Beneath a sky streaked in sunset's blazing colors, she slipped from the mountainside, past her borderlands, and into the expanse of the flatlands. Trips like these had grown rare in the heart of wintertime but the dark alpha did take care to see to them now and again. While she did devote so very much to the mountain, to clear her head elsewhere reaped its own benefits.

And, as her treks usually did, she found her way towards the lake. There, she joined up with its banks and set her pace to a comfortable, lurking jog. With her head slung low towards the ground, she keened her senses for prey, wolves, and otherwise. Even in wintertime, this seemed to be a hub for activity, and she was appreciative to have it near to the Sunspire. While their mountain remained self-sufficient with the addition of Northstar Vale at their base, this could always provide a valuable back up should they ever need it. Because of this, she liked to keep tabs on it now and again.

So while a tiny sliver of moon situated itself on the ever-darkening backdrop, she continued on beside the lake.

It was quiet, in a night dappled subtly with other scents from the daytime, nothing managed to stick out in particular as exceptionally fresh or otherwise noteworthy. But she enjoyed the walk all the same to have the company of the water, the darkness, the moon, and seemingly little else. She had a feeling she would return to the mountain recharged and content -- barring incident between here and there. Which, considering how long she intended to mosey, was always a possibility.

Like this she continued for a time, until a scent (one curiously familiar at that) was picked up. The dark alpha sharpened but she was already too close to certainly mask her presence entirely. So she continued boldly forward with ears pricked and eyes seeking in the lacking light.

She could make out the white markings first and not long after, the outline of the young wolf became clear -- and as scent had indicated, this had been one of their prisoners many moons ago. This was not a wolf she had anticipated seeing ever again, let alone here in the same neutral spaces as herself.

Ame saw her puffed out coat to increase her size, for it seemed she had only amounted to a small wolf but perhaps no less lacking in ferocity. However the alpha's posture looked relatively relaxed in the face of it all; times had changed greatly since then. The younger female did look much better than the last time she had seen her, which had been at the tail end of her hunger strike. It has been a while, she quipped in lieu of a more proper greeting. Sniffing plainly, she found there was no trace of the Creek on her this time, so she did not know how to feel just yet.

She stood rather still and lax, then watched the younger wolf stay rigid and tense. Frustrated, perhaps? Amekaze couldn't truly tell. So to her words, she couldn't help but shake her head and chuff a soft laugh; not exactly. Much had changed. The dark alpha could attest to that in a heartbeat.

You are awfully tense, she sneered. Her indifference, and lack of making a threatening lunge in the younger female's way, spoke well enough. I disagree. Nothing about you speaks of the Creek, at the very least. As obvious as it was, perhaps she needed a reminder on why she had landed in the way she had many moons ago, being drug off as captive by her own teeth. Amekaze had acted on her Alpha's instruction. While it did leave a funny taste in her mouth to need to manhandle a practical-whelp, and she wouldn't deny that she had done the girl wrong, it had been Fox's fault it had come to that anyway.

She growled and she spat, to which Ame's ears quivered and she found herself a tiny bit amused. A part of her wanted to tell the yearling to just.. relax. Unclench for half a second, or at least long enough to realize that there was no need and she was wasting her energy. This position is hardly like the last. The only real thing in common is us being in sight of each other, she gestured her snout between the two of them with a flicker of her tail. There was no instigating Fox involved, no trespassing or any other various crimes, no real point to be made, nothing. Amekaze wouldn't make a move against her unless she gave her a new, unrelated reason here and now.

Nevertheless, she had met their other captive beforehand, and thought well of Leaf. She'd never had any personal issue with the young, dark-furred female either. On different circumstances (such as had Amekaze remained with the Creek and not followed Ferdie), she may have even liked the girl given the chance. But, while the former captive was somewhat entertaining to see burning so brightly with bitterness, it was bound to get tiresome soon. I realize it was brusque handling of the matter for you. It was the consequence of your leader's actions and what was apparently necessary to get her to knock it off, she huffed. While she hadn't liked it all that much, and was always sort of vaguely indifferent to the whole message it sent, it had achieved results -- which was worth it to her.

She knew that, and wrinkled her nose a little into a 'no shit' sort of expression. I know that, she shrugged, fighting the urge to roll her eyes for she was well aware the Sunspire was far from innocent. It was obvious they were not coming to a real agreement any time soon though, their perspectives were too far apart. Fox brought us whelps so we made do, as Ferdie wanted captives, and we were able to provide. I would have rather kept Fox, she explained. If the situation had happened under her leadership, she knew it would have been much different. Besides, we could have treated you much worse. Not that she anticipated the yearling to think that did any good.