Heron Lake Plateau Who'd come up with a system of matrimony based on the random distribution of flowers?

The more he thought about everything that happened, the more it gave him a headache.

First Wildfire and her kid(s?) had appeared and then thrown off the life he'd gotten used to with Raven -- now there was someone else vying for her attention that certainly deserved some of it, but he just wasn't great at sharing in the first place.  Even though he was here with a mate and kids, her reappearance somehow made him feel more out of place.

Now whatever had gone down with the Blackfeather wolf, Niamh, and Colt was this gigantic puzzle piece he wasn't sure how to figure out other than what he'd heard couldn't be the truth and it sure sounded like somehow she might have made it worse.  Whenever she bothered to show her mug around the pack again, they were going to have to have a pretty tough conversation.  Until then, he'd be silent.  She ran off, he'd let her be off on her own.  He wanted to look for Colt, but wasn't sure why it was he ran off in the first place.  Because of whatever happened with Towhee?  Did he chase the Blackfeather?  Did Niamh do something?  Ugh.  He didn't want to interrupt a hunt or accidentally help Niamh if it was her fault, so 2/3 majority voted for do nothing.  Once he got some answers, he'd probably have to have a chat with Towhee as well about being reckless, but at least that probably wouldn't cause drama.  Niamh seemed to just be drama condensed into wolf form. Bad decisions.

The fact that he felt like somehow everyone was taking advantage of him trying to be fair and not overbearing also gnawed on him.  Basically, it put him in a bad enough mood that he thought it best that he go spend the day tracking the local herds rather than hanging out with the kids.  They didn't deserve to see his scowl, this was his problem to solve.  He headed away from the lake, following the indistinct tracks deer left in the snow.  It didn't even require much thought.  He could spend the time dwelling on this other nonsense.

Sequoia had split from Kiwi for the time being, and she had intended to track down @Buckshot, but considering she was a piss-poor tracker and he didn't seem to be in the immediate vicinity, her search was in vain. She huffed, putting her nose to the ground again and trying to figure out where he might have gone. She came upon a scent she recognized, but not because she knew the wolf. It was quite possibly the strongest wolf scent on the plateau, and it was the brightest yellow-green she could remember encountering, sans perhaps Opalia.

Curious to know what kind of wolf would share a color with her (lame) sister, Sequoia forgot about Buckshot for the time being and began to follow the color until she came upon a medium black wolf. When she saw his eyes, she was positively stunned, because they were the same color as his scent. That had never happened before. Whoa! she exclaimed, blinking in disbelief.

Quixote was trying to distract himself.  Maybe at the end of these tracks would be something worth hunting.  Maybe there would be the perfect deer to introduce the pups to larger hunts, or at the very least have it be a good way to maybe bring the pack together -- get the new folks working with the long time members and all that.  But they were missing people -- and there his thoughts ended up drifting back to all the things that had happened. Augh.

He'd just noticed the girl's approach, looked her way, and was about to say something when she reacted to... Something?  Uh.  He was obviously befuddled, Um, sorry?  That was one way to get him out of that pit, hit him off-balance with a giant pile of confusion!  Quixote also took a moment to try and remember her name.  He was sure he'd heard it from Raven, but he was just not good at things.  It'd come to him -- maybe.  But first he was just wondering what she'd reacted to.

Your eyes! she explained emphatically. You smell like your eyes. Okay, so it wouldn't make sense to him, based on her conversation with her father. Remembering this, she backtracked a bit and tried to explain as best as she could. I see smells, and you smell the same color as your eyes. That's never happened before! Granted, this probably wouldn't make a whole lot of sense even with the explanation, but she felt she had to give it a go. So far, Sequoia had not really been able to explain her perceptual phenomenon to anybody in a way that they really understood.

Remembering her manners, she straightened her posture and did what she should have done before any of what was probably nonsense to him. I'm Sequoia. I came here with Wildfire, Kiwi, and Buckshot. There, that was better, wasn't it?

From what she said first, she might as well of hit him over the head with a cartoon mallet because her announcement made absolutely no sense to him for obvious reasons.  For those few seconds before she explained his mind flipped through a few possibilities -- she was just insane, she had eaten something hallucinogenic, or maybe some bizarro kid shenanigans that was just more common elsewhere.  Her explanation?  Well, it made slightly more sense but it was still definitely abnormal, right?  He went from MAXIMUM CONFUSION to just like, "Huh that is weird and unusual, curious."  Thinking about it, That seems like it could get awfully confusing.  But I guess you're just used to it?  He frowned, trying to figure out how that might look.  Like wouldn't layers of other colors over stuff just kind of mess with things and make it hard to see?  Quixote was taking it at pretty much face-value -- like somehow scents would thus be obscuring vision like leaves might, since that was about the only thing he could think of that came in a bunch of different colors.

Anyway, moving on.  Sequoia.  Yeah, that sounded right -- and now name to a face and all that.  He dipped his head, Quixote, obviously.  Have you gotten a pretty good rundown of who everyone is by now?  Man, he really needed to think of more stuff to say in scenarios like this.  It seemed like such a stupid question, but oh well.  At least with his own kids he could probably turn things into a lesson so he'd have something to prattle on about, but meeting new people drained the words right out of him and turned him into an awkward turtle.  Go over basic stuff, blah blah... Well, he was hunting.  If he couldn't think of something, could loop things back for that.  Maybe he'd figure out the whole having reasonable conversations thing one day.

Sequoia shrugged with a grin. She didn't know anything else, so there wasn't really any getting used to it. It had always been there, as her reality. He introduced himself (formally, anyway), and asked if she was getting to know everybody. The piebald girl bobbed her head up and down. I think I've met most everybody, at least in passing. Niamh's the one who greeted us when we got here, and I already knew Bat from when she was at Drageda. Sequoia paused, then blinked her eyes. Oh, and now you!

She wagged her tail and licked her lips, and already she could feel a million questions aching to tumble out of her mouth. Have you always lived here? she asked, And how did you become a leader?

He nodded. It did seem like she'd been doing a good job settling in then -- even if soon enough she'd be heading off elsewhere, not that either of them knew yet.  Oh well.  They wouldn't be far, at least!  She was definitely enthusiastic, and even though Quixote was a pretty chill dude he wasn't about to go and stomp all over a youth's inquisitive nature.  Questions were usually harmless.  I moved here with everyone from the Caldera, but wasn't born there.

And uh, a little complicated? More because he wasn't exactly sure going into the full details was super appropriate (it was at least super awkward, whoops), But short version is that Towhee stepped down from alpha, Finley and Elwood stepped down from beta, so Raven and I got put as alphas all at basically the same time. Kinda think nobody here really wanted the job, you know?  Awkward smile.  Neither of the pair were really traditional alphas as far as attitudes went -- at the very least leading a pack wasn't on their bucket lists.  She stepped down for a bit to take care of our not-so-little hellions, but uh, hoping to convince her to step back up soon.  He still didn't like doing this leader thing without her.  And yeah, the kids were almost as big as they'd get and that was kind of crazy to think about.  Hell, the new year was close and it very well could be bringing a whole new batch.

Seq listened patiently as Quixote explained that he hadn't wanted to be an alpha, and it sounded like Raven hadn't wanted to, either. She wondered if her own father had ever really wanted to be a leader, or if he too had been sorta forced into it. It sounded like Raven might eventually plan to return to her position alongside Quixote, but he didn't mention any specific timeframe. Learning a little bit about the pack's history did seem important, and Sequoia figured she could somehow use it when recruiting others.

Why wouldn't you want to be a leader? she asked, though her tone was not accusatory; she was genuinely curious. If given the opportunity, Sequoia didn't think she would be able to turn it down even if she tried to. Finding out what made others tick was part of her personality, and in doing so she felt like she might make a good leader one day. Besides, she thought very highly of herself, and that would probably help, right?

Maybe to others it seemed particularly bizarre that he wasn't the sort to go chasing fame and fortune, but then again he couldn't understand the opposite perspective.  It was a lot of responsibility and people would hate you for stuff.  Sounded pretty awful to him, and it really hadn't been a giant glorious thing as far as he could tell.  Maybe he was just doing it wrong?  Well, nobody had yet to show him how to do it right.

Eh.  Just not my thing.  Maybe part is the place I grew up, the leaders were pretty much jerks and idiots.  You wouldn't want to be them.  I pretty much just did my own thing and kept a low profile.  Never exactly been keen to be them, but I'll do what needs to be done. And I'm not exactly the best people-person either, that doesn't help.  Kind of a wry grin at his own misfortune at that point.  It certainly didn't make his life easier, but there was only so much he could do about it.  It wasn't like he'd proven to be particularly flexible as far as character went.  He didn't change quickly.  That's the part Raven's good at.  They were good together.

Sequoia had always considered leadership a Great Honor™️, so it was surprising to see somebody who didn't see it that way. Then again, she had been surprised to hear that some wolves thought it was perfectly acceptable to leave one pack for another. It just went to show that there were a dozen different perspectives on any given topic, something which Sequoia was very eager to learn more about. It was fascinating to her that so many wolves could have such different ideas, and usually, when asked, they would give a completely valid response to their thinking (like Quixote had just done).

The piebald wolf had never met any terrible leaders, Quixote included, and she couldn't fathom what that must be like. You're doing a pretty good job with me! she replied with a playful wag of her tail. And I don't think you're a jerk or an idiot. Maybe not every leader has to be either of those things. Hadn't Quixote realized that he wasn't like the leaders he hated?

He gave her a sort of weak but wry grin, Yeah, for the next ten seconds at least. I think I've gotten a little better but I've definitely killed my fair share of conversations.  It's a talent.

Quixote didn't really trust himself, no.  He knew he was pretty screwed up, and even if a lot of his issues didn't cause problems, that didn't mean he should just think he'd be perfect, That was pretty much all I knew though.  Now I'm kind of just winging it -- yeah sure, it's not like anybody here was completely abysmal or anything, but it was a lot smaller amount of my life so far.  I'm sure I'll mess up plenty, just hopefully not badly.  But maybe he was already.  He just couldn't see things ending great right now, but maybe he was just being a pessimist.  He wasn't too confident at it, and that was probably a good thing.

Speaking of killing conversations, he was feeling like he wasn't carrying his weight in it, adding on, Since you're new around here so I obviously don't know, what do you enjoy doing?  Was tracking that one herd but... Not really into it.  Which was totally true, even as he looked briefly off the way he was pretty sure that group had been heading.  Hunting was his brother's thing, not they'd seen each other in ages.

He certainly wasn't killing this conversation. If Quixote was a pessimist, Sequoia was certainly the opposite. She saw (or at least tried to see) the best in everybody that she met. So far, only her litter mates had managed to avoid that, unfortunately for them. Quixote seemed like he was personable enough, and she thought he was doing a fine job. Then again, she didn't really know what it took to be a good leader... but if he still had the pack, he must have been doing something right! Seq smiled as he explained that he would mess up eventually, and she shrugged. Nobody's perfect. Except Sequoia, of course. She could do no wrong!

Quixote asked what Sequoia was interested in, and this was a topic she could blather on about for days and days. Oh! I really like exploring, but I think I like recruiting the most. Wildfire is training me to be an ambassador like she is. I also like... talking to others. Making them feel better and helping them figure out how to solve their problems. I think I want to be a counselor, too.

Okay, maybe he shouldn't be so surprised that such an inquisitive wolf would have figured out at least some of what they wanted from their life, but it was still a little crazy to hear.  Hoo, you really do have plans.  Can't say I had that much direction in my life when I was your age.  Yeah, it was probably just narrowed down to 'survive' at that point.  Freedom was a long way from then.

Well if you need help figuring out some good methods for being a counselor or whatever, you can probably ask Raven for some pointers.  Or at least, she always seems pretty brilliant with that to me.  He wasn't about to suggest that the reason he knew this so well was because she'd helped him untangle some of his mental knots, if only so he didn't have to worry about being psychoanalyzed by a possibly overzealous youth.  And Tegan is a particularly unconventional ambassador -- if you haven't tagged along on any of his adventures, maybe you could both learn a bit from each other.  I don't think there'll be any more long trips with winter settling in, but we'll see if anyone else hangs out in the area as the season progresses.  RIPE TO EXPERIMENT ON!  Okay, yeah, it would turn out that Sequoia would be in one of the nearby packs, but eh.  Yay for being slow at threads.

We can fade here if'n you want!

Sequoia's eyes brightened at his reply. Back in Drageda, trades had been pushed hard, and Sequoia had picked up on that pretty easily. Talking to others came quite naturally to her, so she'd fallen into the trades where that was an important skill to have and hone. He mentioned talking to Raven for counselor advice and Tegan for ambassador advice. The latter she'd already been told about by Bat, but she didn't bother to bring that up. It seemed like he was the go to guy when it came to scouting around here, so she would likely run into him sooner or later. If not, she'd track him down herself.

Oooo, that's all good to know! she said, tucking the information away readily. Seq looked up to the sky for a moment, eyeballing the sun's location, then peered back at Quixote. You want to lead me back to your den so I chat with Raven? she asked, tilting her head to one side. That would be easier than trying to find it on her own.

He nodded, Yeah. We can see if we can track them down at our usual spot -- if she's taken the kids on an adventure or something, at least you'll know where to find them in the future.  He signaled for Sequoia to follow along.  They'd head along to go find them.  Hopefully they'd be at their little thicket along the lake.  Worst came to worst, there was always the option of howling to find them.  He'd be happy to answer any other questions along the way, too.

Either way, sounded like Sequoia pretty much had her future figured out -- hopefully it would be a bright one for her.