Like an ancient scaled predator she waited. She was a viper watching a mouse, a crocodile lurking just beneath the water, waiting for the gazelle to lower its head to drink.

The mottle coated woman was watching the comings and goings of the Oak Tree Bend wolves, somehow managing to avoid detection. It would seem they were preoccupied with another perceived threat and that suited her just fine. Every time she had scented him on the wind, seen him making his rounds she fought the urge to run forwards. If her plan was going to work she needed to wait for the opportune moment.

Her trap was baited and set, the area around the felled tree she had dug her small sleeping hole out smelled of nothing but her, the soil through which she had spent hours dragging her paws, the trunks of the trees where she dragged her flanks, small tufts of shedding fur adorning their trunks. Her skin still itched and burned although she had the feeling she had left it too late this year, everything was just about perfect.

It was after Jessie and Hotei had passed, their heads bowed in quiet conversation that she dared to dance forward, allowing her reckless actions to snap the delicate fronds of ferns and her nails to leave drag marks in the thawing earth. Her head butted against rough bark as she dared to drag her cheek down its length a clear marker for one as observant as @Triell Tainn.

Her trail would lead him back to the area she had claimed as her own and she would be waiting, if just out of sight. She had a small cache she could see to while she waited. After all she had nothing but time on her side.

She had just finished the last mouthful of… well it was hard to tell what it had been after so long but it filled the hollow pit of her stomach none the less, when the holler of Triell came to her rounded ears. A smirk pulled at the corners of her mouth as she steadily padded back towards the place she had claimed, her head was dipped low, as a loner approaching a leader should do and her tail lazily swayed from side to side in a greeting she wasn’t entirely certain would be received in kind. Finally emerging from the underbrush her smirk morphed into a more genuine grin, a hint of flippant disregard in her tone. “Oh the mountain is no place for me anymore. I left that chapter behind a long time ago.”

Truth or not would be hard to decipher. There was still a tug in her gut that called her to the Lake but she would brush it away for now, her focus solely on the wolf that stood before her. There was a distance between them and she respected his need for it for now, as she allowed her eyes to trail over his familiar form, her nose to take in his familiar scent. There was something distinctly Triell under the tones of oak and earth and others. After so long apart he smelled like home.

She lifted a paw to move closer and then thought better of it, raising her head and meeting his fiery gaze with her own softer gold. “I’m sorry I had to go away. It… it was for the best, at the time.” She drew a deep breath and held it, her ears turning down and her muzzle tilting upward as her shoulders slumped in the very image of apologetic grace and very unlike herself indeed.

For a moment it almost seemed as though their regular dance would take place, she would repent and he would forgive, and they would go back to their awkward best friends/both wanting more routine, but it would seem it wasn’t to be this time. She wasn’t entirely surprised. She had fucked up enough for both of them, more than enough times for him to wary of the inevitable burn she would leave in her wake. If only things could be simple again.

But perhaps they could? Never one to plan too far in advance she was good at thinking on her feet and as he moved forward with a growl she held her ground keeping her ears pinned against her neck her rump lowered not quite to a sit and her tail pulled between her legs. She presented her throat, chin tilted up exposing the white fur that ran down her chest. A small whine was offered as he closed in and she tried to choose her words carefully.

“I want to make it up to you… everything.” She offered, her eyes meeting his for the briefest of moments before allowing them to drift off over his shoulder. “Whatever you need of me. I want to show you I’ve changed…” and it was true, she had changed, although whether it was for the best or not was yet to be determined. There was a new softness to her voice, she didn’t balk at lowering herself (although that could have simply been because it was @Triell she was lowering herself in front of). She was trying her hardest to appear genuine and if that didn’t work, well she still had one more Ace up her sleeve.

It was more of an answer than she deserved, and the words cut through her facade like a knife. It was hurt that she showed until he turned his back on her and then she offered a flash of teeth at his retreating form. It only took her a moment to gather back her self control, her lips smoothing as she rose back to her regular height, ears righting themselves atop her head with a singular shake of her sizeable frame. Had she been a human she might have simply been brushing an invisible speck of dust off her perfectly pressed dress coat.

He hadn’t managed more than a few steps when she spoke across the distance between them. “We’re going to be grandparents.” Her voice held more of it’s old tone, that of someone certain and in charge of their own fate. “She’s practically alone, our @Nova.” Her features were stony giving little away. The emotional route clearly hadn’t worked so now it was all business. They hadn’t really had a chance to discuss the girls resemblance to the wolf before her and there was no real way to be certain but from the very first time she had laid eyes on the pale tuft at her daughters chest she knew she was no Aquila. It came through in her personality too. Secretly she had always been her mothers favourite.

“You can turn your back on me, but if she comes asking for help I expect you will be there for her.” It was a lofty demand and one she had no right to make, but she had never been one for respecting boundaries.

She heard his words and internally answered them with a cheshire cat smile that didn’t reach cold copper eyes. For the world to see however, her face instead of hardening turned soft about the corners of her mouth, her ears tipping down as if his words had caused her genuine hurt, and deflated her ego. If she truly was nothing to him he wouldn’t have felt the need to announce it to the world and she would dare to call his bluff. Her steps were tentative, her head held low as she approached closed the distance between them once more.

Her voice was soft, imploring even “You don’t mean that…” There was almost a whine of desperation as she drew nearer. Regardless of her expectation for him to physically recoil, or even lash out she kept moving towards him, no threat in her posture just wanting to touch him, if only briefly. A singular brush of her flank to his or a bump of her nose to his cheek or chin. Something real to remind him this wasn’t just a bad dream. She was really here, and she had no intention of leaving any time soon.

He could ignore her all he wanted but like a burr in his coat she wasn’t going away.