Caught sight of Noir, rushing past with his head down, distracted and unwatchful. He didn’t see her perched in the earth, lost in her thoughts. She raised her head to watch him, and caught a hint of the stench that followed him like a bad cloud. Hmm.

She gave him a few moments, before getting to her feet, forming a plan in her thoughts. He was a hard one to deal with, he lingered on the borders of being a bully, but she felt she saw good in him, determination. She wasn’t going to let him down, not like she had his mother. She made her way in the direction she had seen him, until she could catch up with him. Her features were schooled into something professional, no hint of pity or the like anywhere in sight. Not even the slightest wrinkle at the clear, terrible scent that was already clogging her nostrils. As a healer for the hermit, she had known the scent of rot in his patients, and was able to push past bad smells without a reaction.

“Noir, finally, I’ve been looking for a partner to help me” she said, moving into her words before he had a chance to protest. She also gave him a moment to school his own features before he might turn to her. She he placed herself behind him for this reason. “There's been the scent of a bear near the border. With large predators, the warrior rule is a buddy system, and this would give you a chance to scout with me and learn how we deal with such occurrences. What say you, ready for a short trip outside the border?”

Noir had little intentions of stopping as he ran from his two sisters. He didn’t care who or what he ran past he just wanted to be alone. He didn’t want attention right now, it would only make obvious the fact that he had been beat. He hated the thought, and as his heart swelled with emotion he blamed Poem and the clouds threatened to turn to hate. “Noir, finally, I’ve been looking for a partner to help me” He heard unexpectedly as his dark paws began to slow. The tears had already been consumed by his fiery rage, but he rubbed the damp fur with his arms to rid himself of most of it.

Shaye was the last wolf he wanted to be around right now. She never took his side, and obviously favored Poem over himself. He did it have to be his mom that left. Tears threatened to burst through again as he thought about the pain of being abandoned by his own mother. Noir had so far been successful at redirecting the emotion into dislike for his sisters.

While he didn’t want to be spending time with Shaye, she offered him adventure he would be unable to turn down. The young boy peered at her curiously, trying to decide if she really wanted him along or if this would turn into some kind of trick like her daughters had played. ”Alright, I’ll go.” He told her reluctantly, as though he was the one doing her a great favor.

She hid her smile at his lackluster response, and nodded her head gravely. She had no idea what he had gotten into, why he stunk and his eyes were red like he had been crying. He wasn’t the sort of wolf to hug it out, or tell her all about it. For one, she knew she wasn’t his mother, even if he was Rhyme’s son. She was determined not to led him fade into the background of her life, she wanted to give him honest opportunities in life, and be an Alpha he could respect.

”Alright, well head out of the pack this way.” she instructed him, and started walking in the direction she indicated. They moved South through the pack lands, stepping over the rapids at one point, before following the stream outside of pack lands, and into the direction of sunset falls. “First off, scent. Bears are said to have the greatest sense of smell in the world, so here's what we are going to do” she said, stopping beneath a fruit tree. She used the best tact she could without actually mentioning his smell. “Lemons can neutralise a lot of scent, so we are going to wash in the fruit, then rub dirt and pine over our legs. This is the boring part, after that we scout the bear, okay?” she explained to him, before breaking apart the fallen lemons, picking one up in her maw and rubbing it over part of her body. She would take the lead in everything she would direct him to do, showing him the best way to do so.

The bear wasn’t totally a lie, she had caught scent of the bear, but so far he hadn’t wondered too close to Abaven’s borders. Scouting him was useful, so long as they were careful, so it wasn’t a total waste. Plus, scouting out a dangerous animal sounded like something right up his alley, and might help him get his mind off whatever had happened, and help the two wolves bond.

”Alright, well head out of the pack this way.”

Shaye turned and expected him to follow her. While Noir couldn’t help but enjoy the attention, it couldn’t have come at a worse time. He had just been humiliated by both of Shaye’s daughters. At this point Noir didn’t even want to call them his sisters. They weren’t really, they hadn’t grown up in the den with them at all. They didn’t even really look like the rest of them either, so how could they be sure that the two of them were really his sisters anyway?

He followed her easily, though the trip would have been slower only a couple of weeks before. Noir and his siblings were growing like weeds. His legs were miles long at this point, with giant feet stuck awkwardly to the end. Gangly was a nice word to use to describe Noir at that point. Soong though, Shaye came to pause and tell him the best way to track bear. Though he thought she was being boring and they needed to go find a bear already he did listen.

While he didn’t put two and two together that she was trying to mask the scent of the stinkbugs he allowed her to show him what to do. Noir followed her instructions, and soon his fur was sour sweet with lemon juice. Now at least the girls couldn’t tease him about the stench.

”So, do we get to the good part now?” He asked just a little too impatient for how much he appreciated not smelling terrible anymore.