Northstar Vale shotguns and barbed wire fences

She'd not spent much time exploring these mountains. In the past, it had always seemed something like betrayal to admit that she was curious about what secrets the opposite peaks might hold. She was no less devoted to her home and family now, but she craved knowledge of things outside them.

This was the vale, she decided, where Hydra had brought news of Rannoch's injuries. Alya wondered why anyone would leave this place - it seemed the perfect haunt for any pack. It was flat so that Liffey wouldn't cut her delicate paw pads. In memory of the insipid girl, Alya allowed a sneer to pass briefly over her features. Over time, her guilt and sorrow over that situation had cooled. What she felt now was a tired sort of irritation and a deep, abiding scorn for the burly Frostfur male.

They occupied the neighboring peak now, she knew, but the dark shewolf had no plans to visit. Instead, she picked her way slowly along the walls of the vale, searching for entrances to secret caverns to keep herself occupied as she travelled.