All the small things

The wind in this forest was weird. It blew gusts back and forth between the trees, which Alf figured would only make it more disorienting to navigate. Thankfully, the gleeful she-wolf had nowhere to be. Alfhildr could revel in the cool gloom of the nightmare forest without worrying where and when she'd leave it. She figured she had a good enough internal compass to keep going north, though, as it was her intended direction.

Alf finished poking the flower's stem into her hat and then caught her nose on the nest's edge; flipping it up onto her face, she flattened her ears as she tilted her head back. With a bit of head bobbing and concentrated force of will, the hat slid back into place on her skull. Alf was a truly amazing wolf. Extremely humble, too. Expert fisherman, proficient storyteller, and obviously a fantastic tracker.

If that was any more than hyperbolic boasting, she'd have noticed the approaching male in unfamiliar territory sooner than when a wayward breeze just happened to hit her nostrils. Whipping around with her ears tilted forward curiously, Alf watched as her nest hat flew off her head and bounced against an adjacent tree. Then, when she felt confidant it wasn't going to suddenly crumble into a useless pile of twigs, the she-wolf addressed the other wolf. Alf had just changed his life forever; he'd tell stories of the "weird loner with a fucking nest for a hat." Okay, maybe minus the swearing.

Her tail wagged softly in greeting as she turned to face him properly. "Hi!" She barked, a grin accompanying the exclamation. He didn't appear to be a threat, and she'd let herself be incredibly enthusiastic until he did. This wasn't the first wolf Alf had come across in the area, but it was the first she'd be liable to have a conversation with.

The older woman would need to find a pack eventually, and he certainly smelled as if he belonged to one. It couldn't hurt to ask a couple questions and be nice to a stranger.