Heron Lake Plateau there's an endless road to rediscover

The wolf who met him was neither his sister nor any Blackthorn he knew, and lucky for them both, she still had a hill to descend before having to deal with whatever poured from Tuathal's nerves. Of course he hadn't expected Ceara to be the one to answer his call, but even as much as he'd anticipated leadership, Tuathal realized he wasn't prepared to meet them at all.

He had never actually tried this before - joining a pack. Was there, like - something special he was supposed to do? Tuathal was already half distracted by the bird that seemed too close to the dark stranger to think of anything eloquent to say, so he simply started with the first spiel that came to mind. "Uh, hi. Hello there," she was still a bit of a distance away - was he talking loud enough? He raised his voice a fraction, just to be sure. "I'm - " but her voice cut in just then, strange and not completely right, and all he could finish with was an uncertain splay of his ears and a nervous, "heh," as her fiery gaze raked over every inch of him - and settled, without a doubt, upon the thick and blatant stripe she sounded like she'd seen enough of already.

Thank the stars Ceara scooted up just then. "Ceara." Tuathal flooded with relief and his eyes warmed at the unmaskable excitement in her voice. Had he decided to stay? "Oh - yeah," he gave a nervous laugh and shifted his attention back to the stranger, who he expected had at least a little more weight here than his newbie sister. "I'm Tuathal," he tried again, "I'm told your pack is the Blackthorn melting pot of the wilds. I was - uh, wondering if you had room for one more."