Phantom Hollow There's no place like home

The lake was the first she mentioned, and really the only he recognized. He had silently hoped for it, as he knew from his two treks down that the nearby river ran right into it. In fact, he would almost be confident enough to just inform her of this fact... if it weren't for the uncertain nature of who she would meet along the way. Regardless of consequence, he couldn't release responsibility like that.

He considered lying for a moment, but saw no point in it in the end. He would not get close enough to the Caldera to be in the wrong, nor would he lay a paw on the child who asked. It made no difference if they knew it was he who had escorted her. He hadn't wanted to appear that he was hanging about the region, but the hollow where he'd found her was far enough away that he wasn't worried about that. "Dante. I did know them, once. A few of them, at least." He indicated the direction of the stream where he'd only briefly before stopped to drink. "There's a river over here we can follow. It can take us to Salmon Lake." He stepped off, presumably with her beside him.

Thinking of how far north they were made him wonder. "How did you end up all the way out here?" She was nearly halfway to the plateau, no small journey for one so young. How did she get out there all alone? They'd had some heavy storms in the plateau, but last he knew, storms didn't generally snatch young wolves away from home. At least, not that he was aware of.