Emberflame Ridge i might fade like a sigh if I stay.

She'd been instructed to go on a long patrol, and she did indeed make it looong. It would take at least two, probably three days to scout the entirety of the mountain range, but she needed an excuse to get away from the tension she felt at home and this was as good as any. It felt nice to stretch her legs in a long-ranging trot, and all the while she kept her eyes peeled for any sign of her wandering daughter.

She assumed that the scent markers she found further in the mountains belonged to the pack Mahler had spoken of and gave them a wide berth. Had she been on her own she might've been tempted to cause trouble for them, but as bad as Wylla was for him, she didn't want to sully Mahler's good name to his allies. She climbed higher into the mountains and kept well away from the valley. She thought bitterly that it would've been an easier trek to go straight through, but alas.

Her nose picked up no signs of other wolves on the far side of the range, so she dipped further down toward the tundra and found herself among aspens made barren by the winter. She too noticed that some of the trees were stranger than others, but didn't dwell much on why that might be. She was more interested in a fresh scent trail that wound through the woods, which she quickly seized upon and followed at a rapid clip. It was fortunate that Jigsaw was hunting so she could easily catch up; she found the backside of the white wolf soon enough and unabashedly called out, hey! You forming a pack here?

His weird black spots went unnoticed for now, lucky for him.