Winter had come a lot more peacefully this year than the last few. Snow had fallen softly and quietly over the forest, leaving it covered in a nice blanket of the fluffy snow. It was a big change over the past two winters blizzards that had fallen over Taviora. No winds accompanied the snow this year, leaving the forest a winter wonderland. Food wasn’t even scarce thankfully, which was good seeing as a few hunts would hopefully happen in the near future. Talien had come back and asked to become the new Focus, and Citlalli would be training soon to become the new power. Many of her ranks had emptied but many of her younger wolves were also finally old enough to work for these high ranks. It was strange to think that she might be considered ‘middle aged’ now. She thought about that when she watched her younger cousin depart, her mother had already had Zelda by this age, and many wolves in fact had children by now. She wasn’t bothered, but she wondered if things would have been different if Hyrule had stayed. She was letting that go through, this year, out of all the rest had been the first she felt any form of stir inside of her or longing. It was always fleeting thought, one she thought was only there to begin with because of her close proximity to Lazarus.

She was out of her den today though. Her tail waved loosely behind her as she padded through the forest. Her mind wandered to her meetings with Blackthorne and other goings on throughout Moladion. Things had seemed to settle once more in some way. Or at least Fall had been calm for the most part. The howl of challenge Zelda had heard had been quieted. Everything else just seemed to be in place from there. She wasn’t sure what changed would come in Spring. Pups she knew would happen in many packs. She wondered how many children Blackthorne’s followers, or he himself, might bring into his twisted fold. Zelda honestly didn’t mind Asteraia as of right now. They were at least agreeable, they had kept their end of the bargain and seemed to understand, or not care, that she had taken Eto. She wasn’t a member of their pack, they didn’t know her connection to her own, so perhaps that was mostly why it did not matter to them. Teza had been relieved and that made Zelda happy as well.

Zelda couldn’t imagine what position she would be in if someone had figured out who Lazarus was and what hold he had over her. She wasn’t sure how collected she could keep herself if he was in trouble. She hoped she never had to find out. Turning her mind to happier thoughts, she wondered if any pups might be in Taviora in Spring. Taviora hadn’t had many litters in the past couple years. Just one each year since. She didn’t know if any females were expecting yet, but she knew soon enough word would reach her ears if one of the many happily mated couples in Taviora would be adding to their pack.

A smile crossed her maw wondering if any of her family might contribute to that. Tolte and Ferye had been a surprise after all, Zelda knew her mother was done, but Dexter and TuarI Or maybe even one of Zelda’s cousins? She wondered at those prospects. She didn’t know if Tepi had anyone in his life, and wasn’t exactly certain of the nature of Eto and Teza’s relationship either. Eto was different than what she would expect for him, but fate knew they needed each other, somehow. Her ears twitched then at the soft crunch of snow under paw and she turned to look in the direction of the wolf approaching.

”Hello.” she greeted warmly her tail waving, waiting to see who might come from around the trees.