Ankyra Sound once you kill a cow, you gotta make a burger

Searching for Saarthal isn’t something she expected to do but somehow, she isn’t surprised. She’d made a decision for the good of the group and they seem to be breaking down. Where she may feel at home (but does she?), may not be the same for the others. Does that mean she has to change to fit them, make a collective decision for the three of them? If they do not find Saarthal, will it even matter? What will happen of Max, next?
 
Too many questions plague her mind that she doesn’t want to deal with any more than she really wants to search for her friend. Mallaidh wants the girl to be home in Drageda with her and Max and the others, and to keep her word by being by her side. Searching for a stray scent here and there in hopes they find something is all she has to do and she has to try. Even if Saarthal doesn’t—can’t—come back with them, she has to know. She’s haunted by Varinril’s disappearance enough as it is and now she’s lost  second under her care.
 
Fit for a queen, she snorts. I’ll make you real proud.
 
Mallaidh releases a sigh once she comes off the coast of the sound and into the monolith forest. The sun shines through the tops of trees. With the pack that used to live here, she’s hardly gotten familiar with this territory but they’ve been long gone by the looks of it and noses around, sniffing for any clues that might lead her to answers.

The warhound had ventured a great ways down the coast; further than he had imagined he would. The rolling sea had kept his company while he traveled, and he felt as though it had energized him to move as far along as he had. It seemed as though it would stretch on forever. Ford wondered how long his limbs would allow him to go, or if there was a point in ever stopping. The itch of wanderlust seemed to creep through him like a spreading disease. The titan did what he could to smother it.

After having been stopped by towering stone, the swarthy creature turned his attention inward. The entrance seemed as though it had created a naturally private territory that opened up into sprawling beach and a series of caverns. A forest seemed to hide a series of shadows that lured him toward them. He moved through it with caution, certain that someone would have sought to claim such an ideal location. It did not take long before he caught sight of a figure who's coloration was particularly striking.

Ford watched, his gaze following her movements with careful precision. For a while he held his distance and made sure that he did not make much noise to alert her. The wind was in his favor, then, but he could not count on that to last. The trees granted him concealment for a short while, holding close to the inky colors of his coat. The warhound moved closer to the stranger before he released a chuff of warning. The last thing he needed was for this girl to believe that she was being followed by an unfamiliar.

At some point, like always, her thoughts take over and she does not notice the close presence of another. Something does change in her stomach and she slows her pace, turning slightly and looking opposite of where her stalker is. At first, she thinks it is her mother calling to her—she hates the silence these days—but there is nothing and she starts again, moving to try and cover ground a little quicker and refocuses her attention on her surroundings.
 
The noise of the forest is no different than the redwood back in Drageda, aside from the difference in trees. Still tall and large, and the ocean to one side, roaring in the background, she is able to find the sounds that are only slightly off. When he is closer, her ears turn slightly in his direction and her head moves after he chuffs for her attention. Looking over her left shoulder at him, she slowly turns around to face him and keep from being the one disadvantaged. After Roarke had taken his strike against her, she’s a little more wary with strangers.
 
“What?” she asks, pale eyes narrowing in scrutiny.

The female spun around to face him, taking away any advantage he might have had by shadowing her. This didn't bother him much; it was the tone that was issued with her demand. For a moment, his skin pricked with the reminder of his pride. Were they on the bay, he would have snapped his fangs in reminder. She did not know him and she did not know what he was capable of. Instead, the titan created a smile that curled up the right half of his face and crinkled around his emotionless eye.

“Nothing,” he assured her in a gruff baritone, “I just didn't want to surprise you by coming any closer without you knowing.”

It felt as though that was a polite means of letting her know he hadn't intended the noise to be anything more than a courtesy. If the wind had favored him longer, he was certain that he could have darted to where she was and buried his fangs in her flesh without so much as a crunch of a leaf beneath his paw.

The tip of his tail wavered slightly before he glanced toward the woods around them.

“Do you live here?”

Nothing. Hm.
 
He makes a fair enough point that gives her the chance to relax by a hair and straightening out her posture. “Fair enough,” she finally says. Her gaze watches his tail twitch, attempting to be friendly, but she does not return the notion. He isn’t exactly who she’s looking for and his questions will only slow her down if he doesn’t have anything viable to offer her.
 
“No, but I live nearby,” she tells him though she doesn’t exactly elaborate. “Have you seen any other wolves lately? A pretty girl, all grey, smaller than me?” she asks instead, hoping to find some use out of the disruption.

Ah, so she's all business, he notes to himself. The warhound did nothing to remove the gentle curve of his features for her. It was all for show, anyway; he didn't need her to think that he was a danger to her in any way. It was difficult to collect information from those who believed that he was capable of true harm to them.

The stranger hadn't chased him away yet, and she had mentioned that she belonged to pack that was located nearby. Ford was careful to make a mental note of that and store it for later. He had wondered how many packs occupied the seaside when he had first arrived in the wilds. Aside from this, the dark-faced girl had mentioned something that seemed peculiar to him.

“You know, I might have... but I dare say I've only just met you and it seems if I told you anything about this girl, I could be doing her a disservice,” he answered her with a carefully worded explanation. The tone he had adopted seemed to be used with some concern. To match it, Ford lowered his crown some and let his ears swivel back.

A loud sigh escapes her and she shuffles her feet, half turning as if to go and rolling her eyes all at once. She turns back to him. Of course it isn’t going to be easy, toying with her on whether or not he’s seen her friend. She can’t just leave without trying to find out. What if he has seen her? What game does he have to play to reveal that information? What right does he have to withhold it from her? If Saarthal had made it known she didn’t want to be found, she deserves to know.
 
“What are you talking about?” she demands to know, daring to take a step forward. His size does not deter her, or the way his eyes sit hollow in his head. She has seen enough warriors to know a trained wolf when she sees one. “You have or you haven’t, and if you haven’t, I’d like to get back to my search.”

There was something to be said for the girl when she fired back at him without holding her tongue. He smirked wildly, cupping his ears forward to collect all that she had to say before he shrugged his shoulders and nodded his head. It was fair; he was occupying her time when she had better things to be doing. Ford wondered how long he could entertain her company before she had grown too tired of him and ventured off on her own. More than this, he wondered if he could gather any further information from her.

“Mmm, you have to understand. I've only just met you,” he explained to her with a light canting of his skull. The mismatched colors of his eyes seemed to lock onto the dark mask that colored her face. He thought that it was just as unique as his own. “I don't know you, or why you're searching for this girl. What if you mean to cause her harm? Anyway, good luck with your search...” the titan offered her as his form of reasoning.

In his mind, Ford thought of Dalia and he knew that there would have had to have been a great power of persuasion for him to sell out the grey-furred girl who had joined his numbers. She was vital to his goals of obtaining the bay, and she had proven herself to be dutiful to the ocean. The warhound turned his frame away from her and nodded his head politely.

Mallaidh frowns when he speaks, announcing the more logical solution than her anxious brain likes to provide. She takes a deep, steady breath to center herself and accept the fact that hat he says makes sense. Even if he says it in a super sketchy way that she tell is just fucking with her, it is keeping Saarthal safe in… some weird way.
 
“Okay, okay, wait, sorry,” she says and takes a few more steps to garner his attention, hoping to keep him around a little while longer. “I don’t mean to cause her any harm, I’m just worried. I might have… made her mad, maybe, or done something. I don’t know. She was just gone one day and I wanna make sure she’s okay, okay?”

That was it. Something in his words had registered with her and she had reached out to stop him from leaving as quickly as he had planned. With a careful turn and a glance over his shoulder at the dark-faced girl, he halted in his tracks. It seemed that her plea suggested she had genuine feelings for the girl she was searching for. Ford wondered what Dalia might have been running away from, only to speak so highly of family.

“I understand,” he responded in his smoky voice. “Is she family to you?” the warhound then inquired with a careful tilting of his head and a narrowing of his brows. He wondered if this girl could claim the one who had wandered so far down the shore and stumbled into his own brood. Ford also wondered if it would come to a fight between them.

He turns around and she leans back slightly, not wanting to stay too close, but it’s enough for him to stay in conversation, claiming to understand. Is she family to you?
 
Mallaidh blinks a few time and looks at him, trying to figure out how to answer that family. For months, they were all they had and that’s family enough? And now, when they joined another, she becomes scarce and maybe she’s been wrong this whole time. Awkwardly, Mallaidh glances away and shrugs slight. “Yes, or, well… sorta. Saarthal and I were with Max and we were all we had for a long time and we joined a pack again and, well. I don’t think she was happy. I told her I’d leave with her if she didn’t want to stay,” she explains, perhaps a little more than she normally would have if she’d been on her toes. Blinded by Saarthal’s absence is too much and if this man is her only hope, that’s what she’ll do.

Saarthal.

It seemed as though the seawolf had been very mistaken. Still, he listened to her as she explained the predicament she'd found herself in. It seemed as though she had created a family of her own with the two that were mentioned. Ford could tell that it was a sensitive subject for her, and it seemed that she was desperate to know if her Saarthal was safe. For a moment, the warhound felt foolish that he would have thought immediately of Dalia. Once she had finished speaking, it took him a long moment to gather himself and to compose an appropriate response.

“I apologize... it seems I thought you were talking about someone else,” he admitted to her, adopting a sincerity to his voice. The brute rose his mismatched gaze to the woman before him and he released a quiet sigh. Since having arrived, Ford had not seen another grey-coated wolf. “I would like to assist you as best as I can. How long has it been since you've seen this Saarthal?” he then ventured.

Wheels seem to shift gears in the man’s eyes and she holds her breath. Is he going to stop playing annoying games and tell her? Her mind is already going through all the possibilities now. If he’s so reluctant to tell her, then what is wrong? Does she really not want to see her? Is she dead? God, everything hurts just thinking about it, that this might be the end of everything. 

But he apologizes, and pauses, and if possible her face would turn blue. 

And then she releases her breath. 

She doesn’t exactly feel relief but...

Mallaidh swallows a lump in her throat and robotically nods her head, accepting the information. She doesn’t want to answer anymore questions now that she doesn’t have to stay around him but he still asks them. If anything, she wants to leave; he toyed with her too long and wasted her time, working her head for nothing. 

Ah, uh... more than a few days. Long enough her scent is gone. I was hurt for a little while and didn’t realize it until it was too late, she explains though in her heart all she wants to do is cry but she takes a deep breath to steady herself and steps back. I should keep going, I guess.

The warhound heard her release the breath she seemed to have been holding onto for some time. He didn't make any form of physical show that he had caught onto it. There had been relief there, and he wondered just how close this girl had gotten to the Saarthal that she was seeking. There was a bond that had been formed and it was evident that she felt a particular way about it having been severed. All the more reason why Ford believed that emotional connection did very little to benefit the soul. There was a dangerous grip over those who found themselves feeling for another living creature – in any aspect of the word.

The brute nodded his head carefully and offered her a small smile that should have reflected some encouragement. As long as the girl hadn't been looking for Dalia, he had no reason to deter her. In fact, the skeletal brute had planned on keeping an eye out for the lost soul. Really, he did not imagine that he would find the light grey wolf that the dark-faced woman sought, but it never hurt to try.

“I wish you luck. I will keep my eyes peeled for signs of her,” he offered with a stiff bob of his crown. With that, the looming titan turned and began making his way back to the bay. After some time, thoughts of the missing Saarthal and the woman who had been searching for her seemed to flutter out of his mind. He had found his peace beside the lapping of the shore.