Stark drew in a breath only to watch it come out as fog in the chill morning air. He'd kept mostly to himself as he tried to adjust to packlife again - and tell himself that he wasn't falling back into the same pattern he'd landed in so long ago when it came to the whole 'empty slot' of father to kids that weren't his. Valette had a pack of support, Octavia didn't. That was the difference. He tried to tell himself that again and again and while he did leave kills by her densite from time to time it wasn't the obsessive manner in which he'd tried to keep Octavia fed. 

He'd damn near killed himself trying to keep the Keep together and in the end, that sacrifice had changed who he was. 

Still he was a man of his word and while he knew Banner had met a few wolves of Easthollow he still needed to put himself out there and get more going. There was lots to do - lots to explore and see, and Stark had no intentions of just slacking off. He just...had to remind himself that things here were different from how they'd been in the Keep. He wasn't responsible for everything. He wasn't the one who had the world on their shoulders. 

 

Stark could feel someone nearby, the cool of the air making that static charge fill everything up. It made it easier to feel the others nearby but then it could also just be his general paranoia taking over. Stark gave a low hum as he paused and rubbed himself against a tree, satisfying both an itch to mark the lands and an itch on his back. But then a smaller voice called out and Stark's ears perked. It wasn't Steph, and it didn't sound deep enough to be Ezra, which left Clary. 

He gave a low chuff and turned himself back until he'd parted through the trees a bit more. "Over here," He called out to help guide the girl, a gentle smile on his face. "I'm out this way." He wondered if she'd been hunting him down on purpose or if he'd been the fortunate one who caught her attention. Either way, he didn't mind the company - especially since she was one of Valette's.