Though the thin woman was still in the process of regaining her strength, she still had an itch to explore all that Auster had to offer. She couldn’t remain cooped up in her room or the castle all day, beautiful and comfortable as such facilities were — she supposed it was the lingering urge to keep moving that she’d had as a loner. After all, four years of being alone and constantly traveling was hard to forget, if she’d be able to truly forget at all; add the sudden switch to becoming a fully fledged pack member and that made it all the more of a major adjustment. Her lifestyle was becoming more structured, more rigid, but she didn’t mind. She found she thrived on the daily duties, the patrols, the hunts she’d do for small prey. She did the best she could, even if her strength was still not at its peak, and she tired easily. Though, she was far from frail, and she was an expert at masking any exhaustion, no matter how dire. The she-wolf found herself wandering, as did her mind. Soon enough, the trail of thoughts she’d subconsciously followed led her to a new, rather unfamiliar land. She blinked, snapping herself out of her trance. It was quite warm, the dry heat sinking into her hot fur as the warm earth dusted her white paws. Strange, gnarled trees scattered the arid, beige landscape, drops of some strange residue leaking from between the cracks of peeling bark. Laeta frowned softly, the only expression she could offer. Just where was she? "Speech"

Now where had she gotten herself to? The petite fae had a bad habit of walking, thinking, spacing out, and getting truly lost. It seemed as though today was no exception. Mental musings kept the diminutive wolf's sight turned inward. Rather than seeing the world around her, she saw the green, rolling hills of home. She saw the faces of wolves long left behind. She remembered situations that happened and held conversations in her mind that never happened at all. Her inner monologue kept her minds eye seeing and her actual eyes terribly distracted. Before she knew it, the world had changed completely. Ada blinked pumpkin colored pools and stopped in her tracks. She hadn't even felt the change in temperature. It was a wonder that she hadn't walked off of a cliff by now. The small woman's nose wiggled as she scented the dry, arid breeze. The trees here were... interesting. Tall and odd looking, she moved up to one of them to inspect it. Surprisingly, the tree was bleeding. A slight sound of alarm left the woman and her eyes went wide. Trees could bleed?! Blinking once more, the monochromatic lady's head swiveled about on her neck just to see if there was anyone or anything else nearby. Thankfully, and surprisingly, her gaze lighted upon a slightly taller woman. "Hellooooo!" The fae's bobbed bunny tail lifted, wagging excitedly to and fro. "Have ye ever seen a tree bleed before?" The dame's Irish lilt called out to the other wolf, the only other company in the vicinity. Ada was a social creature when the opportunity was there, so she invited the dark fae over to meet and converse. "Ada"

A resounding "Helloooo!” snapped the older woman out of her uninentional trance, her body stiffening up due to her residual survival mode. It’d take a while for her to relearn to douse that mechanism, just a bit. She didn’t need to worry about fighting or fleeing..or freezing, for that matter, while she was in a pack. She was safe. Easier said than done to rewire what was ingrained into her brain, though, much like a tree’s overgrown, gnarled roots. She forced her shoulders to slump down in some form of relaxation as she looked the stranger over. Her nose twotched softly as she read the other woman’s scent. No, she was not of a pack; perhaps that was a good thing. Strange pack members seemed a little more concerning to deal with than those who had no allegiance. Still, Lae’s former life threatened to being her back to a dark corner of her mind she’d worked so hard to suppress, and she couldn’t help but feel a tad uneasy. Still, this wolf seemed pleasant enough, with a lovely range of grey-ish hues upon her soft coat and soft, kind eyes. Most loners the older woman had met possessed a concerning lack of morals. Maybe that was a middle-of-nowhere-in-Boreas kind of thing. "Have ye ever seen a tree bleed before?” The grey stranger asked. Lae glanced at the ‘bleeding’ trees around them, noting the crimson sap slowly trickling down the bark. She also couldn’t help but notice the femme’s interesting way of talking - an accent, was it called? - and although her urge to flee still roared within her broken, conflicted mind, she pushed it aside in lieu of abundant curiosity about this individual. "Actually, I don’t think I have," Lae said softly towards the other she-wolf. Cautiously, she padded towards one tree in particular, sniffing it. A speck of sap got on her nose, and she sneezed, promptly wiping it off with a swipe of her forelimb. "Er, it’s just sap, I think." Realizing she’d not introduced herself, she added, "Um..I’m Laeta, by the way. I’m from the Hallows, a pack not far from here." "Speech"

Unlike the obsidian coated fae, Ada had zero thoughts about anyone possibly having nefarious thoughts. Everything was sunshine and rainbows with the bob-tailed lady. This showed by the bright smile that she bestowed upon the other woman. This smile was accompanied by more of that fluffy puff of a tail shifting back and forth in a wag. How could anyone ever want to hurt someone like her? She was of the firm belief that if she was nice to everyone, then everyone would be nice to her. Completely at ease in both mind and stature, Ada waited for the other wolf to draw near. The black and white fae sniffed the bloody tree, getting a little of the red substance no her nose. Quickly wiping it away, the woman explained that it was only sap. Ada's monochromatic brow scrunched up as she stepped closer, sniffing the substance as well. "I think yer right. It is sap." Never before had she seen sap so red and bloody looking. It was definitely interesting and the lady took a moment to look up into the wide leaves at the top of the tree once more. As the other fae gave her name, Ada turned her attention back so that her orange gaze rested fully upon the woman. "Lovely ta meetcha, Laeta. I'm Ada." Again, she flashed that easy smile of hers. "This place is a little hot, don't ye think?" Looking past Laeta, Ada could see cooler climes on the horizon. "Maybe we should go that way instead? Unless you want te be here? I surely don't know why me paws brought me to this place." "Ada"

Laeta allowed herself to beclme gradually more comfortable with this woman. Having had experience interacting, on some level, with loners here and there — not often, but enough — she’d gotten slme sense of their vibes as soon as she’d scented them. That’s not to say she was well versed in social cues, but she could still read someone beyond their verbal and facial expressions. Sometimes, it came down to their scent and what aura they gave off, even metaphorically. In this case, as the grey woman approached closer to investigate the intriguing trees, Lae could sense nothing but pure happiness, joy, and kindness. She was of no threat. The lady with the unique accent introduced herself as Ada. Lae offered a soft twinkle in her eyes as her own reply to her name. "Ada. That’s a lovely name." It was a sweet-sounding name, a name that sounded like a song. She liked it. She’d always had a thing for other wolves’ names, for they were as special to them as their character. Ada had mentioned this place was a little hot, and to be fair, she had to agree. When she suggested heading towards a cooler region, Laeta had no qualms about it. Except for, of course, the constant, nagging anxiety that was always there, even though she knew Auster was small and not as daunting as Boreas’ seemingly infinite and cold lands. Laeta nodded at the woman’s suggestions. ’It is pretty warm here for my taste. We can head out, wherever you’d like to go..as long as we stay on Auster." She had no intention of returning to Boreas, ever. She preferred the weather, the atmosphere..heck, even its packs and loners were far more hospitable. "Speech"