He'd gone far. Much too far. He and @Rico hadn't found a permanent place to settle among the forests of Relic Lore just yet. For this reason, he was not too keen on the fact of leaving his brother far behind – he wasn't worried about his older brother getting lost, of course not! He'd proven time and time again that he could take care of himself. (Sometimes, the runt found himself wondering if his twin wouldn't be better off if they separated. He was certainly charismatic, he could probably find a mate…or even be an alpha!) No, the concern was on his own behalf. Never would the other Barreda boy leave him behind, but the thief had a very high threshold for getting lost.

A sense of direction was just not his thing.

Huffing unhappily, the male drew to a slow stop, the whistle pig's trail cold. It would have been an excellent meal, were he able to capture it before the creature dove for the safety of its den, but alas. Such a feast would not be shared between the brothers two. Tail waving behind him, Nico lifted his head and chuffed several times, wishing to summon his brother…without drawing the attention of another wolf. If he wanted to remain solitary, however, he should have noted the other loner lurking about nearby.

She emerged in the very corner of his peripheral vision and the rogue jumped, tail almost doubling in size as the realization he had company. Female company, no less. "H-hello," he stuttered uncertainly, taking a step back without ever commanding his body to do so. "This…th-this isn't y-your land, i-i-is it?"

Such a pleasure it could be at times to stumble upon the unprepared. Whatever had occupied this young man's brain was clearly so fascinating that he remained both blind and deaf to her presence until the very last possible moment. Though she had tried to be more quiet in her approach upon the detection of another scent in the air, always preferring to be the one to make the first move, it could hardly be argued that she was silent in her steps.

What she got as a reward was a reaction most amusing. The second the boy jolted her mouth turned into a toothy grin, as did her head lift a fraction higher and her tail rise ever so slowly to curl up over her hips. In the space of a few seconds she'd noticed and leapt on the opportunity to take charge of a situation. With the other backing up a step, she moved forward one of her own, and then another just to make a point of getting closer.

"Why... hello indeed, handsome young male." Her voice rolled from a silken tongue in tones that caressed the ears in an almost heavenly tone. "I was about to ask you the very same question!" The lies flowed like a river off her lips in a manner so sharply honed that she thought it would be impossible for the male to catch on to her fallacies.

"This is my first time here." She took another step forward, allowing her eyes to take in the other more thoroughly while trained ears remained alerted, wary of any others that might potentially sneak out of the shadows to catch her by sudden surprise. "And you strike me as the kind of boy destined to rule a land like these." Blinking quickly, all but batting her eyes, her head tilted to the side, wondering if she could sucker him into playing along in a lie for the sheer fun of catching him in it later on.

"So this area doesn't belong to you?"

Handsome? Handsome?

It took all of Nico's conscious efforts not to choke on his own tongue as the woman gave him such a fine title, eyes widening by fractions as he studied the older wolf. Whatever he was expecting to hear in response, that wasn't it. That wasn't it at all. His tail remained low, twitching to lay underneath his belly, but the youth fought the urge as he stared, entranced by the widow and her well-chosen words.

The silence that fell after her questions finally struck the lad as something he was supposed to answer and the youngest Barreda cleared his throat, trying to force his jaws to work again. "I-I- No," he replied with a soft sigh, shaking his head. Ruling was practically a laughable description, though he would never think to laugh at a dame (nor one older, and healthier, than he was). "N-not mine. I-I'm new to this forest, as well," Nico pressed on, the shake to his tone finally started to recede as the woman bore him no open hostility.

He was about to inquire after her name when a pup appeared out of the thicket. Ears quirked and he tipped his head, momentarily forgetting that he was supposed to be frightened at all. "Grizzly Hollow?" he asked, peering after the small youth. "Are you lost, pup? Is that where you belong?" If the boy was lost, and belonged to someone (or someones) nearby, it would behoove both adults to return him to his family, and not be accused of trying to kidnap him. "I- My name is Nico. What's yours?"

Ah. The younger boys were almost too easy at times. She could all but smell the nervousness as Nico stumbled over his own words, tripping on his tongue. Whether it was out of fear or admiration of her presence, Avari found it hard to say. Not that it really made that big of a difference one way or the other, it still put her in charge of the situation at hand, and in that she would thrive. Subtle domination. She'd only lash out with fangs and claws if it was absolutely necessary, but something told her she was well within her abilities to manipulate this to her favour with nothing but her voice.

With his answer she simply nodded, the wheels in her mind turning as she considered her response. Of course this wasn't his land. Such a concept was ridiculous, but she'd hoped to play her game a little longer than he had allowed her to. With a crack her jaws parted, and she started to sound just the first syllable of her response before being interrupted by the delighted cry of a younger voice.

Her head turned in a flash, but instantly her anxieties calmed. This was just a pup, but what he had said kept her on the slightest of an edge. Grizzly hollow? She'd never heard such a name, but it was undeniably that of a pack, and she knew all too well what it meant to be caught in the presence of a pack child, whether it was intentional or not. The danger was real, and yet she never flinched.

Nico spoke first, and she allowed it only because it presented her with another opportunity to tease. Head turned back to the older of the males with a quiet chuckle. "Lost? How could he be lost?" She'd turn her gaze back towards the boy that had emerged from the thickets, and offered him the warmest and most gentle of smiles - the kind of look that only a mother would have mastered.

"Look at how big and strong he is." She mused as she examined the pup with a quiet curiosity. Where in the world had he come from, and more importantly where were his parents? Though she was wary in the back of her mind, showing it on her face might have caused the child unease, thus her nerves were hidden completely - perfectly controlled.

"Yes. His name is Nico..." she spoke like she had known it for more than the few seconds since he'd announced it "...and you can call me Ava." Her head turned back to the older or the other pair, and with a quiet mumble she further added to her torment. "He's not as big and strong as you are, though..."

"He could b-be lost be-because he is v-very small," Nico stuttered, voice dropping down to near a whisper as he tried to shrink away from the female. Perhaps she was too old to remember her own puphood, but being a child was still fairly fresh in the male's mind. Home could be hard to find, especially if he was a loner and traveling with his parents through the area. While the pup did smell like other wolves, it was hard to tell how many, and if they were his parents or guardians – it was best not to assume, and let the boy tell them what he needed.

But that was not the way the conversation turned at all.

One moment, the loner was breathing a sigh of relief, realizing the boy was probably not lost – in the next, his heart began to beat rapidly when he realized that must mean a pack was nearby. Were they trespassing? He was very much trying to avoid that. He wanted no trouble – oh, hell, would they think he'd taken their puppy?

Before his thoughts could totally spiral out of control, the boy spoke back up, in his defense. Nico blinked rapidly for a moment or two, glancing from child to woman, startled by the boy's eleemosynary. He gave a soft whine before inching away towards the dark cub. Clearly, he was the kind sort of company. "It's okay," he tried to insist, though his voice was little more than whisper. "It's okay. I'm, um, I'm…Ava and I were just talking. I just wanted to find a place to live and Ava…?"

Well, he wasn't sure what she wanted, but that was up for her to share, if she wished. "Do you need us to b-bring you home?"

What a fascinating turn of events.

Here she thought she had control of the situation, and certainly of Nico if nothing else. Then out of the blue came this brave young pack wolf who seemed to have some sixth sense that made him aware of her more sinister intentions. Not that she was ever planning on doing any harm to poor Nico, but she was certainly enjoying the thought of playing with him a little longer, and the just didn't sit well with the young boy, whose raised hackles caused her eyes to widen in much the same way that a teacher might look at a misbehaving student.

"See, Nico?" Her eyes swung from the pup to the other male, who seemed to be deliberately avoiding her presence at all costs. "It's okay. These woods..." apparently "...belong to his grandparents." She didn't quite buy that she had crossed onto pack lands without even realising it, but perhaps she'd simply started to go senile in her older age. Age was experience though, and it showed in the way that she was more discreet in her manipulating of the child. Rather than asking if he needed to be taken home...

"Maybe he can show us where his grandparents live?" She kept her look as non-threatening as possible, hoping that she wouldn't scare the boy any more than she evidently already had done. "I think that I would like to meet them." At least it would give her some idea of where this grizzly hollow pack resided, and she could always bail if things looked like they were getting out of hand. Surely, of all the people, Nico would be able to handle something if it everything went south, right?