For a moment Sven was almost enough to make her forget everything she felt when she discovered her father had settled here. But as they came closer and closer to the borders it was impossible to ignore his scent anymore. Even harder, still, to forget the woman's. The trees were short here, and she could tell that the undergrowth would be wild come spring time. Because of the fire. She wondered how close this was to Hidden Tree, or if this was Hidden Tree, just up the slope there. The pack was small, too, it seemed: besides theirs, she could smell Leotie, Kerberos, the children, and maybe two others that she did not recognize. It was still more wolves she had. As Leotie had said, though, they had been here for a few months--it made sense that her father would have gathered more wolves here, by now.
Sahalie let Sven go. Clearly he had been enjoying his relationship with her father's wolves, and probably her father himself, and that was something she couldn't bring herself to meddle in. The complicated emotional world she inhabited with her father was not something other wolves understood or even needed to understand. When she had tried to explain her feelings to Alastor--she could hear her pulse surging in her ears, triggered by the memory--he had just waved it aside, said that she couldn't control whether wolves left or stayed. It had all just ended in a big argument between the girl and her silver friend, and surely it would just upset Sven too.
Even though she felt for sure that she would only end up with excuses, Sahalie told herself that she was doing this for answers. Several deep breaths later and still she felt no change in her heart rate, her jaw did not un-clench. His scent was all around her when she had not expected to find it ever again. How many other wolves did Triell leave without a goodbye, she wondered as she lifted her chin to call for him.