"Come on mafelas!" Faleni yelled over her shoulder. She and Sular were making their way through a very thick part of the forest and Faleni's small size made it easier to weave through the undergrowth. The older elf winced several meters behind her, his foot stuck in a root.

"Quiet da'len. You'll scare everything away if you keep shouting." he said, hopping a little to free himself. "And if you don't slow down, you'll miss the tracks."

"But we're still really close to camp. All of the wolves will be scared anyway." Faleni whined, but she slowed her pace enough for Sular to catch up.

"How much do you know about tracking?"

"I know a lot!" she said indignantly.

"Don't lie da'len. You do it badly. You're far too young to know 'a lot'. Meanwhile, I've been one of the best scouts in my clan since before you were born." He pointed to something on the ground. "Maybe you ought to listen to me." Faleni was confused, but she knelt down to examine the spot Sular was pointing at. It was a small patch of leaves on the ground. She looked back at Sular, who just continued to grin and point at the spot. She studied the spot as hard as she could, until finally she saw it; the leaves were pressed as if they had been stepped on and one or two were almost shredded from claws digging in. A print. And she would have missed it entirely. Faleni could feel the blush creeping up her cheeks.

"Abelas hahren." she said. Sular patted her shoulder and took the lead, picking his way slowly through through the forest in search of the next print. Faleni followed along behind; she paid close attention to how he moved, and she did her best to emulate him. The blond elf was light on his feet. His first few steps were hesitant but as he picked up the trail he began to move with the confidence of a stalking cat. Faleni couldn't see most of the tracks he was seeing; though she tried, her eyes just weren't as quick as his.

"Is it a fresh trail we're following Sular?" she asked after they had been searching for a while with no animals in sight.

"Somewhat. It wasn't made today, but it's new enough. Chances are we'll cross a fresher one – or if we're really lucky this will lead to their den. Unlike us, the wolf tribes around here have permanent homes." Sular chuckled darkly. Faleni didn't know why he thought that was funny. According to Paivel, it was a tragedy that the elvhen were driven out of their lands and forced to wander the world, hated by everyone. They continued on in silence; getting further and further from the Arlathvhen. Sular had changed directions so many times that she was hopelessly lost. She told Sular so, but he just shrugged.

"Then don't go too far from me. But here's a tip, da'len; our camp is next to a river – it has to be with so many of the elvhen here. If you get lost, find the river and head upstream. Or you can retrace your steps. I daresay you've left a decent enough trail."

"I haven't left any kind of a trail." Faleni snitted. Sular looked askance at her. "I haven't!" Sular stopped his search for tracks, and went back to look behind Faleni. His eyes widened in surprise.

"Well, you'd better stick to finding the river, Faleni. You pick things up quickly. Or is this something your clan already taught you?" he asked, cocking his head curiously. She shrugged.

"I'm really good at not being found."

"I'm sure you are." he said, mussing her red hair playfully. "It's a good skill to have." Having seen that Faleni wasn't entirely unskilled, he made a point of slowing down his pace so that the girl would get a chance to see what he was seeing. Faleni was starting to see the pattern of disturbances; broken branches, shallow scratches, fresh dirt on top of old. Once she managed to spot something before Sular did, and was so excited by her discovery that he once again had to remind her that they were after some very shy animals.

After awhile they came upon a break in the woods and Sular frowned slightly. Faleni could hear rushing water and through the thinning trees they could see a small river carving a path through the forest. They followed the tracks right up to the bank and then stopped. Sular signaled Faleni to wait and leapt across to the other side. After combing up and down for a few minutes, he came back to Faleni, plunking down on the bank with a sigh.

"I think we've lost the trail da'len," he said as the water ran over his bare feet.

"Aren't we going to look for another one?"

"I'd like to sit for a spell if you don't mind. We'll try again in a bit." He closed his eyes, and didn't speak again. The elf girl stood fidgeting for a moment before plopping herself down next to him. She stuck her feet in the water and shivered at the cold.

"Sular..." she said, after what felt like an hour of silence. "What clan are you from?"

"Uthergal." he said.

"Uthergal? Oh." Faleni suddenly felt very nervous. Did he know where she was from? What would he do if he found out? What would Ashalle do if she found out Faleni was with an Uthergal hunter?

"Oh?" Sular opened his eyes and squinted at her. "Why oh?" Ashalle could be dealt with later; first thing's first.

"Did... did you know I'm from Sabrae?" She cringed. The moment of truth; she just hoped that he wouldn't do something horrible to her.

"Yes da'len." he said softly. His eyes grew dark, and with the tattoo of Falon'din covering his entire face, he looked more than a little imposing.

"I thought Uthergal and Sabrae hated each other. Don't you hate me?"

"Tell me about yourself, Faleni Mahariel." he asked, ignoring the question entirely.

"I...but... what do you want to know?" she asked, startled by the abrupt change in subject.

"Everything, but let's start with something easy. How old are you?"

"I'm nine. I was born in the spring."

"Who are your parents?"

"Umm... my papae was Keeper Jurith Mahariel, and my mamae was..." she wracked her brain, trying to remember the name. "Vetya! That's it! That's what Ashalle told me!" Sular's face flickered through several unreadable expressions, but finally settled on a look of concern.

"Who's Ashalle?"

"She's my guardian. My parents died. A long time ago. Ashalle said they were killed by shemlen." She stared down at the water and kicked her feet, sending a long spray of water towards the other bank. "I don't remember them at all."

"How is Ashalle related to you?"

"She is of my clan. I used to call her mamae, but she's not, so I stopped." The thought made her sad; though she had forgiven her guardian's lie, she could never bring herself to call Ashalle 'mamae' again. In a way, she missed the innocence of her youth.

"What else do you know of your parents?"

"That's it. Ashalle doesn't like to talk about them very much." Sular appeared to consider this for a bit. Faleni couldn't think of anything else to say, and waited for his next question.

"Who were those boys I saw you talking to earlier?"

"That's Tamlen and Fenarel. They're my best friends." Faleni could, and did talk at length about her friends, and the man continued to smile at her babbling, though his blue eyes did glaze over slightly at points. She talked about her life, her clan, her hopes and her dreams. The sun was near setting when Sular finally stopped her.

"Da'len, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let you talk so long. It's going to be too late to find wolves now." he said sadly. Faleni's face fell. "But perhaps we could try again tomorrow?"

"Well, maybe. I have lessons to go to first, or Paivel will get mad at me again."

"Just come to the Uthergal camp when you can." he asked, pleading. Faleni really wanted to search for wolves again, and she couldn't find the heart to say no. Still the thought of walking straight into the Uthergal camp scared her.

"But... I'm Sabrae..."

"We won't eat you. I don't know about your clan, but my clan only eats shemlen and other animals." he said smiling. Faleni laughed. He leapt up from the bank, his blond hair flopping down over one eye, and reached a hand down towards her. She grabbed it gratefully and hauled herself up. "Let's get back." Sular started walking, still holding Faleni's hand.

They followed the river back to the Arlathvhen, which proved to be a much shorter route than the one they originally took. They stopped just before the main entrance.

"Until tomorrow, Faleni Mahariel." Sular bent down and kissed the girl on the forehead. He ruffled her hair affectionately and headed towards Uthergal's site. Faleni waved goodbye to her new friend and skipped back to her camp. Most her clan was sitting around the campfire, partaking of their evening meal. She sidled in next to Tamlen, who handed her a bowl of stew.

"Where were you?" he whispered conspiratorially. "Fenarel and I covered for you, but I think Ashalle might suspect something."

"Nowhere." she said, as she dug in to eat. "Just looking around."