Since the challenge, since he had learned of his mother's death, Tornach had buried himself in his work. It was his only solace from the emptiness that threatened to overwhelm him at times. But he'd made no effort to find others who shared his life's dream, no effort to leave the range except to herd more animals in to increase the genetic variance. The herds had increased, and with the increase had come more work to sink himself into, until finally Aiden had enough of it. The falcon had told him quite bluntly that he was hiding, like a coward, and that he was not the only one in his family who had lost someone that day. His father, his brothers, his sisters. They'd all lost someone. It wasn't just him. They had each other, he'd argued half-heartedly, though he'd known that Zuriel had been wandering alone last he'd known, and Faite had her own pack now. And Regulus - who comforted the king who thought he needed to always be strong for his people? But he'd put it off anyway, because there was always an excuse. Fences needed to be added to, herds moved from one to another to keep them from eating down all the grass. And then it was birthing season, and he'd needed to protect his herd's next generation from opportunistic predators who did not recognize a loner's ownership over a prey animal. And then it just got... easier not to go. It was a long way away, and it was just easier to stay here, guarding his herds and fussing over them. He'd added pens of captured partridge and quail to his experiment, and a colony of hares (rabbits, thus far, had foiled his primitive attempts to keep them penned). So he'd found the seasons fled past without him having returned to his family, or visited his mother's grave, or even extended his intended offer to his father to stay with him here. So it was that he found himself halfway through the summer still on the range. He was laying out sphinx-like outside the currently-used elk pen, watching the somewhat distant herd grazing. Aiden was off hunting for herself - duck hunting, and having watched the way the falcon hunted Tornach had the idea that she could maybe knock a few ducks from the sky for him to capture sometime early this autumn when there was still a multitude of newly independent young ducks who hadn't migrated yet. It was an idea, anyway. Yawning in the thickly humid air, he let his gaze and his mind wander. ""

She had to get away from Celestial... even if for just a little while. The truth of everything had come crashing down on her after she saw that her father had passed away and for someone that did not process pain like that well anyway it had been a lot for her to comprehend. She had thought of her littermate again and again recently, wishing that he was there, but that morning she remembered what he had told her about where he was staying. It felt like the perfect excuse to get away for a day or two without having to really explain herself. All she wanted was to get her little brother's mournful howl out of her head. She made her way toward where she thought Tornach had said he was living and eventually she caught his scent on the breeze. She breathed a sigh of relief and followed the scent further into the range until she spotted a herd of elk, making her stop and watch them curiously. They were all on the other side of this fence that she had to assume her brother had built. Her brows lifted with surprise and her head tilted slightly to the side with curiosity. Was this what he had been up to? She had never seen animals contained like this and while she didn't fully understand the reasoning behind it she was still impressed all the same. "Talk" "You" Think

But you'll never find the answers, until you set your old heart free

Lydia's journey led her farther south as she completed the list of herbs she was look to gather for the upcoming winter. Next on the list was Agrimony. While she probably didn't need to worry as much about communicable diseases living as a loner she felt it was best to be prepared and there was always a chance she could join a pack or a wandering band of nomads. At least with this time of year she'd be able to notice the slender spikes of yellow flowers. All she had to do was pick a good territory.

Slinking carefully through the range Lydia kept herself alert until she noticed the familiar flowers of agrimony. A perfect! She gingerly meandered toward the patch and was about to start picking some when she spied two wolves not far off and she quickly ducked down, uncertain if they'd noticed her presence. However, the pair wasn't the strangest thing about the site. There were elk in some sort of…. thicket, well, not thicket. They were bordered in. She didn't know what to call the thing that held them in place, only that it was made from trees and definitely something… human.

Her eyes flitted back to the Agrimony then back to the pair and curiosity over took her. She cleared her throat in case they hadn't heard her. "Uhh.. Hello, there. What, um… what is this?" Her eyes flitted anxiously back to the Agrimony as if she were afraid some great beast was going to come along and eat them but she wanted to ask about the elk while the duo was still there.

Tornach shifted cautiously at the sound of pawsteps, coming to his feet and turning in one smooth motion. It wouldn't be the first time some trouble maker had tried to take advantage of the pen to take one of the calves. But who he saw wasn't a trouble maker, though not at all expected either. "Baine?" Surprise colored his voice at seeing his delicate white litter mate so far from home. "Come in the shade, you shouldn't be out in the sun so long. You're going to get sunburn." He knew he was fussing over her needlessly, but to be honest the sight of her brought an icy sliver of dread into his heart. Every time he had seen family lately it had been because of some tragedy or another, or he had learned of yet another tragedy,so part of him expected just that. He fussed over her to delay what his bruised heart told him was inevitable.

A stranger's voice drew his attention, though, and he turned again to see the little female nervously guarding a patch of herbs and staring at the fenced elk. "Hello," he returned softly, not wishing to frightened the obviously nervous girl. He spoke with calm gentleness, as though to a frightened feral creature, or to a patient. "It all right. I made it myself, see? I dug posts into the ground and wove saplings through them to hold back the elk so they can't go anywhere else. I take care of them, you see, and when it is time to cull the herd I will be able to take what I need and trade the meat to wolves who need it."

Her musing over her brother's fence was interrupted when she heard him calling her name. Her ears twitched to turn toward him first, quickly followed by her head as she looked over at his larger, gray form. His fussing over her made her smile and she came over to join him in the shade. "Hey, Tor," she greeted him as her tail wagged gently behind her. She really did like seeing him. Even after all this time it was hard not having her litter mate with her all the time. Baine thought she might get used to it after a while, but she never did. Before she could ask about the fenced in elk, a stranger approached them and asked the question for her. Her pale gaze turned to look at the nervous girl and her expression immediately softened and she smiled so she would look more friendly. She certainly didn't want to scare her off and she could tell from how Tornach was speaking that he didn't want to either. It was fascinating though as her brother explained what he was doing here with the elk and how he had made this fence to keep them there. "That's really impressive, Tor," she mentioned with a smile as she glanced out over the encircled field next to them. "Where did you get this idea from?" Even though she wished he was closer to Celestial so she could see him more she was still really proud of him for doing all of this. "Talk" "You" Think

But you'll never find the answers, until you set your old heart free

Lydia did her best to follow the man's words. He seemed kind and patient and she found herself slowly beginning to relax. It was an odd thing to do. Clever, really, but it also seemed unnatural to her and so she wasn't quite sure what to make of the fact that this wolf had a bunch of elk penned up. "How odd… why did you decide to do this?" The pale woman chimed in asking him where he'd gotten the idea. As she left the man to explain she returned to her herbs. She didn't want to forget the reason she came here in the first place. Gingerly she reached out with her fangs and began to snip off some of the leaves.

When she was satisfied she set them aside and went closer to the enclosure peering through it, ears alert as she watched the elk within. "How long are you going to keep them in there?"