Blacktail Deer Plateau they might promise you that the river ain't too deep

To pass time the Varkentje watched idly the clouds, which rolled humbly and slowly in the manner of ancient and sleeping monoliths. The wind that snarled behind them was cold -- and instinctively a shiver wracked the lean creature.

She heard footsteps ahead and when Junior crested into view Caiaphas watched her distantly, unsure of how she would take her summons. Yet before she could explain, Junior had already unleashed a barrage of words in a tumbled explanation -- and Caiaphas listened without judgment in her gaze. The slender black wolf, already flecked with winter's white, seemed swift to issue an explanation that Caiaphas had neither demanded nor outwardly sought out.

"Oh." She said after Junior finished, careful this time to not let the silence linger. She rolled her shoulders as if affable to Junior's abandonment -- and slyly she canted her thin muzzle to the side. "I was just surprised to come across your scent. I just wanted to know you were alive." Her words may have sounded genuine but Caiaphas, oily as ever, issued a smile that was neither warm nor comforting. "It doesn't matter, I ended up not joining anyway. I still live near the cave you showed me, though." She lied smoothly, her posture giving no indication of her untruth. "After you left to go secure the borders, I just.. realized I didn't have a purpose there. You were so full of ambition and I was not. Funny, right?" She had lied for two reasons -- while Aktaie may not have seen Junior as a loose end that needed to be truncated, Caiaphas did -- and she did not want the integrity of their pack's seclusion violated. Secondly, it disturbed Caiaphas on some level to know there was another wolf that was not a Sister out there that knew of her whereabouts. She did not wish to cause any harm, but she also did not know how trustworthy the girl was -- and with a serpentine look about her the female waited in chill silence for the other wolf's reaction.