This is a pack moving/claiming post! Wanting to go through these fairly quickish.
Another day, another patrol. Until the storm broke, she'd have to be especially attentive -- and then after that there were many other things to do. Check on Haunt and Vex. See about Moonspear. Beyond that? She didn't know. The fact she heard nothing meant that there likely wasn't anyone near. She was okay with that too. Peace would be nice. Peace and maybe a chance to enjoy life again instead of wanting to rip the head off anyone and everything nearby.
She'd paused for a moment, though. There was a set of tracks heading into the territory that were not owned by one of her wolves. A fox, she was fairly sure. But question was if the creature was worth chasing down and killing or if she should go and continue her patrol. It could go either way. She had no problems adding a fox to their fledgling caches.
He spent most of his time watching over Kallik. So much had changed in both their lives, in such a short amount of time; orphaned, by departure and death, displaced, not once, but twice. Valette's sudden passing had crushed him, yet somehow, her absence set new purpose in his paws. Easthollow was gone, but their history lived on through
@Kallik and through himself. He would protect the boy, and in doing so, he would protect Legion. Their home now. Family? No, not yet. But he had things to discuss, alliances to offer, strategies to discuss.
Arbiter was easy to spot against the canvas of white. She seemed preoccupied, but Merrit considered his thoughts important enough to bother her. He let out a low chuff to announce his presence, before crooning out,
"Arbiter," tail low, but ears alert to catch her response.
She wasn't there long before she heard someone approaching, an ear swiveled. Merrit. She dipped her head as he approached, I hope you and Kallik are settling in fine. The mountain seems much as I remember it.
And relatively untouched, thankfully. It would be much easier for her to put things back the way things were when there was only some time to clear away rather than other wolves' paws.
A brief look back to the trail she'd found, Interested in catching a fox, or shall I come back for it later?
She pointed her nose along it towards where it went into the territory. It was about as much amusement as she could dredge up after all the things that had happened. It was a creature that was okay to remove from existence for her pack's short term security. Simple. But if not, well.. Patrol.
He dipped his head in return, grateful for her concern. "Given all the unrest, we are as well as well might be," he said, noncommittal to lean either this way or that. Merrit had never been well in tune with his own feelings enough to pinpoint them before they exploded, and he did not know Kallik enough to know whether the boy was the same. Much could be concealed, behind eyes of stone.
"You've lived here before," and he stepped forward to observe the trail she had found. His eyes shifted and studied the tracks, whiskers quivered as he drank in the scents. "No, we'll hunt now. It will be nice to hunt with someone who won't run themselves over the edge." Was it a play for humour? Perhaps. His lips did tremble with something that might have been the fledgeling of a smile, if he had thrown any effort in. It wasn't that he didn't think the others were stupid enough to fall off the mountain.
He just didn't know them well enough yet to know that they weren't.
If there's anything you might need, let me know. I at least know where things should be.
Even if right now the caches were empty and herbs were freeze dried. At least dens still likely existed. If more trouble shows here, then they're far more determined than they have any right to be.
They'd left, after all, and traveled even farther away. Hopefully they'd stay gone.
A slight nod at his words. This was the first place I lived in these wilds. I think here was the least bad fortune that I had. I hadn't agreed with our moving to settle right next to Easthollow -- it had seemed counterproductive, but it wasn't my choice at the time.
By then it had been too late, and from there things slowly spiraled out of control. They should have just stayed. It would have been easier. Either way, she turned towards the scent and started after it, We'll see how far this pest got. This isn't the time to let it steal.
What little might already be starting to be stored was theirs. But there was likely to be a little time to chat before they had to get too serious. The slope slowly tipped up in front of them.