Swiftcurrent Creek we fall and we too shall rise

For @Razo :D!

There was still one wolf whose allegiances Bazi knew next to nothing about, and whose loyalty she could not be sure of. The others seemed to have taken Fox's disappearance in stride - very few of them had a strong personal connection to the rambunctious firecracker and didn't seem too put out by Bazi's order that everyone keep away from the sunspire (she had pondered reversing the decision numerous times, especially after Tuwawi announced that she would be moving her family away from the creek).

But Razo had some connection to Fox. Had he not been one of the men in her growing harem, alongside Haunter and Scimitar? Haunter was dead, and Scimitar.. well, he was spoken for. Bazi grinned at the thought of besting Fox there; even though Peregrine, who would presumably father her the red girl's children now, wasn't exactly a step down.

Without really thinking about it, she began to search Razo out towards the evening of that day. The grasslands around Swiftcurrent Creek didn't offer many places to hide, so she would find him eventually if he was even still within the borders.

The evening was drawing close, but the sun still shone when Razo stood tall in the long, gently swaying grass, gazing at a grazing herd of deer from afar. He’d grown used to tracking their movements, but inevitably this particular herd would migrate elsewhere and there would eventually be another to take their place in such a plentiful slice of the Wilds. He watched the younger does for any discernible change in physical status, then set his eyes on the strong stag for only a moment before he turned and loped away. There were other grounds to attend to as well, and certainly a nap to be squeezed in before the sun fell below the horizon and out of sight.

When he noticed a glimmer of blinding-white fur in his keen peripheral vision, however, he put his plans on hold. It wasn’t often that someone just happened upon him, but for the moment, he was the one to approach her and he had no expectations that she had purposefully sought him out. Much as he had intended to find her prior to the meeting she had called, she had managed to take a page out of his book and remain elusive. With the opportunity finally at hand, he sauntered his long-legged saunter towards her and greeted her half-affectionately with the nosing of one plush ear, which he also half-stooped to do in his towering height.

Razo had a talent for disappearing. When she eventually did find him, watching over the food, Bazi wondered how he managed it - he wasn't exactly small, and the Creek offered few real hiding places. At the very least she expected to see the occasional flash of atomic yellow eyes, but this was the first time she could recall so much as catching his scent in a weeks.

Bazi was far, far less adept at concealing her whereabouts. Why bother trying? She was whiter than actual snow, and struggled to keep her voice low. A feather-light step was only an asset if the wolf she wished to hide from was blind, and Razo was not. Within moments of catching sight of the Redefin wolf, he had spotted her, too.

"I didn't think you still lived here," she told him frankly, surprised at the display of affection. The nuzzled ear folded back as if to contemplate whether it felt violated or not. "I thought you would go with Fox." What did Razo have to keep him rooted here? Was he a wolf without ties, staying out of necessity, or was there loyalty to be won if she tried?