Jais

The lone wolf padded into the boggy land, loping across a length of raised earth that was less saturated than the lower areas around it. His fur matched the white of the snow that clung in patches here and there, where the underground thermals weren't quite enough to keep all the cold at bay. The only color marring his hueless pelage was a streak of black stretching from his left shoulder to half way along his side. A pair of bright yellow eyes completed the look, setting on a long-snouted face and famed by two tall, rectangular ears. Only a series of grayed scars, represented by narrow, jagged strips of furless skin, detracted from his appearance. And yet in the height of winter, even these old battle marks, littered around his neck, were mostly obscured by his dense fur.

Jais padded along in the reflective silence, watching as he went with eyes that were only half aware of what they were seeing, such was the depth at which he thought. His steps were still careful however, as he now moved upon a fallen cottonwood trunk and crossed over the gnarly surface without missing a step.

Galar

Whether he was aware of it or not, Jais was being watched. Thankfully for him, the waters were cold enough to make all the local reptiles slower than snails and most too chilled to eat until spring arrived and thawed the half-frozen waters. Even so, the pair of speckled orbs watching him belonged to Galar, who had the peculiar habit of befriending canids rather than eating them.
"Jais?" Galar rumbled in a low, drawn out greeting. His dark, toothy mug was slightly raised from the water, being the only part of the alligator that was currently visible. "Storm's son... yeah? And Glider?" He continued to speak in a drawn out fashion, thanks to the cold that made his breath come slow and his reactions even slower.

Jais

'It might be worth it, I don't know... I might as well try, now that she isn't with the Haunters any longer. Or is she?' Jais was lost in his ponderings about Nachi, uncertain whether it would be wise or not to approach his sister and try to reconnect with her. Midway through these thoughts, a hissing, grumble of a voice snapped him from these mental questions.
Jais stopped and turned so suddenly that he nearly fell off the log, and had to do some fancy footwork to stop from falling into the chilly waters. "Uh..." Before his eyes ever picked out the reptile, he'd more or less identified the voice. Rarely had he spoke to Galar, but he did know hom. "..yesh, Jais. Son of Storm Alarm and Glider." It took a beat or two for his racing heart to calm down, and as it did, he finally spotted the half-hidden gator that was peering up at him from the murky depths.

Galar

Galar smiled a typical gator smile, which, lacking lips, was expressed by a slight parting of the jaws just enough to show off all of his glorious teeth. The pleasant squinting of his eyes is what defined the expression, when a show of teeth alone could mean so many things. "It's been a while since I've seen you, you know. You're mother use to come here quite often." One of his scaly brows lifted up in a halfhearted accusation. "What have you been up to all this time Jais? My, you got to be..." Galar set himself into a conversation, regardless to whether the wolf wanted to chat or not. "...six years old now?"

Jais

He'd been ready to carry on his way, but apparently Galar had other things in mind. Though it would have been easy enough to leave, Jais thought better of it and sat back on his haunches. "I don't really remember my mother, to tell you the truth." Jais said, a little wistfully, without letting it drag his tones down too much. "But I know she was a good friend of yours. And no; I'm actually seven now." That made him shift his paws a bit, being reminded that he was approaching old age soon. He didn't feel it at all - he'd lived a relatively good life thus far, and felt as strong and vibrant as ever, but one day the years would catch up to him.

Galar

"She was a very good friend." Galar confirmed and gave a nod that sent ripples through the dark water. "I've known her since she was a pup." There was something beyond his cheerful eyes and raspy voice, but it was hard to tell what memories might have been stirred by the talk of the late Storm Alarm. And just as quickly, he was moving on, "Seven is it?" Galar glided a little nearer to the log where Jais sat, moving slow as molasses. "So tell me about yourself. Have you found yourself a nice she-wolf yet? What about that lovely lady, Tri-Star? Have any pups underfoot?"

Jais

'He's more talkative than I remembered...' The wolf gave a mental chuckle at the thought. The mention of Tri-Star didn't exactly sit well with him, but rather than linger on the painful past and the wonder over whether the beautiful fae even alive or dead, he smiled it away and shook his head, "I'm afraid I don't have any little ones of my own yet. Life has been... kind of busy. I guess I just haven't had time for things like that yet." Jais eased himself down onto his belly, finding the log just wide enough that he could lay down on it without one end of him or the other falling off. "How about yourself? Have you got a special she-gator for yourself?" The image of Galar with any one of the feisty females of the marsh was an amusing thought to Jais, when Galar was one of the quirkiest reptiles he'd ever known. Not wanting to offend his scaly acquaintance however, the wolf kept these thoughts to himself.

Galar

More often than not, Galar could come across as stunningly flippant in his conversations, a feat that tended to make his intelligence and observational skills look less than average. But behind his jovial and light-hearted actions, there was a sharp wit and keen intelligence, and a primal ferocity that could show itself on the rare occasion. Right now, very little of that was showing. "Three, actually. And at last count, twenty one new hatchlings from this summer." That was the other peculiar habit of Galar; ever since he'd been tasked with raising Dimi and Akili, he had a knack for looking out for baby gators, when most males would just as soon make a snack out of them.

Jais

"Twenty one?!" He couldn't imagine himself having so many little ones running... er, swimming about, much less having three mates! There were those canines in the Valley who did do such things, but Jais preferred to stick with the traditional one mate. That is, if he could ever find a mate in the first place, which so far, he'd been unsuccessful at. "I don't suppose you have names for all of them? I don't think I could begin to remember so many of them." 'Especially if they all look alike.' To Jais, most of the gators all looked the same, and couldn't imagine how they could tell each other apart. Humans also looked the same to him, and he found it particularly confusing how they tended to change the color of their outer garments all the time, so that they were always different colors.

Galar

"Yes, well, I don't think half as many will survive the winter, but it is quite a batch, isn't it?" The way he spoke of the youngsters likely not surviving probably didn't sound all that nice, but then for a species like him who produced so many younglings, they were well use to a high mortality level. In any case, him taking any concern at all for the hatchlings was quite something, and he expressed it in his next words, "No, not all of them yet. There is one little female who reminds me of Akili. I've named her Ilika, and she seems to like it, and her mother has even adopted the name."