The sun had set long ago as Enoki found herself whisking through the willow boughs that made up her home for the better portion of five months now - darting around the thick trunks with the assistance of her brightly lit amber eyes as the small beams from the nearly full moon above illuminated the patches of ivory that adorned her body in a piebald fashion. Hours ago she had slipped undetected from the rest of the pack to sneak away to the Rise, a place she found herself returning to more often despite the snow blanketing the ground which attempted to hinder her efforts of solitude. Well partial solitude, but the details of those excursions remained known to her alone. Not even her brother, Mordacai, who was the closet wolf aside from the young prince Deacon among the pack knew of her sunset rendezvous.  

Now the Ashrelle woman was crossing back over the border with the pink of her tongue lolling between the points of her canines, allowing the crisp night air to fill her lungs before exiting to transform into a cloud of thin vapor. She was doing well at avoiding her pack mates and steadily grew closer to the central section where the pack den lied when a scent fluttered beneath her nostrils strong enough to bring her brisk run to a slower stroll, her lungs inhaling deeply to assess the perfume. It appeared that one of the yearlings and equally scarce around the willows had made her presence, @Morganna to be exact. What managed to bring her crawling back home at such a late hour? Usually she would be gone for days at a time and even then Enoki had yet to ever cross paths with the pack princess. Not that she cared much. That little girl seemed just as off as her litter-mate who much like herself, Enoki had yet to officially meet other than a brief sniff of his fading scent. Again, another she didn't care much on meeting.

Despite not particularly wanting to get to know the older litter born to Elettra, Enoki knew with the winter months there wouldn't be much choice in the matter once the heavier snow began to fall and the pack resorted to huddling together for extra warmth in the pack den. Now was a better time than any to get it out of the way. She didn't have to have a heart to heart with the yearling anyways. A suitable 'Hey, you aren't causing any trouble are you? No, okay. I'm Enoki, your @Morganna . Got it, bye.' That was the basic outline of how the two toned woman hoped the conversation would go. The quicker it was over the quicker she could slink into her den for the night and catch a few winks of sleep before rising to repeat the days 'chores' if you will then slip off to bask in the company of her current infatuation.

With a reluctant sigh meant for herself followed by a low chuff meant for the peachy girl to warn of the subordinates impending presence -and the chance to stop any funny business she may have been doing in the shelter of the fog- her paws carried her slender frame onward, her path deviating slightly to accommodate the pit stop on her route home. Minutes passed and snow crunched beneath the ebony furred paws as her sleek form pushed past the freezing fog until in the distance a small silhouette could be seen like a shadow of the night near the pack den where the rest of the wolves slept soundly. Her brother included who much to her demise was starting to have a thing for the yearling, or so it had seemed from the way she watched some of his behavior. It was finally time to meet the proclaimed princess of the willows. Stepping forward she closed the distance from the young woman until her paws fells just outside of striking range for safety's sake. Who knew what the yearling was capable of.  

"An odd hour for a youngin' such as yourself to be awake, isn't it?" Enoki broke the silence first, the faint country accent that came across when she spoke certain words coating her speech while the crease of her brows rose in a inquisitive manor, amber gaze scanning over the smaller form of her counterpart. She was definitely an Archer by pelt. Now did she have a persona to match?

A snort and a musing reply came from the yearling to her question, the shadows casts by the wispy branches concealing the smirk that adorned the princess's facial features. It wasn't until a shift in the canopy that Enoki caught a glimpse of the grin that now lay across the inky coloration of her lips. Well so far she seemed to be tolerable and far more easier to possibly like than her ghost tinted litter-mate. Even in passing that boy had an aura around him that screamed trouble and down right dangerous. Then another string of words fell from Morganna's lips causing her ears to shift forward and face the swarthy princess. “Yer’ve done a great job with the caches. Perhaps one day I could join ya? There aren’t so many plants to gather under all o’this…” Flattery would get her nowhere with the Ashrelle woman even if the praise to her hunting had stroked her ego a bit. Hunting was everything to her.

"Thank you kindly and I reckon you can tag along one day." She replied at first, allowing her muscles to tense for a second before relaxing though not entirely. "But come spring it will be more entertaining to join. Winter is mostly for scavenging." It was pretty boring trailing over old scent trails in the meadow over snow that seemed to never go away. Spring held all the fun and bounty with the newly born fawns and other babies that had to struggle to keep up with mother. The snow couldn't melt soon enough for anyone these days. "And I reckon it must get boring sometimes gathering plants. Then a mixture of scents suddenly wafted beneath her muzzle, causing her head to turn towards the pack borders west from their current position. Lifting her head a fraction she sampled the air to reassure herself that her senses hadn't dulled from the lack of proper use this winter. One scent belonged to a feline(most likely lynx or bobcat by the perfume) and the other smelt richly of deer. The pink of her tongue couldn't help but lick over her chops at the smell of food. To insure the caches would last the winter Enoki had passed up more than a handful of meals so the pups and ruling pair had enough. Now her actions were catching up and the gnaw of hunger pains began to surface.

Glancing back to the peachy princess she shifted her weight briefly in eagerness to investigate the chance to fill her own stomach for a change before dragging whatever remained to a near by cache. "Are you hungry?" Of course she didn't quite want to share a meal, but her regal upbringing refused her to allow such rudeness to arise. "I can smell fresh food to the west."

Enoki couldn't even get her entire sentence out before the young Archer girl was up and off to investigate the scent for herself, offering a simple 'sure' while the piebald woman followed suit. Snow flung beneath her lithe figure as paws rose and fell over its soft surface to create small piles in her wake and a trail of prints that lay parallel to Morganna's own set. Gradually the aroma of fresh blood and feline grew stronger the closer they grew to the scene until eventually the duo came upon it. Before them lay a slain deer with its limbs sprawled in different directions and hunched over the shoulder of the deceased beast was a large form holding various shades of silver and beige. Lynx. Instantly the skin of her muzzle wrinkled in a look of disgust at the audacity of the cat to make a kill on their side of the border and the nerve to even set a snow furred paw over it. And those regretful actions bore consequences.  

Luckily the wind was on their side that night and had not exposed their presence to the feasting feline just yet, giving them the element of surprise still. Shooting her amber gaze to the peachy princess she silently gave her head a nod, hoping the yearling could read the signals she was giving. They would circle on either side of the cat and charge, leaving it with no choice but to abandoned the deer and flee back over the border and hopefully learn its lesson about hunting on pack lands. Now her silhouette slunk deeper into the shadows, hoping the extra coverage would dull the white hairs of her pelt that normally gave herself away in hunts on the days she didn't roll in mud to conceal them. With the snow everywhere there was no mud or at least dirt to camouflage them. The shadows would have to do for now.