Shrug. Elohim liked that. Or rather, he liked the fact that Dexter didn’t seem to consider his own opinion above another’s - modest, or at least close enough to it. As much as I can, he had said and Elohim liked that too. It made his lips turn up into a small grin. As much as he could? That made him think that even this wolf knew to keep some secrets, be they his own or somebody else’s. Then again, and Elohim had to admit it to himself, he could have simply been looking into the words too much. It had always been one of his habits. Some children grew up chewing on bones or getting into spars to entertain themselves, but Elohim had grown up looking for clues in words and un-words alike.

But they had begun their journey through Taviora and Elohim found himself more interested in that than the un-words. He’d given Dexter a curt bow of thanks before he had passed across borders and badlands alike and felt true Taviorian soil beneath his paws. He’d seen some of the pack but as Dexter begun to lead him, he wondered if the wolf might take him somewhere that Shem hadn’t. Shem was, after all, young and suspicious and had been exceptionally careful with his choices despite their shared blood. As fascinated as he was, it kept him busy when Dexter took his time to think over his questions. In the meantime, Elohim indulged himself in the pack’s scenery, his head tilted back to watch the canopy above as birds and leaves moved about above them.

Dexter’s chuckle turned Elohim’s face into a broad, toothed grin as his eyes left the canopy and found the man once again. One wolf to rule them all? Hadn’t there been a tale similar in the past? His father had mentioned one wolf, a wolf named Heyel, who had formally only ruled one pack but, well, Elohim’s father hadn’t been entirely sure that was true.

"I have always wondered if a single wolf could please every type of wolf,” he mused, "and then I remember that, perhaps in a sense, Zelda has done so already. She has, after all, found alliance after alliance.” He gave Dexter a curious look, both of them trying to read the other’s reaction it seemed. For Elohim, the mention of communication had certainly made his brow raise. Honest in their intentions? Ah, he wondered, but what if those intentions hadn’t been entirely good? The thought made his lip twitch into a smirk. "If Aranck or the Darkbringer had been honest – communicative – I wonder what perils we might have avoided,” he mused with a lingering thought of Moteuh, a half-sister taken in her first year by Aranck himself.

He looked away for a moment, his eyes having found the path ahead of them. It did seem somewhere new that they were headed, after all. It was better to focus on that than to become too caught up in the what ifs, no?

"My father is on the search for the names of wolves that those in Moladion see as suitable leaders,” he admitted with his own shrug, just as Dexter had given. For what purpose? Well, Elohim believed he knew but then again, as Dexter had put it...deception was more a weapon, and Eden had always been honest about using that weapon. "Finding a wolf clear in their intentions may be difficult, don’t you think? I don’t suppose Taviora has any of them hiding here in the forests?” His head jerked to a tilt, and his voice was alive with an unexpected fun. It was fun, after all, once he got over the subtle slight his father had likely meant by sending him on such a quest. His father wanted names or hints but Elohim hadn’t promised he’d hand them over – hell, he’d gotten curious himself. Maybe he should have communicated that to Eden, or maybe not. Maybe Elohim wasn’t the name on the lips of those thinking about wolves open about their intentions, after all.