There is something wrong, she thinks, though she cannot pinpoint just what that something is. It is a smell she hasn't encountered before, though something about it is familiar enough to make the skin over her back prickle with a silent warning. It's not danger though, and she ignores the feeling with an agitated flick of her ear. It was probably just her nerves, right? Even she can't deny that there's something intimidating about the idea of approaching the other packs so soon after their challenges, and leaving Diveen so soon after its own. Still...the smell lingers, and she can't help but notice it only gets stronger the closer she draws to the water. Carrion? Perhaps, she thinks, the floods have washed something downstream...

She is drawn by curiosity now, creeping closer to the water. Her profile is low, her entire body shifting closer to the ground as she prowls through the tall grass. Slowly, her head pokes out of the reeds to look out over the water and its sandy banks. At first, she doesn't see anything, at least not downstream, but then she hears a grating, harsh voice - a warning, even! - from upstream. It catches her off guard, and she withdraws her head back into the reeds instinctively. Then, slowly again, she peers out and upstream, finding the source of the voice some distance away. She is not close enough to make out the form completely, but she knows it is a wolf, and one that is resting in the shallows. Maiko also knows it is the wolf who smells so strongly like something wrong, and it makes her nose wrinkle as she tries to understand the scent. Somewhere beneath it is the scent of wolf - an older woman, perhaps - and old blood, but Maiko cannot discern anything more than that. All she can do is grit her teeth, puff out her chest to reaffirm her confidence and step out from her position so that the stranger might see her too.

"I had no intention on bothering you, stranger." She states it boldly and sharply, looking towards the stranger with an obvious interest despite what she says. Clear from the reeds and in the open, she can see the woman better now, even if she is still at some distance. Her curiosity draws her upstream several short paces, and she sucks in a surprised - shocked? - breath when she truly realizes just what she is encountered.

There is blood - no - was blood, Maiko corrects herself, but it was old and stale. The stench, she realizes, is from a wound, but it is not blood. It is the smell of death, or something near enough to death to make Maiko's stomach knot up and her teeth clamp down on themselves. She cannot hide her interest, her eyes having fixated on the woman. Now, they search over her, putting pieces into a line. "Kanojo wa..." She winces, eyes narrowing in suspicion before she lets her expression slacken to something more akin to...understanding, she thinks. At least, something other than suspicion. She could be the challenger to Spirane's throne, or Taviora's, or any other place, but she could be somebody else too. She was old, after all, and Maiko remembers seeing the injuries hunters and scouts received at times.

Bolder now, she has waited in silence for too long. By then, she assumes the woman knows her intentions: Maiko might not have been intending to bother her, but she intends to now at least.

"You are injured. You are not faring well, stranger." It is obvious, yes, but Maiko makes it known nonetheless. Just in case, she thinks grimly, the woman has any doubts about her own condition. "I know some healing. I know healers too -- trained, experienced." As she speaks, she draws nearer to Hietala. She keeps her posture non-confrontational, head lowering slightly and tail hanging slack behind her. It was an unexpected detour, but...Maiko can learn something here, though she dares not to pry so soon. If this woman is Spirane's would-be usurper, it did mean that she was no pushover. Even an injured wolf has teeth, Maiko remembers, and far less to lose. "Will you let me bother you now?" She grins, small and almost apologetic.