Okay. His search was going nowhere, and even with his determinedness, his optimism was waning. The boy shook the frustration from him and started trotting over the land, the cool ground refreshing against his paws. His mother wasn't right, was she? Shaking the thought from his head, he perked his ears forward. There had to be someone that had heard of this other dog. She was real, right? He wasn't chasing an imaginary being..was he?

A renewed sense of determination flashed across his face. He would find out. His tail wagged, his optimism swelling within him again. He had this. His lean muscles tensed as he picked up his pace. Where would he search next? Where hadn't he searched? Turning south, he skidded to a stop. South or west? Thoughtful eyes turned to the west, the sun just topping the horizon behind him. Grinning, his tail wagged. Why not follow the sun today? He wheeled around and trotted, loving the feeling of the wind through his fur, which had grown a bit shaggy over the past few weeks, making him seem bigger than what he was. Lifting his muzzle to the sky, his paws hit the ground with purpose once again.

Since his younger siblings had come, the steely boy had actually rather enjoyed his new sense of purpose and duty on the mountain, as both a guardian and a key component of the pack's providers. No longer feeling so overshadowed so often, and less interested to have it be that way, he had come alive with the springtime and started off his next year in good standing and good morale.

Stretching his pace out into a ground-covering jog, the Ostrega had set off from the slopes with the intent to hunt out in the glen. He hadn't tried all too hard to rally up a companion in these efforts, but went onward out anyway, full of interest and energy. As the ground flattened out beneath him, he picked up his pace accordingly across the vast space newly at his disposal.

But a wiggle of his own lifted up nose and a weird scent on the wind soon guided the hunter in him towards the oncoming foreign canine. When he could spot some motion approaching from the distance, he immediately stanced-up to be more alert as he jogged on then. A warm sunny meadow was no place for him to expect a stealthier move of his own, so his more typical interests that way would have to be shelved. He'd move on in the open, too, if that was how it was--and certainly, it was.

He even arced up his tail and took his solace in knowing his family's domain was just at his back still; the yearling didn't know what he could be getting in to, but intended to do so anyway. He barked out at the black and white stranger, and tested the situation with distance in his favor.