After weeks of trekking over sea ice and rocky coasts, the feel of vegetation beneath Tsuga's paws was an immense relief, even if it was brittle and brown. The first bit of spring growth was just beginning to eek it's way out into the open, small slips of bright green amidst the leftover husks of last year's leavings. The air still held a snap, and the morning had greeted him with a rime of frost, but still the seasonal tide had shifted. As Tsuga made his way through the grasses, stopping every once in a while to investigate the base of one sentinel pine or another, he took care to reflect on the shifts in his own life as of late. He missed his ancestral Grove and the kin he'd left behind there, of course he did, but was also eager in nearly equal measure. It had been a difficult decision to set out on his own, one he did not take lightly, and he had come too far to turn back now. All he could hope for was to make them proud, and perhaps one day when they crossed paths again he could tell them all about his journey. The large male sat in the sparse shade beneath a raggedy conifer, not to get out of the sun so much as to lean into the bark and allow it to steady him. Its roots held firm to the soil, soil that ran to the distant ocean, which stretched across the leagues and leagues to distant shores with trees all its own, beneath which his kin might also be sitting and contemplating. He quietly asked the old pine to pass along his greetings if it would, and lingered just for a moment to see if those distant trees might then deign to reply. "Talk," - "Listen" - Think

Come down, come down sweet reverence

Spring lured Jynn back to Boreas with its warm weather and the promise of fresh mud puddles. She'd skipped through the humid south farther and farther north to where patch of snow could still be seen here and there. It was a little on the chilly side now but as summer moved in this would be the place to be. Well, if it weren't for the mosquitos. She did not look forward to the reemergence of such voracious pests.

Trotting along she spied a nice sized puddle and sprang into it with a yell, coating her long limbs in mud and startling a rabbit out from underneath a nearby pine. On instinct she sprinted after it, keeping pace remarkably well until it suddenly dipped down into a burrow. Jynn skidded to a stop and stood over the hole, her large ears erect and fanned out, listening for the sounds of the rabbit. It was deep, deep down. She frowned, then shrugged and trotted toward the clump of pines for a little breather. It was then she noticed a handsome, earthen-pelted male with turquoise eyes. "Good day!" she chirped. "Out enjoying the northern spring?"

With the wind against him and his mind occupied elsewhere, Tsuga didn't notice the woman's approach until she was already upon him. Her friendly greeting put his mind at ease, shaking off any sensation of having been startled as quickly as it arose. He swiveled the face the stranger and quickly took in her unusual appearance; he'd never met a wolf like this before, but he supposed that's what he got for venturing so far away from his familiar haunts and homeland. "Good day, Miss," he replied, modeling her good cheer. "I certainly am. After a fortnight of sea ice and tundra I feel as if I'm on a tropical island right about now." He flashed the stranger a cheeky grin, then inhaled deeply to make a show of basking in the pleasant conditions they'd found themselves in. At the same time he caught a bit of the woman's scent, not that it told him much apart from the fact that she didn't seem to be pack wolf. Perhaps she might be willing to share a tidbit or two about these new lands he'd found himself in. "And yourself? I haven't come across many others in recent days." "Talk," - "Listen" - Think

Come down, come down sweet reverence

Her large ears flicked forward as the man spoke of ice and tundra. "Ahhh… from up north are you?" Being from the southern lands even the Borean spring was chilly to her. She didn't know how the northern wolves managed the cold and ice, especially in the winter! She'd visit but she couldn't imagine just settling down to live there.

"From the opposite direction, up from the south. Just chasing the warm weather really!" Jynn bent her limbs before absently scratching her left shoulder. "Got to keep up with how the lands are changing." She straightened herself out. "There is one pack up here that I know of, off in the mountains to the west of here. I'd avoid them if I were you. The leader is pretty testy and not above taking slaves. Name's Jynn by the way, an explorer of sorts. What about yourself?"