Firefly Glen I slithered here from Eden

Keeping it vague, but he's traveling towards the coast. AW! Open to invasion by @Rosalyn @Rat @Vlad and anyone else, go nuts.

The winds were whipping through the glen, and around him, when he arrived in the area. Not even the fireflies which granted the fields and forest their name could keep up; it was a gray darkness, an early night, which greeted Njal. He wasn't sure where he was going, or why. Maybe the Russian vagrant and his second-in-command were following him - maybe he had escaped their attention, he wasn't paying much of his own. Yes, that wind bit in to his body like no other; it was like the north was howling around him, calling to him in fits and starts, alive and agitated by his course. He ducked his head and snaked along, feeling his energy wane with every pulse of wind.

Unimpressed with considering the troublesome bears at length, still sour from the whole encounter with them anyway, and already running into a share of frustrations regarding it, she set aside the night to roam. Leaving was far more infrequent now that it wasn't pure obligation that kept her tethered, but she still loped away underneath the darkening skies unperturbed. Later, if asked, she'd cite a need to clear her head before she devoted herself to trying to piece together exactly how to make her pack (most of which with a very healthy fear of bears) able to ward off bears properly.

As the scenery opened up from the mountain's doorstep, the winds gained notable strength. For a while she ran with them, ears slicked back and body extended until her eyes stung and watered from squinting against the gusts. Having opened her lungs up in full eventually burned too, so she dialed it back, panting as she jogged casually into the proximity of the silvered wolf.

Sight of him brought her head up and curiosity followed -- he did not yet register as familiar in any way and the specifics of his scent were difficult to distinguish with the winds working against her. Ame's pathway arced closer to him with investigation the goal.

He moved slowly. It was evident by the way the wolf favored one of his hind limbs that it was paining him; whether that was a true injury or not, none would be the wiser. The wind pulsed at his sides, shifting every few moments like great gasps from a giant unseen mouth - and then the air would calm, for a time. It was in a moment of abrupt quiet, without the air howling across his back or whipping at his ears, that Njal managed to turn his face towards an oncoming shadow. The stranger's gait wasn't familiar, but their silhouette stirred something in his memory; Njal wasn't sure, so he only met that oncoming darkness with a narrowed gaze. By the time the stranger was close, the wind had picked up again. The old gray man simply stood there, like some sort of monument, and watched.

His weakness noted, she aimed to study deeper still. He looked downright abandoned, somehow, and was far more weathered than an average wolf. Age and nature alike had taken their toll but given him a distinct ruggedness as well. Still, she squinted in an effort to place the familiarity that he was sparking. Closer by just a little more, and it was only slow but steady to come back to her.

Long time no see seemed inappropriate while she moved closer. There was no hurry to tie herself into his history at some point, especially not knowing who he would be today. Her existence may only come up as unfamiliar, which was fine by her. She'd never aimed to make herself a known presence in the Creek, and would know soon enough whether or not it was in her favor here and now.

Instead, she moved around him smoothly. The winds made it difficult, but she didn't find distinct pack scent on him. However, she wouldn't be surprised if he was not alone out here, and the wind could play in their favor. She'd stay alert despite a keenly neutral countenance. "Heading somewhere?" she asked in a pause between the worst of the gusts.

It wasn't so long ago that Njal had lived at the creekside, but it felt like a lifetime had passed. The feud between the two packs had withered away when the creek fell; but even before that, for Njal. He retained a stern dislike - and distrust - of Jace and his companions, however in this moment Njal did not think of these things. He had to let go of his past to pursue a future, even if that future led him to the coast alongside strangers and brigands. So when Amekaze's face came in to view, he remained placid. The wind whipped about the pair of them in protest to his silence.

A silence she was the first to break. Her question was almost drowned out by the howling of the wind, but the aged man was attentive.

"To the coast." The weather would probably be easier to handle there, although the sea would pose a problem on more stormy winter nights. It was all he offered her. This briefest of glances in to his path. "You have come down from your mountain." An observation, and perhaps a flippant one, prompted by a sudden need to reconnect - perhaps not with her specifically, but with the life he had once lived. She carried foreign scents but they were similarly mountainous in nature, to which Njal was hardly surprised.

She didn't waste energy offering him the opinion, but she felt to head for the coast was a wise choice. He didn't need her to tell him that. "Anything waiting for you there?" she asked, a shot in the dark that she couldn't even say for sure if he'd answer. She'd known him as a highly ranked pack wolf, then far more vaguely as a leader with a family far in the north.. and Stavanger Bay had been the last seaside gathering to her knowledge. Since that could always change, she was curious if he'd humor her questions.

But indeed. Her mountain and they something almost absolute about her, she realized. She nodded. "Just to see what I can find," she answered, not intending to inject smugness into it despite feeling proud of what she had, and what it allowed her to be. Her pack was secure and protected without her constant vigilance, so she roamed as she please.

Was anything waiting for him. That was a curious question. A probing question. Did she remember Tuwawi, and think perhaps they had moved their family to the coast? Did she think him a vagrant - which was the truth, as much as he despised it - or, was she hoping to add to her collection, to bolster the power of her fortress pack? The answer did not really matter. He sighed softly, and a peal of exhalation billowed slowly from his nose. "No." No, his family was not there, his wife was gone as far as he knew, and he was alone. Given a promise for a survivable winter and nothing more.

"I was hoping that winter on the seaside would be easier than the mountains." Perhaps it would be, but at what cost? Throwing himself in with seedy rogues, a black-faced witch he had yet to meet, each as much a stranger as the next. Briefly Njal looked towards the coast, as if he could see the waves from this great and ridiculous distance, and then he looked to Ame. "I hope that winter is... Kind to you." It had never been kind to him.

His answer was concise and everything it needed to be. She nodded in somber understanding, and with it, sight of him was a bit easier to understand. It had been so long since she'd seen him last.. not that she'd spent any span of time attempting to know him better back then.

"The scavenging should be decent, if the late autumn has been any indication.." she supposed, remembering the strange reek of the beached whales. If that was truly a sign of things to come, then the seaside was bound to be valuable territory should winter go south in a hurry. Her own survival in a wintertime spent alone could be accredited to it, so she got the feeling she was soothed by knowing it was a bit closer -- just in case all went straight to frozen hell elsewhere.

The.. statement, if she could call it that, had caught her off guard and furrowed her expression. "Ah, likewise.." she returned after a breath, having no ill will against him. Although she honestly felt he'd need more than good wishes on his side if he stayed alone, but the small sentiment remained for whatever it was worth.

He was tempted to linger, to perhaps play nice with the woman. She could offer him a more substantial home. But he recalled how he had treated the wolves of the Sunspire - even if it was just to follow the wishes of his leader at the time, he had not been very pleasant. Any offer she made would have been charity, and the ex-Alpha would not stoop so low as to accept charity from anyone. It had not been offered though. Just a passing comment, one that she seemed surprised to mutter.

Without another word, Njal turned from her attention and began to stride away, seeking the coast and all the riches it presumably offered.

She wasn't going to push the conversation any further than it needed to go. Since she had not come out here to gain anything in particular, and did not need anything of him in particular, what she'd leave here with was already enough. Information, however incomplete it may seem to be at first glance, was still worth something to her. She'd at least have that to take back home with her.. if nothing else came up between now and then.

When he took his silent leave, she watched him go, before picking her own path in a direction opposite his.