Red had watched Clary out of the corner of her eye as the yearling carried the bison skin across her back. She often wanted to ask if her friend needed a break, but Clary hadn’t verbally complained once yet, and Red figured it would be good to let the yearling carry the skin for a while. Part of this trip was a learning experience and one of the lessons was sharing the workload. Still, she kept an eye on the girl.

Soon enough, they came to the river that Valette had told Red about. This was the one they needed to cross to get to Sunspire. And yet… there was a problem that the Alpha had not told her about. There was a pack here. Surely, Valette had not known about this pack, or else she would have let Red know beforehand. So that meant that whoever this pack was, they were fairly new. Red had not anticipated something like this. 

Well… they had a few options. Option one, turn around and go back to Easthollow to let Valette know about the new pack, and ask for different directions. Option two, call for a member of this pack, hopefully an alpha or someone else with higher privileges, to escort Red and Clary across their territory to the other side. Option three, go around. Well. Red was certainly not going to fail her mission without trying, and it would probably take too long to try to find the river’s end, so that left them with option two.

“Okay, Clary,” she said, turning to face the yearling with an uncharacteristically serious expression on her otherwise jovial face. “Just sit tight and let me handle this. Let me do the talking. I’m not sure if this pack is friendly or not, so we’ll have to be alert. But don’t freak out, okay? Let’s hope for the best and plan for the worst, right? I’m going to howl for a pack member so we can sort this out. I’m hoping someone will escort us through their territory to the other side. Okay?”

Red figured it would be better to explain fully what she planned to do. This would mean there would be no confusion on Clary’s side and it would also teach her how to do this in the future if she needed to cross through another pack’s territory. “If things go wrong, I want you to run, and fight if you need to. I don’t… I don’t think anything will go wrong, but you never know.” With that, Red turned and let out a howl, hoping that whoever came to greet them was friendly.

Clary's eyes grew wide at the plan, and at the real sense of danger the ranger lay before her. Whenever she and Nanook had found claimed land, they would reroute to a wide skirt around the territory, anything to avoid even the prospect of danger. But Nanook hadn't travelled in the role of ambassador, not like she and Red did now - and this was different. This pack was close to Easthollow, and Clary found that as soon as Red lay down the possibility that things could turn sour here, she was filled with the need to know if these wolves were a threat. She turned her attention back to the creek. The gurgle of the water, once pleasant, serene - it somehow sounded more ominous now. Clary swallowed.

She wanted to give these strangers the benefit of a doubt; she wanted to believe that they would be kind and fair like her mother - but Clary listened and planned nonetheless, sharing none of her thoughts with her friend. No doubt she would hear a protest if she did - because she would only run if she knew Red was okay. Her aunt had taught her a few moves when on the road, she figured she could hold her own, at least until they both could escape.

Red called, and then, they waited. And waited. A second rolled to a minute, and that minute spun to many more, and all the while Clary felt her skin prickle with a growing sense of unease. The bison skin felt constricted her now and as the moments rolled, she sunk further into the shadows as her gaze performed a nervous dance across the vegetation of the bank's opposite side. Finally, Clary peeked over and lent Red a whisper. "Maybe we should go. I don't think they're - " and then the sound of a low growl - a warning - kicked her heart like a rabbit, and she froze. The skin obscured her vision, and her panic merged the shadows of the bank's opposite side to one giant fear. Clary's lips parted to give air to a subconscious whimper. She didn't like this place, and she didn't want to be here anymore.

Red made a snap decision at the sound of the growl, and confirmed it to herself when she saw Clary’s reaction to it. “Come on,” she said, suddenly, and turned away from the creek. “We’ll go now. I don’t like how long this is taking, and I definitely don’t like the sound of that growl. It’ll be a pain in the ass, but we’ll go down the river ’til it ends, or until we can’t smell the pack anymore, and then go back up again on the other side.” Red let out a huge sigh. She had not expected this major setback at all, and it was totally about to ruin both their days. 

She checked on Clary as she marched her way farther east. They needed to be off the borders before continuing to follow the river so no one in that pack thought they were trying to trespass. But that meant they were gonna have to make the same long detour on the way back as well. Well, this sucked.