Phoenix Maplewood so, what are you gonna do?

Kigipigak has had enough of being home-bound. He has done nothing wrong; adding bodies to their number was a good plan regardless of why he had been doing it, and if Stjornuati could not see the value of that, that was a him problem. 

Since being forced to stick close to home Kigipigak had monitored the territory limits and kept the markings fresh. He'd kept an eye on the ravens and scouted out any places where they congregated, sometimes finding prey to hunt and sometimes finding bodies to bury. He'd avoided Valmua for the last few weeks. Altogether Kigipigak felt he had proven his willingness to keep his head down and work—and he deserved a little slack.

He'd climbed down from the cliffs in the early morning hours, watching as the sky lightened and then, by the afternoon, darken with thick bands of white cloud. A drizzle of cold half-frozen rain had started just as he was crossing through the meadow and so he sought out the cover of the forest. 

A thin frosting of snow had begun to layer across the trees; it was not yet cold enough to stick for long and it could not permeate beyond the reach of their branches, but Kigipigak would stay mindful of it all the same. Enjoying this taste of freedom (and the crisp quality to the cold air, so much like the winterhome he left behind) Kigipigak began to hike through the thin grove skirting the limits of the mighty forest—and that's when he picked up on a familiar scent.

He could not tell if it was Arktoi or her brother; he hoped at the very least, as he trailed after it, he did not come upon the ironheart that was their mother. The last thing Kigipigak sought was her wrath. Soon enough Kigipigak heard something moving within the woods and slowed down on his approach, finding that the trailing scent crossed a rabbit's trail, and grew more curious.