It was eerily quiet around her den, Ellisa not hearing word from her siblings for a few days now. Without them she wasn't comfortable enough exploring the pack lands or even getting to know the members, so she took to wandering from Fiori. Paws carried the yearling far beyond the borders and surrounding area, mind going back and forth between various thoughts about one thing and another, absent-mindlessly following one of the rivers that flowed past the pack and met up with the ocean. The sound of rushing water was almost soothing to the girl, bringing her into a daze she didn't mind falling into.

By time the young girl snapped out of it, she found herself standing in clearing, large stone structure crumbling away ahead of her. She shook her head and glanced around confused, ears laying back against her skull as she tried to gather scents from the air. No other wolves, just vegetation, stone, and faint old prey scents. Tail curved inward while white paws carried Ellisa forward, keeping her head low as she began to circle around the stone structure, wondering if it was safe to enter or not.

The man had been resting inside the stone structure when he heard another creature moving about just outside his temporary resting place. Sticking his nose just outside would tell him that it was another wolf and a female. One he didn't know but the company would be welcome as he hadn't spent any actual time with the opposite gender in a while. Hell he hadn't spent time with anyone in a while but he didn't keep many female friends as he always managed to offend them somehow. Saying nothing at all or saying to much always seemed to be his problem, then again he wasn't sure how to balance those things.

Silently he would wait for the girl to go past the opening before coming out. He didn't want to just pop up out of no where and scare the crap out of her, but he didn't want to just be that guy who popped out and scared her from behind either so he would turn and stare at the structure as she circled it again. His hope was that when she came around again it would look as though he just arrived, so maybe he wouldn't scare her. The last thing that was on his agenda was to scare her. He didn't want to spend his time trying to sooth her edgy nerves and he didn't want her to attack him either.

Coming around Ellisa would slow to a crawling speed when she thought she heard something moving within the large stones, but brushed it off and continued moving forward. When she did this however, amber eyes quickly locked onto a dark face that was poking out from the darkness. Right away the girl thought it would be a loner, a possible hostile wolf. So carefully she would arch off from that spot, stepping further away until she could fully see the wolf standing there. A male a bit larger than herself stood there, blue eyes and odd coloration on his eyebrows. "H-hello." She spoke up sweetly, voice soft but loud enough for the man to hear it.

The yearling had to be a little less than ten feet away from the male when she finally stopped moving about. Ellisa was not full out frightened of his presence, more so just cautious and nervous. Head was held just a bit above her shoulders, ears back halfway and tail only slightly curved between her legs. She took a deep breath, clearing her throat and looking down at her paws for a few moments before looking back up at the man. "Is this your home? I didn't mean to trespass." She began, nervously saying the first few things on her mind.

When the girl would turn to give him a stuttered greeting, Max knew he had been seen. Heard at the very least but still caught. Optics would turn to look at her as he gave greeting of his own. "Hello. After that he would wait for her to give some other reaction. Her head wasn't hanging but was still a bit low, her ears were partly laid back and her tail was slightly tucked. She was, if not frightened, nervous. Just as he was ready to decide she would bolt like a frightened doe she would clear her throat, look at her paws and then back to him. Her next words, along with her tone of voice, told him just how nervous she was.

With a small smile and a shake of his head Max would answer her question. "It use to be, but not now. You cant trespass on something that isn't owned. I just take a nap here from time to time." He hoped his soft voice and reassuring words would take her nervous edge down a few notches. Though calming other wolves was his specialty, he didn't want to spend his time with her trying to calm her.

Ears perked up when the man spoke, his voice surprisingly soft and friendly. Much to her relief this strange structure was not the man's home anymore, and explained how you couldn't trespass on something that wasn't owned. He was just here for naps. "Oh, that's good." She replied with a shy smile, tail slowly pulling out and wagging behind her but no higher than her ankle. But just like that the girl would become confused, not sure what to say next or what to do. Usually with her older sisters they always had something up their sleeve and Ellisa just tagged along, but now she was on her own and with somebody new.

"Do you know what that is?" She motioned towards the large stones, taking a few small steps forward with her head tilting. "I've never seen anything like them before, do you think a pack of wolves did this somehow?" Blabbering on about something that probably had a logical reason but in her nervousness went out the window, instead coming up with an absurd idea. The yearling took a few more steps forward, coming to about six feet in front of the man. She felt a need to start conversation, making the situation less awkward in the only way she could come up with on the spot.

The man would give another small smile and a nod when the girl would answer. It was in fact a good thing, as this place not being owned meant Katja and her hoard weren't here in lands that use to be clamed by Ebony wolves. By him and his friends, or those he thought to be friends anyway. Silently he would watch her as thoughts of the past would drift through his mind and as she would, as he'd hopped, become less nervous. A shy smile would cross her features just as her tail would become just as untucked as it had been tucked. Slowly she would come a bit closer and with a renewed curiosity as a question would fall from her lips and her head would tilt to the side.

Maximous would look from her back to the stone structure and shake his head. For a few moments he would stay silent as another question filled the air. "No, I don't have a name for it and I don't know who or what built it. I only know that it was already here when I became part of the pack that, at the time, claimed this land." he would turn back to the girl who stood roughly about six feet away. "And Im not sure what could have built this."

Ellisa frowned a bit when the man shook his head, her amber eyes trailing along each stone that made up this strange place. There was no name for it, at least that the stranger knew of. And he didn't know what made it, but he did know it has been here awhile, there before he was part of a pack that at the time claimed this spot as theirs. The girl hummed at this, eyes narrowing and head tilting as she thought about it. "Must be old." Mumbling to herself.

Shaking her head, Ellisa quickly refocused on the man and crossed her forelegs. "Will your old pack return?I-I wouldn't want mine to be caught in something if they find me here." Nervousness was creeping back into the yearlings features as she awaited an answer, tip of her tail flicking from side to side and her chest expanding slow but deeply with her breathing to remain calm. After returning to these lands and being welcomed with open arms to her sibling's new home, the light colored female wouldn't want to suddenly throw the pack into trouble because she was found in old pack lands that somebody decided to reclaim. "I've only just been welcomed..."

The dark male would watch as the lightly colored girl would turn her attention back to him and cross her forelegs. His brows however would nit together as she would voice another question, but this one was about his old pack. About Ebony. She would go on to say she wouldn't want her pack to be involved in any mix up. For a few seconds Maximous had realized that his words had made her nervous again both by the way her body reacted and by the fact that she stated she had only just been welcomed. In that instant Max's face would go gentle again and his voice would take the place of hers. "No, Ebony won't be returning any time soon. When ownership of the pack changed hands, the name changed and so to did the pack lands.

Blue orbs would scan over her to see if everything, that had previously tensed up, had relaxed before looking directly at her face once more. "I don't think you have anything to worry about, even if you did I wouldn't let them harm you." he would give another small smile before looking back at the rock structure.

Relief, the pack, called Ebony, would not be returning. They experienced a change in leadership, changed their name and moved to new lands. “Oh thank goodness.” She spoke sweetly, taking a deep breath and shaking her head with a small smile. It would have been horrible timing on her part, being welcomed into a pack to join her sisters only to then cause trouble with another pack of being in their old lands when they suddenly decided to show back. There was no amount of apologizing she would be able to do to make up for it.

Ellisa would relax again, and hopefully remain that way a little longer this time, only switching back and forth to shyness now since the wolf didn't seem bad so far. Looking into his gaze the girl would notice something interesting about him, his eyes, a light shade of blue similar to one of her siblings. The girl would have said something about it but would go quiet when he spoke, telling her that she didn't have anything to worry about and if she did he wouldn't let those pack wolves harm her. Had her face been devoid of fur there probably would have been a noticeable redness spreading over her cheeks, dipping her head slightly. "Th-that's kind of you sir." Protection from another when in danger meant a big deal for the girl, so hearing it from somebody not part of her family was confusing.

"I'm Ellisa..." With a small tail wag she would meet his gaze once more, if he turned back to her, her paws carrying her towards the man's left side. "You have pretty eyes, almost like my sister but lighter.... they shine." The young girl complimented the man, taking a few small steps closer to him and towards the large stone structure. Complimenting seemed to be a thing she did in situations like this, or at least stating the obvious happening. She just hoped it helped a little bit, making things a bit less awkward.

The man would simply sit quietly as the girl spoke grateful words at the relief of Ebony not returning. Memories would race through Max's thoughts and he to would find himself a bit happy that Ebony was no more. It started out as a good place but only ended in disaster after having gone through four alphas only to return to the paws of the second. The alpha who would change everything, but not the alpha who had punished him for welcoming back a pack member. One who, as far as Maximous was concerned, had not become a loner until she chose to be one when Katja took over for the second time.

After a few minutes the girl's voice would break through his train of thought and Max would give her a nod. She may have thought it kind of him, but its just how he was raised. Sure his parents tried to teach him how to fight, but the man despised the thought of drawing blood and causing someone else pain. He was a healer, one who soothed pain not caused it. In the proses he simply found himself to be very protective of others. Especially those he cared for and saw as family.

Again the girl would speak and this time Max would once again look at her only to find that she had moved to his side. She had given him her name along with a compliment. No one had ever complimented him on his eyes before, well no one he ever really cared to listen to and his mother didn't count either. Another small smile would cross his lips just before he would begin talking again. "I am Maximous, and thank you. Your eyes are quite lovely as well." he would offer a compliment to her, just as she had to him.

A blush formed across the girls cheeks as Maximous complimented her as well, chin tucking in before she turned away. "Th-thank you." She replied, clearing her throat quickly and making her way past the man, looking over her shoulder briefly to see if he remained there or turned to see what she was doing. Quickly she turned back and would glance around the open space, head tilting, body twisting in a circle. He had been taking naps here, but had he explored it? The explorer in her wanted to climb over the large stones and look for interesting objects, see if there were any secret spaces that others might not have noticed.

"Do you want to explore it with me?" Voice turned sweet as Ellisa turned back to the man with a smile, tail in the air wagging around. She always enjoyed doing that with her sisters, spending time together and just having fun finding new things and making up stories about why they were there and what happened to a place. The man seemed older though, but perhaps she would get lucky and he would want to join in.

The man would sit quietly as she would shyly thank him and made her way to the ruin behind him. He wondered if she was actually shy or if no one had ever complimented her before. Either way she was doing a good job of keeping his mind off of the rest of the world. His mind was set toward being friendly and not doing anything that might scare her off.

When he would turn to see what Ellisa was doing she had looked back to see if he was still watching. A small grin would form of his maw as she acted as through she hadnt looked back and began wagging her tail at the structure. Before she could ask her question Max had already been wondering why one would be so excited about something that was so broken. Her question both answered his unspoken questiin and required an answer."Sure" he said as he got to his paws to go to her side.

He seemed to be a man of few words, Ellisa didn't mind at all, in fact, it would help her so she wouldn't go blabbing on just to make up. With him joining at her side the girl would push forward with a swing of her tail, a small bounce in her step as she stepped down into a dip in the ground. Amber eyes swept up then down the sides of what she assumed was walls, stopping at a pile of rubble that blocked her from continuing forward without climbing over. "It looks like it was a lot of work." Voice was quiet as she crouched down, nostrils flaring at the sniffs she did to gather scents but instead got dust. Suddenly she lifted her skull, face scrunching in a ridiculous manner before a sneeze erupted from her jaws. "Excuse me." Giggle was light, moving back forward but this time using her paws to hook around a piece of stone and tugged it down. It scraped against the pile, rolling beneath Ellisa as she went to pull another out of place. "Maybe we will find treasure, hm?"

Max would give a nod of agreement as Elisa spoke. It did look like someone or something had put a lot of work into what ever the structure had once been. The first thing that came to mind was that it might have been someone's home before it had fallen into a large pile of rubble. Though he had never really explored the area beneath, he knew there was more to it. He had been inside a few times, once in ebony to escape nature's wrath and just a little whike ago to take a small nap.

The woman next to him would break the silence with a sneaze and a giggled 'Excuse me' only seconds before pulling a rock out of their way. As it tumbled down the pile and she moved to remove another she spoke of treasure. "Im not sure what kind of treasure would be down there, but maybe." blue orbs would fall upon the younger wolf as he tried to imagine what kind of treasure would lay beneath the surface.