Something about the morning felt somber. Samus rubbed her dark pelt along the bark of the grand trees in the firefly forest, hoping to see a chestnut-marked figure striding through, but none such figure came. Mildly perturbed by Sila's absence, the masked woman spent the morning alone, and as the day drew into the afternoon her concern grew somewhat larger. There was little, or so she thought, that could have happened-- it was their meeting place, after all, and they spent their days together more often than not. Samus shrugged, her scent left behind on the trees should Sila come later, and loped higher up on the mountains.

Her paws splashed through streams and leapt over fallen trees with a practiced grace that only came naturally to those with mountainborn blood. The trails were familiar, but she veered off the paths as she ran, enjoying the freedom of being somewhere that was perhaps entirely unexplored. Her chest rose and fell in a comfortable rhythm, and in the moments when her paws left the ground to leap over some obstacle in her path, the woman felt like she was flying. She paused, having passed by a cliffside lookout over the forests of Taviora below, and doubled back. Samus sat there for a while, watching the shadow of the mountains shift and change as the sun made its trek through the sky. She dropped to her belly, and at some point, must have fallen asleep, for when she next opened her eyes the sky was on fire with brilliant oranges, reds, and yellows.

Samus grinned at the sight, but there was a deep feeling of unease in her chest that tightened around her throat with a constrictor's grip. Her ears flicked, and for a few minutes, she was deeply uncomfortable with no clue as to why-- but when Sila's call came, Samus bowed her head. There would be no other reason for such a call. At first, she felt as though she should simply wait and approach later, but even through their short conversation Niviaq had carved out a special place for herself. Even if she didn't quite belong, the masked woman would make an appearance and at the very least, pay her respects. And... she'd promised the old woman that she'd be there for Sila, no matter what. Perhaps this was her first test.

Her lope back down the mountain was sobered, with none of the pep or liveliness of her initial trip upwards. Before very long, Samus came upon the den of Niviaq, and approached in a hesitant matter. She cast a sidelong glance towards the other wolf who had come so far, dipping her head in a somber greeting. "Sila..." Samus said into the den, her mahogany eyes full of sadness and loss. "Ah'm here." It was simple, but it was sufficient. Despite her feelings of awkwardness, she intended to keep her promise to its fullest extent.