She had been quiet, a presence upon many features of the mountain with her constant patrol and hunt, but the last few days she had spent largely alone. While not opposed to this idea, it was never bound to be long-lived. She had a pack to oversee, and hiked her way up towards the central reaches of the mountain underneath the afternoon's chilly sunshine. All the while, she wondered who she might find, and breathed deep the scents weaving their own way across the mountain.

Not long after, it was Rain's call that gave her steps purpose. She took to less of moseying pace and honed her focus, jogging purposefully towards where the silvery Rain awaits.

Amekaze could make a few guesses about why she called; she knew she wished to travel more, although the alpha had let her be for now, mostly to ensure that she had time to heal fully from her last expedition. Being tossed off a cliff and survive was no small feat, but it had been a little while now. Ame also knew that she and Nishu were close, for their scents often intermingled -- led her to be curious if he would wish to travel abroad alongside her in times to come.

Nevertheless, with Summer out (missing? could she even consider him that yet?), she had her reservations about sending them out. But, the wilds always had much to learn for them -- and her own thirst for knowledge was great, although underlined by a vague envy for those with the skill and time to go outriding for days on end. So she was stuck between how to feel about it, truly.

She soon reached her destination, and waved her naturally lifted tail in a friendly greeting when she spotted Rain.

She chuffed warmly to the respectful Rain's greeting. All of the time spent in her company did well to reaffirm Ame's thoughts on her -- that she was an asset to the pack, and truly, the dark leader was glad to have her. Since she had been one of the very first wolves to join under Amekaze's leadership, and admittedly, she had come at a time when she was learning much, she was ever pleased to have it work out as well as it had. Ame had grown into her leadership, and Rain had risen to be a key member of this pack -- and in doing so, near to the alpha's heart, as were several here.

With her ears flicking forward, she nodded. Of course. Let me hear it, she said simply and leaned back onto her haunches, readied to listen. She may have had her suspicions about what Rain may inquire about, but it was hard telling where exactly this would lead.

When her attention had once been all for Rain, she could not help but divert it just slightly at the appearance of Nishu. Amekaze did not find herself particularly surprised to see him, but it did lead her to wonder just how inseparable they were. Always when she scented one of them upon the mountain, the other was not far behind. She nodded a quiet greeting to him to acknowledge his looming presence.

Ah, you are not the first to be interested in this. Vienna, too, intends to learn to heal. she quipped with a pleased wave of her tail. It would be good to have consistent healers in their midst, and now all she needed to was ensure that they could learn properly. I suggested she go to the Plateau to see what they may have to teach, if anything, so perhaps go elsewhere to start then combine your findings.. she mentioned offhandedly.

As for the Creek, Ame had been anticipating this. Now, the Creek is a complicated matter, but one that has been mending over time.. she begun with a look that asked if she was truly ready for this long-winded explanation. What do you know already? If anything? Ame asked, just so she would not need to reiterate, or so she could find a focus in her explanation.

Then, with a measured exhale and a nod, she continues. Of course you may go. I think it would just be good to know of healers and even naturalists in other packs. Because while I do not know if I could find someone suitable to learn more from, it is worth a shot just to see what is out there. she said. Otherwise, I suppose I am a bit curious of just how some others have fared over the wintertime, like the western packs, Ouroboros and Stavanger Bay, and if there are any other new packs in the area we have yet to know of, between here and the southern coast mainly. Nevertheless, I wonder if they have healers or anyone noteworthy.. she considered out loud. She would let Rain know of more specifics; Ame had truthfully not been invested in considering lands beyond the mountain lately, what with her focus turned to ensuring their resources lately.

Nishu voiced obvious concerns, and the dark alpha swept her ears his way. True, Ankyra remained a distantly looming threat to the both of them, one that would exist so long as they did. Despite the mystery of the coastal pack, Ame was concerned, but not massively so. They had made no detectable moves since and she felt that so long as they stayed away from where they lurked, which seemed to be a limited spread of land, it would not be an issue.

Rain returned with confidence in fending them off. Mhm, they are always a threat. If they ever bring strife directly to the Sunspire, we will handle it accordingly, but I would not let the possibilities of it keep you tied to here when you have cause to explore, she said, not believing it to be a good enough reason to veto Rain's desires to travel about. Perhaps it would serve as a good test of the waters to see if they would encounter them out there.. because truthfully, they would not know what Ankyra would do until they did it and she did trust in Rain's strength to handle it as needed.

Anyway, it seemed Rain began with a blank slate regarding the Creek. Ame drew a thoughtful breath before she launched into what was sure to be a lengthy explanation. Our relationship with them has been on a slow mend for months now, but it stems from the nature of Sunspire's foundation. Ferdie, the original alpha here, and Jace were wrongfully ousted from their ranks then came here to settle and heal. I followed, although I had only been a part of the Creek a short while and had joined.. because Ferdie was a friend I wished to be near. Her ears slicked back upon thinking of Ferdie, a sore spot that had largely healed; looking back, she was frustrated by having ever cared for him at all. All of which only served to anger the Creek's alpha of the time, Fox. She opted to instigate for the weeks that followed for she felt that we were too close to her, and evidently, were viewed as a threat. Altercations followed until Fox was no longer alpha -- a situation I do not fully understand the details of but I feel the Creek wolves grew tired of her actions and sent her away. She no longer lives there. It was glaringly obvious that the red hellion was the root of it all.

Since then, we have a truce to basically leave one another alone, so we have maintained a distance. Ame did appreciate Scimitar's alphaship at least. She hardly heard from the Creek, which to her, was good news. Their alpha now.. I have few qualms with him, and I think that their membership, and our own, has seen enough turnover that by now.. few know why this ever was. Creek wolves used to be more hostile towards ours. I rarely hear instance of it now, but as I said, we have just kept a distance since our hunting grounds do not have a reason to overlap. They are not an active threat by any stretch of the definition. And while she would be glad to see them move on or the pack disappear entirely, she was above forcing this hand since their creek was far enough from her mountain that she wasn't bothered. So, with this, she awaited questions or comments curiously.

Regarding the Creek, she was not geared up to take real action in any direction. She wasn't going to speed along the healing process because frankly, it barely mattered anymore. Meet him if you want, but official matters regarding the details or necessity of our truce are topics I would want for myself, she said. She wouldn't stop Rain from meeting him and getting a feel for their relations on her own. If Ame's guesses were right, Scimitar would likely converse if she came to him, but not be overly friendly or generous on the details of things. Which was probably the best approach she could ask for -- especially of former foes. Scimitar is his name. I had spoken with him last in autumn, on cordial enough terms. I have not sought him out since because I reason we have both been busy, respectively. They had discussed the terms of hunting territories and since there had been no breech or protocol on that, she had not needed to see him again. Which, for her, was perfectly fine. The Sunspire prospered decently enough regardless.

Relations between other packs was an interesting topic, as she was trying to get an appropriate feel for what sort of politics she wished to uphold, but not one she was quick to put a lot of effort into. And, this sort of thinking had not caused major issue with her so far.. so most likely, she wouldn't be making any effort to investigate the Creek until closer to springtime.