Lost Creek Hollow been a while since we met

The answer he received was a fairly standard response, not that he had anticipated anything different. Harlyn was admittedly the better recruiter than he, much more willing to take in the uncertain and awkward. He had never put much consideration into why he was not quite as decent, because once upon a time not that long ago he had been. When the Spine had needed wolves to bolster its ranks through the winter, he had sought them out. He had intercepted them. In the present day, he found that he was much more reserved, as though they truly had a right to be as picky as his tastes ran. That could have been chalked up to any number of reasons, none of which crossed his mind. Instead, a smile briefly bloomed at the mention of the lady alpha, and lingered with amusement.

"It's good that you happened upon us then," he opted to say as they moved along. "We used to have close neighbors, but their claims have gone silent now that the season has changed. You would have wandered for quite a while past us." He couldn't quite attest that he knew much about what lied north, though it had been the way he and his companions had made to claim that particular piece of land. He knew vaguely of the woodland claimed much further to their north, but had yet to discover it for himself; it was unlikely he would bother unless it turned absolutely necessary.

Of course, it may have been their lack of neighbors that had turned some of the other predators of the wilderness to them. From the bear that they had harassed away to the cougar that had intercepted him, Mordecai found that any thoughts of traveling too far beyond their claim right then and there did not sound appeasing. Not that he would find himself entertaining the thought any time soon. If anything, the only thought he entertained was the hope that Andalusia would find herself among them again, and in one piece from her travels.