Alpine Lake i'm hopeless and awkward and desperate for love.

As she dropped her muzzle back to a neutral position, Wisteria wondered in a small part of her whether her parents would even answer. Would they recognize her voice? She'd only been about six months old when she went missing. So much had changed since then. She was a starving, gaunt eleven-month-old now with a voice that rasped from minimal use. She looked haunting and ragged and unfriendly, and she had become all of those things as well. She'd always been a little peculiar, they knew that, but now she went beyond that. Now she was slightly frightening as well.

She was surprised to see them materialize out of the darkness, and running at that. The last time a pack wolf came running in her direction, it was hostile. These were her parents, but she thought of the young cubs they carried with them, the replacements, and knew it was very possible they would turn hostile if it meant protecting them. Irrational as it was, that thought drove her into a submissive crouch before them, complete with a sharp, appeasing whine.