Traveling around Boreas for resources wasn't too hard or worrisome for him. He took day trips here and found a place to lay his head at night which wasn't much different than when he and Azzurra were traveling alone. But he had always had Azzurra by his side, and being alone at night did really affect him.

Moving back south he was preparing for the trip back home with a few meals to fill the stores. Just as he was pulling the cart of meats, a small pack of hungry hyenas yodeled as they approached him as if they were hollering their strength in numbers. They were smaller than him, but three hyenas against only him could have been outmatched. He backed himself off the cart as the hyenas started snapping at his chest and legs.

"Balthier"

This place seemed almost completely devoid of life, even more so than the deserts he had first arrived in. This wasn't simply a lack of water, bit a lack of anything required for vegetation to grow, and hence there were no prey animals around. The hills were large but jagged looking, as if they'd crumble and crush him at any second. But he didn't want to take the time to go around, it would add so much more time to his travel, and so he decided to brave this desolate place, walking at a very brisk pace. The cackling of hyenas grabbed his attention, and he wouldn't have been so worried if it hadn't sounded like there was a whole group of them. One or two he could take on his own without too much trouble, but any more and he was at risk of being overwhelmed. However, it didn't seem as if they were after him, but the sound of snapping jaws spurred forth the desire to go check it out. What if someone was in trouble? Astrophel moved forward, now at a hasty run, and after cresting one of the hills he saw a small group of hyenas snapping at a wolf who looked as if they had been pulling a cart behind them. He immediately let out a loud bark to grab the attention of the scavengers, quickly making his way down the hill to try and intercept one of the hyenas so they wouldn't all completely surround the wolf. He'd simply grab the closest one by a leg and roughly shake, hoping it would decide fighting two wolves was too much trouble and scamper off.

He lifted his paws to keep them away from the snapping hyena's. He found his way actually on top of the cart while being backed up against it. But someone had jumped in to save the day. Balthier wasn't even sure how to go about this situation so he was glad for the extra body.

The wolf who jumped in had grabbed one of the hyena's by the leg and started dragging it away which had the attention of the other two hyenas. One of them jumped forward to attack the man that was pulling it's buddy away, and Balthier quickly leapt from the cart and jump and tumbled over the hyena that went after the man. It was still two against three, and if they could take down one maybe the other two would flee.

"Balthier"

Being far larger than a hyena, in height and weight, Astrophel had little trouble in grabbing the hyena and pulling it away from where it and its friends were trying to mob the other wolf. He shook it as he backed up multiple steps, and it quickly spun its head around to snap its own jaws at him in response. But at least he had its attention off the other wolf, and apparently the attention of the other two as well. He saw from the corner of his eye that one made a mad dash to grab at him, but almost from out of nowhere the other wolf leaped down on top of it. Astrophel released his hold on the hyenas leg, taking only a moment to get his paws under him before moving to grab at the same creature's scruff, using his front legs to grab around its neck and shoulder and shove it beneath him. In the meanwhile he kept an eye on the third hyena as it seemed to struggle between which wolf it should go for, finally deciding to go for him, presumably because the hyena he was practically laying on top of was making the most god-awful sound he'd ever heard. He felt it snap at his side with its sharp teeth, but didn't want to let go of the hyena he was on top of just yet, wanting it to fully come to the conclusion that he was not a wolf to mess with.

Balthier struggled with his own hyena because he really didn't want to kill it. His father had taught him the importance of life and how to thank prey for their meals so he never wanted to willingly go out of his way to kill another living creature.

But as he was wrestling with the smaller canine, he saw from the corner of his eye that the man who was helping him was getting jumped by the third hyena. Balthier sighed before quickly going for the kill of his current hyena, taking it out by it's throat before leaving it's lifeless body behind to leap forward and grab the third hyena that was attacking Astrophel. By doing this, the hyena realized that one of it's pack mates had fallen, looking over at the body and then squirming to get away from him. Balthier easily let it go and run off into the distance. If Astrophel killed the hyena he had in his grasp, that was on him.

"Balthier"

The hyena beneath him squirmed, squealing loudly as it tried to escape his clutches instead of fighting back, and he released his hold to let it flee with its tail between its legs. He wouldn't kill a creature unnecessarily, even if it had been the one to instigate an attack. Astrophel then turned to face the other wolf, spotting the last hyena also running off into the distance, leaving just the two of them and the body of one of the scavengers. "You seem to have some bad luck with creatures trying to eat the meat on your cart," he said with a tight-lipped smile. This was the second time it had happened, and was one hell of a coincidence. Perhaps it would be better if he simply escorted Balthier back home, so it didn't happen again. "Glad I was here to assist, three against one is pretty bad odds."