I'd rather be dead than live a lie
BURN THE WHITE FLAG!

Natha worked her way north toward the great redwood forest. She'd been thoroughly entertained by the strange, horned youth but alas she had things to do and places to be. However, her sharp ears were pretty certain the little creature was following her. Well, that was just fine. It was like a reverse game of cat and mouse and what did she care if the little wolf wanted to wander away? She was a cat. Babysitting wolf pups was not her concern, number one. And number two, as a cat, she appreciated displays of independence.

When she arrived Natha lingered on the edge of the red forest, gently rubbing her side along the base of massive tree. She crouched on her haunches then stretched out to start sharpening her claws, enjoying the feeling of the bark flaking beneath her massive paws. She froze for a moment, her ears twitching. She could've sworn she'd caught the sound of some massive movement not too far off.

Winter was supposed to go back to the others after her encounter with Natha, but instead, she just returned for a short few minutes so her dad or anyone else wouldn't go looking for her since she wasn't supposed to be wandering away from the festival. Once she made sure her dad had seen her wandering among the other festival-goers, she waited a bit before wandering off again to go and find the feline she had spoken to. Natha had captured her interest, the cat teaching her things that wolves couldn't. While Winter was a wolf (she thought, and was told, anyway), she had the physical qualities of a cat and a ram...did that make her some strange hybrid or something? She hadn't thought about it too much. At least not until she had come across Natha. After their little tree climbing lesson, Winter craved to learn more, so she had practically ran back to where she had met Natha in the hopes she'd still be there.

To her dismay, she wasn't. But her trail was there! The girl set her nose to the ground and started tracking her down, following the scent trail until she was further than she had been before. It wasn't too terribly far, just perhaps further than she was supposed to go. Large paws crunched in the snow since she had yet to master walking quietly, but she wasn't trying to sneak up on Natha, either. Focused on her task of tracking the feline down, she wasn't paying much attention to her other surroundings. It wasn't until the tracks were fresher and the scent was stronger that she finally looked up and spotted her close by. "Natha!" She shouted with a grin, tail wagging hard. Needless to say, she was excited she had managed to track her down so she could learn some more.

Natha's focus was momentarily distracted as she tried to pick up the sound she'd heard earlier. Her experiences thus far in Boreas had her alert for predators. The eruption of the volcano meant the scattering and destruction of prey and the surviving predators were all competing for remaining prey. She didn't consider herself prey but a larger predator would have no qualms in making a snack out of her.

"Natha!

She leapt straight into the air in surprise, her claws snagging onto the tree and holding her there. She'd been so focused on sleuthing out the mystery sound she'd forgotten about her little tag along. She sighed then glanced down at the pup. She sprang down and landed elegantly on all four feet. "Shouldn't you run home now, little one? This place-" She didn't get that much farther when a massive white form darted forward. A young polar bear charged the duo it's fangs diving down to try and seize Natha who scrambled to the side just missing the bear's bite. "Get up the tree!" She screeched to the younger wolf. Her call caught the bears attention and as it dove for her she raked her claws across its delicate nose, sending it shuffling backwards and crying in pain.

Drífa trailed after the scent of Winter who had gone missing from the celebration. Her nerves were on end with worry, thoughts of all the terrible things that could happen to a pup whirling through her head. Her anxiety then shot through the roof as she caught scent of a polar bear. Oh gods! She hurried, moving as fast as her little legs could carry her until she found the girl and the bear and she would've feinted if she suddenly weren't so angry at the bear. How dare it have the gall to attack an heir of Winterfell! She didn't see the cat at the front of the bear but she did see it shuffling back and so she launched herself forward, fangs tearing into its left hind leg, intent on slicing through its achilles tendon and crippling it so she and the girl could get away.

The bear lurched back and then let out a cry of pain before whirling around. As it did Natha noticed a small white wolf behind it. Ok, not exactly the brave warrior she'd been hoping for but she'd take an ally where she could get one. With the bear distracted Natha leapt onto the back of the creatures neck, fangs digging into its left ear. The bear thrashed and scrambled, limping from the injury in its leg. It finally threw the cat off but as it did Natha took the bears left ear with her and her claws tore deep lacerations in the bears neck.

She landed on her feet next to the white wolf as the bear slowly backed away from the duo. She could see the gears in its head turning, debating if a mutated snack was really worth the hassle and injury of fighting two other predators.

She giggled when Natha leaped straight up in the air and onto a tree from surprise. She thought it was funny that she had managed to catch her by surprise since she hadn't really been trying to sneak up on her. But when Natha started to speak, Winter was caught off guard as something big and white came charging at them. She only had a moment before Natha yelled at her to climb up a tree, so the pup scrambled away and straight towards the nearest tree she could and clumsily climbed up it like Natha had taught her earlier. Scared out of her mind, she climbed as far as her shaky limbs would carry her before sparing a glance towards Natha who had swiped at the bear's nose. Before she knew it, someone else had come running and caught the bear by the leg, and as her wide eyes watched on, she thought maybe at first the white wolf had been her dad, but it was Drifa instead. Maybe there was too much noise at the festival that nobody else could hear what was going on, but she was too scared to call for help.

She was still stunned with fear when Natha jumped onto the bear, tearing it up before it threw her off. Her heart pounded in her chest as she debated what to do. Should she just cling here to the tree and wait for it to go away? Just as she thought about doing just that, the bear looked in her direction and she suddenly felt her heart drop. She was high enough up here, wasn't she? She was afraid to glance down in case that wasn't the case, but as the bear decided to charge in her direction with the last-ditch effort of trying to get something, her eyes grew wide. It arrived at her tree faster than she thought, even with dragging its hind leg and its bloody face, it looked more fearsome than it did before in the girl's eyes. As it bashed into her tree, she felt herself being shaken loose, so she quickly clambered onto the closest branch until she was clinging onto it for dear life.

The bear roared with frustration at her, half-ignoring the other wolf and lynx as it tried to reach her. It extended a heavy paw at her, seeking to swipe her out of the tree but Winter clawed back with a growl. "Leave me alone! Go away! Help!" She cried out. The small branch she was clinging too wouldn't hold her forever and she had no idea if polar bears could climb, but she didn't want to stick around to find out!