Walk | Talk | Think
With her anxiety still fired up, Anais continued to look at her niece with unabashed puzzlement. Her search for her brother, the girl's father, had proved fruitless, with no sign of the feathered wolf anywhere. She could not wrap her mind around the idea of the child making the trip from her den all the way here, despite the two locations being side by side to one another. It was dangerous! She could imagine Marina kept a vigilant eye on her children, but recalling how challenging it had been just to keep Espirit out of trouble Anais knew the job of watching three - four - was even more of a handful.
Nixie's initial response brought about even more confusion as her aunt tried to understand what she meant. Salt? Anais did not carry around rocks of salt. If the rumors were true, she suspected Voltage might have had one, or maybe even a few if they had a peculiar shape. But rocks were not something that she made a point of collecting, and the only ones that she had managed to keep were the ones Glacier had picked out for the prettiness and had left for her to find in her den. "Salt?" she repeated, feeling at a loss when suddenly it hit her. Salt! The ocean! The scent of the air here must have altered her smell, marking her with the scent of the beach. Recognition dawned with a knowing, amused smile, followed by a soft chuckle. At least she knew how to explain it now.
Her sneaking suspicion, however, was also confirmed right after. Nixie had made the trek alone, navigating her way out of the Fern Gulley and onto the Obsidian Beach not only without her parents detecting but also without anyone on the border of the pack lands noticing either. It was actually quite a feat, if Anais was being entirely honest, but encouraging her nieces maneuverability did not seem the best way to handle the situation given the circumstances. She sighed, and reclined back onto her haunches to sit across from the excited girl. "That's...really impressive, Nixie," she admitted hesitantly, "but it's best to let your parents know where you're going if you leave them like this. They could be worried if they don't know." How did she explain the dangers without crushing her sense of freedom with fear?
Trying not to sound too incredibly over-protective, though she was starting to assume she was, Anais managed a weak smile and leaned forward to nuzzle her niece's cheek. "I really am happy to see you though." And in one piece.
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