Aerie had been struggling since the long night. Danta's loss had hit them all hard, especially those of his parents and uncle. What exactly had transcribed that night between the alpha and his brother, Deus wasn't sure, but after that night Eligos had seemingly vanished. Deus awaited the word of his alpha, but with enough time his scent had even begun to fade. He knew it was none of his business, and he could not approach his mother and father and demand to know why Eligos had left. Rather than sit and stew and wonder, Deus had taken himself and his young Malinois companions south into Auster. Asmodeus had been told when he was young about the origins of Aerie, back when it was called the Risen Empire and his grandfather had been Alpha. A new pack had taken up residence within the stone walls where the Empire had once lived, but they had not laid claim to the god's garden that had made up Risen's second territory. It was there that Deus' paws led him, looking for some sort of special feeling or sign. At his side the two Malinois puppies gave a series of hungry whimpers, derailing Deus' train of thought and bringing from him a soft sigh. Eligos had given him his companions the day he'd promoted him, their very presence reminded the Abraxas of the confusing and mysterious departure of his alpha. "Okay, let's find you some food." Deus agreed, ruffling the larger puppy's head affectionately with his paw. These gardens were a different sort of hunting ground than he knew in Aerie's canyons, but if he ever wanted to become a skilled hunter Deus knew he needed to learn in unfamiliar land as well. The puppies led him to the track of a snake, sniffing and yipping at the oddly shaped trail and bringing Deus' muzzle to wrinkle in uncertainty. "I don't know - it could be venomous and I'm not sure how to tell." He admitted to the puppies, who began to sulk in reply. In fact, he didn't even know how to track such an odd critter, venomous or not. The trail was not like a mammal's, there were no paw prints for him to infer direction or speed from. Word Count: 376 / 1500 "Speech"

Ezra trotted away from the castle and the grounds around it with a mission in mind that was outside of his normal patrolling or hunting. He couldn't tell one plant from another to save his life, but if there was one thing he knew Syanna loved was herbs and plants of all kinds. It was one of the few things he had seen her emerald eyes light up over in the time they had spent together. He desperately wished he had gotten up the courage to tell Syanna how he really felt before her heat started cause now that she was in heat anything sweet he did she seemed to think was only because of that and him wanting her. Now he was searching for a good way to do something special and plan a nice thing for her to try and get across how he felt and the first thing he thought of was finding some interesting plant or pretty flowers to incorporate into this fancy date he was attempting to plan. If his dad was still around he might have asked him, but probably not. He knew his dad had to be somewhere near by since his travels didn't take him far so maybe he could have sent Aquila out looking for him, but at the same time talking about relationships and all that wasn't something he did very well—especially not with his dad.

He knew all kinds of plants grow out in God's Garden, so he walked out there with Canis, the Malinois helping to be an additional set of eyes for this little mission of his. While his pale blue gaze scoured the gardens looking at plants he couldn't even hope to identify, Canis seemed to notice something and Ezra gave his companion a curious glance when he saw how the dog's ears were perked and his attention was focused at something. Following his gaze, Ezra spotted the other man that was marked with whites and browns up ahead. He didn't notice what Canis was so interested in at first—after all this was open territory and wolves came in and out here all the time—but then he heard the whines of pups and spotted the little dogs beside the other wolf that looked like younger versions of Canis besides maybe having a little bit of a different fur colors. He chuckled softly and nodded his head toward them as he looked back to his companion. "Do you want to go say hi?" Canis responded with a nod of his own and Ezra gave a shrug. "Sure, go ahead" The Malinios trotted ahead of him with a greeting bark and Ezra followed behind, giving the other male a nod of greeting when he got close enough. "Hey, how are you," he said while Canis went to greet the two pups, his tail wagging behind him. With any luck maybe this guy knew something about plants and could point him in the right direction.

WC: 496
Total: 872/1500

"Ezra Adravendi"

Deus didn't know what he was expecting to find in the God's Garden, but the last thing he expected to see was a stranger. He paused, standing up from where he'd been inspecting the trail and eyeing the approaching pair wordlessly. The Abraxas youth had not interacted with strangers since he was still a pup but he knew how important it was to Aerie that their members came across as more approachable than the Abraxas image of old had. The stranger's Malinois companion trotted up toward Deus' puppies, one of which hid behind his foreleg while the other sunk into an over-excited play bow. The man's greeting was friendlier than he'd expected from a stranger and Deus responded in kind. "I'm well, thank you. We've been traveling in search of new game to hunt but I'm afraid coming to Auster may have been a bad decision." He gave a soft chuckle, his gaze flickering calmly between both the antlered man and his excitable companion. "Do you know how to track snakes, by chance?" With a wave of his stark white paw, he gestured toward the track. Word Count: 1061/1500 "speech"

When the white and brown stranger mentioned how they had been traveling in search of what had turned out to be elusive new game, Ezra chuckled and replied, "The prey in Auster are definitely different than what you'll find in Boreas, but there's lots around here if you know where to look!" When his attention was turned down toward a track in the dirt with the question of how to track snakes, he gave a small nod. "Sure... Usually so I know what areas to avoid," he told him with a light laugh. He knew snakes were pretty good options when it came to using their skin for armors and whatnot though so he had hunted a few here and there. He didn't know what this guy and his pups would want with a snake, but he didn't really feel like prying to find out either.

"Following any trail you can find is usually the easiest way—especially if the ground is kind of muddy or something like that where the track is going to make more of an imprint. Otherwise I usually focus on finding places where they like to hide or sunbathe near wherever I find the track. Rocks, little burrows, tall grasses, those sorts of things. And just be very, very quiet when you do it so you can listen for that soft sliding on the ground sort of sound they make some times... or the hissing to warn you before they try to bite." He chuckled again and looked at the trail they had found again with a soft hum. "This seems pretty fresh still. If we look now we could probably find whoever left this trail if that's what you're wanting to do."

WC: 287
Total: 1348 / 1500

"Ezra Adravendi"

The man's chuckle brought an easy smile to Deus' face. It felt good to be away from Aerie territory, immersed in this land of strangers. The conversation seemed to have less pressure behind it when it was not with another devout Abraxas follower, and Deus did not feel threatened as he expected he might standing here, unprotected before a stranger. "Different indeed." He agreed, a touch of humor in his tone. "Do you think this one is dangerous?" He followed the man's eye to the track, observing. Snakes came in many species, some safe to hunt and others... less so. Deus listened carefully to the explanation, leaning in to closer inspect the trail. "I can see the imprints of the scales in the dirt, but I've no way to know what direction he went." His white paw lifted, his toes wiggling deliberately. "Not like there are toes to figure out what direction he went and which direction he came from." It was good advice to think instead of where they may like to hide, or to listen for a hint. Deus gave a thoughtful hum at this new information, jerking his head to the side to send out the puppy between his paws off through the grass. "Let's take a look for it, the puppies are hungry and I've been tasked to train them. A hunt like this one will teach them more than their thirtieth deer." "Speech"