Emberflame Ridge schneemusik

Mali had been out exploring again.  Once he crossed the border for the first time since his arrival, it no longer kept him bound.  His quest was to find a new place for himself and his sister to live -- and Delight too, he guessed, but given that they'd pretty much been abandoned for the majority of their lives, in spirit though not in actuality, Mali didn't think his father would want to come.  Either way, he hadn't gone far enough to find another pack yet, and after his encounter with Aries, he'd been better at avoiding any other adults that came his way.  None of them listened, none of them even tried to pretend to respect him.

Unsurprisingly, being ignored meant that he wasn't at all a good hunter, and though he was always sure to gorge himself on whatever was in the caches before setting out, the return trips usually left him a little bit hungry unless he got obscenely lucky.  Mali had been hoping this was one of those times and had followed the scent of blood to a kill.  Except there was a wolf there too when it entered his vision.  Yeah, Mali wasn't great at tracking either, so had just followed the most primary and interesting scent on the wind.  He froze, gears in his head turning before he recognized that as the guy from the borders.  Yeah, if he hadn't been spotted it was probably best to just keep going and not wasting his time with one of Seabreeze's zombies.  The speckled youth started to turn and walk away.