you didn't send me no letter

Her travels continued -- though her pace was rather lax. She had drifted through Teekon Wilds as a ghost.. skirting around the presence of many, taking in the scents that surrounded her. The lands had grown abundant with packs since her last visit here, and she wondered why. It was resourceful, certainly, and beautiful.. but so were many places. So what was it about this place that seemed to enrapture so many?

And even more, why had she even come back?

Pushing the question from her mind, the she-wolf had wound her way through a forest of alpines. her lanky form moving closer to a rather grand mountain. The forest was bordered by them -- and yet as her paws met the foothills of the impressive slope, the faintest trace of wolf filtered her senses..

.. This was newly claimed. The scent of border became stronger to her then, and quickly back peddling, the swarthy she-wolf moved further from the borders, quickly attempting to put some distance between her and a potentially angry pack wolf.

Yes, the packs had certainly multiplied since her absence in these lands.

Tempest carefully poked the small withered berry with an outstretched paw. The dark blue skin that enveloped the berry seemed to be to big for it's contents. With a final hard poke, the skin split and a disappointing tiny geyser of berry juice turned the snow purple. She stood, and began to walk toward the borders, choosing a spot at random.

A large black shape backpedaling ferociously sent Tempest into a fast lope. Normally, she would have sent the other running for the hills, but the pack was small and could do with out enemy's, and really needed new recruits. So she approached the figure with a friendly stance, not yet knowing if the interloper had trespassed or not. "Hello," she called out as she closed the distance between them. She stopped a few feet from the black female, who she didn't recognize. "I'm Tempest, and this"she said, gesturing back with her muzzle. "Is Silvertip Mountain, my pack."

As much as she tried to keep her presence low profile, it would seem that for such a new and small pack, they were quite on the ball. The voice of another caused her to grimace within, and tilting her muzzle back to catch view of the silver female, the lone wolf felt her own form lower slightly in natural apology. "Sorry," she offered, her ears sliding back to her skull. "I realized only when it was too late."

The female before her offered her name, and the pack's name -- claiming it to be hers.. a statement which Vega took very literally. She was in the presence of the Alpha of these new lands. "Vega, a wayward traveler," she responded in turn, her tone neutral enough. "When did you stake claim on these mountains?"

So she had trespassed. Well she hadn't taken anything and had apologized, so Tempest felt there was no bad blood between them. Tempest sat, relaxed. "It's fine. We only recently came here, the scents aren't as strong as they should be yet."

The female continued to give her name, and ask a question. "Fitz-Fitzdutiful led the claiming howl only a couple days ago," she told her. "Are you looking for a pack, by the way? I'm sure Fitz would allow you too stay if you wanted" Please say yes, Tempest mentally begged her. She had only met the girl, but she seemed nice enough. Tempest hoped that Fitz would jump at the chance for new members of their small pack.

If anything, the encounter was awkward -- the swarthy female almost felt the need to insist that her nose wasn't broken, but it would seem the silver she-wolf was willing to let this one slide. Hardened herself, with little patience for those outside of her 'group,' Vega found this to be an intriguing outlook to life.

Her initial assumption that the wolf before her was the Alpha might have been wrong. Blinking her green eyes, she studied the other carefully, uncertain of what to say now -- FitzDutiful seemed a strange name to her. "I am.. But.. I've been scouting out the packs in the area to determine which is a better fit," she offered, pausing momentarily as she felt her muscles relax. Yet somehow, given the rather pleasant and patient conversation that was happening now, Vega wondered if perhaps she simply needed to stop the search. "Can you tell me more about your pack? And the others in this land?"