Sawtooth Spire there's nothing like a sunset skyline to let you know you're almost home

Tegan finally came flapping onto the scene like a windblown bird, which wasn't all that inaccurate. Bat felt immediate relief, both for herself and for him. What if her beloved idiot had meandered off and gotten lost in a snowstorm, with her stuck here and unable to go looking for him...? The thought tied an ice cold knot in the middle of her chest.

While she struggled suddenly to breathe, the stranger answered Tegan's question with a benevolent patience the two of them frankly hadn't done anything to deserve. Bat suddenly felt bad for her snap judgments, though at least she'd kept them to herself—er, minus that initial recoil, which had been about her unexpected appearance as much as her... unexpected... appearance...

"We're not from anywhere, really. We're rangers," Bat replied. That was the honest truth. "I don't wanna make you guys walk up and down a mountain in this. My friend here can help me down the mountain. He owes me for all the times I've looked after his ass." She motioned Tegan closer with her good paw, deftly slipping a quick sign in there: -Real names?-

Turning back to pale she-wolf, Bat smiled cheerfully and said, "So." She almost clapped her paws together but, thank fuck, she remembered at the last second. "Where're we headed? Where's your pack, what's your name, all'a that?" As she spoke, she climbed to her feet, careful to keep her broken foreleg lifted off the ground.

She actually made a show out of arranging herself beside Tegan, even turning her back on their helper for a moment to whisper, "C'mon, let's go with her. I don't think we have any choice, I really bitched it up." Bat dangled her crooked leg before swinging into place beside Tegan, pressing against his warmth, and looking expectantly and gratefully at their escort through the thickly tumbling snow.