Sota, steadily growing more comfortable exploring the lands beyond Auster on his own, was taking full advantage of this quiet morning to explore the interesting gulley that he'd stumbled across the previous day. It was nearing dawn now, with just enough light creeping over the horizon to allow the small wolf to properly explore. At least.. to explore without the worry of being disturbed weighing too heavily on his mind. As brave as he tried to be, the reality was that he tended to be skittish at best, especially around complete strangers, though with time he was growing far more confident than he'd ever been before.

Tiny paws carried him over the land, which he had no doubt was less luscious than it had once been prior to the volcano's eruption. Thanks to summer's arrival the lands had begun to regenerate, spots of long grass cropping up here and there, interspersed with young plants and flowers throughout the valley in erratic patterns. Sota was intrigued by the vegetation and eager to explore the fertile land, especially since he was convinced he was the only one here - at least within his vicinity. He paused to sniff at the air before padding onward, nosing gently through flowers and herbs that seemed to grow here plentifully.

Torrent was alone, Asriel off for some solitsry brooding somewhere as he was occasionally wont to do, which left her solitarily brooding. The stong smells of the herbs and flowers in the lush land were distracting enough to nearly annoy her, since she was really starting to build ul a good brood today and the scents were simply too cheerful to not grate on her nerves. Instead of letting herself be annoyed she pushed past them without expression, only to come to a halt as her chimeric gaze caught sight of movement in the grass. Nostrils flared in an attempt to draw the acent in, but herbs and flowers continued to perfume the air too heavily for her to tell. There was an undeniable appeal in taking her mood out on some hapless prey animal, and her pupils dilated as she dropped into a hunting crouch, a swift and silent stalk moving her closer to her would-be victim.

Perhaps the strong scents of this place would be his downfall. Though he was highly adept and listening to his surroundings, and being overly cautious of anyone who might be approaching... but his senses were suddenly overloaded. He was distracted, hardly as on-edge as usual, and thus Torrent was able to begin sneaking up on him, even despite her... well, admittedly terrifying size. Not that Sota had seen her quite yet. The small male was content to plod along through the foliage, particularly enraptured by the patches of assorted flowers. They certainly helped in lifting his mood, not that it really needed much lifting to begin with.

That is, until he noticed he was being... stalked?!

Once he noticed it looked very much like he'd been caught doing something he shouldn't. First he heard a sound that he thought might belong to another's approach, but it quieted and he chose to ignore it, assuming he was simply mistaken. But a slow turn, and the suddenly looming figure of a chimeric wolf, made him startle abruptly. He leapt into the air almost comically, spinning around with widened eyes. "Oh! I'm sorry - I didn't-" Didn't see her there, hadn't heard her approached, and hoped desperately that he wasn't somehow intruding on her territory. The last thing he wanted to do was upset someone!

As Sota went about his business, Torrent stalked her unsuspecting prey imch by stealthy inch, creeping through the grass until she parted the last bit of vegetation that kept the prey from her site - only to freeze and stare in blank intensity at it. What she had assumed was prey was in fact... a tiny wolf, the smallest she had ever seen. At first glance she thought he was a pup, he was so small, but only a heartbeat passed before her eyes and nose told her the truth of it, that he was a fully mature adult. And that was when he came face to face with her and exclaimed aloud.

After a moment longer of staring intently, still in a hunting crouch, Torrent finally sat back, looking down at him quizzically. "There is nothing to be sorry for," she finally answered his stuttered, broken up verbiage. At least, she thought he would have nothing to be sorry for, unless he had somehow wronged the Imperialis. In which case she would make certain he was very, very sorry before she turned him over to Tyrian to do what he wanted. For now she saw nothing to warrant his apologies, though she heartily approved of his fear. A tiny weak thing like him was smart to be afraid of someone like her. "It isn't a good idea for someone your size to be wandering without a protector." she informed him, in the faintly confused, condescending tone of someone who felt like it should have been common knowledge.

At first Torrent didn't move, which nearly startled him even more. He'd half expected her to pounce, since her posture - low and crouched and very, very threatening - said she had been stalking him. But what good was he to be stalked?! It wasn't like he had anything she could want - unless she'd been following him for the fun of it, which seemed quite strange to him. Either way, he was thoroughly rattled, and he wasn't doing a very good job of hiding it, stumbling over his words as he tried to stammer out an apology.

"Oh!" He exclaimed quietly, when she said he had nothing to be sorry for. It was hard to shake the feeling that he'd somehow interrupted her, despite all the signs that pointed toward her being the one who had been following him. "I'm sorry, I just didn't know - if maybe I was-" His words faltered, followed by silence. Maybe he'd been intruding? Maybe he wasn't welcome here? Perhaps shying away from confrontation didn't coincide with the Songa way, but Sota was timid at best.. and though he didn't mind taking what he wanted at times, intruding felt like a different thing entirely.

But her next words seemed to rub him the wrong way. A slight frown tugged at his lips, careful but clearly drifting towards indignation instead of fear now. "I don't need a protector," he responded carefully. The thought was a preposterous one! His gaze briefly danced from Torrent to his surroundings, trying to see if there was a tree nearby he could escape to - there was no way this giant could follow him then - but this valley seemed impressively barren of climbable trees. "I was just.. distracted by the flowers," Sota explained, gesturing vaguely toward a particularly luscious patch of greenery.

Torrent frowned at the tiny wolf's assertion that he didn't need a protector, that he was just distracted. "I don't know about that," she said doubtfully. Did he somehow not really understand how tiny and fragile he was compared to most wolves? "You really should have someone to protect you. Someone normal sized." She squinted at him, then added, just in case he didn't understand, "Wolves are either strong or they're weak, and if you're weak you get a protector or a strong wolf will end you. That's just the way things are. And you're just not very strong. I could have killed you by accident right now. I thought you were a rabbit. So..." She shrugged. "So you should have a protector."

Almost at once the stranger voiced her doubts about his assertion, which caused his frown to deepen. Regardless of what this oversized woman had to say, he'd vehemently deny that she was right. He wasn't in need of any protector, but arguing with a stranger - and one younger than him, no less! - felt quite rude to him. "Perhaps," he conceded, bristling slightly at her tone, explaining things to him carefully as if he were the child in this scenario. But he held his tongue, something that wasn't very difficult for him, still deciding not to argue with her on the matter.

"Some wolves aren't strong," Sota carefully agreed with her. When it came to brute strength, he was severely lacking. But he knew he made up for it in other ways, even if this woman didn't see that. "Some are fast, quick on their paws. No amount of strength matters if you can't catch up to someone," he offered with a gentle shrug. If there happened to be a tree nearby, he would've gladly  demonstrated to her, and he knew there was no way she would've climbed up to catch him. Just like how he knew there was no chance she could overpower him.. which was why he slowly veered away from her, ever-cautious and ready to flee, not that he suspected she was a threat to him. "Why, are you offering your services?" He asked after a moment, letting a faint smile touch his lips. It was an attempt at a joke, trying to lighten the strange tension he felt emanating from her.