At last, Sterling had arrived at the border of a pack she was not familiar with. She paced up and down the scented markings, emerald eyes sifting through the sights to behold. Willow trees with draping branches and thin tendrils provided good cover, something she found intriguing but also frustrating, as she could see very little, her vision blocked by the trees. She really hadn't known what to expect upon arriving here, hoping for an easy way to scope out the lands and return home with information that would be useful to her pack. Now that she was here, she wasn't sure how she was going to gather that information without getting caught or stirring up suspicion amongst the pack. Of course, she had long ago relieved herself of her pack scent; from the day she'd left home, she had rolled in wet grass, mud, bathed in the rivers, and once more covered her coat in a good layer of mud. Perhaps a little excessively, as was evident in the slick wet earth colouring her already gray coat, causing her fur to spike out in places. But at least the scent of Talis was no longer with her.

From the border, Sterling could smell water, and lots of it. Okay, so they had water. Probably a pretty valuable resource during the summer, but she wondered if that was a worry for her pack at all. After all, the lands surrounding their home were largely unoccupied, and there was much fresh water - they'd probably never have to worry about that. But still, it was something that she had discovered, something worth mentioning. However, she wanted to find out more. Was there prey worth fighting for? Or herbs for healing? That was what she really wanted to find out. And perhaps there was little right now, as the season was one of scarcity, but this place looked like it could be booming with prey when spring and summer came. In her homelands, they might be scarce on prey while this place was thriving. The girl nodded to herself, noting her observations.

She itched to enter the territory, to explore it more deeply, but she didn't dare set paw across the boundaries, knowing the consequences of doing so. She was still young and inexperienced, but she wasn't exactly stupid. A little brash, stubborn and headstrong? Yes. But certainly not stupid. Instead, she just continued to wander up and down the border, looking for anything different, anything of interest, and if she was lucky, she might run into somebody that would give her an idea of what the pack was like.

She was trying her best to walk the limes Faite normally did today. As a yearling she was full size but still remained quite small. The thought of what she was doing wasn't exactly that she was patrolling the borders, but that she was playing some game that Faite played every day. As she came upon the new comer she let out a bark and dropped to a play bow. She wasn't even aware that this wolf could be dangerous to their packs well being. Her tail wagged high above her hips and she literally bounced her way towards the female. A bark was released as she called for Faite to see how good she had done with this game. Her French accented voice rang out as she greeted her in her broken English. "Nice meeting. Name Jewell." she was grinning ear to ear. She had no clue that this female might think her retarded or something. Walk, "Talk" Think

Sterling was surprised when a young, brightly coloured female yipped at her, dropping into a play bow before bounding all the way over to her. Trying not to let her startle show, she gave a shake of her mud-crusted coat, eyeing the girl with emerald orbs. It was clear that the strangely marked girl was barely a yearling, still very puppy-like in her demeanor. Perfect as the first wolf to greet her at the pack's border. This would be like taking candy from a baby. The girl's voice rang out, her accent and lack of vocabulary noted.

"Nice to meet you, Jewell," she said, offering a smile in return to the girl's wide grin, "I'm Ster-... ahem!... sorry, got something in my throat. The name's Stella." Mentally she chided herself for nearly giving away her real name - she should've known better and been more prepared with a name ahead of time! After all, she wasn't here to make friends or let anyone get to know her personally, nor why she was here or where she came from. She simply wanted to check the place out a bit, and then be on her way with as much information as she could gather.

Glancing around momentarily to see if anyone else was coming, she then looked back to Jewell when she was satisfied that she didn't see any other life forms. "So, just curious... what's this place called?" she asked, wondering if the girl would fully understand her. Sterling hoped so, otherwise she might not get as much out of the girl as she'd hoped for.

if heaven waits we'll breach the gates on her wings we'll be one

They were mesmerizing to watch, the fish, the way they would twist and turn in the water, the dappled sunlight sparkling off their scales. Winter had barely touched the south. Nothing to show for it but cooler weather and a light dusting of snow. The water sources remained unfrozen and the light cover made for excellent grazing. However, Leshia couldn't help but feel that Lirim's luck might run out and that some great blizzard was going to come roaring into the terra.

Leaving the fish for now she set off toward the valley where she'd be more likely to find prey but as she turned to leave she heard a bark for Faite. Leshia did not know enough of her packmates to recognize the voice and decided she may as well say hello. She couldn't help it really. She just preferred to keep to herself and focus on feeding her packmates now that winter was settled in.

The first thing she noticed was the scent of foreign earth and the source became readily apparent. There was a wolf caked in mud standing at the border. Leshia's eyes narrowed. Who on earth travelled around covered in mud like that? Suspicious indeed. A brightly colored yearling seemed to be happily greeting the stranger. Leshia was used to brightly colored wolves. While they weren't common they weren't all that rare from what she'd seen.

Leshia marched over to the border. "What are you doing sniffing around our borders covered in mud? Is something wrong with you? Are you diseased?" She knew little of healing but had heard some wolves tote the healing properties of certain mud masks. Great…. that was all they needed in the dead of winter. Some typhoid mary to spread a little misery.

Faite was patrolling, something she found herself doing a lot of lately with Miach and Kane still gone, when the familiar bark reached her ears. She couldn't help but let her ears flatten and a soft sigh left her as she recognized the voice immediately. Jewell. Groaning probably wasn't the most mature thing for a wolf her age to do, but it happened. The little rainbow pup had a way with finding trouble and Faite was still convinced the young girl was going to give her a heart attack or whatever it was stress could do to someone. Honestly she was just glad the rest of her children, for the most part, stayed out of trouble. She couldn't imagine trying to track down more of them than just Jewell. Hopefully none of them would take a page from her book. She padded along the border and came to a rather odd scene. Jewell, of course, was greeting the stranger with a typical playful energy, and thankfully another pack member was there as well. She smiled gratefully to Leshia before turning her full attention to the female at the borders. She hadn't trespassed which was a good start, but her being completely covered in mud confused her for a moment. She seemed young, maybe she'd decided to play in the mud before finding her way here? It was hard to tell. "What brings you to Lirim?" Walk, "Talk" Think

Before the younger girl could answer, Sterling spotted another wolf coming their way, her emerald green eyes shifting quickly to fix on the older female. This one in particular didn't seem as carefree about her presence, although the questioning that ensued wasn't overly concerning. It was far from hostile, if a little edged with suspicion. She chuckled slightly and shook her head at the woman's concern that maybe she was diseased. "I always hide my scent when hunting," she responded casually, tail flicking as she looked over the other wolf, "Hunting alone is hard enough, without your scent giving you away." A reasonable response, something that didn't require her to go into any great detail, and that wouldn't arouse further suspicions. Unless they thought she had intended to hunt on their territory.

Before she could say anything else, Sterling was surprised to see yet another wolf coming her way.
She took a breath to calm her growing nerves. It wasn't that she thought they were going to attack her at any moment; she just didn't want them to discover anything about her identity. She needed to keep up the charade just long enough to learn something valuable about the pack and then leave without any trouble. When the wolf arrived at the border in front of her, the way she acknowledged her comrade and then commanded attention told Sterling that this was the pack's Alpha. Her words were simple but to the point. Attention now fixated on the red-marked female, her ears perked slightly at the pack's name. So this was Lirim - she would commit that to memory before focusing on the response she must offer the Alpha.

"Nothing in particular," she replied, tail flicking again as it often did when she spoke, "I was seeking prey when I came across your borders. No intention of trespassing, although I have to admit I was a little curious about what lays inside the territory... As a loner, I often consider joining a pack, but I wouldn't want to settle in a land that is too harsh. Yours looks abundant, though." She surprised herself with the way the words fell so easily from her maw. She'd considered some possible scenarios before approaching, and had thought of multiple excuses for looking overly curious about their lands, but she hadn't imagined herself speaking with such ease. Feeling relieved for the moment, she blinked as she watched the other woman's face, wondering what words would be exchanged next.