On her mountainside, all seemed peaceful today, perhaps suspiciously so. She caught herself dropped in the middle of an unexpected lull in her day. It was late in the afternoon by now, she figured after a glance towards the sun's position, and the skies were cloudy and gray -- average, for almost a week now. She didn't overly appreciate the look of them any, suspecting snowfall if it stayed cold, or sleet if not. If she had to guess, she'd say it was toeing the line currently.

Everything around her hung so quietly in these moments. Considering this, she blinked slow, and slaked her thirst to stall for time, then continued to feel torn on what to do -- not overly interested in resigning to just a nap to kill time. She could do a bit better.

Turning for a random direction, her restless heels kicked her up to a trot and she covered some sloping ground. After a while, the freshest scent she could find was her mate's. She wondered how slim the odds of finding him alone were (since she wasn't feeling particularly inclined to time with the pups at the moment) before slipping towards a more stealthier approach to track more formally. Just in case @Charon wasn't as alone as she hoped.

Humored, she smirked. "Ah, really.. I do not even want to say it out loud," she murmured, happy enough to keep that energy out of the situation for now. While she loved the sprouts dearly, she still liked a little space from them sometimes now that they didn't need her so badly. "But yeah, she does. Towards the flatlands, apparently to start." She took comfort in knowing it was a familiar direction for her personally, and scouting was something that was easy for her to support based on principle alone -- she valued scouts here and always would in her lifestyle at the helm. Timing, it being the dead of winter and all, was probably her biggest reservation about it, but there was no helping that. She often found she felt that way a little bit about everything to do with the puppies, so she was getting used to coping with that type of worry.

On the topic of the sterling beta, her ears slicked back. "I know, I do not like it." Her frown hardened, worried beginning to creep quickly. For all she knew, he could be on his way back now, perhaps only waylaid by the weather somewhere. Or, worse had come to him. "He was who I wanted to send Alya with, if not you or me." Aria hung somewhere as a possibility too, but Amekaze obviously knew the two males much better, so her bias swung a little their way first of all. "If it keeps on.. do you think you will go after him?" she asked quietly, although she sensed that she knew the answer already.  Assuming he did not turn back up soon.. like she still hoped he might.

Suspicious, indeed. 

Hydra was working on her stalking. Although she preferred the more direct and savage approach, she did seek to become adept and proficient in this. But still, at her age she was hardly an expert in this craft. She heard nothing that her parents had discussed, having only recently caught onto their trail. Only when she was near did Hydra crouch and crawl forward, her tail waving slowly behind her. There was a rocky outcropping nearby she hid behind, but the wind was—unbeknownst to her—not in her favor.

With her ears down, she exhaled another slow, soft sigh because of course he could take care of himself and these worries were probably misplaced entirely. "You are right," she chuffed. It was the absence he left here that bothered her as well. For Moonspear, Floki had always been a key piece. Her daughters adored him, she trusted him, and all had been well. But he was a scout and a rather well-traveled one at that. This was what he did.. and what she had always supported him in doing since she'd known him, practically.

All there was to do was see what happened. She shook her head back then forth before finally straightening her ears. As it always was, and would be, time would tell. In long enough, they'd get their answers one way or another.

Resigning further consideration on it, and simplifying it to just missing Floki badly while he was gone, she moved to gently nudge against him again. This time she deepened the motion enough to nose into his nape, but then she spun away to point further up the elevation. Every step was soft and precise so to still not draw too much attention; she still didn't want to be found out by the litter and knowing that staying idle could risk that, for she couldn't shake the feeling of being watched when here, she began to move away again.

Hydra's ears cupped forward. She faintly heard her mothers voice, and her tail waved slowly. Found them. But there was no vocalization given from her father, and when things were a little too quiet, Hydra crouched and peeked from beyond the rock. She saw the figures of her parents drifting in another direction, or perhaps simply continuing their meandering walk. Hydra shifted her weight before she darted forwards again, moving quietly and slowly towards the nearest thing that would provide her cover. In the first instance, it was a tree. The next, a particularly large boulder. She was doing well enough, though as she was no professional at this there was no telling if her mother and father had caught on yet.

Exhaling with a gratifying rush, she was pleased to have goaded him into motion so easily and waved her tail happily. Still, every footfall came with a careful, delicate touch that her want to move faster threatened to overturn the second she let it -- the allure of an aggressive romp was there, and she knew he was a willing playmate for such even with mountain underfoot. She gave a few restless tosses of her head but soon settled somewhere in the middleground, eyes on him, but ears quivering suspiciously backward.

She always swore she felt them near. Maybe it was all in her head, or perhaps even because they always were in some manner: each a little piece of her that resonated with her in a way no one else ever could or would. She didn't know for sure, these were all first-time feelings that evolved and changed with each moon that passed and they grew -- as did she right alongside them all.

And, to test what she could do, she wheeled back onto Charon and playfully bumped her shoulder against his before springing forward again. This time faster, further, with even more force behind her motions to put space between her and rendezvous.. and to set the baiting lure, should they truly be pursued enough to an earnest chase.

While there would be no shaking the feeling of them, she could, however, try to distract because it should be so easy. They may be inevitable, or never coming. Maybe not today or anywhere near right now. Probability spanned a wide, wide range that she didn't have the time or interest to explore -- not when there was this much to enjoy, with Charon's tendency to help ground her, anyway. He kept her energetic, and competitive enough in her play that she only let his snap catch furs. She swung her hips out of the way with a snicker and a snarl, and arced her tail up further. There was the temptation to turn back onto him again, pounce, or otherwise, but she outweighed it with moving for now while the terrain underfoot was conducive to her covering ground. She pinned her ears back and ran.

When she finally felt a little easier about distance, she suddenly shifted her gait and pranced obnoxiously with her head and tail up towards Charon. She veered her path subtly into his, not giving them too much of a choice but to keep close until she could playfully butt her head against his shoulder. Ame growled softly, and next tempered the gesture by shifting it to lick his cheek. All the while, her ears flickered around and she glanced back to his face finally; was he listening too? She didn't hear them right now, either.

Despite her efforts and any concentration she spent on the cause, she could catch no sounds suggesting anything besides peace. A looming threat like theirs could not stifle her in full, not with Charon's touch still tingling at her skin. Less and less, most seconds, it mattered little how much she felt a bit like easy prey. This she attempted to block out further by nuzzling against him again, leading her to nip at his nearest cheek then down his jaw. She softly punctuated the motion with a sigh before she peeled away once more, opting to circle tight around him with a slow saunter; it was good here.

He always seemed to strike the right balance between the competitiveness she sought and play, or at the least, knew intrinsically to understand that need she possessed. This, consistently, let him rise as she'd want and need him too. Unknowingly enough to her, it would take her a while to do the same for him -- maybe not in quite the way on his mind, especially. The obvious good timing never seemed to align with her. She only knew it would be right.. when it was right, so in the meantime she'd revel in the race of her heartbeat at the sight of him and how absolutely bizarre it was how badly she'd grown to love in her way -- all for him and their wily daughters.

Before her next move, she felt her fur rise and the rest of her muscles tense up next. A trio of beasts was on the scene at once, just exactly what she had hoped to outrun, dodge, and avoid entirely.

While them sneaking on her is to be expected, they were quite the contrast to her attentions on all on Charon. Their skills were sharpening by the day. Together, they were nothing to take lightly. She splayed her ears and pulled her lips back to show some wary teeth as she leaned her hips against him in case a wily onslaught was to come.

But just as suddenly as they'd appeared, they began to recede back into the cover of the mountainside.

Amekaze's pulled forward her ears, listening to their footfalls move away with a skeptical frown. She watched that direction, then a few others for long moment before nudging her mate softly. With that in mind, she turned for the opposite direction and intended to disappear the best she could. If he wished to follow still, she'd lead him away too.