Bramblepoint i have reached these lands but newly

Alya's tail waved like a black flag as she glided through the forest, nose to the ground. Hydra was always looking for something new to kill, and Alya liked being recruited to search out new challenges for her sister. Lyra liked it less, probably. We'll have to do something that she likes, next time, the young woman thought, pausing a moment to puzzle over what that might be. Talking to squirrels, probably.

Giggling to herself, Alya prepared to move on, only to completely forget the trail when a voice rose up over the trees. Stalk-still and ears pricked, she tried to place the howl. It wasn't Lyra or Hydra, but it was familiar. A friendly sort of familiar, too.

Turning toward the sound, Alya trekked on, a tiny inkling growing in the back of her mind. And when she'd tracked the sound to its source, the inkling exploded into the picture of a wolf - boyish and young, but still handsome.

"Cypress!" she gasped, eyes wide as she drank in his appearance. He'd grown into a man since she last saw him, but there was no mistaking his scent. "It's you!" she chirped, tail wagging gaily as she swept forward and danced around him, unable to contain her joy at their reunion. "Where have you been?"