He manages to confound her at every turn. Their first meeting had been a surprise, ending with an exhilarating hunt and a belly stretched taunt, and it is only because of that success with his prowess that had impressed her in the slight that she had cause to remember him in their time apart. It had been sparing that he had come to her thoughts, the great hunt in Taviora one of the few times the idea of him had been vivid, brought rushing back by the adrenaline in her veins and the scent of blood in the air. The great aurochs had leveled its mighty horns at her, charged her with thundering hooves, and she had a fleeting notion that it was something that Zaphkiel would have found odd amusement in.

The fact that she finds him standing before her now, a glint in his eyes beneath the stars that said he wouldn’t object to turning and facing the grizzly head on should be a grand surprise, and yet it is so typical of what she knows of him she can believe it all easily. She shakes her head incredulously; somehow he kept finding her in these odd predicaments, for some reason she tolerated his presence unlike anyone else save for her brother, and found amusement in it all. At least he has the good sense to follow her as they distance the bear, despite her own love of a good fight taking on a bear in the middle of the night was not exactly the best idea she thought.

She lets out a low, barking laugh as her shoulder connects with him, happy to sit her bit of retaliation has paid off. He rolls in the snow like a pup and she looks down at him with an odd curiosity, so like her brother and yet so not in many ways. His flattery reaches her ears and for a moment she just looks at him with certain skepticism, never sure if when he pays such compliments he is mocking her in some way as many others will. He brushes off her abrasive personality, as if it was nothing more than a character trait he enjoyed. None other had ever acted as such toward her and it left her a touch off balance it seemed. She stares at him until the actual meaning of his words register. Beauty sleep? That’s what he thought she would be doing in the snow? Her two-toned eyes roll, at least he was consistent. “You of all wolves should know my looks are the least of my concern,” her deep voice rumbles between them.

She shifts as he stands, without thinking reaching out her nose to brush the larger clumps of snow from his back. Pulling back harshly she looks up her broad nose at him, wondering exactly what it was about him that changed her typical actions. It had to be that he resembled her brother so, in both actions and appearance. Yes, that was it. After a moment of a slightly less than awkward silence surrounds them as his next words reach her. It was so puzzling, that this wolf she had met by no more than happenstance seemed concerned with where she rested her paws at the end of the day, there was no other wolf out there (with the exclusion of her brother of course) who would take the time to be so troubled. “Chasing out bears has worked well for you I see,” she says with thinly veiled amusement, “the problem being that the bear often returns to their den eventually, finding you so soundly sleeping. When someone is not running for their life the snow provides quite good cover for one of the same shade.” She wiggles her back in a bit at her last words, a light grin plays upon her feature, pleased to be bantering with someone so willing to reciprocate in kind. There is nothing demure about her, no attempts to hide a point, she is all sharp edges and blunt points. All kinds of things she was discovering tonight beneath the stars.