Southern landscapes weren’t impressive… until they started trotting past trees. They were populated with thousands of magnificently wide leaves full of extraordinary hues. He’d grown up amongst pine trees; they were variations of blues and greens. But these… These were the colors of fire. Asunder’s eyes scanned each canopy they passed. Every so often, he’d be so stricken with wonder that he’d pause for a little too long, and then realize Flower had gotten far away. He would lazily sidestep in her direction, unwilling to turn his eyes away from the complimentary color scheme of orange against a bright blue sky, and then trot a few paces after her, pause again, and repeat until what fascinated him was obscured by distance. Then, he committed himself to catching up with Mala.

Despite his stop and go tactics and thick fur, Asunder hardly felt the miles and miles of travel their legs covered. Partly, it was do to natural aptitude for endurance, and the other was his wonder at the southern flora. Why had no one ever told him about what autumn could be? The dying season meant that winter was nearer and that he’d better eat everything he could find before food became scarce; it’d never been anything but ugly, but this brand of autumn was marvelous.

As the pair trotted pass the grand foothills of the Spirane mountains, Asunder was again distracted by natural phenomenon. A grove of ember-colored trees rose through the a mountain valley like wildfire, spiraling toward heaven. Awestruck, the young male paused there, head tilted slightly while he absorbed reality. When he realized, he startled a bit and glanced ahead. Mala was out of sight over the crest of the horizon. His eyes darted between her path and the trees a few times before his stretched a foreleg across his body and began to leave the scene.

However, his attention was diverted by the scent a stranger - a pack wolf, from the potent canine scent in her fur. It was different than Mala’s floral perfume. It was earthy… more like vanilla or sage. His ears pivoted to locate the sound of paw-steps and then his eyes followed. She was a deep, solid gray with darker markings. Her legs were brindled. One of her paws looked dipped in mud. The female looked fufilled, in every aspect of the word. In looks, she should be quite proud and in weight, he was jealous. By the confidence of her approach, she was probably as sure of her survival as Mala was. Her dark eyes were on her target… him. Asunder’s skin tightened and his ears tilted backwards. Her tail came up, and he stepped out of lunge-biting range.

It was a well tested tactic to get an seemingly-innocent question answered “yes,” so that the victim of manipulation would be more likely to continue along a positive thought line when in reality, nefarious ends were in play. The knowledge flexed Asunder's brown and tilted the edges of his expression downwards.

“No. I got somewhere to be,” Asunder curtly informed her.

But he didn’t move after he spoke. He’d tried leaving situations similar and that always went poorly. Some instinct kicked in to dominate the thing “running away” and wolves just snapped. His gut told him that she would block him. He didn’t want to be bitten or blocked… so he remained stagnant, waiting for her to leave.