Natha didn't expect to be back in Boreas and yet here she was. Instinctively she'd wandered back to one of the usual places she'd hung out at. With a gracefully leap she climbed high up into the trees, sending birds and squirrels scattering at her presence until at last she found a nice perch. It was a lovely day. Her ears flicked. A lovely, yet noisier day than she'd expected. Of course, the cat had no idea that a wolf pack was holding a festival in the woods. Still, she liked to be up high and there were few unique places to really perch in this part of the north unless she were to head over to the red woods. There had been no word yet from the gang but she knew it would come. In the mean time she'd just rest and wait. She had a debt to pay back after all. They'd helped her with her injuries and now she'd help them here, here in this new land just ripe for the taking.

As she settled to stillness the birds slowly began to return, their songs filling up the summer air.

Winter had taken a break from the festival to find some quiet time on her own. She felt a bit uncomfortable among so many wolves, mostly because a lot of them appeared normal compared to her. She had yet to learn to be graceful with her oversized cat-like paws, and each step was still sort of clumsy since she always seemed to try and mimic how the normal pawed wolves walked. The alabaster princess walked beneath the trees, the sound of birds and squirrels scattering not fully capturing her attention since she assumed it was because of her presence. Even when she glanced up, she didn't notice the other creature lying somewhere in the trees. And when the birds started to return to their perches, she looked up again as she thought about maybe trying to hunt a bird. Would it be easy? Or hard? She was still having trouble hunting game on the ground, so maybe it wasn't a good idea to climb trees on unsteady feet to go after birds...huffing, she lashed a forepaw out at a tree in frustration, her claws leaving shallow dents in the bark.

Natha curled a paw toward herself, her tongue darting out to lick at the fur for a moment before she took the paw and rubbed it behind her ears. She rather liked it here. The trees were easy to climb and perch on and this high up she got the warmth of the sun and a slight coolness to the breeze. Heaven! She continued working on cleaning herself when she noticed something moving along the forest floor. Natha tucked her hind legs beneath herself, using her forelimbs to help her stabilize as she peered down. Her belly was flush against the branch, her brown, spotted coat blending in perfectly with the tree limbs.

It was a wolf pup! The child must have wandered over from the main gathering. She was a curious child and Natha wasn't quite sure what to make of the wolf as she boasted a set of ram horns. Natha's golden eyes narrowed. That just could not be right. Perhaps it was some sort of helmet the child was wearing as she had never heard of a wolf growing horns. She was also quite certain that wolves could not interbreed with anything other than certain canines. As if this wasn't strange enough the girl then reached out and scratched at a tree! She scratched! With claws that weren't terribly different from Natha's own!

Intrigued she cleared her throat to try and get the girls attention, leaning her head over the side of the branch so that she was a bit more visible. "Has the tree offended you in some way, youngling?" she purred. "Or are you perhaps training for battle?" She could remember tackling logs and battling sticks as a kitten, seeking to sharpen her claws and hone her skills. In general Natha was wary of wolves but the girl got bonus points for having a sensible set of claws. How wolves ever managed with those silly, dull things she would never know but she supposed it was part of the reason cat's were far better hunters.

Focused on how she was feeling and scratching the tree, the young girl jumped and uttered a surprised gasp when she heard a voice...above her? She quickly looked up to find a head in the branches above her, but it wasn't a wolf. Peeking back at her was another creature, feline from what she could tell. Well...sort of, anyway. Her ears pressed back against her head in embarrassment as she realized she had been spotted lashing out at the tree. "N-no...I'm just mad...maybe..." Honestly, she wasn't sure why she was mad. Frustrated maybe? Though she was too young to really understand what frustration meant, so mad was what she went with. She looked at the marks she had left on the tree, and then back up at the stranger as she started to feel a little sheepish. "How'd you get up so high? You're not a wolf huh?" Unless wolves had pointed ears like hers and could climb trees like that...but she didn't think so. The bit of scent that came to her also told her it wasn't a wolf scent, but Winter was too inexperienced and too young to know at this point. Still, she was curious as she stood there and watched the stranger.

Natha giggled as the pup jumped, started by the cat's sudden speech. She had to admit, the pup was rather cute. The young child stated that she was mad but then she did not seem to be so sure. How curious not to know if one was mad or not, but then emotions could be tricking. Natha often felt a sense of malaise that she couldn't quite put a more specific name to. The lynx shifted smoothly into a sitting position, pausing half-way through to stretch. Her back arching gracefully. Either way, she could understand the need to take out excess energy through exercise and it was often in those moments she would seen an opponent to spar. Natha crouched and peered back down as the pup asked her more questions.

"I got up so high by climbing. You know, with claws like yours you'd be able to climb as well I bet. You are correct I am not a wolf. I am a lynx and my name is Natha." Natha leapt from the branch she'd been laying on over to the nearest tree trunk where her claws dug in and held her there. She then worked one paw forward and then the next to demonstrate climbing up as she reached a new branch and climbed out onto it. "You should learn to climb. Claws are useful for more than just scratching. If you can land on your opponents back and cling there, out of the way of their jaws, you can do a lot of damage." It was one of her favorite battle techniques. She could do a lot of damage with four sets of claws and a sharp set of fangs. Natha slowly worked her way down until she reached the ground and landed near the pup. She grinned. The cat was pleased with herself.

"Not to mention that with claws you can make a greater use of your terrain than a regular wolf. You can climb up in trees for an ambush or pull yourself out of an attackers reach. You can even launch yourself from the tree to get more height. I'd be happy to show you how to climb. It's not so hard!"

Natha was eager to show off and she settled her weight in her haunches. Next the graceful cat stretched up the tree as high as she could, her front claws sinking into the tree as she glanced at the youth. "Reach up and dig your claws into the tree, make sure you can pull your own weight as the next step is to pull yourself up then quickly hook your hind claws into the tree." Natha demonstrated the maneuver, pulling herself up a foot and latching her hind claws into the tree. Often she would take a leap and then cling to the tree but that would be a bit much for a beginner.

”Then you just work your way up a little at a time. I think for you it will work best to move a front paw and the opposite back paw, like so. I move my right front paw and my back left paw, then my left front paw and back right paw. Like walking, but up a tree." Of course she did not walk like a wolf. She moved both her right limbs then both her left limbs but wolves were inferior to cats so adjustments had to be made. "You want to try?"

"I got up so high by climbing. You know, with claws like yours you'd be able to climb as well I bet. You are correct I am not a wolf. I am a lynx and my name is Natha."

Winter's eyes went wide and she lifted a paw to stare at her claws, flexing them as she considered what Natha had said. Looking back towards Natha, who was apparently not a wolf, but a Lynx, she grinned. "I'm Winter, and I'm a wolf! I...think..." She was wasn't she? Her mom and dad and the rest of her family were wolves, but she had cat paws like Natha, and horns had started to grow from her head like a sheep or something...she hadn't quite asked her dad what was going on, and he didn't make a big deal out of it so she assumed maybe it was normal. She hadn't really been outside of pack lands, either, except for the festival that was going on and that was the first time she had seen wolves of all kinds with all sorts of different things. A lot of them still looked pretty normal though...

She watched with fascination as Natha jumped from her perch, clinging to the trees, and working her way down as she explained that it'd be useful to learn how to climb. And not only that, but that she could also use them for fighting!? The pup was practically speechless as she soaked in Natha's words, and when she finally landed on the ground and explained some more and even offered to teach her how to climb, Winter jumped at the chance! "Oh yes please!" She squealed excitedly. Her tail set to wagging a mile a minute, excited for the chance to learn the things Natha was telling her about. She watched with rapt attention and fascination as Natha explained and demonstrated at the same time, and the young girl stood and watched intently, listening to each and every word as she watched Natha start to climb the tree.

She was almost in disbelief, wondering if she'd have the capability to do what Natha was doing. So when she asked if she wanted to try, Winter was hesitant for a moment but quickly got over it. Nodding, she did as Natha had done and stretched her front half up towards the tree as far as she could comfortable go, hooked her front claws in, and then pushed off with her hind legs and scrabbled rather ungracefully until she managed to stick her hind claws into the wood. With some minor trouble and wobbliness, she slowly worked her way up the tree a bit, just as Natha had instructed, until she was almost beside her. Her heart pounded against her chest from the effort, but also from the exhilaration at her new found ability thanks to her. "I did it! I did it!" She exclaimed with obvious excitement. She glanced down at the ground and then up towards the top of the tree as she wondered how far she might be able to go.