Anyone can hop in! Tagging
@Issun and
@Takara for travel reference.
They had left the plateau and while she was oddly happy she definitely missed her friends. She had betrayed them, promising her loyalty and then leaving not too long after that. It had occurred to her much too late that if she left with Issun and Takara the pack would be left with very little numbers. She had made her choice, picked love over loyalty but....why did it strike her as wrong? She knew she would feel the same way if it had been different, if she had chosen to stay and say goodbye to Issun.
She thought about this while staring at the half frozen surface of the lake's edges. Shaking her head slowly she stood up and tested the strength of the ice, finding it weak. Lifting her paw up high she struck the ice once, twice and then a third time before it cracked enough to let cold water flow through. Lowering her head she began to drink from it, ears swiveling to keep track of her surroundings.
Thirst led her to the nearest water source, she lived where the land was kindest to her when it came to food and when it wasn't she hiked to the next area that would suit her better. Unlike the pampered life she uses to live, where humans fed her already killed prey, she had no idea when her next meal would come, and the land was still new to her, but much more forgiving then any other the other land she's been in. Though food had been scarce due to winter, she managed either through scavenging from other kills. Not only that, but she has seen wolves - wild wolves. Though she was, by all means, a wild wolf herself, ever since she ran deep into the wilderness far from everything she has ever known, she was still new to these instinctual feelings she had.
As she about to leave to approach the lake, she was quick to notice someone else there taking a drink. Immediately froze on the spot, usually, she kept her distance, watched from afar, and avoid other wolves, mostly because she didn't know how they would react. From what she knew about wolves in the wild they were usually not all that friendly especially lone wolves like she was. She didn't know if this wolf was in a pack or not and she wouldn't pry about it though getting into a pack would be nice...
But for now, she took a deep breath and walked forward, she walked over to the other side of the lake and approaching the lake's edge. using a paw she tested the strength of the ice in several places before finding a weak spot then raised a paw high then struck hard once and on the second strike, she broke through, sending speckles of water at her face. She snorts and withdrew of her paw from the lake and wiped the water from the face with her dry paw before leaning in and taking a drink.
It was her ears that caught the sounds of a slow approach though she didn't quite bother to look up yet. Whoever it was paused and she slowly lifted her eyes only, studying what she thought to be a male seeming to hesitate on whether or not to approach the lake. It was a nuetral territory, did he think she would chase him off from a drink? She snorted softly and lowered her gaze again, continuing her slow drinking. To drink freezing water too quickly was asking for pain. The sound of ice cracking made her lift her head and she failed to hold back a laugh as the other snorted, apparently having splattered himself with the frigid water. She cleared her throat and looked away trying to pretend she wasn't laughing at the other wolf.