Ankyra Sound redemption is a thing with wings

ocelot travels down the coast, stifling the guilt that subtly gnaws at her. she knows she should not have snuck away from the guard. yet, she justifies it to herself with the continued thought that while she appreciates her mother's worry and understands their duty and allegiance to the reigning queen and her uttered command in regard to keeping ocelot safe ( which was a much kinder way of saying babysitting ) ocelot knows that she will never be able to gain 'worldly knowledge' if she does not break free of the guard. they would never allow herself to join a pack, to experience what it is like to adapt to a culture different from their own, to engage in the world beyond their protection and that, in her mind, wasn't experiencing anything. so, ocelot does what she must though she knows it is at a cost — a cost that she would not allow them to bear the consequences of should they return home before catching up to her.

for now, she tucks these thoughts away to mull at later as the scent of a pack — having grown gradually stronger the closer her path took her to the sound — causing her to consider. she had given a wide berth to the pack on the cliffs and is surprised to find a pack in the territory next door but their circumstances are unknown to her and it is here that she gives pause to consider. she is not close to their borders, the distance between there the ground is saturated with their mingled scents is more than an amicable distance from her. she has two options as she sees it: she can keep going, continue to give this pack a wide berth as she had done the one directly before and keep avoiding the very reason she'd snuck away from the guard in the first place or she can commit herself to her mission; for if she was going to keep skirting around actually taking that proverbial leap she might as well have remained with her guard.

she does not close the distance, preferring to respect the space of their borders because she knows that some wolves are more territorial than others and it's always better to assume that they are territorial than take the chance. with her decision made, a shiver of fear and excitement rushes down her spine as she tips her head back and announces her presence with a howl.