After visiting the north, Onyx had needed some time to herself. More than she was currently taking? Probably not, but her head was in a different space. She would never be able to go back to the pines. Or the chances were pretty slim at least. She still had many years in front of her, but she assumed most packs weren't like that she was born into. They were strong and stabilized, meant to last a while. The Armada had at least.

As the day turn into night, Onyx made her way out to The Steppe. She climbed up on one of the large fallen stone pillars as she watched the skies change from light to dark, and all the colors the sun showed. Not so much her forte to sit and admire beauties of nature. But here she was as the thoughts and emotions clawed at the back of her mind. Oki being another as once she was inside Hemlock she was doing her best to avoid him. She could only assume, so wrongly, that he had a mate or a wife or a girlfriend after meeting his daughter as the Alpha. Reason for her to feel so much like a fool and out of place as she always had anytime she wanted to change her life. And now she couldn't go back to her safe place. She wondered if she'd keep herself stuck here.

"Speech"

Oki figured that he'd see more of Onyx around since she was now one of his pack mates. He smelled her, of course, sometimes saw a flash of blue but she always managed to keep out of his reach. Naturally he had no idea why, far as he knew he hadn't done anything wrong or said anything super offensive, his manner was jovial and laid back enough that folks very rarely took offence to whatever he did. It was pretty clear in most cases he was just fuckin' around, even during raids he never aimed to hurt no one, or resorted to underhanded tactics. He was just a nice guy, yanno?

Still, Onyx couldn't hide from him forever. He tracked her down like a prize pig, following her scent trail as it meandered out east to the Stone Steppes. And there she was chilling atop the ancient stone, didn't really blend in amongst all the greys and greens.

Moving at an easy trot, Kuroki only stopped when he was right in front of her, looking up as she sat on high, like some kinda ice queen.

"Sup?" He asked, casual as could be. No pressure.

Oki was pretty quiet how he came upon her, but he wasn't trying to hide as he trotted just in front of her view as she was perched on the stones. A part of her internalized in panic, but she just stayed there with her eyes on him moving below. How she could be so weak she'd never understand. But everyone had their little quirks, their little weaknesses. And being a fool for Oki, that was hers.

Once he was below addressing her, "Hey." Somehow easy enough to respond back to him despite how she was feeling and avoiding him the last few days. She took a few seconds of tension before shrugging her shoulders and looking up at the darkened sky, "The Pines are gone. A pack north took them." Oki may have known her well enough to know how much it was eating away at her, but she was not an emotional girl. Quite the opposite really. Well, emotional sad. She could be pretty irrational otherwise. "I can't go back." She added, though maybe he wasn't expecting her to want to go back if she were here. She couldn't go back to visit, and she couldn't return if everything went south here. She was quick to assume the worst for herself.

"Speech"