There had been a sharp chill on the wind that morning when Siv had stepped outside of her den. Immediately, her breath had struck the air and had gone billowing from her nose and mouth in a great cloud of heat. The breezes that carried whispers of winter had wound their way along her spine throughout most of her day, but Siv found that if she kept active, it did not perturb her quite as much. She’d taken to hunting; filling the caches was a rough job, but she had made a good start on them. With a freshly caught hare clasped in her jaws, Siv thought it best to take the prey to Fox and to check in on the fiery-furred leader. The last she’d seen of her, Fox’s injuries were still healing and she was taking it as easily as she could in hopes of a strong recovery. Siv was certain that she would have been a-okay after a short while.

Trekking up the small slope with a determined expression, the coywolf caught scent of her leader much earlier than she had anticipated. Flicking her bright blue gaze upwards, she saw the trailing tail-end of the russet-coated woman just barely move out of sight. Putting a kick in her step, Siv darted after Fox with heavy breaths between holding the hare in her jaws and attempting to catch up to the fire-furred female. When the distance was closed enough so that Siv’s words would not be drowned by the fur in between her lips, she let out a soft chuff and slowed her pace just slightly.

Siv’s absence had not been intentional. Her loyalties were strictly with the Caldera, but her days had been filled with short bursts of anxiety and the suffocating regrets that seemed to linger. Still, she thought it was best that she handled those emotions on her own instead of forcing them on any of the others in the pack. While she was a social creature, she was always fearful of intruding when it was not appropriate. The Savoy girl was still struggling with her own issues, fighting her own battles, but she was attempting to do so while still being a valid member of the pack. Siv did not want to be a disappointment to her leaders – she could not add that to her peculiar grief.

“Siv Savoy? Where?! I hear that kid’s super cool,” she remarked with a wide grin, turning her head to and fro in mock inspection of their surroundings. Once the distance had been closed between the two females, Siv caught sight of the deep wounds that were healing over Fox’s face and she cringed openly, peering at the markings with a rapidly beating heart. “Shoot, Chief, did ya get in a fight with a lawnmower? Look at that war face, though! You’d scare the pants off of any hooligan running around our borders,” she remarked with a lack of grace but good intentions nonetheless. The comment was made out of concern above anything else, and the coywolf girl only hoped that Fox would perceive it as such.

“I’ve been around. Y’know, hovering in the background… trying to figure out this thing called life. I didn’t want to burden anyone else so I’ve been keepin’ to myself lately. I seem to have hit a good spot, though, so I’ll be around more often,” she then answered the inquiry that had followed Fox’s greeting.

At the mention of a cougar, Siv’s muzzle crinkled and she squinted her eyes in a cringe. “That’s gnarly, Chief,” she remarked empathetically. Part of her felt a pang of guilt for not having been around to assist her Alpha in the chasing of the big cat. Still, it sounded as though the red-furred leader had been helped by two others. The Savoy’s absence in the life of the pack was something she found herself saddened by. All she could be grateful for was that Fox was alright. Should there be another cougar-attack, the coywolf would spring to her leader’s aid even if she was an ocean away. “Glad you’re alright, though,” Siv added with a sure nod of her head and a hopeful curling of her dark lips into a smile.

The subject was changed to something that Siv was all too familiar with; trades. A large part of her anxiety had stemmed from the picking of her trades, but after having discussed it with her leaders, she could speak on them with confidence. “Oh, man, well… I’ve narrowed down my three and your other half has already started helping to mentor me in one of ‘em,” she remarked with a lopsided grin. “Gamekeeper – even though we seem to be getting a ton of those guys lately. I suppose having hunters isn’t a bad thing. Naturalist, and Caretaker,” Siv bobbed her head enthusiastically at the prospects. She’d already started working towards Gamekeeper. She knew Naturalist would give her the most trouble because it was her least familiar. Caretaker would come when the pups came; until then, she would work on making sure those in the pack were doing well.