Swiftcurrent Creek We all need someone to hold [M]

Inexperience was, perhaps, Soltero's downfall - not in survival, for he had trekked long and far for the entirety of his life before traipsing into the unknown lands of the teekon; it was in pack life that he was inexperienced, ironic for someone who aided leadership. He didn't know how to gain the trust of others, and he didn't know what directions to take; his hesitance was a bitter foe, wrapping uncertain tendrils over his legs and stealing them to the ground. If he had still been a lone traveller, he would simply have turned and disappeared into the fog - but he wasn't, he had a duty now.

This is a mistake, go back you moron. Think with that squishy head of yours.

That would have been his mother's advice, but the beta was torn. He wanted to help Chusi; he knew he should leave. His solution? Stand there like an idiot and cast his vibrant gaze awkwardly over the undergrowth that shielded them from the biting cold. The girl's voice danced out to him from the wind's groaning, and his eyes were drawn back toward the gentle swaying of her ebony tail, the glimmer in her watching stare. "You-" he stopped. Started again. "You- are you... do you need help? Getting somewhere... safer?"