Theory had been training so hard that she'd barely given her muscles time to rest. Everything in her body felt painfully tight, as if she was a dried hide stretched too thinly. It was only a matter of time before she tore or cracked. The young alpha had made her way slowly to the nearby hot springs that she'd heard talk of. This area laid in the shadow of Mount Volkan. How had it fared the past few seasons? She came upon the clearing and was surprised by its idyllic stillness. There was a bit of a pungent scent in the air, a lingering pinch of sulfur, but hardly any animal noises at all. Nothing that she could hear, anyway, and the smell made it difficult to pick out particulars from the forest's usual tapestry of scents. Ignoring the rest of the world, Theory stepped into one of the shallower warm pools and groaned with relief. Oh, this was nice.

Riva had joined Ashen, but the actions of the Warlord had scared her off. The way he had treated that little Songa, unacceptable! And before she knew it, she found herself a lonar again. She wondered along, healing and minding her own business for the most part. She never turned her help away from strangers, but she hadn’t stumbled upon any in so long.

With the scent of the hot springs strong in the air, she hadn’t realised she had stumbled into a wolf at long last, until she brushed past the shallow end of one of the pools. She blinked in surprise at the small dark wolf that looked very relieved to be in the hot water, and found herself smiling. “Oh, hello there “ she said, voice friendly and welcoming. “I didn’t mean to intrude”

Theory was resting her chin on the edge of the pool, fully submerged by laying down in the water. It felt so good that she didn't want to move. In fact, she was enjoying it so thoroughly that her mind was a million miles away. The voice of a stranger finally pulled her back to reality. Theory blinked and moved her head to look at Riva, water sloshing around her. "Oh, you're not intruding," she said slowly, unwilling to stand up and greet her when the water felt so good. "I've heard wonderful things about this place and just came to stop by and explore... and rest my muscles," Theo confessed. The small stranger looked so much like her family that it almost made her double take, but Theory thought she had a good handle on all of her relatives at this point. Well, it didn't hurt to ask. "You don't happen to be related to any Destructions, do you? You look a fair bit like my father." And a bit like Shaye. It was like a knife to the heart to see a dainty face with similarly placed white markings.