Hushed Willows Do not presume to teach me lessons.

It did not occur to him that an audience should be called, or that he should make his presence known. For all his life he had been privy to the chilling affection of his mother and no others, and his first thought was to investigate the terrain rather than call attention to himself - or possible harm. When he was found, it wasn't by a noble-bred warrior or some creature that would make his fur stand on-end. The woman was large and carried herself with pride and the confidence of knowing her claim, but not with the same swaggar he would have assumed for a guardian or warrior. She seemed less and less familiar the more he observed her - but then she spoke, using the warrior's tongue that his mother had passed down to him. She had said it is the secret of the grounders, something shared among the rank and file of a good cru's army. Why then would a woman such as this have the skills?

But he did not have time to contemplate this mystery for the woman was speaking, questioning him, and held a brief but poignant edge to the manner in which she watched him. Perhaps Crucifix should be more wary of the locals; he could not know what manner of tricks or innate abilities these wolves carried. Be wary, be smart, learn from them and you will conquer them. Mother had tutored, and so he would begin his trials in earnest now. Hei, he greeted with a dip of his dark snout; then reminded himself (and his tongue) to try and use their shared language so as not to alienate the stranger: I am hunting for my people, but have not found them. Can I stay here? I can hunt, track, guard -- if it pleases.