Evening had set and Aria had made her way back home to Donnelaith. She'd traveled decently far the past four days, and was quite hungry by now. She'd found no food on her travel home, and the kill she'd made before that she shared with a member of another pack as a gift offering. Stupid idea, she thought now, but she hoped it would perhaps strengthen the alliance between the two. Perhaps it had, perhaps it was a waste. Either way, she felt a bit like shit. She decided to head towards the caches before she met with Lasher about her encounter, but she scented him nearby. Perhaps he would not mind meeting her at the cache? Was it even worth it to try? The girl did not know. The only thing she was certain of her right now, was that she needed to eat. 

Unable to stand waiting to eat, and wishing to alert Lasher immediately of what she found, she let out a loud howl. Her intention was clear. She was okay and back in the territory, but bared news of their neighboring pack, Saltwinter. She wished to speak with him whenever he could. After calling to him, she let out a loud sigh of relief. He could take his time, she was in no rush, she was only eager to share. And of course eagerness could always wait, patience was a key factor in a pack and she needed to practice it. 

When she arrived to the cache she grabbed only two pieces of meat. One looked like it was only a small portion of a larger kill, hardly but 4 or 5 bites. The other was a small squirrel that she supposed was caught out of desperation; something she could relate to. She practically scarfed down the meat of the larger kill, one she decided to be perhaps a deer, but waited to eat the other piece when Lasher arrived. She felt bad already making him come to her, but the girl was used to a lush life of always being fed. Going without food for four days was extremely uncomfortable. She sat, as patiently as she could, with the squirrel in front of her. She would offer to share it with her Alpha when he arrived, but was quite intent on devouring the entire thing. 

The girl was thrilled to see her respected alpha, and dipped her head upon his arrival. She wasn't aware of how she looked, but assumed it must've been a bit worrisome if he allowed her to eat before they spoke. Eat she did, too. Aria chomped down every piece of meat on the bones of that poor limp critter, and she didn't bother to take her time either. While the young beauty was quite set on her feminine appearance, the beastly instinct inside her was fully aware that starving was not part of surviving. She did not allow herself to starve, caring little about how she looked at this given point in time. 

She nosed the largest bone she could find from the creature, tearing it from it's lifeless skeleton and offering it to Lasher as a gift of thanks and respect. She wasn't sure how keen he was on gnawing, but she felt it kept her teeth nice and sharp so she did it often. Whether or not it actually did she didn't know, it was just a tip an elder taught her as a young pup. She raised herself once again to sit, rather than lounge, in his company. She had slowly begun to view him as a sort of father figure, but still would be lying if she claimed she didn't find the older male quite dashing. 

Regardless, she felt she had something interesting she tell him of.

"I apologize for my absence," she woofed, smiling an innocent smile of apologies. "I was only meant to hunt. I followed a small family of deer out of the territory but they moved faster and further than I thought-" she paused, glancing to the bloodied skeleton at her feet and licking her chops silently to attempt to remove the red that stained her muzzle. "-as you can see that didn't turn out so well."

She looked past him for a moment, and then returned her gaze to him, yet not meeting his own as always, and continued. "I managed to catch a small piece of prey to bring home, but encountered a Saltwinter wolf," this was her reason for calling him. She was fine and well (besides the whole food thing) and she only bore news. She wondered secretly what he thought of the pack, as currently her views were muddied. "I offered it to his pack as a gift, I remembered you saying you wished to form healthy ties with the bordering pack," she once again wondered what he was thinking, also slightly hoping he would be impressed with her strong memory. She did he best to remember most of what she was told, and often prided herself on that. 

"I did not receive much information, and the male I spoke to seemed OK... But I'm not sure that this is a pack we would want to get involved with. He mentioned something strange to me. Have you met any of the other members?" she asked, tilting her head to one side. Of course she assumed he had, but perhaps she had visited the wrong pack, Njal did mention another pack looking to form... But she was unsure. She truly only wished to inform him of her discovery and perhaps see what he thought of the pack. She also rather enjoyed his company, but that was merely a preference when it came to who to tell. 

The girl perked her ears to hear this. Was Njal unaware of the close connections between their alphas? Perhaps it wasn't too uncommon, as she didn't know it either. But surely, he wouldn't have suggested staying away if he felt that they would be hostile towards them? Perhaps their alpha wasn't so vocal about what to do and what not to do; but that was merely an assumption, and she couldn't be sure. 

She sat quietly, thinking the males comment over and trying to decide whether or not her information was relevant or not. She figured it was at least somewhat important, anyway. So the girl shrugged, chewing her bottom lip in thought(it was a habit she'd picked up long ago). "He simply told me to pass along a message," Aria woofed, clearing her throat before continuing. "He told me to make sure the wolves of Donnelaith stayed away from them and their border," she watched Lasher curious, to see his reaction. "I did not meet the male- Njal, was his name- near his borders, but he implied his pack mates were not so keen on making friends,"

The girl nodded as he responded, thinking vaguely of what Njal had meant. Lasher was probably right. He was older and wiser and claimed to know the wolfess in a friendly manner; she saw no reason not to trust his judgement. She smiled to him, showing that she understood, dipping her head in a respectful gesture. "I'll steer clear," she woofed, tail thumping against the ground. 

He spoke again, and this time her tail wagging was halted as an odd sternness came about them. He did not seem angry, merely concerned, and while Aria understood this, she felt a bit embarrassed. The snowy wolf did her best to hide this, despite being somewhat caught off guard. "It is winter," she replied quietly, shrugging. "I gnawed plants when I could, but that rabbit was the only thing I managed," she glanced to her feet. She was not angry with herself for sharing the kill, but rather was disappointed that she hadn't caught anything else. Was she so useless she couldn't even manage to track down the family of deer? The meaning of Lasher's words went over her head and the girl inwardly scolded herself. She'd brought quite little information home and absolutely no meat to feed any of the pack.

Aria followed, close but without touching. Likewise her thoughts were clouded with unease as she remembered the moment they shared. She coughed a bit, feeling strange and warm. The girl attempted to focus back to the topic at hand. "I thought about it," she said simply, but gave a gentle shrug. She was too young to understand hidden messages, laced in the words of other. To her, his words were simply a warning, and perhaps that's all they were. "I'm not sure he meant anything else of it... He seemed kind enough, maybe he just wanted to pass along a word of advice." 

She shook her head, attempting to get her mind from the male and back to the subject. It was also, however, a response to his question as well. "Nothing," she replied, letting out a huff of thought, biting at her lip curiously. Had he? Maybe- but despite her best efforts Lasher had completely taken over her thoughts, and she couldn't remember the situation anymore. She gave up. There was no use hurting herself trying to remember, in time she'd be able to forget what they had almost done. 

A part of her wondered, now that she was so engulfed with it, if she had stayed away for so long to escape him. She wasn't afraid of him or hateful towards him, she just needed air, it seemed. Maybe part of her wanted to leave the anxiety ridden thoughts that she felt and follow the deer as far as they took her. Maybe that's why even when she didn't catch them, she stayed to hunt. Or maybe it really was as she had said, she'd simply felt the need to provide, and she failed. Her mind couldn't decide, and her thoughts jumbled as she tried to sort through them. She didn't know if she was overthinking it, so pushed the thought away, not wanting to talk about her trip anymore. 

Instead she bumped him lightly with her shoulder. Perhaps she would tell him about Casmir... Would he care? She couldn't decide. She decided to start easy, asking a simple question that was much easier answered. "How are you?"

"Quite well," she replied, and continued on. It wasn't so much that she was making small talk, she was just genuinely curious and needed to start off the conversation. Her tongue wavered as she fought to find words to say. Then she gave up- just get to the point already, she snapped to herself. She sighed and shook her head. 

"I'm not asking permission," Aria began, head lowering a little as her courage faltered. "But I've spent a bit of time with Casmir," she murmured gently, her tail wagging as she thought of the few moments they spent together. "I just.. I dunno I wanted to tell you myself," she stared at the ground as they went, but was prepared to stop if he did. She hoped he wouldn't think less of her, but she didn't know if he would be upset or offended... She just didn't know. She walked silently, waiting for his response.

He didn't seem upset, and the heart of the white wolfess soared with relief and excitement. But then he asked a question that made it (and her fluffy tail) sink back down. She shrugged. "Both of us, for now," she murmured in response. It was clear that she was not thrilled about this, but perhaps Lasher understood the problem of loving more than one person- Casmir inherited more than just his fathers good looks. "I wasn't aware at first," she shared, "but she was gone when we first met, and she came back, so," she shrugged again. 

"I can't really force him to stop liking her," she continued, trailing off as she thought further on the topic. But I would like to she held off from saying, stifling a frustrated sigh.

The girl said nothing about Lasher's lover. She had not known about them. The thought stung a little. She knew that he would have Blue and her, but a third to tend to? How could someone be unable to choose? She could not fathom it. But he seemed to think that the situation was well handled, so she did not judge him for it. What would she even say? wow u luv so many ppl how immature. There was really nothing she could argue against it; you can't help who you love. 

Not pleased? She scoffed. "I'm not exactly thrilled about it," she muttered, her white gaze settling on the ground as her rump did. "It's not really fair, to either of us. Behati was here first, then she left. Casmir and I met, and then Behati came back. He made promises to us both without knowing the consequences of seeing the other again." Now, Casmir had never really made a promise to her, but the moment they shared was enough to keep Aria coming back. It was like a promise in itself, but more fulfilling. She didn't share this with Lasher, simply sat forward with her eyebrows furrowed, chewing her lip in desperate thought.

Yes. Knock some sense into him. Tell him that it's me and only me and Behati missed her chance. That was what she wanted to tell him, but common sense and her conscience told her that this was wrong. So she said nothing of the sort. "No..." she muttered, shrugging. "I'm sure he has some sort of plan... or idea or.. something," she thought about her wording- it sucked. But that was all she could muster up when she spoke so she didn't apologize, simply tried to say something a bit more intelligent. 

"I just mean... it's his decision," she finished, her heart drooping. "I think I've got a good chance," she added hopefully, attempting to show him her lack of worry. She gave him a gentle smile, her tail thumping slowly against the snow. But her heart lurched, and she felt a bit of sadness overwhelm her. She thought she had a good chance. Whatever Casmir thought... well, she didn't know.

"Of course," came the reply of the white girl. She dipped her head to him and when he turned to leave, she did the same. She gave a loud call for Behati and then set out to follow her trail. 

She was at first a bit confused at why the scent seemed to linger, but it eventually moved out and Aria thought nothing on it anymore. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary- whatever. Unfortunately this was the wrong thought, and she should have ran as fast as fucking possible out of that clearing and towards wherever the caramelly bitch had gone.