after thoroughly inspecting frostfire ridge and determining that there are no packs present directly in it — though he doubts a claim would be staked so close to the glacier pack — he moves southwest. the ruins of his fallen empire remain, memories etched into the rough hewn rocks and trees and ice. his failed attempt to try and resuscitate the dying embers of duskfire glacier. the war had hit them hard and he bears the physical scars from reek's ( though he knows not the man's name ) teeth on the side of his neck a hairsbreadth away from his throat as a constant reminder. though it's memories are neither all good nor necessarily bad he still feels a draw to it. the tether to a land that once was his and he is contented that none currently reside upon it even though he is unsure if he would try to re-create what had failed the first time.

the silver moraine is formed of valleys of ridges and ruts. the territory itself is rocky and barren with a barrier of evergreens that appear to line it's edges. it's not exactly aesthetic...unless one's aesthetic is barren wasteland. there is not much life ...except for him, the crows scavenging for scraps of leftovers and ...another. he sees her across the distance between them and gives pause to his steps, considering. they are far enough away their paths would not cross and they could brush past the other. she moves with clear intention and his hesitance grows only to be broken as he lets out a low chuff to announce his presence to her out of courtesy, lest she misses him. even if they were not to speak, tezcacoatl thinks it is better that he not accidentally startle her.

if tezcacoatl's attention had drifted — he held the tentative assumption that they might pass by in close proximity but not interact despite his chuff — it snaps back to her as the autumn fire pelaged woman draws nearer, picking her way closer. his gaze takes her in, a quick sweep of his eyes, not lingering on any specific part for longer than socially appropriate except for her stub of a tail. yet, in the interest of not rudely staring he glosses over it after looking a beat longer and focuses his gaze back upon her face as she states her purpose.

so his initial assumption'd been right: she was on a mission. she was looking for a puppy. was puppies wandering lackadaisically around in these wilds a common occurrence? it hadn't last time he'd been here ...to the best of his knowledge anyway. both times tezcacoatl'd been rather concentrated on himself and his own ambitions. "i came across a pup a few days ago but she was taken back to her home to the glacier by one of the adults responsible for her." tezcacoatl informs her. he has doubts that it's the child this woman is looking for ... unless the pack that now inhabited duskfire glacier was in the habit of stealing children.

the woman confirms what tezcacoatl had expected from the get-go: that the pup she sought was not the same pup he'd met in permafrost hollow. she offered him a bit more information: lucas and that she was searching for a boy. definitely not the pup that'd stumbled across him in the hollow. yet, still, she presses him, asking if he was sure it was a girl. if the serpent king did not get the gut feeling that this was a very serious matter he might've laughed. he had daughters ( and a son or two ) and was fairly certain he was capable of telling the difference between the two but her desperation makes him feel bone marrow deep sorrow. he didn't even want to imagine what it must be like and he, naturally, assumes that lucas is her child.

"red and brown with dark accents, olive green eyes. coywolf." he lists them off vaguely, drawing her coloration from relatively fresh memory. "her name is currituck." he finishes softly.

her questions come at tezcacoatl like a barrage; rapid fire. he blinks, drawing in a deep breath, sorting them in his head, preparing to answer each one she'd fired off at him. "she wasn't alone for long. shortly after i offered her name and she gave me her's in return an adult from the pack came onto the scene," tezcaocatl explained, remembering the aggressive growl he'd been greeted with. it still stung with insult but he understood and still understands. "i don't think so," tezcacoatl answers this slowly. the woman hadn't looked like the girl's mother but ...appearance meant nothing. currituck could have easily taken after her father. tezcacoatl's own daughters took after him and the 'coatl' line at length bearing little of their own mother. "she didn't appear to be trying to escape or distressed in any way. i think she was just curious and managed to slip out beneath anyone's notice for a while." which was pretty common. inca, always the curiously rebellious child, had been infamous for slipping out of the borders when she thought no one was watching. unfortunately for her, her personal guard was always watching but nothing of the interaction between him, currituck and her caretaker had seemed out of place or raised alarm flags to tezcacoatl. he can't offer her all the information she seeks, unfortunately ( mostly because tori isn't sure if he'd know the pack name or not ) and offers her an apologetic expression instead. "you could always head to the glacier and ask them if they'd seen your lucas." he suggests, knowing he will be no real help to her on her search.

tezcacoatl makes a small noise of affirmation in his throat as she repeats his mention of the glacier. he realizes, though, that he has not been overly specific and though he is pretty sure there is only one glacier in the whole of the teekon wilds he adds, "duskfire glacier." quietly, just in case having the full territory name might assist her in placing it. "just a little northeast of here." he specifies, pointing in it's direction with a gesture of his muzzle before his head swings back to face her once more. he contemplates her following question: on whether it was where he was from. once he could say that, yes, it was where he was from but ...not anymore. the pack duskfire glacier was no more ...as it hadn't been for quite some time. "i'm ...just a wanderer." he settles on as an adequate response; and for the most part it was true.

"i will." tezcacoatl promises in response to her request. white. tawny back and a few spots. blue eyes. he catalogs the description she gives in his mind, along with his name. the wilds are vast — much of it remained unexplored by him. there was a chance the boy was still within these wilds ...and there was a chance that he wasn't; but of course tezcacoatl will not bring that to light. it is already a delicate matter and the woman before him seems like she is a hairsbreadth away from breaking down. not that he blames her. not knowing what happened to him had to be unimaginably painful. it left a lot of questions and there was little chance of closure.

tezcacoatl realizes that he was lucky. lucky that his daughters never disappeared on him ( or were kidnapped ), and while he doesn't doubt he has bastards out there in the world he finds it hard ( perhaps cruelly so ) to care about children he's never and likely will ever me(e)t. he feels an obligation to encourage, or to offer some sort of comfort but he refrains. he has no real words of comfort and encouragement seemed like a hollow platitude. "i understand. would my daughters have ever gotten lost i'd have tore down the world looking for them." the earth, the heavens. he'd have searched until he reached the end of the world ...or his life. whichever would've came first.

"i will keep a keen eye and ear out for him." he has already promised to return him if he found him, but it feels worth repeating. tezcacoatl can't promise that he will find him but he can at the very least hold to his word that he will search.

the break of the woman's facade was so quick that tezcacoatl wasn't so sure he didn't imagine it. nevertheless, his gaze drifted to scan the territory behind her. he doesn't anticipate danger but the wolves of the glacier, as he's come to learn, are touchy about anyone being in neutral territories that they deem too close to their borders. there was a chance the silver moraine was one of those ...not that the serpent king was in the habit of caring. so long as he was not traipsing through their land they couldn't actually do anything and if their members wanted to pick fights with him over unclaimed land well then ...they were more than welcome to step up to the plate. neutral territory was neutral territory and the possessiveness of unclaimed lands annoyed tezcacoatl, especially when he wanted to travel through them.

tezcacoatl's gaze goes back to the woman once more when she thanks him and he offers her a small nod; and when she asks what his name was again it occurs to the serpent king that he never gave it to her. would anything have been normal about this conversation he might've teases by saying something like i didn't; but this was not the light-hearted conversation for such things.

"tezcacoatl," he tells her and then offers, "or tezca for short." because 'tezcacoatl' was a mouthful, admittedly. it wasn't half as bad as the name his mother could've chosen: some of the 'coatl' names got incredibly long and difficult to pronounce.