Smoke snakes stretched to meet the sky as she exhaled, her warmth meeting the cold of winter. This winter was not like her last, though - she did not feel the same ecstatic, frantic freedom. She felt composed, calmed, once more a part of the world - she had the children to thank for that. Oh, she had missed the clarity. She roamed with a slowness, an inclination to take her time drifting through the snow and sleet, truly feeling the cold mud and marsh beneath her paws. Her breath rose to kiss the sky but her mind was meeting the earth itself - for the first time in a long time, she thought, her paws had truly returned to the same earth as the others. Some part of her missed her year of disconnect but she reveled in her return to familiarity too. How strange, she grinned, to enjoy feeling as if a very part of your soul was missing once more - hadn't they called it an imprint? Where had hers gone the year before? How did one free themselves, if temporarily, from such a lacking? Answers would come in time, she was sure, but in the meantime, she knew she ought to grow her roots in Iromar once more.

On the borders, a path had opened up to her; driven through light snow and reeds, it curved around the pack's perimeter. She followed it loosely, drifting and swaying off course at times, but always she returned to it - it was Avery's path, after all. It had been some time since Beltane had truly seen Avery though she had watched from a distance, ever curious of her children and her companion, Arkane. Beltane had only observed though, unwilling to influence their nature too soon. Beltane was no fool, after all, and even she knew her peculiarities could sway a wolf's natural path if too soon introduced. She thought of Aspis, and how he had seen his egg half-rotten - perhaps he ought to have not known. Had he not seen it though, would his nature have changed? She could not say and so, she had not risked it. But Avery...ah, she did like Avery! Avery the Peace Maker, the Soothing Paw of Iromar. Beltane's tongue lashed out across her muzzle, apparently hungry for the woman's company.

Beltane found her soon enough. The blood of a hunt had made their monarch easier to track and so, Beltane had jogged on before finding Avery tooth-deep into her musk rat. Beltane paused, her head low and eyes intense as she watched the woman tear flesh and sinew away from the creature. Only after several moments of silent observation did she sway forward, a hmmm of relief beneath her breath as she breathed in the woman's scent. Yes, she certainly felt a part of Iromar again - truly, truly.

"Each season becomes you." It was a compliment, at least in Beltane's eyes. Winter, spring, motherhood or not - Avery wore her age and strength well, though Beltane could not help but notice something else in the woman's face. Weariness? Tiredness? No, it was not quite...Beltane's eyes narrowed, her head slowly tilting as if to hear the answer in the whispers that followed her through the fields of mist. They had no answer, though, not wholly. Then again, Beltane doubted any ghosts of Iromar truly understood Avery. She was Iromar, yes, but not wholly. She was part Aithne too, and part other things. "Was the creature - hmm - an easy kill?" Her head moved to its opposite side then, her eyes still ever-intense on Avery's. Perhaps the answer might give her insight...might help her decipher the deeper meaning behind the woman's energy. Thoughtful, Beltane knew the look to be, but thoughtfulness of what nature?