The morning was partly cloudy, the rising sun warm and fiercely orange in the sky, painting the clouds a myriad of colors, pinks, purples, pale blues, orange. For a moment Valor paused, moss green eyes with starbursts of gold near the pupils taking in the sight before him, briefly mesmerized. Having been born on a mountain he did not fear their towering heights, instead, finding a savage beauty in each design. The towering extravagance before him was certainly no exception and the Phase boy, having shed the ‘Roux-Abrhen’ name though, in truth, he was fairly certain the last names of the Salvaje Valley, so far behind him now, would hold no weight here. Valor could have shed them both, disconnected himself from them entirely and made a new name for himself; yet he could not bring himself to do that. It would be disgraceful of him and would tarnish the memory of his mother and her family: something he could not bring himself to do. Though the animosity he held towards Symphony was old, and apparently a trait shared through many males in his family, he had learned to let it go, too. Valor couldn’t even remember what he had been angry about, now, leaving his bad and good memories very far behind him.

The slope he faced was a gentle one, picturesque; nothing short of a dying man’s mirage in the searing and scorching heat of the desert and instinctively Valor found himself drawn to it as a whole, the oasis and the snow-capped top, the jagged and potentially much more dangerous half of the mount. He did not find it intimidating as others might have, used to navigating harsh and treacherous terrain, where one slip would find you potentially plummeting to the crags and jagged spike-like rocks that would rise to greet your body as it fell. Deaths happened and that wasn’t to say that Valor’s experience would be able to spare him, he had watched an older sibling fall to the dark depths, heard the sickening crunch of his body as it collided. Small breath was taken as he shook those memories away and focused his attention upon the present, considering it deserved his undivided attention more than old, and admittedly, horrible memories.

After a few more moments of admiring, the agouti colored creature — a homage to his mother’s side of the family — began to make his way to the oasis half of the mountain, hoping to be able to find shelter and food within.

Valor had not been ignorant of the trailing scents of wolves that came, went, and presently lingered upon the Sunspire. It might have been enough, knowing there was the presence of others, to ward off other wolves, but there was no official borders and hardly enough to be considered a claim and that was enough for Valor to make his way towards Oasis as he pleased. Until it was claimed by distinct scent markers as far as Valor was concerned it was a free territory and he was doing nothing wrong being here. A large, ebony man came with the intent of approaching the average sized loner. For a blind second, Valor almost recoiled thinking it was his uncle Cadence, but of course, Cadence was not nearly so young, and even so Valor had lost the knowledge of if Cadence was even alive anymore.

Valor acknowledged the other with caution and suspicion as most loners tended to acknowledge one another with — at least as far as Valor’s own experiences went; yet when the other male spoke there were hidden connotations that the Phase picked up upon. A greeting as if it were actually a pack. Head tilted to the side, moss green eyes starburst with gold studied the other man as Valor contemplated this, black, leathery nostrils flaring. “I am looking for shelter and for something to eat,” He responded simply, honestly but with no intentions of being stopped because there was no claim here (yet) and Valor did not have to really answer the other, currently.

Granted, Valor did not speak with intention of pissing his companion off. Valor was in no mood to fight though he had intended to make Sunspire a temporary home considering he would feel most at home upon it's looming presence.

An apology came soon after Valor had spoken and the male kissed of earth and fire gave the shadowy man the brief moment of a benefit of the doubt. The male called himself Jace; this Jace offered no explanation of why he was being assertive and Valor, in turn, did not ask. At the current point in time all he wanted was food to satiate his hunger or at least take the curb of it away, something to drink, and a place to shelter him through the night until he found a pack to join up with. It occurred to the Phase that perhaps he was intruding on something private that Jace and so without any further explanation this was what Valor concluded; yet, it was not enough to push him to seek what he sought elsewhere. “That would be preferable,” Valor spoke and after a beat offered a mutedly grateful, “Thank you.” In another brief moment Valor considered giving his name in turn and then let trepidation hold him back. Was there a point in it when there was a good chance they would not come in contact with one another again? The Teekon Wilds seemed vast and the chances of it happening upon coincidence alone were probably unlikely.

Their duo soon became a trio at the approach of another male, a plump goose grasped in his jaws. The newcomer nudged it between the ebony man and Valor though Valor did not go for it; despite the slight grumble of his stomach, assuming it was meant for the ebony man. It was quickly apparent that the two men were well acquainted and their scents clung to one another in a way that left Valor making very wrong assumptions. The other male introduced himself, too, leaving Valor with the unbidden pressure of feeling like he, too, should give a name. “Valor,” He offered simply, keeping ‘Phase’ off of it because he sincerely doubted it would spark any recognition. Valor’s gaze moved from Ferdie to Jace, vaguely surprised by the offer to travel with them.

“Are you sure?” He inquired definitely not wanting to become that awkward third wheel.

“I see,” Valor drew in a contemplative tone when Jace explained that Ferdie and him were in the process of forming a pack on this mount but there was still, despite that, obvious history between the two of them that allowed Valor to continue with his misconception that the two men were lovers. Green-golden irises flickered to the other male, Ferdie, then when he confirmed that he would not have asked if he wasn’t sure. For a moment Valor considered declining the offer, not because he had a problem with the two men being lovers, as Valor assumed, but simply because they did not know each other and it was almost a desperate seeming offer. For a few moments he was silent, eyes observing the two men, one of which had turned back to the oasis, only for his gaze to flicker at the goose that Ferdie had placed at his paws as an offering, — how Valor saw it as — or maybe a bribe, his stomach rumbling again.

The silence stretched on as the earth and fire kissed male considered his options with a careful precision he felt was entirely warranted. “Fine,” Valor decided finally, fixing his gaze on Ferdie who had been the one to make the blunt offer. “I will join you. Are there others?” Valor knew it was a good chance to be apart of something new rather than try to intergrade himself into something pre-existing.

Valor’s questions were answered precisely and quickly as when Jace informed Valor that there were two others: two females. For a moment Valor hesitated thinking that Jace meant his love life instead of his skills and wondered if he was being hit on subtly. Tail slashed against his hind legs for a moment before he realized as Jace clarified that he hadn’t been asking about the Phase’s love life (which was something of a relief to the male). He grasped the goose that had been offered to him in his muzzle and carried it, following after the two males, flinching away, instinctively (he wasn’t used to being touched by others) when Ferdie nudged his shoulder. It had been a platonic nudge, a sign of cooperation but it had been some time since Valor had last been in a pack and wasn’t used to it. As they walked he told the two males his strengths and weaknesses all the while wondering what kind of luck he had to have to unintentionally stumble upon a pack trying desperately to get on their feet.