Descending the mountain was one of the hardest things he had yet to do. He picked his way slowly down the often treacherous paths, almost casual in his gait were it not for the flicking of his tail in agitation. It had been some time since he’d left the comforting heights of his chosen home, he had seen no need to go anywhere else seeing as Haven and his pack were here, but he had already but this off too long. In itself the very short trip to the borders of Taviora was easy for their packs shared one border and no sooner had he reached the base of the mountain than was he at the familiar border of the forest pack. How often had he sat just outside of this border in the weeks after he had been disowned by his sister? How many nights had he tilted back his dark head to mother moon and sang to her of his sorrows? Yet in it all his sister had never come to console him and he had taken her silence as the final nail in their relationship.

Why now would he come back and hope that she had changed her mind? She had made no attempt to reach out to him, but things had changed in his life and despite her anger at him he wanted to share it with her. At the border he sat for some time, debating if he should simply call out to her as he had done before, but eventually he decided she could too easily ignore him once more if she wanted to. He didn’t intend to give her that option. With a sigh he is off again, crossing into the sister-land of Spirane though his step is a bit more cautious now.

Like a tracking hound he moves methodically with his nose to the ground, snuffling and whuffing as he sorted through the myriad of scents that clung to the forest. At first it was hard to get around the heavy earthen scent that laid so heavily upon everything, and then to sort through the myriad of wolves who called the towering trees home. Trees were the reason Astrid had decided to stay here, he knew how much she loved their soaring heights with boughs that tangled with the sky. He preferred the lofty heights and open skies of his mountain home, but were it not for Haven he might have contented to stay here. Some things were simply worth fighting for he had decided that day.

It took much longer than anticipated but he finally caught a scent that froze him in place, one paw hovering in the air. He inhaled again, lids closing over his brilliant blue and golden eyes for a moment as he drank it in. The scent was decidedly Astrid in origin, but there was something else to it… something that made his slender head quirk to the side. Pups? That couldn’t be right. Astrid barely had the patience to deal with him, her own flesh and blood, there was no way she would have consented to being with another much less having pups! He shook his head incredulously, inhaling again to make sure he hadn’t misread the information before following the trail with a shrug.

The further he followed the trail the stronger the scents got and he was sure that at least part of this puppy scent belonged to his sister which only confused him further. His paws crunched atop the leaves that littered the forest floor in the heart of autumn, the chilly bite of the wind only a further indicator that winter would be upon them soon. Did the forest freeze like the mountains in the winter? How would his sister keep warm? These thoughts and more plagued him as he finally emerged into a small clearing that was so saturated in his sisters scent he stopped dead in his tracks involuntarily. Quickly his bright eyes scanned the area, landing finally on what could only be the entrance to a den carved out beneath the base of a towering oak.

His brows knitted together atop his head, straining to see if she was within the den or if the scent was only the lingering reminder that she had once been here. A low whine left his muzzle before forming into a high-pitched bark, his tail brushing against his heels once, twice almost hesitantly. His white-masked face tilted to the side as he focused on the entrance to the den, so consumed by it that he missed the small paw prints that were scattered across the soft ground and the scent of another male. All he could do was wait, longing to see that face which so closely mirrored his own, totally oblivious to the new branches on his family tree.