someone's hogging all the mountains around here

Aris had not been moping ever since the raid had gone so badly for her. After all, it wasn't like she had set out to prove herself to her father, finally, and then been beaten by a literal child with a stick or anything. And she definitely hadn't lost right out of the gate with the tournament at Briar's wedding, when she'd sworn to herself that she was going to finally make something of herself. Nope. It was ok, though, she had a plan. So, obviously she wasn't going to be able to distinguish herself as a fighter. Even if she miraculously started winning every fight she wasn't going to stand out from her siblings, all of whom had been good fighters for ages.

So healing, right? But she straight up could not stomach the teachers her dad had unearthed for her - Ashen with their princesses so stiff and formal and weird and had always creeped her the fuck out, and that Ashen healer was more of the same. And Halo? The woman with the obsession with gardening? The meek and perfect little healer? No thanks. She didn't know if her dad just didn't know her at all, or if that was just what he wanted her to be, and she was genuinely afraid to know which one it was because either way it would be hurtful and she didn't want to acknowledge that hurt at all. She desperately wanted her father to see her as worth something, as more than just a child that he'd birthed and never saw as anything other than that child, but she couldn't be that kind of wolf, that prissy, pretty pretty princess elegant useless bitch like the Ashen princesses, even to make her parents happy. It wasn't who she was.

Well, that was where the plan came in. No more hoping her pack would come through for her and help her. She wasn't going to get help in Armada, that was too clear. She'd find herself a healer, someone who was like her, and she'd learn, then she would go to her parents as a fully trained healer in her own style, and be recognized for who she was. Not a princess, not just another in the crowd of Fatalis offspring, but Aris.

That was why she was down here, so far from pack lands, when she'd spotted a stranger acting suspiciously. Weirdly really. Determinedly marching up a creepy, twisty mountain path. Who would want to do that? There wasn't anything up there. It wasn't even pack lands. Was there like... some secret sage of the mountain there, to answer questions and whatever? She amused herself a moment thinking about it, amusement that turned into speculation. The guy was going somewhere, not just wandering. There must be something up there, after all. Buoyed by curiosity, she slunk up the path after him, stealthily stalking him on his march up the mountain.

Curiosity was replaced by pure, spiteful stubbornness as the sole motivator for continuing to follow after what seemed like hours climbing the dumb mountain and avoiding obstacles and stuff, all while being sneaky so he wouldn't know he was followed. There had better be treasure or something at the top to be worth this, but she could not, ever, admit defeat and turn around. Finally, she reached the end of the path where it became a plateau, and flopped down for a breather and to let him get far enough ahead of her on the open plain that he wouldn't notice her following toward the temple looking thing. In fact, just let him go in it first, that would work.

She'd finally caught her breath and stretched her way back to her feet, ready to follow his vanishing form, when a feline roar echoed from the temple, and the stranger backpedaled from the doorway he'd disappeared into. Oh well, guess he was dead. What a tragedy, time to go back down the mountain.

Yeah right, like Aris ever backed down from a fight.

Without any thought at all - because when did Ari ever stop to think about danger before diving in - Ari charged across the field, skidding to a stop beside the much larger male wolf and issuing a threatening, challenging snarl of her own to the tiger, her own feline fangs bared and her claws unsheathed. If the tiger didn't back down at the threat, which quite frankly it should, then it would be facing her wrath. And obviously, that would not end well for the kitty.