He had never done this before, never had he gone so far from the place his mother and amachi had set for him. He and his siblings had a little outting adventure since Opium wanted to feel something other than snow. Rivaxorus thought for a moment that they had been heading to Fiori to visit family. However in the middle of his sleep he had found himself waking up in a strange place. The young ball of fluff was indefinitely a delectable thing for others to eat. His mother had told him so. Every noise that cracked in the distance made him pull back his teeth to reveal little sharp puppy teeth. They weren't much to look at, but they could easily tear into flesh if he felt threatened enough. Puppy teeth hurt. With tail raised the large pup stumbled over himself, trying to think clearly. Stay calm, maybe Amachi or his father would come bursting through those huge bushy things in the distance.

Walk | Talk | Think Once more Gale paced along the edge of Donostrea's border, watching the territory beyond the Algoma Prairie with a half attentive stare. Nothing since her meeting with Ixionn on the border had been half as exciting, and she doubted anything else would compare to it. She lived along the very southern edge of the continent, far out of the way for anyone to simply stumble upon her by accident, so visitors were few and far between, and the fact he had specifically sought her out was still absolutely mind boggling for her. But even her thoughts on the matter were altered by the effects of her season, and she could not just yet trust how she felt about the whole situation. Maybe after her season had passed and her mind was her own again she would reconsider it and determine just where her feelings resided. She thought of him now as she traveled the border, and caught the faint traces of a scent that vaguely reminded her of his own. One brow raising over her grey-green eyes, Gale turned to stare outward from he pack's lands and scented more closely at the air. It was not him, not truthfully, but there was something there, some hint of something else, that sparked a sense of recognition. Fidgeting in place, Gale hesitated. She had already decided at the beginning of the season that she would not be leaving the protective border of her home until her heat had passed, just as a precaution against any accidents that could potentially happen away from the watchful eye of her family. It was a smart decision, that she knew, but now she found herself at odds with it. Gale frowned, thought for a second, then sighed. Oh, what harm could one quick trip outside of the borders do? Giving up the patrol she had been making, Gale left Donostrea and followed the scent as it led down into the Fern Gulley beside her home. Mindful of her condition, she moved about carefully, cautiously, knowing full well the dangers that she faced if she happened to be found by the wrong sort of individual, but her travels did not take her very far into the Gulley. She followed the scent trail only a portion of the way through, and as she spotted the fluffy little figure at its source she stopped and stared in a moment of surprise. A pup? Where had it come from? And, more importantly, who did it belong to? Though she was inexperienced with kids - actually she had no experience at all - Gale was sure allowing them to wander this young all on their own was not something that was typically approved of. And from the teeth-baring look of the kid she thought he would agree. Taking pity, she crept out of hiding, keeping her posture calm and neutral with her head lowered without threat. Suspecting he might turn his defensiveness on her, she did not come closer, only stepped into view so that he could see who he was dealing with. "Easy there, fighter," she remarked calmly, wondering to herself what the proper protocol was to finding a lone pup without anyone supervising it. "Where's your parents?" Was it okay that she asked that? She certainly hoped so. It was too dangerous for a kid his age to be walking around alone, and she definitely did not feel like a qualified babysitter. Gale

Rivaxorus was going to bite her at first, but once he realized it was just another wolf. A unbelievable feeling of relief washed over him. Maybe it was because he had been born into a pack setting? Or was it he just hadn't learned to distrust other wolves yet. He was a bit of an oddball after all. His tail still fluffed out behind him. He couldn't help the uncontrollable shiver, whether relieved or not he wasn't around his family. He had never, ever, not been around his family no matter what. Then a question fell from her mouth, parents yeah! She got it, his tail wagged back and forth. "You know I was looking for my parents!" he would exclaim at first. "Well, I don't know where my parents are but I c-an say that I live in that place with a lot of snow that's what my mom calls it. Our home Sonticus." He would hope that the large female could take him home. Oh pretty please, he would probably do anything to get back there.

Walk | Talk | Think For all the bravado the kid had, he seemed to calm down rather quickly. Maybe it was all for show, but Gale thought he had done a pretty good job of deterring potential dangers from trying to take a piece out of him. As it was, she still kept her distance and eyed him with a certain level of caution, not only for his comfort but her own as well. He was a lone pup and while she thought she could handle herself in a fight if it came down to it - how experienced could a kid possibly be in a fight? - if either of his parents happened to be nearby and they saw her near him she was sure they would have gotten defensive over the well being of their little boy. And in no way was she ready or willing to go up against a protective parent defending their young. That would have been a death sentence. As he appeared to brighten up, losing his distrustful, silent snarl for a look that she could only think to describe as excited, he did not seem quite so bad. Of course, she still had no experience with children and was unsure what "bad" technically looked like, but this one seemed nice enough. He was a kid, she reminded herself, and his thoughts certainly would not work like her own, but at least he seemed to be on the same page as her regarding his parents. He, too, wanted to find them, and was even smart enough to offer her a location to search for them in. Though as she heard it her surprise only grew tenfold. "Sonticus?" she repeated, surprise evident within her voice as her looked mirrored it. But that was all the way in the north, in the snow, just like he had said. That was a very long ways away. How did he managed to get here? Though she could not understand it - it was seriously a long trip for a little pup to have taken all on his own - Gale was at least glad to know what it was he spoke of. "I've heard of that place," she added with a firm nod, "Haven't been there, but I hear there's a lot of snow, like you said." It still baffled her how he could have ended up all the way in south, skittering about near the edge of her pack's territory, but that was beside the point now. And because she could not quite help herself, Gale asked with great curiosity, "How did you end up here?" Gale

The pup would flop down onto his haunches, bringing up a back leg to scratch an itch behind an ear. He had to gather his thoughts for a single moment, obviously she had to be a friend if she knew of Sonticus. Mother and Father hadn't said anything about mean and evil wolves looking like her. He had imagined them being more like dark and large. Perhaps even a little like Sin. Another question flew from her mouth though, he gave a confused look for a moment. "I thought you would've known." being a pup he thought everything he knew, every single adult knew. Something like that. "Well, mother and father were taking me and my brother and sisters to Fiori. We have family there Mother said Grandma Epiphron and Uncle Leo with Aunty Amalia. We rested underneath a tree then suddenly poof I'm here in this SCARY forest." he shivered a bit looking to his left and then to his right. Back to gale again he would hop onto his feet. "You'll protect me right? So that I don't die?" dying didn't sound very pretty.

Walk | Talk | Think Gale's brow furrowed as the child offered her a puzzled look, claiming that she should have known the answer to the question she had asked. For the life of her she could not fathom how she might have known the reason, especially given that she had no personal connection or interactions with his pack or his parents. Was it a pup thing? Did they all think like this? Or did he just not understand how these sorts of things worked? While she had no certain way of knowing, she did assume that it was the second, and started to feel like she was right as he went on to talk about another place known as Fiori, as well as relatives that he listed off by name. None of the names rung any bells, though Gale did not expect them to. Diplomatic stuff and pack relations was Voltage and Glacier's business - not hers. As the kid went on to ask that she keep him from dying - the very thought of which caused her to visibly start at the idea - she wondered if maybe she was going to get dragged into it anyway. Voltage would have been better for this, the grey and lavender wolf thought as she sighed, taking a moment to fully wrap her mind around the seriousness of what the pup was asking of her. But really, what else could she say? Mustering up a smile that was only slightly convincing, Gale tried to reassure her new charge. "Yeah. Yeah, I can do that," she answered, adding a nod of her head as if to convince herself of the statement as well as the kid. She began to physically relax, allowing her head to raise to a more comfortable position while her body no longer stood hesitantly back, but there was a noticeable twitch to her tail that spoke of her uncertainty. What did she do now? He could not possibly stay with her in Donostrea. Though she held every confidence that her brothers would have allowed the kid sanctuary there, he had a family back home - or possibly in Fiori? - that were no doubt looking for him and fretting over his absence - or if they had not noticed him missing already would soon be getting there. Gale bit the inside of her lip as she thought, her brow knitting for a moment as she wracked her brain and then let her grey-green eyes alight upon the pup. Maybe trying to figure all this out on her own was not necessary. "So, uh," she started to say, only to stop as she realized she had no name to call the child. "Fighter," - yeah, that sounded good - "where do you think your parents are now?" Gale

Where were his parents now, that was a good question. Riv would tilt his head for a moment and shut his eyes tightly trying to remember where they said they were. "Lovers Mongrove." he answered and then looked at the adult. Fighter? No no, that wasn't his name as he wagged his fluffy tail back and forth he laughed at her. "My name's Rivaxorus II you can call me Riv for short!" he explained hopping in circles around Gale. Well this would be a fun adventure. He got to meet someone new didn't he? And she was friendly, not one of those evil wolves who was going to come along and snatch him up. That would be bad, his mother and father would be dearly sad. He was certain some of his siblings would have been angry with him for dying as well. "Oh... what's your name miss?" He stopped to ask, sitting down again. It was only polite right, then he would know her scent and face and name too. He stuck out his little nose to try and take a god wiff of her, she smelt a lot like other wolves as well. Which is what he supposed of packs.

Walk | Talk | Think Pups might not have been Gale's strong point, but she thought she was doing rather well now. This one was pretty agreeable, willing to listen to her and talk with her not run around doing whatever it was pups did instead of following orders and listening to adults. And even though he seemed to be a little confused on how information was passed around, he at least had the good sense to know where his parents were and where it was that he needed to go. Lovers' Mangrove. Gale had not been there, but she assumed it was close. An eastern territory, possibly? She was mostly sure of it and repeated the name softly below her breath as she lifted her gaze up and away to stare off in the direction she assumed the territory to be. East. Right. That could be managed, and a whole heck of a lot easier than returning a pup to Sonticus all the way in the north. He was sharp, she would give him that, and caught the nickname she had used to refer to him instead of whatever his name happened to be. As much as she liked her nicknames, he seemed to prefer his own and gave it to her along with another nickname that was obvious just a shortened piece of his full name. "Riv, huh?" she repeated, trying the name out for herself as she considered it. As far as nicknames went, it was too straightforward for her. She liked ones that were a little more complex, or at least a little more amusing. Gale turned her head, trying to follow the fluffy ball of energy as he bounced around her. "Sure you don't like Fighter at all?" she questioned with a humorous smirk, her grey-green eyes teasing as she looked his way. Whatever he wanted to be called, she would oblige, but that was not going to stop her from calling him Fighter in her mind. It occurred to him after a moment that he should ask her name too, and Gale smiled outright as he seemed to focus entirely on her in anticipation of hearing what her name was. The lavender marked wolf chuckled once before she answered him. "Gale Elementas." She said her name proudly, and held herself just a little straighter at the same time. "But I'm just Gale." Lifting her gaze again, she glanced toward the east, sure that somewhere out there this pup's parents were probably worried sick and desperately searching for their missing baby. As nice as it might have been to escort the kid inside of Donostrea where he could take a little rest and perhaps get a small meal to ensure that he was feeling okay, she figured the faster she got him back home the better. "Lovers' Mangrove shouldn't be too far from here," she started, setting her expression seriously as she looked down at the pup. "How about we try to find your parents? Promise I'll keep you safe," she added with a reassuring smile and a wink. Gale