She had been a private being lately, perhaps a tad more than her usual, even. It was the end of summer. A time to reflect, a time to honor the weeks of plenty, and in her mother's old customs, honor the ancestors that had brought them to where they stood today. In her youth, a wilder and less thoughtful Amekaze had not been so keen to the sentiment; she'd had her focus elsewhere, but had mustered what she could, and remembered it recently when the seasons dictated she must.

Nevertheless, she had been fishing for most of today. It was easy hunting for her, and in dutiful pack wolf-fashion, she left one of her more sizable catches in the vicinity of the whelping den (although never very close, she always stayed far away). Then after eating her own fill, cached the rest for herself. She didn't even know if Erika liked fish -- not that she knew much at all about the scar-faced female, only that she had deemed it here for her babes to be born for reasons unknown. So the thought remained and she didn't worry about it any more than she needed. Now, she headed towards the cloak of the forests she liked to frequent.

To her surprise, a scent caught her nose so she sped up curiously. Not long after, she spied him. Ferdie..? she asked quietly as she approached, all while moving to settle delicately near to him. What are you doing here..? she wondered. He knew this was one of her haunts. Not many others seemed to come here, either, thus why she had not expected finding him here, laying as he was. She did not wish to disturb if he was sleeping, either, so was silent as she could be while looking to find a reason or cause at hand here.

His response came quickly, all at once a flurry of motion that wheeled to meet her. She leaned back to take it in and slicked back her ears with a look of confusion as she met his wild eyes briefly. I did not mean to spook you, she offered in return while he seemed to gather himself. She stayed put, seemingly unfettered to wait for him to find his composure.

Her ears pricked back towards him, a dash surprised to hear him, their alpha, asking to stay with her. It was not.. an adverse feeling, and she had dozed with him on a small handful of occasions before, so she nodded first. A rough day? she then inquired with a subtle tilt of her head. While she was flattered he wanted her company, she couldn't resist trying to understand this better first. Did something happen..? Instinctively her eyes narrowed and skimmed over the lines of his form, looking for blemishes that may answer this for her; what she didn't know was that it was not that sort of issue that troubled him -- and he certainly did seem troubled.

Worry began to manifest when his first answer was an affirmative.. but confusion came soon after when he nulled it with a no. Ame peered at him, unsure, and her ears fell flat. Ah.. she began, wholly uncertain. He admitted to being confused and she nodded a small nod. Sounds.. difficult, she mentioned, wishing there was more to be said. Yet this was not particularly her forte. For Ferdie she could muster up.. something, though.

He changed the subject to the pups, the first she was hearing about them officially. Not that she had pursued much information about them. It did not seem to be her place yet. Are they well? And their mother? her brows furrowed, remembering the birth of her younger siblings and the toll it had taken upon their honored mother. Then again, Erika was not nearly so aged as she had been by then and nor was it the height of winter.

No, no.. stay, if you wish. I do not mind. Really. Not many join me here. Your company is.. welcome, she spoke quickly until the end when she was not quite sure of the right words for how she felt, nor how to convey it in the most concise of manner. To make it clear, she swished her tail. You find my company pleasant, though? Hah, she chuffed in jest with a low laugh and nipped the back his ear.

She nodded. They are lucky to have you, she replied with certainty. The puppies and their mother still made her vaguely uncomfortable and her goal was not to show too much of this to anyone, Ferdie included. Until the notion settled with her, she would keep her distance while still trying to be minimally supportive from that very distance. But she meant what she had said. Without Ferdie, and all he provided for them, they could very well be in for hard times right now.

Nevertheless, she was not invested in sparing too much thought for the puppies, and relaxed into Ferdie's company. Hhm.. she grunted in response, trying not to smirk too obviously. She supposed she could (and should) say the same for him as well. His presence, so familiar by this point, kept her eased, and instead of retorting somehow -- like along the lines of how she didn't think all too many she knew thought of her as too overly pleasant, or mustering up any further explanations, she rumbled playfully at his invitation, first swatting his raised paw with one of her own.

Ame wasted little time; she slung open her jaws and clacked her teeth against his. To gain a better vantage point, she moved to put one of her legs on the other side of his neck. While he was her alpha, her superior, she had learned the rules were a little hazier between just each other. And of course, if he wanted, he could always roll her over and stomp her for misbehavior whenever he saw fit -- yet he never did. His size, which trumped her own, allotted him that much.. but Ame didn't suspect it at play here even now.

More carefree than before, she rattled her teeth around at his and his maw, growling and leaning more of her weight onto him as she did.

Roughhousing of many sorts were among her skills. Although a little rusty in it as she had grown older, Ferdie had allowed her to get the best angle on this and she was playfully unrelenting in rising to meet him in jaw-sparring. While his defensive maneuvers did what they could, she didn't let him have the upper hand. He did have a tendency to bring out this side of her with an alarming sort of ease though.. whereas so few were privy to it.

She smirked mischievously with a waving tail as the win was hers for the taking. Yet she let him pull her down when his paws reached around her, not that there was much distance, and her body slid down onto him with a low rumble from her. From there, he rolled them both and she tried to match his gesture by keeping her paws on either his of his neck as she relaxed the rest of herself, so she was no longer standing or anything close to it. She went with the motion, curious as to where it would take her -- which was now laying there beside him on the cooled earth, suddenly quiet as even she silenced her playful growls entirely.

Ame made a skeptical face right back in his for she did not exactly understand where the thanks came from. He seemed so content now, even after the strife of before. She suspected that may have something to do with it.. but it was not easy to say. Not with him, anyway. He was a lot of things all at once, sometimes surprisingly turbulent and others, less so.

Her tail thumped slowly against the ground and she tangled her limbs into his. For what, exactly? For slobbering on your face..? she quipped and tried to hold a more serious expression for a fleeting second, and then made good on her word with a long lick up the side of his muzzle, as if in vague apology for her toothier responses there moments earlier.

This encounter had unfolded in a curious way. She was fine to let it progress, although it was... oddly unexpected to her. Whatever his answer may be, she was listening, and nipped casually at him here and there. When ready, she untangled herself from him, barked lowly in invitation to chase, and jogged into the thick trees.