Wolf RPG

Her garden was about in as good a state as it would get for now. She'd groomed the plants neatly and added a few more additions here and there. The marigold Nochtli'd brought her was fitting in quite nicely... now it was just a matter of sitting and waiting. Plants were incredibly slow things and required a large quantity of patience. That left her with plenty of time to wander and roam the borders.

It was easier for her on the borders. The subtle paths that were becoming warn into the soil from their endeavors were easy to follow. The scents were clear. Obvious. She could trail them without worrying about interference from anything else.  It was only when the prominent scent did waver that she had any sort of difficulty. Did something else cross the path? She'd lower her nose here and there to check on the smells, found it difficult to learn anything from them, and decided they didn't matter.

She pressed onward. Perhaps something of interest would occur on the borders on this day.

She'd been moving at a fairly fast clip when, on the distant taiga, she spotted a hump-backed hazy brown figure. That had brought the alpha female to a standstill directly on the borders. Her ears twitched forward, her tail tip wiggled tensely, and for a long while she just stood there watching it. A little bit of observation confirmed her suspicion about it.

Occasionally, Saena saw animals that weren't there. She'd never tried to explain it and the only wolves who knew about it were Peregrine, Lasher and Reek. This was not one of those times. While she squinted and tried to make the figure on the plain disappear, it refused to, and eventually she conceded that it was probably real and not an apparition. Only if it was real, it didn't bode well for the members of the Phoenix pack.

Her ear flicked to the side when the sound of shuffling terrain and footsteps became audible between the trees. She turned her head and was surprised, but not displeased, to find Citali. If anyone would have an idea what to do, it was the burly healer. "Hey Citali," she greeted her, then gestured with her snout into the distance. "See that?" The distant blob confirmed its identity by rising onto its hind limbs and lifting its blunt snout to the sky briefly. "D'you think we should do something about it?" she asked, somewhat inexperienced with handling grizzly bears. On one hand, grizzlies usually left wolf packs alone and provoking it might be a bad idea. On the other hand, if it was a sow, she could become unpredictable and dangerous soon enough and it would be better for the pack to be rid of her by then.

But then, bears presented a unique opportunity to a pack. They could steal its food. It could steal their food too, of course, but it worked both ways.

Her patrolling turned into something of a leisurely stroll. The autumn air was growing crisper, but it was still pleasant enough to be out and about in without without having to fend off the elements. Truth be told, she wasn't looking forward to the winter. The colder months brought with them a higher risk of illness and a number of other things she would have some difficulty preparing for. Her stores would thin. Finding new things to supplement her dried herbs would near impossible. She wasn't looking forward to it. Not at all.

She kept herself distracted with her walking. Eventually, her path crossed with the alphena who had her eyes set on the distance. The white wolf noticed her first. Her name lifted into the air and Citali returned a quick greeting of her own before turning her gaze in the direction the wolf indicated. A grizzly bear. "Hmm?" she asked in question. It was still a fair distance away. If it stayed that way they'd be well off.

When asked her opinion on what to do with it, her answer was automatic. "Leave it," she said. Bears were heavy hitters and could be quite a bear (literally) to deal with. "If it becomes a threat, we'll have to do something, but it if passes by there's no need to bother with it." She stared at it, watching as the creature lifted onto its hind legs to scent the air. There was the smell of Phoenix Maplewood's pack all over the place. She didn't think it would grow so daring. "It knows we're here," she said, though truthfully she hadn't the slightest idea. "It likely doesn't want an altercation any more than we do."

Citali was right. Bears weren't so much ruthless killing machines as opportunists and it was unlikely this one had crazy plans on its mind. Maybe it would bother them and taunt them during a hunt someday and maybe they would in turn snatch food from its maw. So long as no one was harmed in the process, there was no sense in stirring trouble with it. Saena had thought these things as well, but especially appreciated the wisdom of an older and more experienced female like Citali.

"We leave it then," she said, taking a couple steps back and then indicating that Citali could continue what she was doing. Saena would obnoxiously accompany her for a little while, if only to chat. She wanted to make sure the healer was doing well in the pack and, on top of that, wanted to address their most recent pest problem.

Pests first. "So you might not believe this, because I'm super pissed off about it and can't believe it myself," Saena said in a tone that changed to one full of reproach, "but Reek brought some baby coyotes home and plans to keep them." Saena, of course, wanted to kill them. They were vermin in her eyes and nothing good could come of trying to "domesticate" them. She believed that all coyotes were thieves and that nothing could break them of that trait, and loathed to think they would be taking food from the mouths of hard-working wolves. "Tell me I'm not nuts for thinking he's insane," she implored, hoping that at least Citali, sensible Citali, would share her opinion about coyotes.

They were in agreement. The bear in the distance was welcome to continue along its business so long as it remained in the distance and didn't come any closer to their lands. Curious. She knew it not, but if she had any the idea of foreshadowing this particular instance could have hinted at she might have wondered if she was a touch superstitious. Oblivious, she continued on her way with Saena as company. This forest was a large one. Homey. But like all homes they needed strong walls of scent to protect it.

She was occupied in thought when Saena brought up the subject of the coyote pups. "I'd heard whisper of them," she murmured. The pups were a hot topic amongst the members at this point. She wasn't fond of their presence, but if the alphas were permitting it that left little room for her to protest. However, it seemed as though the pale alphena was still hesitant about their admittance. Conflict in paradise? Oh dear.

A merry laugh left her muzzle at Saena's rhetorical question. "Saena dear, all males are insane. That is why we Amazons never let them anywhere near when it comes to making a decision." The women ruled for a reason. They considered every angle of a scenario as one might picture the many spirals of a spiderweb. Males? Their minds were more like a river. They wove, but for the most part it was a straight shot to their end goal without a dream of all the nuances in between.

"Truthfully, I'm not a supporter of their well being. If you and Reek decide to keep them, I'll humor the children, but their care will always come after that of our wolven company." Blunt. Honest. She knew no other way, but at least her thoughts were on the table. Their would be no delusions as to her opinion on the matter. "They might not eat much, but they are extra mouths in the winter..." She thought onwards. "The plains wolves thought the coyotes useful. It's the first I've ever seen such a relationship, but those wolves found value in them for some reason or another." She shook her head. "Did Reek ever say why he brought them back?"

"I just don't know what possessed him to bring them here," Saena said, exasperated. Of all the silly things her husband could've done, bringing non-wolf pups home wasn't what she ever expected. She felt it was something to be concerned about. Stray coyotes were best left to the wilds, beyond the borders of wolf territory, where they could skulk and scavenge and play tricks on each other. They didn't belong with a pack. They didn't belong with wolves.

Saena was interested to hear about the plains wolves with their uses for coyotes, but she couldn't comprehend those uses. What purpose was there in feeding a lesser canine, one that usually could not outrun a wolf nor overpower a wolf, when you could recruit and feed another wolf? They seemed like weak links in a chain. Chinks in the armour. Saena would likely never see them as anything but, even if they behaved and stole nothing.

"He called them investments," she grumbled, unconsciously stamping one of her paws as she stepped forward. More like nuisances. "I don't know what they could possibly be useful for. Even if they acted like wolves, they aren't wolves."

Citali lifted a brow at the young alpha. "He lives here. Where else would he take them?" It all seemed fairly simple to her. Reek wanted the coy-pups. He brought them back home. "Would you rather him hide them from you, steal from our caches, and sneak off to care for them all winter?" Cita didn't have to like the situation to know at the very least he'd handled their arrival the best he could. Reek hadn't needed to "rescue" those children or whatever he wished to blanket the statement as, but he decided he wanted to. Running back and forth from the plains to the maplewood and back and forth again to ask approval would not have gone over well for those children. She didn't like what he'd done, but she understood why he'd done it.

A brief lull in their conversation allowed Citali a moment to excuse herself to properly mark the borders with a sprinkling of her own upon rejoining up with the pale female she remarked again on how she didn't understand what her mate meant by the term "investment". Truthfully, Citali didn't either, but if any wolf was to get to the bottom of it, they'd best go straight to the source. "Why don't you ask him what he sees in them? Otherwise you're simply out here spinning your wheels and getting all the more worked up for it." Confrontation. She suggested it. Her own course of action in this was to avoid the children as much as possible.

In all of this, she found it amusing that she was out here trying to tend the borders and instead she was filling Nochlti's shoes as a counselor. Perhaps she was getting soft... or maybe she was the only voice of reason in these parts. Who knew?

Saena almost huffed at Citali's simple answer, but she knew the older wolf was right. The amazon was not only a woman of medicine, but a woman of wisdom, and someone Saena drew a lot of inspiration (and advice) from. "I guess it's better than that," she grumped. She wished Reek had thought better of bringing them anywhere at all and had left them where he'd found them, but it was possible they would've died without him. Why that was her problem, Saena didn't know, but it was now and she had to deal with it. Reek knew he was in the doghouse, though. That was probably revenge enough for the poor guy.

"That's a good idea," she said, immediately latching on to Citali's suggestion of confronting her mate about it. Was it a good idea, considering Saena would likely not approach it constructively at all? Probably not. But Citali knew everything more than Saena did and she was more than willing to take the woman's advice on it, even if Citali definitely hadn't said, "go rip your husband a new asshole for it." Saena liked that plan. She liked it a lot.

Stowing the idea away to consult another time, the lead female turned her head back to the grizzly in the distance. It was beginning to meander away. "Looks like it won't be a problem," Saena said with a nod. She was right about that; this grizzly wouldn't be an issue for them. Little did she know that a very different grizzly was heading their way right that minute and would arrive in a matter of days to temporarily bring the pack to its knees.

A warm sound of confirmation slipped from her lips. Yes. What Reek had done was not good, but it was better than sneaking around behind his mate's back. He wasn't hiding anything. He'd brought those children out into the open and it was up to them to decide what they wished to do with them. Citali's hands were clean in this. She'd go along with whatever they decided and make up her own adjustments to the rules depending upon whatever they chose to do. Keep them? Fine. Citali could distance herself from them lest her temper get the best of her. Dispose of them? That was quite alright with her too.

As far as she was concerned, the problem was outside of her realm of control. With that in mind, she did her best to remove herself from the conflict even though she knew her natural tendencies as a gossiper and her overwhelming curiosity might draw more questions of the subject in the future. As long as the pack mentally towards such children was unclear, she had no qualms in questioning it. She wouldn't know how to behave unless she inquired, now would she?

Alas, the conversation drifted back to the bear. It was wandering away and therefore of no consequence to them in this moment. "Mm. Not today," she agreed, also unaware of the beast that would later come to terrorize them. It appeared as though their borders remained mostly untampered and in this Citali was satisfied.

"It's been a pleasure, my dear, but I do believe my garden calls. Farewell for now." She excused herself and slipped back into the inner folds of their forest.

-Citali exits-

It seemed their investigation was complete, then. Saena stood there in companionable silence for a short while, long enough for Citali to excuse herself to return to tending her garden. The alpha female smiled and said, "I'll have to come see it soon," before dipping her head in farewell to her fellow guardian and the pack's primary healer. As the larger wolf departed, the smaller of the pair picked up her patrol where she'd left off, heading along the trail Citali had taken earlier in the day to reach this spot.