King Elk Forest i don't want your pieces

There had been enough idleness in her life, Queenie thought. She'd done relatively little for the pack that had taken her in, as she'd never had to do work in exchange for a home. Being older now, though, and away from her real home, she thought that it was time she take up some sort of responsibility of her own, at least for the time being. It was the dead of winter, and if these wolves decided that they didn't want her around anymore, she wouldn't have anywhere to go. 

As she wandered around the border, marking as she went, Queenie thought about all of the things that could have gone right, compared to the things that had gone horribly, terribly wrong.

Following the impromptu reunion in Golden Glade, Tambourine continued flying solo. He would love to find Silas, Stark or even Banner, yet there was no reason to expect they would be in the area. He would definitely try to locate them—hadn't he been doing that for much of the past year?—but mostly he just wanted to reacquaint himself with his old stomping grounds.

With that said, he really didn't know his way around the Teekon Wilds very well, so his decision to head south was rather arbitrary. But when he came upon the scent of fellow wolves, he grinned and trotted toward the edge of a stately forest. He found someone patrolling there and Tambourine's heart skipped a beat. Saena! he thought, though it wasn't her, just someone who reminded him of his very first crush.

"Hello there!" he barked, bounding forward toward the stranger, tail held low but wiggling.

Queenie's ears perked atop her head as the stranger called out his greeting, though she remained silent. He seemed friendly, but something about that put her on edge; the mercenary was always in the most danger when they let their guard falter in favor of seeming amicable. His greeting did not fall on deaf ears, however; Queenie made her simple response with a slow nod of her head.

As he continued in the direction of the border, her tail stopped its slow wag and rose a bit from where it had been swinging only moments before. Queenie swallowed hard and watched with jaded eyes, taking in his presence. Slow down, she commanded, though her voice was quickly softened, It's not safe to approach any border like that, don't you know? Despite the unusual kindness she was showing, Queenie was ready to fight if need be. After all, it was her job to protect what was held beyond the line they stood at.

The stern command had an immediate effect on him. Tambourine dug his toes into the snow and slid to a halt, head lowering and ears splaying to the sides. "My bad!" he offered right away, tail slowing but still waving appeasingly behind him. "I do know better," he added when she gently rebuked him. "You just reminded me of someone, and I forgot my manners for a sec," Tambourine further apologized as he dropped into a sit and lowered his eyes, peeking up between his lashes rather sheepishly.

When he felt pretty sure she wasn't going to bite him, his smile broadened and he thumped his tail on the snowy ground. "Sorry about that!" He paused for a breath, then introduced, "I'm Tambourine, or Tam for short. Who are you and what's this place called?" he queried, pale eyes lifting somewhat to scan the majestic forest behind her.

Queenie sighed and shook her head. Tam, as he called himself, didn't seem to be a threat so much to her pack as he was to her sanity. His eagerness was too heavy for her weak stomach, on a night like this, especially. She figured that better than to try chasing him off or calling for someone else to handle his presence (he wasn't really doing much to put her on guard when she thought about it), it would be best to simply ignore him for the time being.

With the simultaneous roll of her shoulders and eyes, Queenie continued her rounds, half-hoping Tam would be as persistent as he seemed.

It threw him quite a bit when she met his direct questions with silence. When she shrugged and continued moving along the borders, he blinked and grimaced at himself. He'd really made a dog's breakfast of this encounter, hadn't he? He opened his mouth to call out after her, maybe offer up another apology, but then he clapped it shut. She clearly wanted nothing to do with him, so he should probably stop bothering her and move along.

His pale gaze followed her retreating figure for a moment as he bit his lip. Then Tambourine turned and began trotting in the opposite direction. Just before he was completely out of earshot, he did pause and glance over his shoulder to shout, "Sorry again!" Having made peace with his conscience—even if he was still kicking himself a little bit over the entire thing—the yearling did an about face and began striding north. He wouldn't let his excitement over being back get the better of him again.