She wasn't made to hide in the snow. Actually, Isolde wasn't made to hide at all. Tall for her age and painted in bright, orangy reds and cream, the only backdrop she wouldn't stand out against would be those red deserts her mother and father had told her about. But in the hills of Asteraia, blanketed in stark white snow, the young girl was in great contrast with her environment. Speckles of white clung here and there to Isolde's thick, mottled fur, but the fall was too light to dust her entirely -- and the movement of her large paws jostled the dry snow from her body before it had time to collect.
Viserys and Aurai had taken off together earlier in the morning. They were probably off hunting mice again, or something of the sort. If it had been only one or the other that had wandered off, Isolde might have been worried. Viserys was prone to weak spells in his hindquarters, which would leave him vulnerable from time to time, and Aurai was just prone to wandering and trouble. Together, though, Aurai wouldn't leave their brother without help, and Viserys wouldn't let Aurai drag them outside the pack lands. So, she let them be to have their fun. She could find her own.
Isolde had been pawing furiously through a three foot drift when a set of paws sloshed by. Backing out of the hole she'd dug, bright, teal-ringed brown eyes gave a look around only to find the familiar form of Delya, her father's Steward, dancing away across the white hills. Her tail gave a few waves behind her, and she glanced between her tunnel-in-progress and the quickly retreating wolf. Digging was fun and all, but... Delya looked like she was having a good time.
With a few, long bounds, Isolde cleared the thick drift of snow and started off after the dark wolf. She sprinted over the white hills, but her progress in catching up to the Steward was slow. Delya's legs had several inches on her own, after all. If Delya had been running, not just romping, the girl wouldn't have had a chance in catching up. She was only a few yards behind, tongue hanging out of her mouth with the effort of the chase, when a stranger's howl had the mottled red girl sliding to a stop.
The pup's russet ears stood tall upon her head as she turned her attention in the direction of the call. She didn't know that voice, and that was slightly concerning. She couldn't recall a stranger ever walking so far into Asteraia before calling for an audience. But Delya didn't seem in the least bit worried as she continued to romp away in the direction the stranger waited, so Isolde wouldn't worry either. With a paddling of paws through the snow, the mottled girl was sprinting after the Steward once more with attentive ears and eyes turned forward.
Isolde's pace slowed as she crested a hill and the caller came into sight. For a moment, the little girl just looked on as Delya continued to lope off toward the stranger. There was something strangely familiar about the one which waited on the next hill. Creams and reds, peppered in black; honestly, there was a striking resemblance between her and this new woman. And they eyes -- they were the same colors as her own! Though, the teal and brown were separated by left and right in the stranger, unlike the ringed pattern Isolde sported. Funny, really...
The girl started down the hill in Delya's wake, her paws slow as she lent her attention toward the pair's interaction, and she stopped a good distance off to watch and listen. At the word "friend" that rolled off the Steward's lips, Isolde's red and black peppered banner gave a few pleasant waves behind her. Hopefully this wolf was, indeed, a friend. Not that she was worried or anything; Isolde was a Knight in training, after all. Small though she was in her youth, she would show no fear in the face of this unknown. Instead, an insatiable curiosity burned in the eyes that watched the red wolf who sat on a rock, removed from the snow. Her attention was stolen, however, as the dark form of Lucero raced into sight.
The girl's paws kicked up with a suddenness that had her bounding down the hillside, tail all a-flurry in the mounting excitement. Isolde came at Lucero from the side of his good eye and jumped up to place two large, cream paws on his shoulder.
"Who's your friend, Lu?" Isolde asked with a charming smile that moved between her older brother and the other red wolf. Rebounding off of Lucero's shoulder, Isolde stood reared and tall upon her back legs for a moment before dropping heavily into the snow. "Is she from Spirane?" She had heard mention of mountains in the passing between Lu and the one he'd called Gaia, and the Qeen had taught her children of all the packs, including the mountain pack of Spirane. Having only ever visited the forest tribe of Taviora before, she was quite interested in learning more about the other packs. This mountian wolf would be quite the treat as a guest, should her visit be long.