This was the second time Grezig had come across an alpha laying in a stream. Liri seemed to be enjoying herself and Grezig thought she had the right idea, just as Kavik had that one day. She chuffed when still at a distance so as not to startle to white wolf, and then said, “Can I join you?” Grezig had been meaning to speak with Liri for some time, to apologize about Thorleif. She hadn’t seen the idiot around much, which, for her, was good. Sometimes it took all she had not to track him down and chase him off. God, what was wrong with him? 

She made a noise in her throat as she tried to think of how to begin. “I’d like apologize to you,” she finally said. “I… I had my reservations about Thorleif back when I recruited him, but… I ignored my instincts. And what we got for it is an idiot who thinks deer are bears and seems to have less intelligence than even a pup.” She bowed her head in repentance, hoping Liri had not thought less of her since that incident…

Grezig blinked and gave a small smile when Liri nudged her. It was, perhaps, the first time the alpha had done something like that to her. She listened to Liri’s words and tried to take comfort in them, but she felt so responsible for Thorleif and his strange ways that she couldn’t find much there to calm her down. 

’Once he's settled, maybe he'll...calm down or something,’ Liri said.

“I doubt that,” Grezig muttered, shaking her head a bit. “I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see. I told Kavik this already, but if he does anything too stupid or gets us in trouble I will personally chase him off and makes sure he does not come back. I do not trust him at all. Stupid people are dangerous.”

Liri ended by saying that Grezig had done well for the group, and the earth-colored woman couldn’t help the swell of pride in her chest. “Thank you. I’m just trying to do right by this group. I want this pack to succeed.”

’We’ll see what he makes of demon deer when he faces the wrath of unforgiving packmates,’ Liri said.

Grezig could not help the small exhalation of breath through her nose, a tiny laugh, at that statement. She flashed a smile for all of two seconds, and then it was gone as if it had never been there in the first place. “I’ll… do what I can to teach him. I think there is something wrong with him, in his head, you know. I suppose I cannot fault him for that. Maybe he was born that way.” 

Liri told her then that if he fucked up—Grezig’s words—that Grezig wouldn’t be the only one chasing Thorleif out. “Kavik told me the same,” she replied. “You two think alike.” It was meant to be a kind of compliment, that they were fit for each other, but it came out sounding like a simple statement of fact.

It was Liri’s next words that really got Grezig thinking: ’You’ve done much for us. We won't forget, once things are settled we'll see what the future brings for this pack.’ 

What did she mean by ‘we won’t forget’? Did she mean a place in leadership—a beta rank, perhaps? Grezig did not ask, did not want to come across as greedy or impatient. She had always been one to believe that she should lead her own pack one day. She thought she would be good as an alpha. But she also knew that greed and impatience could be one’s downfall, and the downfall of the entire pack if it got too out of hand. So she simply nodded at Liri’s words and said nothing, not trusting herself with her own words at the moment. She was entirely loyal to Liri and to Kavik and did not want to plant the seeds of mistrust in either alpha. If a rank in leadership came, it would come on its own, without her suggesting it. In the end, she said only, “Thank you.”