I did not know your father; I came from the northwest and I met @Naira on the mountain... I've been with her ever since. I've had very little business to tend to outside of the pack territory... except for that time when Aponi found you..."