Drooping Willows He's a dreadful magician.

February 25th; Early afternoon; Clear; -17° F/-27° C

With the winter still clinging to his coat and the icy chill still settled in his bones, Angier found himself wandering farther and farther in attempt to keep warm and keep the blood pumping through his veins. Elettra had trusted him to keep watch over her lands and he would continue to prove his worth by taking that unspoken duty to her one step further. He would make sure his watch encompassed beyond her markers and included the lands surrounding her - their - territory. He had had an agenda in mind that would bring him to the reaches of Fireweed Rise, but with the snow still on the ground, he found his plans ultimately thwarted. How Sköll had managed to wander in that direction every so often was well beyond him, but nevertheless, he oriented himself in that direction, starting his venture from just outside the Willow Ridge Infirmary where he had spent the past three nights instead of patrolling on night watch duties.

Out along the borders of the pack lands he strode along the well-worn trenches, putting his large paws where his pack mates had been at one time or another during the winter. Whether they were watching the borders and racing through the trees to catch a decent meal, Angier followed their trails. For a while he paced alongside Sköll's path, but then branched out to follow Senka, only to be seduced by the curiosity that had led Elettra out to the outskirts of their home. Eventually he began to forge his own path, treading through the snow in places where it only reached up to his elbows.

Hunger gnawed at his insides by the time he reached the edges of the Willows, but he paid it no mind. If he was lucky enough to produce a scrap or even a morsel of meat, he would be sure to bring it back, if only to temporarily quell the his pack mates' - namely Elettra, Asriel, Sköll, Morganna, Senka (who had done well in intercepting Adelaide some weeks ago) and Skana - hunger pangs. In the spaces between the trees, he scoured the ground for something relatively edible.

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It was with great excitement that she greeted the day with an aubade. Since finding her place, more or less, among the Willow wolves, she'd been feeling better. A bit physically (there was not much in the way of food), and much more emotionally. There was a certain something about spending time with others, sleeping among them, simply living among others...Adelaide was undoubtedly a social creature that thrived on words, speaking them and hearing them, even if they might've been harsh or emotionless. She could not say that she was too familiar with all of her packmates yet, but the woman was eager. The longer she was about, the more she wondered if she needed to be less eager. The winter was cold and had clearly impacted this pack in a big way...Would they find her happy smile to be mocking? Yet she could not bring herself to rein it in and present herself in a false light.

She had moved about the den site for sometime after waking, hoping to run into someone. But it was when the sun had climbed to its near height in the sky that she decided that her efforts were better spent elsewhere. Maybe she would come across someone striking out further into the territory. With her medicinal knowledge, she knew that she ought to have been searching for such things, but it was not hard to see that there was nothing green here anymore, especially not of use to her. If the winter was not so harsh, she was certain that something might lie beneath this snow, but it had been upon the earth for so long...Adelaide moved away from the dens, forging a thin path from the opening, but upon spotting what might have been a fresh path, she began to follow it. She nosed the snow, realizing that Angier had forged this path.

Admittedly, she was a bit nervous. He seemed kind enough, certainly more willing to speak than his mate. She put on a smile and squared her shoulders as she followed the path, eager to face him, regardless of her worries.

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Eventually the Lyall's path slowed to a leisurely crawl. For a time it seemed that each step brought to him a new scent, making him think that he might have unearthed something underfoot. Once, twice, even twenty times over, he sniffed about, but each time finding nothing particularly striking. He had come to the edge of Elettra's domain when he heard her at his back, swearing that he could feel her gaze burn into the back of his head.

He stood still, rendered frozen at the end of his trail. His ears came up and his tail slightly swayed from one side to the other, but he did not yet turn around to face the individual who had followed his path through the snow. "I figured you'd show up eventually," he casually stated, turning one ear to the side as his curiosity in her potential companionship piqued. One of his ivory paws lifted to idly pick at the snow in front of him, pushing it down from the sides of the trench he had created and packing it into the ground.

Truth be told there was an underlying sense of interest to indulge in behind the washed out mask on his face. If Elettra was not going to keep her distance, then he would take the initiative to get to know the pack's newest member. After all, wasn't that what Borden and Jaysyek did as a couple? A part of him was downright certain that was how it worked... He canted his head to one side, looking at her from the corner of his eye before fully turning around to meet her eyes. "What brings ya this far out?"

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With ease, she moved through the snow. With the path all laid out for her, she simply had to be sure she didn't stumble over a felled wall or perhaps a stick that had been buried at the start of this terrible winter. To the edge of the Hollow she followed him, eventually spotted him a few meters off. Her pace slowed, and she began to coax herself ahead, still faintly cautious, but she did not turn back. Tail low, but wagging at her back, she paused but a yard away, faintly smiling. She pulled in a breath to speak, but he broke their silence. Her hackles raised slightly in surprise, as he hadn't even turned around, but settled as she shook the jumbled feeling her gut away. "I would be a poor wolf if I did not acquaint myself with my pack mates," Adelaide answered cheerily, taking a few tentative steps forward.

Addie wasn't sure whether or not to close the distance. She watched him carefully as he prodded the snow and she found herself doing the same. She forced her paw into the snow, not wanting to be caught anxiously mimicking him. When he finally turned about, she smiled, her tail wagged slightly. "Curiosity." It was a simple reply and her own ears twitched before slowly inching back towards the back of her head. She longed for companionship after traveling alone for so long. Voices to fill the hours even after the interaction was over. Anything to drown the only memories she had.

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It made him smile, the way she answered, lending him the quite obvious statements that he should have probably thought of in the first place. Of course it made sense to acquaint oneself with their new pack mates and, of course, curiosity was going to get the best of one eventually. Angier had even done the same thing when he had joined the packs that he had infiltrated over the past few years. He had trailed along Alexander's borders and took care of the youth who had been injured when arriving to the mountain. He had followed Fenru, Indru's son, if only to watch the boy from a distance and become ousted from the pack by his observations. He had even kept close to those his brother loved dear - Jaysyek, Aniu, Sibyl, his nieces, his nephews. Then, eventually, he let his own inquisitiveness win out with his desires to become apart of Elettra's pack.

"Well, that's good," he commented. "Doesn't 'urt to be curious." He scanned the forest surroundings again before looking back at her, "Walk with me?" He tilted his head to one side in a sort of charming manner, momentarily pointing with his muzzle towards where the trench-like highway continued to weave through the trees. "I was just trying to see if I could find anything for Elettra. I thought I overheard the cubs mentioning that they found a few things that had frozen to death in the night somewhere around here. Jus' wanted ta see if maybe they left a little somethin'."..

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Up to her ears in snow, Adelaide began to feel the chill creeping up her legs. Being still for too long in heaps of snow tended to do that, she quietly supposed. Of course, kindly conversation proved to be a distraction, especially after being so anxious previously. The man meant no harm, of course he didn't. It would be any pack wolf's goal to protect their borders and everyone did it...in their own particular way! Her own family had been a bit different, that was all. Welcoming all wolves in with open arms. It had eventually damned them, torn them apart from the inside out. But such a setting had raised her to be somewhat sensitive, acutely aware. She was beginning to become accustomed to the Ridge now, though, and when he asked if he might walk with her, she responded with a polite, "Of course!" Both thankful to be included and also glad to get her legs moving again.

Her stomach growled when he mentioned food, and her eyes descended for a moment while she chuckled at the terrible timing of her insides. "Hopefully they were correct. We might all use a little nourishment." Tail wagging evenly behind her, she picked her paws up out of the snow, one-by-one, preparing them for the little excursion. If only food were as easy to acquire as herbs (at least comparatively) in this weather. Animals could survive in the snow, their bodies frozen even after they had ceased to move. But plants, being so small, inevitably decayed. Even frozen, they did very little good, all brown and crusty.

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Off they went, trekking through the snow and along the paths that Guiness, Senka, Elettra, and the cubs had forged before them. "Oh, I hope so, too," he remarked. "Between the three of them, they're all mischief an' guile. I can never win." A partial chuckle left his throat, "As I've mentioned 'fore, they don't often think too highly of me, but I'm onto 'em. The boys especially. They think it funny to make a fool outta their mother's escort and keeper." He shrugged as he sidestepped a chunk of hard-packed snow. "Do you have experience with cubs?" he asked, simpering in a way that relayed his growing appreciation for her company as he traversed through the pack's territory. "I mean... I could really use yer help, if you do. Elettra and I would really appreciate it."

"Skana an' I have thought of every which way to keep the three of 'em in line," he divulged, taking the right fork in the trail when the path diverged into two separate directions. For the sake of keeping her company just a while longer, he would lead her the long way around and take the opportunity to get to know her, a potential pack Medic and healer, a bit better. Willow Ridge had been in need of another Medic, to help both Elettra and Skana in the months to come, and acquainting himself with Adelaide Belrose seemed like a surefire way in making sure that she felt at ease and at home in her new surroundings.

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Listening to him speak of his step children was quite endearing. As of yet, she had not had any real meaningful encounters with them, though she desired to. The woman had a soft spot for youth of most any age. Even if they were nothing but "mischief and guile". Adelaide dared them to make a fool of her, the kindly medic, for she might find great amusement in showing them that she was much more than a silver-eyed softie. Her eyes lingered upon his face as she moved about the snow as well, careful not to let herself trip. She was thankful for the already laid out path; She may not have been a small woman, but the snow was high enough that she would tire quite easily with a trek through it. She'd had enough of endless snowy travels for one lifetime.

As he asked her a question, she felt her heart stop, if only for a moment, and she forced a smile upon her face in case he looked over. "Oh, of course. I had a hand in raising my siblings' children. I'm sure they won't prove any different." She laughed light-heartedly, tail wagging at her back as her dysphoria fizzled out. "Though I'm sure you and Skana have done a fine job. Children are not really meant to be tamed, sir." Adelaide jested, then gave a slight tilt of her head, her voice taking on a slightly more serious tone, "And they're very nearly adults, aren't they?"

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Since Angier had left before he could even witness the birth of his mother's second (all stillborn) litter, he had had very little experience with cubs. The first time he had ever laid eyes on one had been when he had served under Alexander Dieudonné. Little Theodore and Arlette were so small, holding them in his jowls or carrying them by the ruff of their necks had been a piece of cake. Handling Elettra's first litter, however, was a different story as Asriel, Sköll, and Morganna taught him first-hand what it was like to be a mentor, Teacher, Guardian, and something almost like a father all at once. It had nearly sent him running for the hills.

To hear that Adelaide had experience with raising cubs - her siblings, even - was a relief. It meant that he, Skana, and Guiness would have a skilled cub-sitter and Teacher at hand, someone to help with the Yearlings and possibly the upcoming cubs when he and Elettra were ready. At the mention that cubs weren't and aren't meant to be tamed, Angier quirked a brow and glanced at her as though he had had a major breakthrough, a genuine discovery that solved a mystery of life that he had not yet realized. Her tone suggested that she had been jesting, which was all in good sport and brought a smile to Angier's face, but the Leader in him was somewhat confused. "Yeah," he answered, coming to realize that the Archer cubs would soon see their second Spring and advance into their yearling months. "I guess they are almost adults..."

He gave another lop-sided grin before continuing on, his eyes trained on the ground in case he spotted a set of tracks that deviated from the path and toward what very well could be the kill-site the cubs had discovered. "I just worry," he then admitted to her. "They've grown up so much and they're all so different... I noticed the other day how intently @Asriel was watching how Guiness and I were traversing the borders. @Morganna, on the other hand, I caught carrying plants towards the Infirmary. Sköll... he has a knack for tracking an'... ambushing--" his tone grew uneasy for a moment as he briefly mentioned the middle-born's tendency to catch him off-guard, "It jus' feels like they were only born yesterday." When their trail came to another split, Angier again took the right path, though this time picking up the scent of one of the boys. "Could... Could I ask you a favor?" he slowed his pace so that he was no longer leading her and instead walking alongside her as they went, "If... Elettra an' I plan on having a family this spring, will you help us raise 'em - teach 'em about plants an' reinforce Elettra's own training in herbs and healing?"

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Adelaide recalled the birth of her nieces and nephews. They'd all be born in the same season, mere weeks apart. As the old, mateless, maid, she was left as pupsitter. Not that she minded. Adelaide adored children. That she learned very early on. In time, it seemed she spent more time with the pups than their parents. As soon as they were old enough to speak, she would teach them manners. That was most important. Herbs were next, since that was what she was best at, and since many supposed herbs were quite dangerous, it was important to know which those were, especially with curious puppies roaming about. She felt a twinge of sadness recalling their faces now, as they might as well have been her own children. They would bound up to her, Auntie Addie, tails wagging, covering her in kisses...And then they were all gone. Everything had just gone away, and it had been her fault. She was here now, though, and was being offered the chance to influence the minds of another generation. The question took her breath away, it startled her. She was still so new here, and yet...

Her tail began to wag excitedly at her back and she nodded, "Of course, Angier, sir. I'm so honored that you would ask me." Her eyes fell, somewhat bashful and embarrassed, yet within she buzzed with so much excitement. After a long moment, she spoke up again, referring back to his worrying over the older children. "I'd take the worrying as a good sign, sir. It means you care. But I'm sure you know that all things have a way of working out." It was sweet, the way he worried over his stepchildren, and so it was with great caution that she attempted to give him advice. They were still unfamiliar with one another, and for all she knew, he didn't need her words of wisdom.

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