Mouth watering, her mostly sightless eyes flicked around, nose flaring as it tried to find the source of the seemingly delectable rotting scent. It was the scent of a dead deer, killed several days prior and mostly picked clean. She could, however, still smell a hint of meat on the carcass - if only she could locate it. It seemed to be everywhere, but within a few seconds she could pick out an underlying trail - courtesy of the work she had been doing with her other senses since her family disappeared. No longer did she think of them - of her mother, her father, her brothers, her aunts and uncles. No longer did they cross her mind because she had only one, unthinking and undeniable purpose - food, survival. While once she pined for them, and still did in her dreams, waking thoughts were devoted to sleeping, drinking, and eating. Eyes narrowing in focus, she stared at the ground in front of her. It was some sort of color, not that she knew what it was, but it was easy enough to distinguish it from the color of leaves in spring. And there was another color, a darker one, that was the bark of twigs and branches - this was the color she looked for while walking, so she could avoid the things that scratch her and make her trip. It took such concentration, to walk, follow a scent trail, and focus so heavily on the ground in front of her that it wearied the pup quickly, but eventually she managed to stumble on the carcass. The carcass was a similar color to the leaves - some of the leaves even held the color of the deer insides! The outside was like the bark of trees, and she fell upon it hungrily, grasping a bloody bone in her jaws and gnawing. Her greedy tongue quickly found the bits of meat still clinging to the bone, and she gobbled them quickly, completely oblivious to the outside world. ""

Kassander was taking advantage of a break in the wet weather that fall had given the south to venture down and collect herbs. He'd taken Rommel and Remy both with him since the weather was still nice and the lemur hadn't gotten much time out of the den the last season and he wanted to see if there were any fruit that had survived the ravages of the prey animals. It felt strange to have free access to a land that had belonged to a pack for so long, but the lemur certainly had no qualms about him entering. Rommel had been wandering in and out as they traveled, partly to scout around for the necessary herbs and partly to watch for danger, but Remy had kept him company, clinging tightly to the fur right beneath his ear. It was during one of Rommel's absences that Kassander suddenly froze, hearing the crackling sounds of teeth against bones. He peered through a break in grape vines grown wild, cautious in case it was some remnant of Imperium. His caution turned immediately to concern and alarm though, at the sight of the emaciated youngster chewing singlemindedly on an old, mostly demolished kill. She couldn't be more than a pup - he'd be surprised if she had seen more than two seasons. What was a child so young doing so very alone? "Excuse me?" he spoke up tentatively to catch the child's attention, with Remy peering wide-eyed at her from under his ear. "Are you all right, sweetie?"

The voice of the wolf startled her, and she froze mid-chomp, teeth grinding to a halt from the incessant gnawing that she had been doing. That voice - where had it come from? Oh! There was the source - a little behind her and to the side. She crouched protectively over the meat that she had found, turning slightly towards the direction she thought the sound was coming from. Her eyes focused somewhere above the stranger's head; she couldn't seem to focus that well on figures a distance away. She growled weakly at the man. The stranger spoke again, and her growl died away slowly, confusion furrowing her brow. "Am... I... alright?" She blinked rapidly, glancing between the kill and the wolf. Was this wolf real? It seemed so long since a wolf had truly spoken to her. She swallowed hard - she would trust this thing, she would hope it was real. It still wasn't coming near her food, but she would sort-of believe in it. "I-I'm hungry." Her voice was high-pitched and rough; she hadn't spoken in a while now, and the words felt thick in her mouth. ""

The little pup immediately reacted to his presence, but he couldn't help but notice that it wasn't quite right, her eyes focusing not on him but simply near him, and Kassander nearly gasped aloud in realization and anger. Was that why a pup this young was so alone? Had she been abandoned because of her affliction? She was clearly blind, at least as blind as young Alfrun if not more completely. A protective sort of rage bubbled in his chest. How could anyone do this to another wolf, let alone a helpless young pup?

"Would you like me to find you something better to eat?" he asked her, keeping his voice to that same gentle, soothing rhythm that he'd learned worked best as a healer despite the anger that continued to prickle at him. "I could leave my friend here to keep you company and help keep you warm if you want. He's a fox, so he's very fluffy and warm, he makes a good blanket. He's very nice." And if anyone tried to chase her off while Kassander was hunting, Rommel would certainly be up to protecting her. "Would you like that, sweetheart?"

The scrap's head tilted as the stranger spoke again, and on a spur of whim, she crept closer, stepping carefully and as surely as she could. Was he real? He seemed real. Drawing short a couple of feet away, she leaned forward a bit, sniffing at the much taller wolf. She could smell him, along with the other two things with him. He was definitely real, and she drew back a bit. Her eyes widened at his offer, and the words she didn't understand. She knew a few words, obviously - like the words, warm and fluffy and company and basically every word except for fox. She didn't know what a fox was, but if it was all those things that she craved and longed for, she wanted it. She nodded, creeping closer once more to Kassander, trying to find the thing he was talking about. She squinted hard, the blurry shape of legs coming into focus. Where was the fox? She wanted to know what it smelled like, looked like, and she didn't want to be alone anymore, but this man was now here and he was going to get food, and he was going to leave his friend here and it was all so overwhelming for the young girl, who had known nothing of any sort of kindness after her abandonment. ""