Wolf RPG

Grace slunk after Nova, still quite depressed of Esaros rejection. She barely noticed the ginger and white female stopping and sitting at the border. The red and faded black female stopped I'm her limping with a frown.
       "Nova? I thought you were taking me to Warbone?" 
She'd said the alpha needed to meet her first, of course. But shed assumed to be taken right TO Warbone. Was she expected to find him on her own? However, at her mother's slight urging, she soon understood she would need to be the one to call and make her case. She let loose a howl for the alpha, @Warbone and waited.

Nova led her daughter to the borders of Warbones territory, longing to lead her into the safety of the willows and take her to meet everyone. But her alpha had given her explicit orders to not bring anyone who wasnt worthy. She knew Grace, despite a healed injury, was a very good hunter and would soon learn to be just as good a healer. And so when she sat upon her kings borders and turned expectant ghostly eyes on Grace, it was for their own safety with Warbone. She had to say nothing, just wait until Grace obviously gut the point and howled for the alpha. She scooted closer to the red yearling, making it obvious that this is the daughter she spoke of to the alpha.

Warbone rose as the call beckoned him, moving at an eager pace to confront the howler on the cusp of his realm. As he drew nearer, starless eyes registered the presence of Nova Rose first— if only because he was familiar with the conformation of her— and his gaze drifted second to the auburn youth at her side. Daughter. The wolf approach powerfully, confidently, finding the elder she-wolf's scarred face with a greeting tongue, and then he took a step back to observe what she had brought him.

Instantly there was a shift in his behavior, and his back rippled violently. His eyes were flashing now, and he turned them in accusation on his own recruit. "I vow to care for you, and you would bring me a cripple? Someone else I must cosset?" he nearly spat. "Nova Rose, my queen, do not mistake this for an infirmary. I am not beholden to charity." He could smell Esaro too, faintly, but could not force himself to think beyond his irritation in that moment.

Grace lowered herself, flattening her ears and averting her golden eyes at the alphas arrival. She opened her mouth to explain, flinching at his shift in body language, but was stunned when his anger wasnt aimed at her. What did she do? She thought back to when the situation was reversed, what Nova had done. SILENCE. Her mother had stayed quiet, let the others speak. This was not her pack, and not her place to speak. His words hurt though, and she felt her pride hurt. She could hunt as well as anyone else! Still though, she kept her jaws shut and listened to her mothers words.

Nova lowered her ears and turned her face away, averting her ghostly eyes, but more so out of respect than anything. She kept her calm demeanor, blowing a deep breath softly through her nose after hed finished to give herself time, make sure he was DONE. Interrupting her alpha would mean bigger trouble.
      "Warbone, my king, she is a better hunter than myself has ever been, and she's got the promise of a wonderful healer. She's a hardworker, intelligent. You didn't ask for PRETTY wolves, you asked for able wolves, and that she is.  I know so because I'm the one who refined her skills, taught her how to adapt to such an injury. She can show you, if you wish for proof."
Having made her case, she turned her soft, friendly eyes to her adopted daughter, hoping she'd done a good job. She was correct in all her information, of course. She wouldnt ever LIE to her alpha, not after the respect he'd given her. Esaro came to mind then, and her promise to Grace to ask about him. 
                 "A little male named Esaro saw us, told us to tell you that your training was wasted on him. Not sure of what importance he is to you, but the message has been passed."

In most circumstances, Warbone was not a rash wolf, nor was he one beyond reason. Particularly now, he exercised a great deal of patience when dealing with the elder— even though his fierceness could not be abated— and he listened to her with his ears twitching tartly. She was wrong when she had accused him of looking for "pretty" wolves, but he felt no need to correct her opinion of him. The red-earth girl was quite pretty, with intelligent amber eyes. It was her deformed leg he clearly had a problem with. She simply looked, with that stunted gait of hers, like she could not physically contribute.

When the spectral-eyed wolf had finished, Warbone moved, his body rolling forward like a dark wave and separating parent from child. Without speaking, he physically decreed that Nova Rose would no longer be allowed to speak for Grace. "I do need proof," he hissed down at the frightened girl, and sniffed her body freely, remaining surprisingly gentle in his unreserved actions. He stepped away, turning his body to face her. "I want a bird from the Marsh and a rabbit from the Ridge. If you can bring me these things, you will have earned yourself a mighty companion in me, and a pack that will always serve you. Choose not to, or fail, do not return here."

Nova Rose spoke again, and his muzzle swiveled towards her as his unibrow creased into a frown. Esaro's words meant nothing to him. What was wrong with that boy? He thought he would ask, looking at Grace. "You come from the Phoenixes. What happened to Esaro, and why would he say such a stupefying thing?"

Grace jumped a little, pressing herself closer to the earth. He wasn't rough, and for that she was glad, but she was shaking like a leaf in a windstorm. He asked her for the proof Nova offered, and sighed in relief quietly. But there was one problem....
     "P-Point me in the directions and I'll get to it as soon as you send me off."
Nova made good on her promise, passing Esaros message on. She was glad when the big alpha asked her, and she readily let her emotion flow. Mostly exasperation, and a clear confusion and how Saena could do such a thing.
              "Saena made him believe he CAUSED a war, when in reality he'd tried to stop it. After being attacked by both Dragon wolves and his own Phoenix wolves, he left. I left soon after, unwilling to leave Nova behind. We met him in the Emberwood, but he seemed so upset. He believed he was trouble, but I refuse to believe it. Hes a good meaning wolf, and if you know Esaro you have to know that...."

Nova took the hint, not missing his irritation with her, sitting up straight to look at her daughter but staying silent. She was happy her facts seemed to convince him, and would do no more for her learning daughter even had she not been clearly ordered so. She was proud of her daughters improvement, and glad Warbone seemed to be taking it easier on her. She was confident Grace would do what she was told, and she intended to stay right here and wait as she did so, just in case there might be any suspicion of foul play.

His frown remained throughout Grace's story, comprehending it at a basic level but not understanding at all the exact cause of Esaro's mental destruction. Perhaps he was the sort of weak that was irreparable. Warbone did not like to think that someone could not be made stronger through due diligence, but he had been wrong about certain things before...

He would have to deal with that when he thought about it again. For now, he had other things to deal with. "The Marsh is to the north and east," he motioned for the young she-wolf. He had chosen that location for her to catch a bird because it was watery, and she would need her best skills to catch a bird there. The Ridge he had chosen for a similar reason, as it would not be easy to catch a rabbit upon its crags and plateaus. "And the Ridge, you passed to get here— it is to our south. If you do not return in two days, I will assume you have failed or gone, and my offer to you will have expired." He looked at Nova Rose pointedly; she was not to coddle Grace, or help her in any way, but he didn't feel the need to declare this aloud. Nodding to them both, Warbone turned on his heel and melted back into the willows.

After a quick goodbye to her mother, the yearling began to backtrack to the ridge. She knew where that was, and it was much easier for her to catch grounded things. That, and she knew where it was. She hoped Nova would be there when she was back, so she could show her the way to The Marsh for her next task. Heart thumping against her chest, she stalked her way back through familiar grounds until she'd reached her destination. She assumed these plateaus held plentiful rabbits here, and set off immediately. She moved slow, PAINFULLY slow, but couldn't handle this terrain on three paws and the fourth took time to use. Jaws open, ears pricked, and head low, the yearling began to track the strong, fresh event of rabbit. When shed finally come into view, she was able to tuck up her leg to her hip, taking off as fast as any wolf and killing the rabbit with a swift nip to its neck. 
One down, one to go. Panting, she made her way back towards Nova, stalking along her own scent trail back. The sun had shifted slightly in the sky, and she picked up her pace. She found Nova before the border, lying in a makeshift nest of willow branches. She was grooming her soft ginger and cream fur, and Grace couldn't help but smile as she remembered her mothers vanity. She dropped the hare at her paws, sitting proudly for a moment. 
       "Will you show me to the marsh?" 
The elders ghostly blue eyes stared up at her, friendly and warm as ever, and she nodded with a smile. 
Nova left her as it started to get marshy, saying shed be exactly where shed been found before. Grace shook her head at her mother and her need to be neat and clean and PRETTY all the time. The yearling, most days, only made sure there was nothing in her fur. It was tangled and messy and the scars speckling her like pink spots. 
It took her a long time to track the bird, not just because she was on four legs but because they were all too high in the trees to get right now. But soon luck struck her, and a duck flapped it's way onto the ground. Hiking up her leg, she pelted off towards it. Startled, it started to rise, but that was exactly the plan. The russet female plucked it from the air by its tail, the bird flailing for its life, and pinned it to the ground with her paws before going for the throat. Success! Now back to Nova, and call Warbone. The sun had gone even further through the sky and she hurried along the scent trail back.

Nova rubbed against Grace and wished her luck before she was off. Tail wagging and smiling as she worked, the ginger female plucked some willow branches from the trees, soon making a nest at the roots of one. She scent of the willows was soothing, and she was very glad Warbone had given her a home here. It was a good place for her days to end. She dozed off in her thoughts, but Grace wasn't yet back when she woke, so she started to groom her messy pelt. She didn't get far, and Grace was soon approaching with a hare in jaws and a smile in her eyes. She asked for a guide to the marsh, and Nova was quick to bury the rabbit by her nest and on her way to the eatery grounds. Once there, she told Grace she was on her own. She went back over their path, careful to skirt around the borders on her way back. She planted herself back in the willow nest, pulling out and inspecting the rabbit. She hadnt broken the skin, only broken its neck it seemed. A clean kill. She was proud of her daughter and though it took her a while to get back, Nova loosed a howl for the alpha as her daughter approached with a duck in her jaws.

Warbone returned as he was beckoned, moving in a near-silent fashion that clearly did not betray his weight. He came to a stop before mother and daughter, looking exclusively to Grace for proper submission before he prowled closer to sniff her quarry. The rabbit smelled of the Ridge, and the duck could be identified as a muddied Marsh dweller without the use of his nose. The male had no real way of knowing if she had done the task without any trickery, but he was satisfied nonetheless by the dedication to this triumph or farce. He leaned down, giving the yearling a quick lick on the forehead. "Welcome to the Marauders," he murmured, appearing fond before his expression resumed its business-like edge.

"You two eat," he instructed, nosing towards Grace's trophies; "Nova Rose, tell her what she should know, and then take her to the Crook—she needs to be introduced. I have business elsewhere, but I expect to see the both of you tonight." And with his orders given, the male did not bother to check for their consent before he was melting off into the lengthening shadows of the Willows.

Grace lowered herself at his approach, breathing out a deep sigh of relief when his expression changed. She could sense his pleasure with her at the moment, and then he welcomed her with his low tone. 
        "Thank you, alpha."
He rose again, and she felt like it was okay to sit back up, though she was ready for any change she might need to make. He spoke again and she hung on his every word, golden eyes intent. As he turned and strode away, she could only find one thing to say,
                   "You won't be disappointed, Warbone." 
Nova kept the rabbit she's carried, leaving Grace her favorite meal, duck. She plucked the feathers roughly, not caring to take them. She couldn't be sure they didn't sleep in a pile, where feathers would be useless. If she had a nest then she could catch another duck.

Nova stayed sitting proudly next to her daughter, tail wagging and ghostly eyes trained on her. It was her first time seeing her getting accepted into a pack, and though she hadnt raised the red yearling she knows her influence was what saved Graces life. She did turn away to nod in understanding to her king, but he was already leaving. 
      "You take your duck. I'll talk while we eat."
She ripped into her rabbit, chewing and swallowing that bite before she went on to tell her about Warbone and the pack.