She pressed on, momentarily free of any sense of obligation to stick to any one place.  Mojave felt it pertinent to continue her exploration of the forest beyond the mountain, though she also found she did not stray too far from her one becaon marker along the horizon.  Though in the dense wood, it was impossible to really tell where it was she had come from.  She wasn't hopelessly lost by any means, but her visual cues had left her skirting from beneath overgrown boughs in a haphazard sort of way.  There were many things of interest here that intrigued her, that called to her.  She found that she quite liked the security that the woods provided, the warmth that etched its way out across the cold.


But there was also a chilling sense to that very wood, though it was far from foreboding.  With the branches nearly interlocking as they weaved patterns between her and the sky, the shadows crept up and lurked in some places.  Daylight was waning, slipping away smoothly into evening as she pressed forward.  Mojave was certain the way she was going was back east, towards the mountain, but had become impossible to tell.  Well, maybe not impossible, but it was improbable that in her youth she had a complete sense of north and south, east and west.  She didn't know the old tricks or adages to quell her uncertainty.  With that uncertainty came the slowing of her pace; her awareness piqued and her gold eyes discerned and tore through the shadowy bends in the muddied and varied path before her.


She had the overwhelming sense that she was not alone, but could not tell what it was that left her feeling that way.

And then she heard it. A contented sigh. But the encroachment of the woodland surrounding her did not immediately reveal where it was. That in itself required more travel before Mojave gathered and inkling of who or what she was about to stumble across. Even in the damp air of the late winter, it was significantly quiet. The snow provided a damper on the usual din and chorus of the night and the cold air left her able to suss out what she was working towards. What the various musks of the area told her was that it was well traveled by other wolves and namely, one not so long ago.


Now her cream-coated companion had the advantage in the dark wood, blending in. But her actions instead of stock stillness gave her up as Mojave noisily crashed through the underbrush. Her sounding arrival had no doubt tipped her off, but the Ostrega had no intentions of coming up silently. She wanted to be seen and heard, especially on unfamiliar ground that she assumed was friendly. Maybe not instantly safe with feline predators lingering around, but safe enough for canine to canine.


The actions that she stumbled upon from the older wolf caught her off guard and instantly piqued her interest. She drew in closer to her, yet far enough off to stay out of that proverbial personal bubble. "Something caught in your feet?" she queried, glancing away as though she could find some assailant bramble.

It seemed that her noisy entrance had not tipped off the other because as she moved and Mojave brought her gaze back to her, she found she was offered a flash of teeth as a warning rather than a hello. Not exactly one to go all collywobbles on others, Mojave merely kept her distance until the icy words came etching out. If the flash of teeth hadn't been enough to deter her from striking up a conversation, those words definitely told her that this particular wolf wanted no part of her company. But it was a double-sided barb all the same, as Mojave could not help but have a flash of memory associated with her mother.


For a moment, she almost considered answering with a sassy no, she didn't. But she withheld if only for the fact that instinct prompted her to. She knew nothing about this female disperser. No idea where she came from, no idea what her ability was. She could have torn Mojave apart as easily as a bear could have them both. Flattening her ears back against her skull, the tawny Ostrega moved to head off in another direction. "Sorry," she offered, before heading to disappear back into the depths of the dark wood.

Before she could fully exit the picture, she heard the voice of the female once more call after her. Not catching all of it, Mojave couldn't help but turn an ear back towards her. "What?" she said, though from the moment those words left her mouth she thought she understood what she had heard. Simply a question. Her ears turned back once more to rest along her head and this time, she kept her distance better. Safer that way, she decided.


"Well, you kind of sounded like you didn't want company," she decided to point out, as though the glassy tone really implied now that she still wanted company. "I was just making sure you were all right. I can go though, it's not a big deal," unless of course, she didn't add, you want some company. Perhaps this would change things around, perhaps it wouldn't. Somehow, Mojave had the inkling of a notion that it wouldn't change things.

For all her beamish ways, Mojave did not know what to make of the company she was finding herself in. In fact, she found herself a little put off by being labeled as lost; she didn't consider herself lost. Off the beaten path a bit, sure, but lost? Her mind wriggling at the sensation of it. Yet she didn't contest that, as though it were somehow youthful pride that wanted to rebel; truth be told, she had been wandering around for the better part of a week still trying to get a feel for the place she found herself in.


And this was by far one of the most awkward encounters she had in it.


Her deliberation came quickly. "I'll stick around for a bit, but I wanna head back to the mountain soon." Never mind that her counterpart hadn't wanted company anyway, she was beginning to think maybe that wasn't true. Maybe she was like her uncle and just stubborn enough to say one thing when they meant another... or something. She paced in a few steps closer, letting herself sink towards the earth in stretching bow. "What's your name? I'm Mojave," became her next offering as her focus shifted to sussing out something of a conversation.