Tamsyn hadn't crossed over into Ashen's lands since the one time she had been escorted by Deathbelle to visit the Alabastrine Shrine. Of course, she understood that the border between Ashen and the Armada was fluid and loose at best, but there was still something that made it hard for her to simply walk into the other pack's lands on her own. There was a deep respect ingrained into her for pack's borders - or what would probably more accurately be described as a fear that had been trained into her at a young age. There hadn't been many other wolves or packs around where she grew up, but the few groups that did exist were seen as dangerous enemies so she had been taught to never approach them. However, her love for exploration and her desire to learn all of the lands around her own had been reignited recently and that was what finally drove her to pay a visit to Dove Island. Besides, she wasn't entirely alone any more. Blue was riding on her back as usual and looked up at trees as curiously as she did. Once she began to walk around on the sandy shore it became very apparent where the name had come from. She could hear all the coos and chirps from the doves that were roosting in the trees above them and she would occasionally spot one of them between the leaves. It made her wonder what brought them back to this one spot again and again. Was there some kind of food that only grew here that they liked? Was there some kind of tradition that only doves new about? Did they claim territory the same way that wolves did? As she walked by one of the trees, Blue unceremoniously leapt form her back onto trunk, scampering off into the tree tops faster than she could keep up with. The only reason she was able to spot him when she looked up into the trees was his extraordinarily long, fluffy tail that hung down from the tree branch he settled on. "Blue!" she scolded with a frown, her ears flicking back. "You can't just climb up into the trees here! These aren't our trees!" The solid black lemur peeked around the leaves and peered down at her, but didn't make any move to come back down. She sighed and shook her head. She had quickly learned that he could actually understand what she was saying most of the time, but that didn't always mean that her hard headed companion would actually listen to her. "Talk" Think

Naiche had walked the boundary of the pack land a good number of times now.  This wasn't to say he planned to stop trying to learn more, only that as he looked towards Dove island he really wanted to cross the pack land to check out the place.  It was somewhere new and fascinating.  The wheat-colored wolf had considered it many times then told himself no because it meant crossing into another packs territory.  He had heard it was permitted but it just broke one of the key codes he had always been taught.

This time though he caught a scent he recognized.  Tamsyn had crossed over?  Naiche paced the border for a few more moments before stepping over.  Some alarm of being found out didn't happen as his mind kept telling him it would.  Naiche waited a few seconds, scenting the wind and ears straining for sound.  It seemed fine.  Going by scent he headed towards Tamsyn, his eyes roamed over the area wanting to explore but he would feel better exploring with someone else from the pack with some rank in case others didn't appreciate their presence. The yellow-brown wolf's tail was still banged up thanks to that lion, a permanent kink towards the base and a good bit of fur missing where it was torn. Fighting a lion really hadn't been the brightest idea.

It seemed beautiful here, a place one could spend plenty of time at.  Still, he pushed ahead until he saw Tamsyn looking up into a tree. "hey, Tamsyn," naiche called out as he trotted up to her, "Mind if I tag along? It's alright, right?""Speech"

Tamsyn was still glaring up at the tree that Blue was perched in when she heard Naiche’s voice calling out to her. Her brows lifted with surprise and she looked toward the tan-hued young man with a smile. It was a pleasant surprise since he was quickly becoming her companion when it came to exploring. It was something they had in common and she liked his company. “Hey, Naiche,” she replied, her tail wagging gently. When he caught up to her and stopped at her side was when Blue decided he would finally come down from the tree to join them... except somehow still cause mischief at the same time. The blue-eyed black lemur climbed down from his perch and landed on Naiche’s back, making Tam glare at her companion and huff with frustration. “Blue! If you can’t behave then you’ll just have to stay home next time I go exploring.” It was an empty threat and the lemur knew it. Blue sat himself on Naiche’s haunches and poked curiously at his injured tail, his little fingers brushing across the patch of missing fur. "Talk"

Naiche looked happy to see Tamsyn for the most part, other than the low tail. His eyes looked up again into the tree she’d been looking at.  He could hear the birds, smelled the variety of scents latched onto the tree before focusing again on Tamsyn, “Hello, I had wanted to come over for a while but was hesitant to cross the border.  I caught your scent and imagined it should be fine.” He also just enjoyed being around her, but he didn’t go so far as to admitting that.  As it was if she hadn't wanted his company it could have gotten rather awkward, what if she had been doing something important he shouldn't get caught up in?  “Over here for anything,” and the question was cut off when the lemur landed on his back.

He wouldn’t have cared for some primate jumping on his back on a good day, but today Naiche’s head whipped around with anger flaring in his eyes.  Pressure on back equaled pressure to tail and when it poked at the tail Naiche snapped his teeth at it.  There was no intent to connect to the thing, just a sharp warning for it to back off.  Never the most tolerant and to add pain to the mix.  Honestly if it hadn’t been Tamsyn’s companion Naiche would of aimed to connect instead.  
"Speech"

She let Naiche snap at the misbehaving lemur since he needed to learn his lesson some how and it sent the little blue-eyed creature hopping from the wheat-colored man's back to her own. She gave an exasperated sigh at the aggravated chattering that Blue did in response that was very clearly aimed at Naiche and she looked at her companion with a disappointed glare. "Hey, don't chatter at him like that! Serves you right for jumping on his back in the first place." Blue quieted down after the scolding and settled into her scruff, peering over the top of her head at Naiche. He was very clearly not pleased with Naiche for snapping at him, but there wasn't anything he could do about it so the lemur hid behind his friend to keep the man from snapping at him again. Tamsyn shook her head and looked back to Naiche apologetically. "I'm so sorry, I don't know what's gotten in to him today. He's not usually this bad." Now that her companion had decided to settle down again she refocused on the question that Naiche asked her before Blue had so rudely interrupted. "Anyway... I'm mostly just here to explore. I've been to the other side of Ashen's territory before, but I haven't out this direction yet." She let her mint eyes scan the trees again curiously. "I've never seen anywhere with this many doves before... Or this many birds in one place in general. It makes me wonder what it is that draws them here." "Talk"

That little punk of a monkey had the nerve to act angry at Naiche’s response? Naiche clicked his teeth at it twice in warning of who had the upper hand.  He wouldn’t attack Tamsyn’s little pet of course, but he was quite sure Tamsyn didn’t it want it to someday tell off the wrong wolf or other creature.  Just like a pup, pets need to learn what is and isn’t acceptable.  Anyway, he didn’t particularly like it.

“It’s fine,” Naiche offered in return to the apology.  He liked Tamsyn and thus the lemur’s antics got tolerance he wouldn’t generally give.  Yes, snapping and warnings were his idea of tolerance. Honestly that stupid like monkey had done a great job of irritating the pain from the injury, but that was fading now that it wasn’t being prodded at.  "I think most of his kind are like that anyway, aren’t they? Always immature.”

Naiche turned his head upward to look at the doves, pondering her statement.  It would be pretty cool if he could teach Tamsyn something versus her being the one to do all the teaching.  Did he have an answer to this mystery?  The salt water about them? No, these birds didn’t fish and certainly they wouldn’t want to drink this water.

“Maybe there are fewer predators out here that would hunt the doves? Between all the water and with a good number of wolves around here perhaps they get hunted less which helps their numbers to grow?” It wasn’t an answer, just a guess.  He didn’t feel like it had to do with the land itself as far as he could tell, and he didn’t see food or water being particularly better here than other sources? It seemed the remaining reason was safety, but maybe it was something the doves knew and a wolf would not.
"Speech"

She hummed as she pondered the possibility that he presented about the lack of predators around here that allowed the doves to populate in such a way. It was certainly a possibility. Most of the land was cut off by water so there weren't any threats coming from that direction and at least now with the pack that had claimed this land and the one next to it few predators were going to be coming this way, that was for sure. She wasn't sure if the doves were a recent development with the wolves that had settled in this area or if there was something else drawing them here that they couldn't see. "Maybe you're on to something," she agreed with a small shrug and a smile. She certainly didn't have any other suggestions that fit the solution better so it worked for her. Now that she had successfully gotten Blue out of the tree and he was safely pouting on her back, she decided to keep walking, nodding with her head for Naiche to follow. She moved a bit deeper into the trees while still keeping the beach within view. The sound of the birds cooing and chirping was all around them, none of the birds seeming to mind their presence. Perhaps they had just gotten used to the sight of wolves around here so their meandering through the trees didn't seem all that strange to them. "So who messed up your tail?" she asked curiously, giving him a knowing glance. His injuries very obviously come from some kind of fight, she just couldn't tell if it had been from a spar or something more serious. "Talk"

Naiche had no idea if he was right or not.  It could be a few doves chose these tree’s some day, had babies and they just kept using it.  Why so many here? They had less creatures killing them off.  It was even questionable if the birds knew, after all they were bound to be about as smart as the rocks.  Naiche didn’t care for chatty species and birds seemed good about talking all the time.

When Tamsyn started forward the younger wolf followed beside her glad she would welcome his company.  His nose was working every step of the way to take in anything new, as well as just get a sense of what common smells resided on the archipelago.  Naiche smirked a bit as his first response to her question had been ‘Asla,’ but no, she was guilty of a different crime.  “A lion with a bad attitude.” Admittedly the bad attitude could have come from Asla and him attacking the creature. “It was two versus one, we managed to get out alive if not a bit banged up.  Seems I need to get better at fighting absurdly large animals.  You know, lions, bears, giant wolves.” The last said with a touch of amusement.

As angry as he had been about being tricked into it there was still a small satisfied smile on his face for what they had managed.  The adrenaline that had pounded through his heart and ever barely dodged attack from the lion were more pleasurable than the finest meat.  
"Speech"