Where do we go from here?

It had been some time simce he and Lyra had gotten separated from her pack. The world after the volcano had been vicious and hard, and he had felt obligated to protect the youthful, silly girl from the harshness of that world, even though she had been keeping him as a slave since she had purchased him from the viking wolf. He'd grown fond of her over time, though, if constantly exasperated with her. So when he had become seperated from her as well through unfortunate accident, he had set out to find her once more. It made sense to him that she would try to find her way back to her family and her home if she could, so he had set off to make sure she reached it safely.

The fact that he hadn't found a trace of her here either worried the guardian dog more than he would admit. If not here, then where? It would do no good to return again to where they'd been separated; even if there had been some sign there to tell him where she had gone then, it would have long ago been wiped away. So here he would remain, somewhat at loose ends but finally free again.