Where was she, he wondered? Though he admittedly hadn't been working on his training as well as he ought to be, he hadn't been spending as much time with Silent either. These last few seasons he'd fallen into a quiet, contemplative sort of demeanor - which really wasn't all that different from how he usually was - but he'd stopped making as much effort. Time to change that, though. He'd had enough fight experience lately he ought to speak to the pack's new leader about a promotion. All in due time.

Veering around a group of tightly clustered trees, Bronze paused as he sniffed at the air. Grabbing hold of Silent's scent he trailed after it, nose low to the ground as he searched for her. Just what he had in mind for today he wasn't sure, but he did know he wanted to spend time with her. Whatever that entailed didn't matter as much as the company, at least not to him.

The time spent in Armada had quickly passed. Silent had turned three, then four - how had she not realized the many seasons and moons that had went by? She was not one to complain, however, for her life as a pup had been rough with small heartaches that had healed as she grew. Once she had caught up with Bronze, her life had turned in the direction that was needed and she had obliged with it all.

Time was one of her few thoughts that day as she walked through the woods. Quality time with the large blue-and-gold male had slimmed the past couple of months, of which she had felt like a part of her was missing. Dark paws carried her along a familiar path and as she treaded, she heard the firmly soft pads of her Bronze as he moved towards her. Ears perked and she turned her head to find him approaching. Her face lit up and she turned to greet him with bright green eyes. “Bronze!” She trotted towards him, meeting him halfway before slowing enough to not collide into his massive frame. Her nose affectionately reached out to graze his as she continued to smile. “Where have you been?”

Finding her was not a terribly difficult feat, though that likely had as much to do with her as it did with him. There were few wolves whose presence he really craved, and none of them made him feel quite the way Silent did. Though his feelings for her had grown slowly, they had solidified into something quite real - painstakingly slowly, sure, but that was just how things worked for Bronze.

Lately he'd spent a little less time with her, focusing much more of his time on trying to impress their new Warlord. He'd been training and attending lessons he wasn't particularly interested in, and even branching out and trying to show off his leadership skills. The latter especially had pushed him outside of his comfort zone.

Seeing her was like a breath of fresh air. A grin slowly pulled its way over his lips, his typically solemn expression brightening significantly. "Silent," he returned her greeting gladly, pausing to lean into her touch. "I've been busy. Basilisk encouraged me to show him how much leadership potential I have - or don't have," he explained with a soft chuckle. "So I've been working hard at that." Bronze wasn't entirely sure how well he'd been doing but when he did something he always gave it his all, no matter what the task was. "What about you? How have you been passing the time?"

Watching his facial expression change from one side of the spectrum to the other made her chest grow with warmth. To know that she was the reason his smile broke out into a grin was something she knew not many could accomplish. The fact was that she had not made it a mission at all. Silent’s relationship with Bronze had that as a great benefit and she could only quietly marvel at how much it had progressed.

When he leaned into her touch, she felt an invisible thrill that made her toes tingle. ‘I've been busy. Basilisk encouraged me to show him how much leadership potential I have - or don't have…’ A soft chuckle was released. ‘So I've been working hard at that.’ She nodded with interest, taking in his recent whereabouts and approving of them without question. “You have never done anything - excuse my language - half-assed, Bronze.” Her smile remained open as her eyes sparked with slight mischief at the phrase. “I believe that you can do anything you put your heart and mind into.”

Bronze asked what she had been doing and she thought about her small, recent adventures. “A few treks of the woods, collecting herbs and plants here and there when they are in both large and small quantities.” Her stores were kept in a smaller den beside hers, dried out as it was deemed appropriate, to prevent break downs and molds from trying to settle in. “Probably just moving in silence, to prove my name’s sake.”

As she thought about it, not having Bronze there during those small escapades had been missing something important. She mulled over it for a second or two before she spoke again. “Your presence was missed, Bronze…I would get back to my den and feel like it wasn’t home, if that makes sense?”

He'd never expected to have such a relationship with anyone. Through and through, he'd been raised to depend on nobody but himself. Bronze had lived alone for so long that he'd never expected his life to turn out like this; he never imagined a pack he wanted to stay in, nor a woman by his side that he cared about quite so deeply.

It was obvious though as he spoke to her just how much he cared. His expression brightened, his normally-stoic demeanor shifting into something much more relaxed. The breath he exhaled was a contended one, and he found himself grinning slightly. "It's how I was raised," he admitted. His parents would likely be just as surprised as he was at the life he'd settled into here, but he knew they would be proud, and that knowledge comforted him. "I think I'm beginning to impress him," he added after a beat. He did fully intend to stay here, in these northern lands he'd grown so used to, and making sure his place here was rightfully his felt important to him.

She shared what she'd been up to lately. Scouting the woods, collecting herbs. Such a task was made more difficult in the north, where the lands weren't very hospitable. He could imagine that taking up a good chunk of her time, just as his own ambitions had. Her comment about her name earned another small grin.

"I've missed you as well," the slate-colored man confessed. Speaking so candidly about his feelings had gotten easier, but didn't always feel natural to him. "Now that the seasons are changing I imagine I'll be less busy, and we'll be spending more time together." At least he hoped so.