Blacktail Deer Plateau pasiaktuk

Aside from the lingering scent of Sakhmet's step-father crossing his path from time to time Kigipigak did not find any sign of other life for a good long while. It wasn't something he minded except that it seemed somewhat odd that Sakhmet was nowhere to be seen. Making the presumption that she was preoccupied with her mother, her younger siblings, or some other task that would reconnect her to the family that had only ever left her behind, Kigipigak pined for her company and left it at that.

He slowed his pace when he thought he heard something moving among the trees, only to spy the shape of a raven's wing unfurling; its shape slipping behind some trees and away. It gave Kigipigak a chill. Some measure below on a harrowing segment of rock cleaving baldly from the hillside, he saw something else - something more terrestrial.

The shape was decidedly canid; the way it moved, sort of sulking, with a rasping sound that grew stronger as Kigipigak came closer. A panting sound. The ginger-brown of the stranger's agouti pelt wasn't all that remarkable and neither was their size; he didn't immediately recognize Lane. She was not as wide as he remembered and there was a myriad of scents clouding her natural musk.

A boof coughed from his jowls, and as Kigipigak drew in a fresh breath, he journeyed down to meet her where she stood. After about twenty minutes he emerged from among the ferns, yellowed by pollen and otherwise a beige-white, carrying himself with the focused look of a tired warrior with no time to spare.

At least, until he saw her face and truly recognized her. Well hello again! He all but bellowed, heartily surprised. The woman had been a hunting partner and a fine one at that.