The only reason that Ragnar had heard the series of yelps at his borders had been because he had been nearing the girl's position having been aware of her presence by her scent before he had heard the yelps. Scarred and unscarred ears slicked back to his skull in mild annoyance. Most wolves sent out a howl. A howl he could have dealt with. It was the yelps that insinuated what Ragnar assumed to be impatience (despite if they meant no such thing) and pain that did not put Jarl in any kind of good mood the closer to her he drew. For some reason loners had this misconception that he cared anything for their lives and that he would become some kind of hero and see to it that they were healed. He did not care about wolves that were not apart of Stavanger Bay and that was simply the harsh reality of it. It did not take Ragnar long to shrug past the tree line, allowing harsh icy caribbean blue eyes to study the young girl. She was about a year old if he had to guess and the Jarl let out a small, nearly inaudible huff. What was it with all these young creatures finding their way there? Stavanger Bay was no safe haven for orphaned children, though the only thing she had going for her at the current point was that if she wasn't already a year old she was close to it. “Why are you at my borders? What do you want, girl?” Ragnar demanded his soft, accented voice holding his clipped irritation, not bothering to hide it behind a smirk today. The fight between his wives, which despite their assurances that it had ceased which was the biggest lie Ragnar had heard yet, was not doing anything for Ragnar's mood making him more irritable the more he was pulled into the middle of it, despite that, likely, it was his fault it had started in the first place.

He stared at her coolly, put off by her youth and the fact that she distinctly, albeit it was faded, smelled of Wheeling Gull Isle. How many times did he have to tell Ypres to keep her wolves away from his borders before it sunk into her thick skull. At this rate, there would be more children in Stavanger Bay then there was adults, especially so if Julooke ended up being pregnant and when Nerian would become pregnant by him. The solution to that could have been easy, permit no one to breed next year, including himself but that hardly seemed fair to him. Especially because Ragnar wanted sons and he needed no one's permission to breed with his wives. At least, his children would be a year old when March rolled around and Thistle would go into heat once more, if Nerian's heat cycle timed it right, so would his children with his Priestess Wife so having children every year with both wives would not be so bad. Simply, he would no longer allow any more Juveniles into the Bay unless they were close to a year of age. “Horizon Ridge is no more,” Ragnar told her coolly despite that she had caught and corrected herself. Still, he placed a good percentage of the blame at the paws of Wheeling Gull Isle. “What can you offer as contribution to this pack?” After all, he was big on every wolf pulling their own weight. Even his own children were expected to train and gain an apprenticeship in one of the many Trades they had available to them or they, themselves, would find themselves looking for a home elsewhere when they reached a year.

Ragnar gave the girl the benefit of the doubt and listened to what she had to say, figuring that there was little harm in having her apprentice in the counselor trade as long as he kept an eye on her, since he was close to earning it for himself. She was a little young to be giving out life advice having what he considered barely any life experience but he could train her in that if she was serious about it. He noted, as she spoke about being a warden that he could also train her how to do that. So far, it sounded like she had a clear idea of what she wanted to contribute to the pack and he was seeing no reason not to take her in under his wing. His own children showed little interest in trades at the current moment, though he would have to push them towards pursuing an apprenticeship considering they were apart of his pack as everyone else and he encouraged trades. His children would not take from the hard work of their pack mates without giving anything back. “You might be better as a Warden then. I could take you on a few patrols with me, and have you intercept a loner at our borders to see how you would do,” Training her, so long as she followed his orders, felt like it would be relatively easy. She seemed pretty driven, not nearly as driven as Junior, whom Ragnar found himself missing more and more (for he liked having an apprentice).

“I have a lead Gameskeeper who would be the better judge of that,” For a moment Ragnar could not help but wonder if she was not stretching the truth about almost nearly never missing a catch. Even Julooke missed catches when it came to prey. Julooke wasn't their lead Gameskeeper yet but she was probably so close to it that Ragnar didn't take technicalities into account when he spoke of her skills. She had been doing good until she lied to him, that was. Lying about puppy sitting did not gain her anything with the scarred Scandinavian. If anything it irritated him but the Viking hid it behind his usual coy smirk, eyes studying her face intently. As a father, he knew that when you watched over pups you didn't sit still unless they were infants (or dead) and Ragnar didn't let anyone near his infant children. No one but himself, his wives and children. “Only dead children stay still for hours,” His children were never in one place for too long unless they were sleeping, which they did much less of. Their sleeping schedules had finally synced with his and Thistle's, though occasionally there might be a quick cat nap in the middle of the day. Hopefully, the girl was clever enough to pick up on the fact that he knew she was lying to him. “I am a father, it is never a good thing to lie to a Jarl but definitely never to a father,” It made him distrust her. He didn't like liars and wasn't so sure he wanted a liar in the ranks of his pack. Ragnar stared at her, demanding to know why she lied in his eyes instead of voicing it verbally.

He did not know what to tell her, listening when she admitted that she had no idea what she was doing but that she just wanted to be let in the pack. It came as a surprise that any of Wheeling Gull Isle wanted to become apart of Stavanger Bay considering he was fairly sure both Majesty and Ypres had made him out to be some kind of monster because they had both been convinced that they'd done the right thing, that they hadn't done anything wrong by parking their asses on Horizon Ridge's doorstep and that the Viking Jarl was nothing more than a mad man. That was how Ypres had made it sound. Like she hadn't done anything wrong to him and his, like she had all of the rights and he was the one who had didn't deserve to feel angry or territorial. He should have killed them when he had the chance. “Lying to any Alpha's face will not get you let into their pack,” He had no time for liars. “You are nearly a year old. You are not a child anymore. How is that you know nothing?” Ragnar demanded wondering if her parents or guardians were incompetent. He had been leading the Berserkers when he had been younger than her. She was almost old enough to be in the adult ranks and yet she had nothing to offer him. Nothing at all.

He could turn her away, he knew. He could do it without feeling any remorse, too. With winter coming he needed all of the wolves helping out, especially with Julooke and Verrine's, not to mention Nerian's and his own children on the way. He could not afford to have wolves that had no intention of helping out. He didn't need any more wolves to babysit. His own helpless newborns and older children would be enough. “Winter will soon be upon us and I need everyone to help out. I will let you in on one condition and if you do not perform to it I will kick you out. We will have two litters on the way this Winter and I do not have the time to babysit an adult, either,” He told her forwardly, not bothering to hold anything back to her. After all, she wasn't a child despite what she might have thought. “You must earn a trade. I don't care which trade. Gameskeeper, Warden, whatever, but it must be earned and you must start on it immediately. You must learn how to do something or you will have to find a home elsewhere. I do not abide free loaders. Everyone here does their part and so must you.” He required the same out of everyone. Not usually demanding a trade be earned but then again, most of them had skills they could offer him and didn't lie to his face.

If she'd have voiced her doubts aloud he might have dissuaded them, after all he hadn't spoken that she wasn't smart, only that she had no skills and there after lied to him about it. Ragnar had no patience for liars and he intended to nip it in the bud with her here and now and if she continued to do so she would find herself in the merciless hands of the winter, alone. He had not specifically added lying to the list of things the girl was to work on but it was implied and he trusted she was clever enough to pick up upon it. On the subject of Ypres dying Ragnar was silent though it had sparked his curiosity and the desire to go himself and see if it were true. He assumed that death was not something she would lie about but given the recent altercation moments ago he did not trust her entirely at her word. Ragnar kept his face stoic in light of the news not intending to let her know that it had claimed his interest if only because he wanted to prove that his grim prediction — that they would be their own destruction — had been true all along. “I am Ragnar,” The Jarl told her simply gesturing with his muzzle towards the forest. “Come, I will give you a tour.” With that he began walking leaving it up to her to follow along.