The orchard seemed to be filled with new things for him to explore. After escaping the cold the snake was finding himself hiding in the south due to the weather. It seemed like Boreas was experiencing a harsh winter this season as they got further into it and for a cobra like him that was bad news. Koby didn't mind however, it just meant that he had to try a little harder to get around. So in the orchard he was able to find a nice boulder to climb on top of and soak in the sun. Towering himself up as he spread his hood for a moment then folded it back down flickering his tongue as he looked across the area. The one downside to never being able to blink, he had to make sure not to stare into the sun. It didn't matter anyway as his daylight eyesight was not excellent either.

"I wonder who will crosss my path today." he stated as he curled his body on the rock. The sun was beginning to warm him, creating more energy for the snake. He didn't need to eat for another week or so. Only once every few months did he need to eat, but he hadn't found a good source of food for himself yet. Perhaps he could ask a local there had to be an area filled with snakes to eat. Koby wondered about this as he soaked up the sun.

The girl had more than enough fruit collected to last Pip through the winter, but she didn't have much else to do today, so she decided to head to the orchard and search again. She'd had an encounter with Jupiter the last time she was here and she had ended up realizing after what a complete weirdo he was. The cream and grey girl was leery to meet someone new and hoped that she would have the space to herself. Unfortunately, that would not be the case. As dainty paws picked quietly through the grass, a soft, hissing voice met her tall ears. Moving forward towards the voice, Asla came round a small gathering of trees to see a snake coiled upon a rock, sunning itself. Her head tilted slightly. She had never seen a snake quite like this. There had been other types of snakes, of course. She had killed a few just to see if she could. This one had an odd hood attached to it. What was it all about? Keeping her distance, she decided to answer the snakes question that it put to the world. "It looks like I'll be the one crossing your path today." Dark ears flicked forward and plum colored eyes locked on the serpent. Would it respond with friendliness or aggression? "Speech"

The sun had done well to give him some energy. Koby turned his head towards the wolf who had approached him, a tiny thing. At least compared to full grown adults and more that he had seen. With a flick of his tongue he could smell that she was very young. A child - less than a year old but reaching there. As he made sure his hood was folded the slim snake would smile as best he could, unblinking eyes making note of her appearance. "Kakoy krasivyy molodoy volk."(What a beautiful young wolf) he would speak in russian as he slithered to the ground. However he easily rose to match her height so they could be eye level. After all he was massive being over a foot long.

"It doesss sseem that way young one. My name isss Koby itsss a pleassure to meet you." he dipped his head in a sort of greeting. After all the Cobra was still learning the ways and cultures of these lands. He was hoping one day he could find out the culture every pack but that was nearly impossible. As politics being as it was Wolves had a peculair way of doing things.

As the snake approached her, saying something in a tongue that Aslatiel didn't understand, A loud snarling growl erupted from behind her. Enki, her aunt Iolaire's big, male snow leopard rushed forward, thinking that the snake was going to harm the young girl. "No!" Aslatiel called out quickly, turning to intercept the rushing cat. "No, Enki. The snake is nice. Stay with me though." It would ease the leopards mind if she let him stay close. With a growl and a glare at the snake, the spotted cat moved to the side, depositing himself beneath one of the fruit trees. The glare still narrowed his pale green eyes and his long tail lashed back and forth, but he would be calm for now. Turning her attention to the snake who introduced himself as Koby, Aslatiel nodded her own head just as he had. She rather liked the way that he elongated the S's when he spoke. Purple eyes glittered playfully. "My name is Assssslatiel Fatalis of the Ashen Armada. The pleasure is all mine." She'd been taking lessons in etiquette from her aunt. The girl was learning to speak very prettily as befitted a princess. "What are you doing in the orchard, Koby? Most of the fruit is gone. I picked it all myself. I'm drying it so that my bat, Pip, has plenty of food to eat during the winter." She was very proud of that accomplishment. Her parents had tasked her with caring for the bat all on her own, so she had asked around to figure out how to feed the fruit eating creature during the winter. Again, her aunt Iolaire had supplied her with the knowledge. Io was the smartest wolf Aslatiel knew. The cream and grey girl tilted her head to the side. "Do you eat fruit?" "Speech"

Koby lacked fear when it came to larger creatures. Perhaps because of his pacifist nature, or perhaps because he knew the mistake the snow leopard could make. One bite from his venomous fangs and there would be absolutely nothing anyone else could do to save the creature. A sad thought to him, he was a man of culture and dignity. He would hate to take a life over something so stupid and he had yet to do so as well. "My apologesse missster leopard. I did not mean to threaten you." he would apologize to the creature. It was absolutely amusing to him how the little pup would roll her ss's with him. A lisp because English was not his best language.

"Assslatiel is a beautiful name for a beautiful young wolf. A princessss you sssay! It isss an honor." he bowed as much as a snake could. The unblinking eyes of the snake becoming attentive. How he would love to read the fortune of this young one! He had a love for royalty the Cobra was happy to learn of other cultures. "Well that sssoundss like a very nice thing to do for your bat. You sssee I cannot regulate my own temperature like you wolvesss. I musst find placesss to sssunbath to get my energy for the day, the winter isss an esspecially taxing time for me." he would state as he groaned a bit. He honestly hated it.

"I am a carnivore like yoursself. Unlesss wolvess eat fruit?" he tilted his head as well, his tongue flicking out of his mouth. He was no wolf expert after all. "My favorite meal isss ssnakess not of my sspeciess, or Fissh. Luckily I only need to eat once every few monthsss." it made him happy to share information and to get information all the same. A princess too was one of his favorite people to service. "I am a travelling fortune teller you ssee, I wisssh to become well known in Boreasss." his tongue flickered out in excitement.

Enki settled down, though there was still a slight growl in his maw. Aslatiel turned her attention back to the snake with rapt attention. He spoke again, complimenting her and she grinned. It was nice to hear that she was pretty from someone that wasn't related to her. Though she wouldn't come close to being as vain as her aunt Iolaire, she would always be conscious of her appearance. Asla listened as Koby spoke of the hardships of body temperature and of his eating preferences. It was quite interesting to learn. She'd never spoken to a snake before. Hearing that he ate other snakes brought a soft gasp from the girl. "You eat snakes? We ate snake too. My grandma killed an..." She tilted her head slightly as she tried to remember the word. "Anaconda? A big, big snake. It tried to eat her." When Koby asked if wolves ate fruit, Aslatiel giggled and nodded. "Some do. My aunt Io will do anything for strawberries. I enjoy nice, crisp apples." Koby said that he was a fortune teller, but she didn't really know what that was, so she asked. "What does a fortune teller do?" He said that he wanted to be well known across the land and Asla nodded before folding her haunches to sit. "If you work hard you can achieve anything. I'm sure you'll be very well known." "Speech"

Koby didn't mind the leopard. It was only trying to protect the girl and he understood that. As the snake made sure his full attention was on the pup as she spoke. An anaconda! He hadn't seen one of those in years. As far as he was concerned a lot of the other snakes were not as intelligent as his race but of course he could always be proved wrong. "Sssoundss sscary! Cobrasss tend to mind their own bussiness we're actually a very doccile type of sspeciess." it was true and he wanted to make that known. They just wanted to live their own lives and go about their business. When she went to speak about wolves eating fruit he was surprised! Something he didn't know. "Interesssting! I never knew you could eat sssuch thingsss, if I tried I would probably throw it back up." his body just simply wasn't made for such things.

His eyes gleamed when she asked what a fortune teller did. Excitement expressed through a quick opening of his mouth slightly and then shutting as his tongue flickered out. "My dear girl!" he exclaimed. "A fortune teller tellsss of your passt, pressent, and future! I read the bonesss of your prey and give a essstimation of what might happen to you at thossee datess. It'sss a ssugesstion asss we have control of our own desstiniesss." he hoped this was something that she could understand. As she said he could accomplish what he wanted by working hard he was proud of such things. "Thank you, it isss nice to hear a princess ssay thiss to me." he dipped his head to her.

Koby seemed excited about the prospect of an anaconda and Asla couldn't help but grin. He spoke about cobras being generally docile and she tilted her head a bit, purpler gaze narrowing. "Do all cobras speak my language? Could they understand me if I told them that I didn't mean to hurt them?" Meeting Koby made her not want to hurt snakes anymore. At least not cobras. And if she could stop them from biting her possibly, that was even better. After listening to the ins and outs of fortune telling, Aslatiel's eyes were alight with wonder. He could tell the future with the bones of her prey? Which bones? How many bones? Did she need to go kill something now? Could she take him to the clearing where she had tons and tons of bones? The girl was terribly intrigued. "Will you tell my fortune? What do I need to get for you?" The creamy girl was very eager to know what the cobra would tell her. He thanked her for her kind words and she grinned anew. "If you tell my fortune, I'll tell others about you so that they can find you and have their fortunes told too." It seemed like a good deal to her. "Speech"

If he were a wolf, Koby would definitely be wagging his tail. He loved learning about these wolves and their lives - fortune telling was a passtime in his family. While others had tried to take advantage of it he loved doing it for fun. That was why he always gave full disclosure that reading could change at any time given the erratic nature of life itself. In his excitement his hood actually came out. Flashing his cream underside and markings. "Ssorry my hood comesss out when I get excited." he chuckled as he promptly folded his hood back to his body so that he had a smooth head once more. "Mmm King Cobrass who look like me mosstly know my native tongue. We hail from a land far from here that isss almosst alwaysss hot. Though I'd sstill be cautious of any ssnake." he would explain to her. "I learned thisss tongue through yearss of training." Perhaps he should give her a taste of his native tongue then. "If you'd like I can teach you ssome ssimple phrasssess in my native tongue." he slithered closer for a moment hoping that he had gotten close enough to her that the leopard wouldn't mind.

"Wǒ de míngzì jiào Aslatiel Fatalis, wǒ shì gōngzhǔ" his s's did not drag in his native tongue. "I ssaid, My name isss Assslatiel Fatalisss, I am a princessss" he would explain to her with a smile. "You can hunt whatever animal you wisshh, no matter how big or how ssmall. Musst be fressh, then I can read your fortune to you! It would be my pleassure honesstly and I thank you very much for the good word!" a wolf so young and full of life was bound to have an interesting fortune no doubt. She was strong sounding and if her kingdom was strong too there was no doubt that she would grow up for greatness.

The cobras hood flashed open and Asla could feel Enki tense beside her. The cat had obviously had a bad run in with a snake in his past. The girl gave the leopard a pat on the paw and turned her attention back to Koby. He admitted that most cobras didn't know foreign tongues and she frowned for a moment before he offered to teach her some words in his own language. Koby spoke the words and Asla tried hard to memorize them. "Whoa de mínki jow Aslatiel Fatalis, whoa she gonzo." Asla couldn't help but burst into laughter afterwards. Oh, she had mucked that up badly. When Koby told her that she could hunt whatever she wanted and bring it back to him, the girls eyes brightened. "Will you wait here? I'll be right back!" Scrambling to her feet, Aslatiel took off into the long grass around the orchard. She sniffed for her prey, knowing almost exactly where to find it. Climbing atop a rock, she looked down into a hole and remained silent. Some time later, a fat field mouse poked its head out of the hole. She waited until it was fully out of the hole before diving forward and landing upon it. The spine snapped and the rodent died with a squeak. Finding the mouse had taken a little longer than she planned and so she hoped that Koby would still be on his rock when she padded back to it, mouse in mouth. "Speech"

Koby felt bad for startling the snow leopard. He turned to the creature giving a soft dip of his head, it probably would take some time for the creature to get used to him. He knew how dangerous other snakes could be, especially those like him who were extremely deadly if they were to release their venom. As a pacifist Koby always kept his fangs folded in their proper cases, he only had ever used them once to protect himself. He always killed his prey with his tiny needle like teeth already in his mouth. He waited patiently for the pup to return. What she brought to him was a mouse - ahh! A small prey. It fit perfectly for her if he was being honest.

"Now all you have to do isss eat it and give me the bonesss." he instructed. After all he couldn't read the fortune unless the one he was reading was the one to consume the life. A wise god story once stated that predators were connected to their prey in more ways than one. When one murdered... a certain enlightenment of a dark side was there. Life and death was a strange cycle even Koby knew that himself.

Given the instruction of eating the mouse, Aslatiel blinked a few times. Maybe she should have caught something bigger. A rabbit maybe? Carefully, she opened the fat rodent with one sharp claw and plucked out a few choice bits which she promptly ate. The mouse had a belly of underdeveloped babies and the girl ate them up, crunching their somewhat soft bones between her jaws. Once she had eaten what she could, she pushed the flayed corpse, ribs and other various bones piled up inside, towards the cobra.

Intently, Aslatiel watched with vibrant purple eyes, wondering just what the snake would do. She still had no idea how this worked. What would he tell her? Would it be good news or bad news? Would he have news of her place in the world? Would he tell her which brother would take the Armada throne? There were endless questions and she couldn't wait to have answers to some of them.

He was always fascinated by the different ways each species ate. Wolves though, the ones that dominated these lands always had an interesting way of eating. Koby wasn't sure if they noticed but they all ate specifically differently. While one wolf may consume a deer, another eating a mouse was a different story. Even the same prey and in which this was why their heart and soul was poured into their prey. Koby could see on her face she thought she should have chosen a bigger animal, however it was not the first time he had read the bones of a mouse. A few owls in his time would ask for his readings. Not to mention he believed that she was drawn to a specific prey item for a reason.

Koby looked to the flayed corpse, uncaring of the children that the girl ate. Carefully his thick tip of a tail would move bones delicately into three piles. It was easily with his precise tail curled around itself. The three piles consisted of the vertibrae of the neck along with a hind leg bone in the first, the ribs in a second, and the teeth in the third. His eyes would stare blankly on - no eyelids but his eyebrows would widen. It had been a very... very long time since he'd seen teeth in the future readings. It was a rare thing and he wondered what she would think of it.

"I mussst sssay.... your reading isss one I haven't ssseen in yearss." he would wave his tail over the bones reaching into his memories for his teachings and gut feelings. First he would push towards the pule of neck bones and hind leg bone. "Your passt. There wasss a fight you were caught in the middle of. Unknown to you and it ssstung and hurt, thiss fight put a rift between you and othersss that you love." he would wait looking at Aslatiel then.... what a sad life she did live. She was passionate perhaps a little bit unstable but none of these things really bothered him. He then pointed his tail to the pile of ribs. "Your presssent. You are facing a very vosataile time in your life. Thingss are confussing, you are disscovering urgesss and desssperate to undersstand them." At times Koby was not aware of what these readings meant. He was not a mind and life reader he didn't know of anything about Aslatiel other than what she had told him but he was turning to the teeth. "Teeth are usssually a sssign of difficulty in your future. There isss uncertainty and worry. You are going to be faced with a difficult decisssion that you must tread lightly on. Your life dependss on thessee viewss and the power of the starsss dependsss on thesse choicess. Life, Death, Love and losss - ssstrength and power, weakness and worth. However, do not fear thisss. You are part of a very important part of the world depending on you and your power on otherss." Koby would stay quiet as he then returned his gaze to her.

"You are a very powerful pup Assslatiel. Your life has been filled with hard decissionss of coursse I assume it'ss becausse your a princess, but. Don't let thisss reading bother you after all like I sssaid, readingss are suggessstions not fact. You control your fate and your reading can change within minutesss, dayss or even yearss." He wanted to let her know this. Last time he had to read teeth the king had tried to chase him down. One of the very few times he had to use his fangs. Koby didn't think Aslatiel the type but he still gave these warnings now because of it. Now he had to wait to see what her thoughts would be on it.

As Koby looked over the bones of the decimated mouse, she could see the expressions flitting across his unblinking features. The girl found it quite odd that a snake could be that expressive, but he definitely was. What was he seeing in there? Asla could barely wait to hear what he had to say and, when he finally began to speak, he had her rapt attention. His first words were rather ominous as he stated that her reading was rare. As he began to delve into the intricacies of her reading, the girl stilled. Her brows drew together as she stared at the snake incredulously. How could he tell that from a pile of bones? She guessed that the conflict he was speaking of was her fight with Azure. There was definitely a rift there. Not only had he said some nasty things to her, but she knew now that she couldn't trust him with her innermost thoughts. A barrier had been erected that could never be torn down. Next came her present and, if possible, Asla's brow furrowed even more. Again, the snake was correct. She was going through a rough time at present. She didn't know what to do with herself or the tsunami of emotions that were constantly banging around inside her head. The girl didn't have the slightest idea of how to deal with them. Her future was seen in teeth. Aslatiel didn't know how to feel about what Koby was saying, but so far it seemed right. Not much had been easy so far, so why wouldn't her future be difficult? The formerly bubbly child was now quite solemn, a frown tugging down the corners of her little mouth. What would she do with this information? Was it a comfort to know that she would have the power to sway others or was it some sort of omen saying that she was just a cog in the machine of life? It was too much for her to deal with, especially now. Koby assured her that, though this was what he was reading, things could change. She had the power to change the future. That was good to know, at least. "I don't know if I'm happy with the reading or upset by it. It's a lot to take in." Did her 'power over others' mean that she would influence Mort and Azure? Would she be the catalyst that brought one or the other to take the throne? It was a lot of responsibility. She was glad that it was in her future rather than her present. The girl remembered her manners at least. "Thank you, Koby. I...have a lot to think about." Her mind, already a miasma of emotion, was now bombarded by new thoughts. Many 'what-ifs' were flying through her head a mile a minute. She didn't know what to do with herself. "Speech"

Koby understood now that the princess' life was complicated. She was going to have to do a lot of growing even for someone of her age and the snake sympathized. His tongue flickered out of his mouth taking his tail he scattered the bones away. Letting them be in the elements and it was up to the girl if she wanted to pick them up but right now he could tell that there was a lot on her mind after she had said she was unsure if she was happy or unhappy with it. "If you want my advice... it'sss okay to be neither happy nor unhappy." processing emotions was important and if she wasn't sure how to feel there was many more things to discover.

Koby would nod his head to her thank you and he smiled flicking his tongue out once more. "It wasss my pleassure Asslatiel to read sssuch a sspecial reading. I sssuposse it'ss time I took my leave. If you ever need another reading jussst call for me, you'd be sssurprisssed how far I can hear. Or... if you need anyone to talk to." he didn't judge because it wasn't his place to. It was her culture and he was not a wolf. So he was happy to lend an ear - even if they weren't visible on him. The snake dipped his head and made his way to slither off. Though he would stay if she wished.

-attempt exit.-