The attack upon the ravine has since subsided, leaving behind a barren land in its wake. Every tree seemed to of been stripped clean, and not a single living plant could be found. If it hadn't been eaten by the bugs, then it'd been trampled into the dirt—though closer inspection revealed that even those plants had fallen victim to the tiny mouths of the locust. No longer did the ground flourish with flora, but was instead littered by the carcasses of the bugs that had, in their haste, met their end. Every now and again she would snack upon them, and each time she was disgusted by the burst of juices that filled her mouth. Still, it was protein, and she knew anything of nutritional value could not be pushed away. With the greenery gone, she was certain the herds would follow soon after, leaving them with few food sources to pick from. Small game was bound to be plentiful as the pint-sized omnivores came out to gorge themselves on the bodies of the fallen insects, but they alone would not be enough. To survive, perhaps, but never to flourish. It was when she'd realized the true danger of their situation that she'd been struck with a hope she would never have believed herself capable of wishing: that her children might survive.

As quick as it'd risen within her mind, the notion had been smothered by the sound of someone's howl. Though it'd come from the borders, she'd recognized it as belonging to one of her subordinates. Mildly curious, Sen had abandoned her fine cuisine (aka a hardy helping of bugs) and taken to moving in the direction the howl had come from. At first, she'd attempted to run to cut the travel time in half, but had quickly realized her body just wasn't up for it, thus forcing her to resort to walking. Not only had it taken longer to arrive, then, but it hadn't lessened how tired she felt after the short trek. Her paws ached, as did her body as a whole, really, and she wanted nothing more than to curl up somewhere and sleep the days away. Yet, she knew she could not, for it'd been longer than usual since she'd spotted Depp. While it wasn't common for her to engage him in conversation, it was often that she would at least catch a glimpse of him in passing. Despite this, she was not at all concerned by his lack of appearances, for she still blamed him for having made her practically double in size. The frustration she felt by being forced to answer the calls of others assisted in her feeling nothing towards his absence, such as was currently the case.

After awhile, the Gorgon had succeeded in reaching the borders, but was then made to trail along them for a while longer until she'd spotted Zephyr—and with him there stood another, though her identity was a mystery to the leader. Thus, she'd approached with a raised head, displaying her rank visually in spite of her current condition. It was to her subordinate that she'd looked first, wondering why he had called instead of the woman at his side. Moments passed before she'd glanced to the other, gaze working the female over for a brief period to ensure an injured being had not been brought to her. "Who is this, and why does she stand with you?" the serpent asked, directing her attention back to the male. For the time being, she would request answers from him, for she found it most curious that he was there at all.

It was not for very long that Sen was made to wait, her disinterest in the virtue of patience having been discovered quite some time ago. She'd only worsened since falling pregnant, too, for as the due date drew closer, the weight she carried became less bearable. Honestly, she was ready to pop the little parasites out right then and there, but knew that she couldn't, for her body simply wouldn't allow it. It was in another way that she'd become a far less tolerable individual, always being direct and rarely using her silver tongue to get what she wanted anymore. For the time being, it was her way or the highway with naught a single way around it. Of course, she'd yet to realize the decline in her personality, blaming those that felt her wrath for having been so utterly wrong that she'd been forced to inflict it upon them. Thankfully, it seemed she would not be made to do so just yet, for Zephyr had answered her quickly, and the outsider had remained silent—it was something that the Gorgon viewed as a demonstration of her knowledge of where she stood within the pack's hierarchy.

The answer was both surprising and not. On one hand, she'd been expecting them to have met during one of her subordinate's little outings, but she'd not considered the possibility of them having possessed a heavily linked past. For the time being, she'd looked past that, focusing on the wolf that was a member of her pack and the fact that he was a rare sight to see. Honestly, though, she'd only recently discovered that, as she'd previously been spending a great deal of her time beyond the borders as well. "I'll decide whether or not she'd be of any use here," the woman stated, perhaps a bit harsher than intended. "As for your trips outside the territory, they end now. We need everyone here and helping out if we want to survive this, especially since I can't do half the shit I used to." The reasoning for why she couldn't was clear, one need only take a quick glance her way to figure it out. "If you think you have to go somewhere, ask me first. Not Depp or anyone else, but me. I'll decide if we can do without you for however many days." Later on, she would most likely seek him out and ask where he went and why he traveled, but for the time being she'd decided to leave it at that. Now was the time to focus upon a wolf from his past, not interrogate him until she knew every little detail of his current life.

Similar to a snake, Sen's head had swiveled in the outsider's direction, letting it be known that she was addressing her now, and not Zephyr. "I'll tell you right now that you won't be beta here. You won't have whatever perks come with that title, and you definitely won't have any control over how things are run or the others that live here. Is that understood?" Her eyes would lock onto the other's head, waiting for her to finish raising it and address the leader properly. "Give me your name." It was only the first step of the process, but the woman did not plan on drawing it out for an unnecessarily long amount of time. The sooner things could be wrapped up and her time there concluded, the better—her wish to do so had increased tenfold the moment she felt pressure on her bladder, the little bastards growing within her having neared it enough to press against it, making her have to pee. Against the idea of excusing herself for something like that, she'd chosen to instead push the interview along. "Tell me your skills, your aspirations, and whatever else you feel I should know," the serpent had stated, somehow managing to keep her voice even despite the growing disturbance in her lower region. She really, really had to pee.

It was the other female that held her full attention—or whatever pieces of attention could be dragged away from her growing discomfort—and so the flash of concern sent her way had gone unnoticed. Perhaps that was for the better, anyways, as never did the woman seek the sympathy of others (unless she was conning someone). It was unknown in what way she would have reacted had she of picked up on the glance, though, for her system was not running as smoothly as it'd been prior to her pregnancy, often resulting in unforeseeable reactions. Mostly they were negative, and dramatically so, but on occasion she surprised even herself by responding on a positive note. It was on days such as those that she felt most unlike herself, and was also when her hatred for the little bundles of joy was at its peak. For both herself and those around her, it was a good thing that she'd been made oblivious.

The woman started to speak, then, answering all that had been asked of her. Sen was only partially listening, however, counting down the seconds it took for the stranger to respond, and determining quickly that she was taking too long. Only about every other word was actually caught and correctly processed, the others then being forced out her other ear as what little patience she possessed grew smaller and smaller. Somehow, the woman had heard the statement about looking after pups, to which she'd responded towards with a soft snort. While she did not bother with explaining why such a skill would be absolutely unnecessary to her, she did throw a glance to Zephyr, almost as if he was supposed to understand the words she'd naught spoken; this was a highly unreasonable assumption, though, for never could she recall having spoken to the male about her plan for the bastards, thus leaving him as in the dark about it as his ex-beta.

Finally, the space around her had fallen silent, and back to Rana her gaze was directed. Sen had missed nearly everything said, but never would she admit to such poor professionalism. So, rather that asking that she repeat herself, the serpent acted as if she was thinking over everything that had been said to her, all the while her true thoughts were centered around the fact that she still had to pee. Finally, after having wasted enough time pretending to consider whether or not the female would be an asset, she let out a low breath and said: "You sound like you'll be worth keeping around, so I'll let you join us. Make a mistake, and I'll throw you right back over the border myself." Soon after, her head had swung in Zephyr's direction, wasting no time in throwing her responsibilities onto someone else. "Since you have a history with her, I'm leaving it to you to show her around the territory." With that, Sen had left swiftly, wishing to put as much distance between herself and them so that she might finally relieve herself. Luckily, it would only ever be her with the knowledge that, on that day, her bladder had been the thing to welcome in a new pack mate.