Never smile at a...

With the rushing of the mighty river right beside him, Stolas couldn't hear much of anything else, no matter how hard he strained his ears. The panic that clutched at his chest tightened, anxious eyes looking all around the forest surrounding him. Widow had seemingly just disappeared. But that was impossible! Wolves didn't just disappear into thin air! The only place she could've gone where her scent would cut off abruptly was... Cold dread gripped at the young wolf's heart. Wide gray eyes turned to look at the rushing river. No... No, there was no way Widow would have gone into the water! She wasn't dumb enough to do that! Widow was one of the smartest wolves he knew, she wouldn't risk her life trying to ford the river at the rapids. But then... where else could she have gone?

Using his deductive reasoning, Stolas approached the edge of the rock outcropping he was standing on. He peered down the ledge to the powerful current below, half afraid he would see her corpse down at the bottom. When he didn't, he breathed a sigh of relief. That was when a soft sniffling caught his attention. Expression perked with alert, Stolas dropped to a crouch and craned his neck down to peer beneath the outcropping, spotting Widow in the dark beneath the rock curled up on herself. Oh, thank the gods, she was alive and all right! "Widow! Gods be good, I thought something horrible had happened to you!" he exclaimed, releasing another heavy sigh. The Ashen teen moved to hop down from the rock to the squishy shore, slipping his way under the rock to approach Widow, though still maintaining some distance after the way she'd snapped at him before. "Widow, I'm... I'm sorry if I said or did something that upset you. I didn't mean to hurt you, I just... didn't know why you were so mad at me."

"Stolas"