Dark paws carried him forward till he came to a stop at the edge of the river, his toes sinking into the soft sand that bordered it. This flat, seemingly peaceful plain was a stark contrast from the mountains that he had spent the last couple of weeks in. Even though he had been drawn back to those mountains as soon as he stepped foot back into Boreas, he was now convinced that they were influencing him in ways that he wasn’t sure he liked. His mind had been incredibly loud since his mother’s passing and being back in his old home had only amplified that fact. Perhaps he could revisit it again once he found a better way of controlling them on his own, but for now... For now he would venture out and find somewhere else to settle for the time being.

As if you could ever control this.

His ear flicked as his own doubts vocalized themselves within his own thoughts, but that was the only reaction he allowed himself to have to the taunting, deprecating voice. His head dipped to take a drink of the water that was passing calmly in front of him, lapping up the cool water for several moments before he lifted his dual-colored eyes to scan the world around him.

Don’t listen to them, Casso. You’re stronger than that, I know you are.

A distinctly feminine, familiar voice made him freeze in place and his brow pulled together with confusion. It was most certainly his mother’s voice, but from a memory or from the same place the rest of his voices emerged from he couldn’t distinguish. It certainly sounded like something she would have said to him once upon a time, but it had sounded so clear in his ears that he could have sworn she had been standing just behind him.

Yet another day in hiding from her family and her past. Theta found that being by her lonesome all the time got rather…lonely. She was never great at socializing at even the most basic level and she was aware of that. Her words tended to drive people away rather than bring them closer. However instead of working on this Theta leaned in the opposite direction, she wasn’t good at talking at all so might as well embrace it and do it on purpose. Theta didn’t need other people and other people didn’t need her, but…life alone could get pretty boring after a while.

Once again she had found herself out at the large plain that was part of her territory. She spotted a wolf standing by the river that ran by. He was a ways off, but being curious about his origins she crept closer. The small gusts of wind carried the scents in the air towards her. The male smelled…like her father? It was faint, but his scent carried similar elements to that of her fathers. It almost made her want to go back, to run back to Winterfell and nuzzle into her father’s chest like she had when she was a pup. If she missed any member of her family it was her father, despite all of the choices he had made that had caused her to be so upset.

Nevertheless she had made her choices and was here now, with this stranger who smelled so oddly familiar and yet not at the same time. She figured it was worth the risk to see what their deal was. She got within a reasonable range of him so that talking to him wouldn’t be awkward. ”So…what brings you here?”

A voice broke him out of his own head and he glanced toward the red-eyed young woman that was standing near by. He immediately snapped into a calm, neutral expression as he turned to face her, any trace of the confusion he had caused himself moments ago completely gone from his face. He was bothered that he had been so distracted that he hadn’t noticed her approach, but that was a problem for him to dissect on his own at another time. For now, he was much more intrigued by the visitor that had approached him.

Her vibrant red gaze already brought a few of his family members to mind as it was, but when he noticed the vaguely similar notes in her sent it only helped to deepen his curiosity. For a moment he thought perhaps he had missed her greeting, but then he decided that no, she had only given him a question. ”I’m just passing though,” he replied with his usual deep, but pleasant tone. ”Mostly just looking for a change in scenery.” The scarred male cast another curious glance over the girl who for some reason reminded him of the family that he hadn’t encountered in what felt like ages.

”I’m Casso Praetor.” It wasn’t often that he introduced himself with his full name, but just in the off chance that this was some how a distant relative of his it seemed like the easiest and most subtle way to find out. He knew his father had children with other wolves besides his mother so it certainly wasn’t out of the question that there would be other half-siblings out there that he hadn’t met... although from her age he had to wonder if this wasn’t the child of one of his half-siblings. ”What’s your name?”

The wolf stated that he was passing through and looking for a change in scenery. Passing through was good, passing through meant he didn’t have any intentions of sticking around. Theta wasn’t quite sure what she would do if another wolf decided to take up residence in her area. Having to interact with another being regularly was something she wasn’t exactly eager to do again. The male proceeded to introduce himself…as a Praetor. Casso Praetor to be exact, she hadn’t heard anything of a Casso within their family. She had met a couple of wolves outside of her direct family that she was related to but none of them proved to be particularly interesting, maybe this one would be different.

She narrowed her eyes at the other wolf, her family could be a mixed bag and she wanted to know where in that bag this member lied. Having asked her for her name she didn’t see any reason not to say it. If she hadn’t heard about this wolf she doubted he had heard of her. “Theta…Praetor.”

When he heard the confirmation that his hunch had been correct he gave a soft chuckle and a smirk in response. ”Well, it’s nice to meet you, Theta. It’s been a while since I’ve met more family.” He still couldn’t tell if she was his sister or niece or cousin... but did it matter in the grand scheme of things? As far as he was concerned they shared blood in one way or another and that was enough for him. Family was one of the few things in this world that he actually held in high regard so the fact that he had come across another piece of their scattered puzzle made him feel better about his decision to come this way.

He could tell she didn’t seem overly pleased by his presence, but he supposed that if the roles were reversed he wouldn’t be pleased by someone strolling though his home either... Although he didn’t notice any pack scent as he made his way to the river so it wasn’t like this was a claimed land. ”Do you live out here on your own?” he asked with a slight tilt of his head, a slight curious lilt to his tone. Part of him wondered if she had more family around here or if somehow she had gotten separated from them the same way he had. Or maybe this exile was on her own accord. He wanted to be worried about a young woman her age being on her own, but he had to remind himself that he had run off to fight a bear right after he turned a year old so he certainly wasn’t one to speak.

Again with the wolves asking if she was out here on her own. They really liked to ask that it seemed. Just because she was young didn't mean she couldn't handle herself, she was tired of other wolves making that assumption. She wasn't as wimpy as some wolves, she was surviving. Thriving was another matter but it wasn't one she cared too much to dwell on. Instead of getting up in arms defending her independence and capabilities Theta wanted to know more about this member of her family, he had said that it had been a while since he'd met another member. Theta wondered how that had happened since she knew about a fairly concentrated group of her family, a group that contained many members which she was currently avoiding.

Yes, I live in this area alone. It is by choice. She stressed the last part, she didn't need a random family member taking pity on her for possibly being abandoned or lost or something, her choices were deliberate. "It has also been a while since i've met more family, despite the fact that they live in concentrated numbers further north. "

The way that she emphasized that this isolation had been by choice certainly didn’t slip past him. It was something he could respect and any concern for her well being left his mind. At the very least he wouldn’t question her on it any more. ”Good for you,” he replied with a slight smile and a nod. She had taken her life into her own paws and he couldn’t fault her for that. Wasn’t that what he had done when he agreed to leave with his mother? Although, at the time he probably hadn’t had much of a choice. He had still been too young to live on his own and his father had been unstable at best. Now was his time to figure out where his path was going to lead him.

His ears perked slightly with interest when she told him that their family lived in more concentrated numbers up north. He had no idea if the family members she spoke of were some of his more direct relatives or if they were more distant like she was, but either way it had him curious. ”Is that so?” he mused.

It might be worth looking in to, Casso. You never know.

One ear flicked back toward his mother’s bodiless voice, but he played it off as he gave her an intrigued look with his dual-toned eyes. ”I guess I know where to go if I want to meet more myself, huh? Or reconnect with some perhaps. Where about in the north are they?” He hadn’t decided yet if he was actually going to pursue this trail that Theta had given him, but... it was worth knowing that the trail was there either way. Maybe one of these days he would actually grow tired of wandering alone and trying to figure out his mess on his own.