His mind felt numb, and Asriel wasn’t taking this in as fast as perhaps most would. He tripped over a boy who was a stranger, he was in a place he didn’t really know but was similar to his home. Asriel knew a few things, knew that this was how his sister got killed. She wandered too far, she left Taviora, it wasn’t safe out here. He never really was scared of leaving before and he still wasn’t but the reality of everything was hitting him like a waterfall. The fact the fatuous boy was bobbing and prancing around only distracted his mind from the heavy weight that would never leave him. His breathing picked up, and he felt worn out and tired. It was night too? When did it become night? It was like he was waking up from a day of just sleep walking and being lost in a bad dream.

The small growl that emitted from the slightly smaller boy’s maw caused Asriel to shake his head, finishing bringing out his thoughts from the hypnotic state he had somewhat been in. He tripped over a boy. He felt his shoulder and leg hurt a bit from where he had fallen, his every fluffy form was covered in leaves and otherwise he looked completely unkempt. It was hard to ever look anything but with all his fur, but it was certainly worse than normal. This pup also looked dirty, but Asriel didn’t really take too much notice in that, his mother always said that if they were dirty at the end of the day that meant they probably had a lot of fun! Then she would usher them all to the stream to take a bath, then groom them all until they fell asleep…

His eye watered a bit but thankfully the boy was being bold and strong, and likely would have thought it was just because he had fallen and hurt himself a bit. Him and Shem would get along Asriel though, nothing seemed to shake Shem. He said he was testing his new camouflage technique being curled up in the roots, that Asriel shouldn’t have seen him. Asriel though wasn’t naive, his copper eyes looked over the snowy colored boy. Asriel should have seen him. Being white in the woods wasn’t exactly the best way to hide, even at night. Asriel had white fur and his father taught him to crouch low, let his grey fur cover his white so he blended more, but he didn't’ say anything about that.

The boy then asked if he lived around here and Asriel looked around before shaking his head. ”I live in Taviora… It’s not far but I don’t know where its at.” The boy went quiet letting his white tipped ears flick about trying to listen past the chirping crickets for the sound of a trickling stream. Asriel started moving in the direction he thought maybe it could be, but there were no promises. He tried to see if he could see the mountain peak of Spirane he knew a small creek was close by that so if they started heading in that direction at some point they would probably come upon a stream.

”This way... By the mountains.” He learned a lot in his first year, he still wasn’t good at hunting or anything like that but he could get around and forge his way into getting where he wanted to go. Being a momma’s boy had its perks apparently. Once he got big enough to follow her around without question he followed her, well, everywhere. He knew Taviora very well, where certain flowers could be found for healing and other things, he knew where every little stream was in Taviora but out here he was just as lost as the white furred boy.

”I’m Asriel, what’s your name?” He asked tilting his head slightly but still keeping his ears sharp and listening for any signs of a stream beyond the normal sounds of night.