Ruby had been traveling back south, frustrated and flustered by that brat she had so unfortunately encountered in the tundras. Who did he think he was? Refusing her help, being so rude, so unwilling to be anything but a brat. It made her cheeks hot with frustration. She was doing all she could just to avoid turning back around and hunting him down, giving him a good shake until some sense came to him. One could even say she had been sulking a bit, sticking to herself and refusing to go back into Iromar until her mind was unshackled from how annoyed he had made her. She couldn't let Avery see her like that! And so she had been haunting the crags and grotto, trying to calm herself by hunting for mice and listening in on strangers. Spy and hunter things, appropriate for pack-life.

She had not imagined becoming so feral so easily. Or at least, feeling so feral. She had been sniffing about the darkness of the cavern, having been caught in the darkness overnight with little light to lead her out. So she had simply stayed put and waited for the first light of the morning to give her freedom back. The moment she had been able to, she had begun to take her leave and yet the silhouette of another appeared ahead; there was something familiar about it, the slope of its back, its legs, ears, and then she caught the stranger's scent. She breathed in deep and immediately let out a bark of surprise - her father? She knew his scent well and yet, she had never been given the opportunity to be close. Siren had been a watchful mother, and Zerachiel had been a tortured soul. His arrival made Ruby's heart stir in a strange way, as if she had breached some taboo by finding him alone - both of them alone.

"Father. Father, is that you?" She couldn't help but call out as she began to trot towards him, her eyes wide and hungry, drinking him in as she closed in on him. He could likely even hear the frantic beating of her heart, her mind free from the brat and wholly focused then on the taboo that was her father. "Mother said you were gone but here you are...really here." But why? Had he come looking? Had she just been lucky? Whatever it was, some part of her that beat with the blood of Siren and Lillith stirred with a need to keep him there.