Mudminnow River every hermit crab needs a shell

Up ahead, a man--almost a similar colour to the river they travelled against--came forward, clearly not himself. Was that murmuring he heard? Frederick would tower over him if he were any closer. But he remained a length away, eyeing the strange one curiously. Frozen, it appeared. Hello? He offered. Voice deep, gravelly. Almost a hum that could seem to rattle the ground. Are you alright, there?

Taking a breath in, Frederick smelt others on his coat, but no nearby pack scent to explain it. Was the stranger far from home? It appeared so. Maybe he had been sleepwalking, with how out-of-it he'd looked only a few moments earlier. The mammoth tilted his head, squinting, brow-bone scar shifting with his new expression. Are you lost? Frederick knew that he, himself, could be considered 'lost'. Yet he wouldn't dwell on that just yet, focusing on the stranger. His first of this region.