Mount Apikuni No one 'round here's good at keeping their eyes closed.

Grezig, at this point, was simply waiting and watching the situation. Minori was non-threatening so she had no reason to say or do anything. She listened as Kavik confirmed that this group was a pack in the making and asked her if she needed a place to stay. Minori’s answer—that she wanted to know more about the pack first before she made up her mind—struck Grezig as an intelligent thing to ask, and her jealousy of the woman lessened some, and became instead a small inkling of respect. It was the kind of question she could not remember asking the alphas herself at the time of joining them. She had asked those questions much later, when it made less sense to do so. Hmm.

Liri’s voice broke through her thoughts, and Grezig could not help the small smile that graced her lips at the last sentence: ’We wanted a place where people would be heard and treated as more than a means to an end.’

This was still a foreign concept to Grezig, whose natal pack had been utterly instinctive. All members, including the alphas, were used as means to an end. For Grezig, such a concept was not at all offensive or bothersome. She understood that doing this had value. Treating others in a pack as a means to an end allowed all members to be provided with food and shelter and protection, without the need for useless emotions. If a member was not performing up to par, they were demoted, or ousted completely. No hard feelings. But here… here, it was different. In this group, wolves cared for one another. It was still something that the earthen woman found… strange. Enjoyable, definitely, but strange all the same.