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He couldn't risk being heard, scented, or seen by the deer, so he maintained a slow pace, careful to keep his distance so his presence might remain a secret. As such, he let himself dither a bit- meandering from the trail of tracks and scents so that he might investigate others in the area. It seemed a bountiful enough region- notes of fox urine here and there marked it as hunting grounds for lone predators, and likely indicative that smaller prey animals were abundant. He found patches of rabbit scat, confirming his earlier suspicions. There was no doubt about it- a lone wolf could likely go the winter in these woods, if they kept their presence fairly quiet, and didn't exhaust the resources too quickly.

When he found the deer trail becoming too hot, he suspected that they, too, had slowed their pace. Ksura was keen to keep his distance, and so he made the unusual choice of doubling back on his own trail for a bit. If the wind shifted while the deer stopped to graze, he might lose his advantage if he held his position. He moved back along the way he'd originally come, intending to keep his footprint in the area fairly small- and in doing so, came to realize that he wasn't the only wolf in the area.

The scent of the other wolf came to him first, and caused him to pause. He recognized, immediately, the scent of Saatsine- and wondered if he was being pursued by one who might recognize him. He concentrated first on identifying the other wolf- finding markers that were both familiar and foreign to him. It wasn't Cen, not for sure- but the other wolf smelled of him. It was a young male, from what he could tell, and likely, then, not so much of a threat- or so he thought, until he caught a glimpse of the young man, observing him from a distance.

Time had passed since he'd seen the boy- so much time that he couldn't be entirely certain that this was, in fact, one of the Caribou hunter's own sons....But by the look of him, he was of the right age. The boy's markings had changed, but such would be typical of a wolf who'd had puppy fur the last time he'd been seen. Eyes open now, ears pricked, this young man could have been anyone- but the stern glint of his eyes caused a familiar shudder to run down Ksura's spine.

He didn't consider that the boy might not recognize him at all- had he not been so shocked, he might have realized that he wouldn't immediately be labelled as a traitor. Ksura was not good at keeping his cool, or handling himself under a stressful situation and so, his immediate reaction was 'fuuuuuuuck, I'm dead.' It was obvious enough by his scent that Caan hadn't been 'rescued' from Saatsine in the split- he had a place in his father's pack, whether it was by force or by choice, Ksura couldn't have known. His one brain cell was already busy enough trying to find a way out of this situation.

"Shhhhhh," He said, as if trying to calm the sleeping grizzly he'd just awakened. "We can be cool," He said in a low, calm voice, though he was practically ready to bolt the moment the young man made a move.