The Sunspire All these worlds are yours -- except Europa

She was on the side of the mountain that was currently avoiding the sun.  Though it was on a downward course and Treason was way down at its feet in the shadows, investigating the borders as usual, the warm days weren't always welcome.  It hadn't been particularly eventful here recently from her point of view.  Just routine and her left to her own devices as she formulated plans that may or may not come to fruition.  She had ideas and she wasn't sure if anyone would go along with them -- which was unfortunate, as obviously since they were her creation, they were good.  If they were rejected?  If the pieces out of her control wouldn't cooperate?  Well, that was the only part she hadn't worked out yet.  And if she couldn't... Hm.  Treason would have to make some decisions, but given how her opinions were already rather tainted, they probably wouldn't weigh much on her. 

Aside from cryptic narration, Treason was sniffing around a somewhat old coyote trail that had crossed the border a while back.  She hadn't found the creature associated with it back when it first came to her attention, and it seemed like it hadn't returned.  Maybe someone else killed it.  Her broad paws scraped at the earth, scattering the scent more than time had already done on its own.  Perhaps it got wise and didn't come back.  Unlikely, but there was a fair chance it'd remain a mystery.

While Treason investigated a predator's scent trail, Rannoch studied the prey—the rabbit's odor indicated that it had been around recently. With drool pooling in the corners of his jowls, he prowled silently. It had been long since he had investigated this part of his territory but, it was apparent that others had picked up the slack and ensured that the range was protected. 

In the midst of his tracking, he came across very recent evidence of Treason's presence. Although the rabbit was tempting, Rannoch was more interested in checking in with the spire's Gamma. He averted his course. Once the snow-pelted woman was in sight, Rannoch offered a hushed wuff as he approached—he didn't want to interrupt anything and gave the her ample time to alert him if she were busy.

Maybe coyotes could secretly fly -- it'd explain why the scent seemed to go in but not return.  It was nonsense, surely, but it was the kind of thing that passed through her mind as she started to head away from that trail.  That was when she'd heard Rannoch announcing himself.  Her head whipped around to face him, ears pricked forward, the momentary alert from being broken from her thoughts.  Treason relaxed, waiting for him to catch up, giving him a respectful nod of her head.

So she had plans, but the now-important question was if this was the time to mention them.  If she was a more socially-apt wolf, maybe she'd decide to try and butter up the alpha and get well into his good graces, but this was Treason.  She was Machiavellian and definitely leaned towards "better to be feared than loved" on the spectrum for reasons she might hold power.  She aimed for respect via her willingness to do whatever brutal things were necessary and just generally being a good soldier.  But was her skill set really needed?  Was there even room for a creature such as her to continue to climb or was she just going to hit a ceiling?  She was young, she still had plenty to learn about herself, as well as the world.

No new threats today.  So far, at least.  Just some ghosts.

"Good to hear," Rannoch acknowledged as he fell into stride alongside Treason. I'm actually happy I found you. I've been wanting to talk to you about something," he quickly moved onto what had been on his mind, "Wraen and I were talking, and we think it's about time we require the pack learn self-defense and basic sparring techniques. You were one of the first to come to mind when I was thinking of who could help teach the pack." Rannoch offered Treason a sidelong glance and smiled. 

"Would you be willing to help out?" he asked. "I think the pack could learn a lot from you."

Onward they went along the borders.  Exciting stuff there.  Hopefully nothing weird would turn up.  She kept one ear on him, even as she investigated tracks and scents alike.  Hadn't been what she was expecting.  

Hm.  I was raised to be a soldier and to train any children I have similarly.  Here, of those that I've met and observed... I don't know how many would have the proper...  She paused, searching for the word, eventually settling on one that she found slightly amusing, Temperament to want me as a teacher.  Which was one of the things that bothered her: she felt limited.  Unless they're far less idealists than I thought?  At least she wasn't being asked to teach puppies.  Then she really doubted they'd put up with her.  She was not exactly the most easy-going creature around and she took things seriously.  Perhaps Liffey's actions with Redshank had just made her think the whole pack was actually soft -- occasionally there were sparks of life, of rationality, but too often they seemed to fade.

It left her with many questions she had to answer on her own.

Rannoch wasn't thrown off by Treason's concern—her attitude was unlike the rest of Sunspire. Even Wraen, who Rannoch considered to be a social butterfly, had been apprehensive to ask Treason to help with Sunspire's training. 

"I think that they perspectives might change after they realize the training is for their own benefit," he replied after he had briefly considered her question. "And, if it'd make you feel better about it, I can help you teach the lesson." Who knew? Maybe Rannoch's presence would help put the trainees at ease.

Mm. At least then I won't have to worry about scaring off a student if they get picked as an example, then.  Not afraid of a few bruises, I take it?  She seemed to take the whole idea in her usual subdued but slightly twisted humor.  She knew she didn't play nice, that she probably even in spars was more forceful than she needed to be, but at the same time, she was perfectly fine accepting the same in return.  At least Treason wasn't a hypocrite.  Is there anything more specific that you'd like covered?  There would be some planning involved, sure, maybe a little dumbing down of certain topics if they didn't need to worry about things like killing, most likely.

She tilted her head to try to gauge whether Rannoch had more besides fighting lesson stuff to go over.  If not, Treason was going to have to figure out whether to mention some of the other things on her mind pretty fast.  She was a professional feather-rustler, but as she didn't have any nailed down alternate plans yet, was it worth the risk?

Rannoch appreciated Treason's humor. He chuckled. "I'm sure you'll easily beat me up," he returned in jest and bumped his shoulder to hers. Rannoch had never been an accomplished fighter, and he hoped that the lesson would teach him a thing or two.

"I think basic combat and self-defense would be a good starting point," he answered.  "I need Sunspire to realize that their words will not always work in heated situations, and to be prepared if worse comes to worst."

She nodded, at least it seemed they'd finally realized that fighting was part of life.  Then again, they could be total wusses about it. Then it would probably be quite a few meetings at least.  Treason didn't expect any of them to be particularly good studies.  It was probably bad that she thought so lowly of some of the members of the pack... But let's be real, it was Treason.  

Pause.  Wait, maybe she should check, And I'm only going to be dealing with the adults for this, right?  Considering she wasn't exactly fond of the existence of two of the litters, hopefully they'd decide their kids were all far too precious to be allowed near her.  A vicious attitude was good for some things, maybe.  And yes, she knew they were too young right now (or at least was pretty sure, it wasn't like she'd visited any of them), but she didn't really care to deal with any of them even after they were a little bigger.  Kids were their parents' responsibility, not hers.

"How many sessions are you thinking?" asked Rannoch in reply. Although he didn't expect the pack to be fully taught after one lesson, Rannoch did wonder how long Treason expected the pack to take. 

He shook his head at her follow-up topic; he didn't expect her to train the children. "Not unless you'd like to," Maybe there was a sensitive side buried deep beneath of Treason's rough exterior.

Depends on how much they practice.  I can go over the concepts together fairly quickly, but probably a minimum of three unless they're just not getting the picture, then more.  I suppose the last could always just be individual lessons at the end but... Depends on them.  Shrug.  

She snorted, Rather not.  I'm sure all of you parents would prefer your children to be anything other than soldiers.  I'll save it for mine.  Whenever they exist, if they do.  But oh, she should totally be allowed to have them if she found a good candidate to father them -- at least hers would grow up to be useful, with a purpose before they were conceived!  Treason still didn't know why the hell the mothers got to have a higher rank than her just for that, which was probably part of her motivation.  Let's be real, she was better than them, deserved more.

It did give her a nice segue though, Is Liffey going to be returning to leadership once the pups are older?  She wasn't even 100% sure that was why Liffey had stepped down (unless it was ICly made clear and the player just missed it), but it seemed reasonable.  At least Treason would be able to figure out if there even was going to be room for her to advance more beyond temporarily.  There needed to be more doors for her to open or she'd get bored... And that would probably be bad.

Treason's explanation made sense to Rannoch, and he nodded to state his comprehension. "We'll see how they do," Rannoch decided. The next statement from the Gamma elicited a snort from the Alpha; no, his children would not be made soldiers. 

The question about Liffey caused Rannoch to reflect—he and Liffey had yet to have the discussion of her position post-maternity leave. He shrugged. "I'm not sure yet. With everything that's been going on, we haven't had the chance to talk about that yet." She had her paws full with the children, after all. 

Rannoch couldn't help but wonder what Treason would make of the information.

See?  She was totally right.  The real question was did they actually have an appreciation for her skills, what she could do... A tentative grasp, maybe, given that she was being conscripted into training "troops" but at such a basic level...  Maybe not.  It was things like that made her feel starkly different than all the others, perhaps too much.

Treason obviously had very different priorities than they did.  That and probably a not great comprehension of how much time pups could take.  Shouldn't they know by now what lay ahead?  Treason would have figured that out soon for sure -- then again, she also probably wouldn't have a single question about her rank through anything.  Since Rannoch gave a rather noncommittal answer and so her initial response was an equally vague, a simple, Hm, and a nod.  How was she supposed to figure out her own future if the ones that controlled one path of it didn't have an idea for their own?  It had basically been the answer she'd wanted to hear the least -- even more than "nope, sorry, leader spots are full, kthnxbai."

With that still in the air, she'd probably keep her other plans to herself for now.  She veered to one side to sniff at a tree a couple of yards off the normal route she took.  It was just nicely placed, an obvious tree to mark, but no new news on it.  Treason rubbed her cheek and shoulder up against it, then returned back to the trail.  When you do figure it out, I'm sure you'll let us all know?  'Because some of us want plans.'   Treason wasn't exactly going out of her way to hide the way she felt about it, she just wanted to know one way or another -- to know if she needed to try to impress him or instead search elsewhere.

Treason's return was veiled in uncertainty. While the Gamma moved to examine a nearby tree, the Alpha watched and waited for her. 

Treason returned just as quickly as she had broken away from the patrol, and with her, she brought a new question. "Of course we will," he replied sincerely as the continued their watch; Rannoch knew that there was nothing to hide if Liffey didn't want to return to leadership. "I'm sure we'll know by the time we gather the pack for a meeting—we're long overdue for one, anyway." Treason seemed interested, and Rannoch wanted to keep her expectations realistic.

Hopefully that meant soon.  The longer this dragged on, the more irritated at it she'd probably be, and the less predictable some of her choices might be.  Despite the fact she was a pretty loyal wolf, she'd probably pick herself over the group in the end if a significantly better opportunity arose.  Fair enough.  Yeah, the last thing done as a pack was the hunt, wasn't it?  Probably time for some other big thing, yeah.  And if that was actually soon, that would be good.  Of course, knowing her luck it'd be way longer than she wanted.

A moment passed and she figured she should find out if there had been more on his mind, because she'd figured out what little she could.  Is there anything else you wanted to go over?  There was still a big chunk of border to check.

Rannoch shook his head. "Not unless you had anything else you wanted to talk about," he replied. Rannoch didn't want to keep Treason from her watch, and he had things to consider after their discussion. 

The ball was in Treason's court, and if she wished to keep his audience, he'd concede.

For now, no.  Plenty to think about, though.  It wouldn't be wrong to think that referred to the fighting lessons, but that was only a small part of it -- there was much that she hadn't mentioned, vaguely alluded to, sure, but that was about it.  Time would tell.

She bowed her head, Will let you know if anything odd shows up during the rest of the patrol.  Kind of a 'duh' statement, but she didn't expect anything strange would raise its head.  The coyote had a chance, but it was long gone.  Rannoch probably had others more like himself to go pester.  Treason knew she wasn't the best company.

"Alright then," Rannoch replied. If there was nothing that Treason had to talk about, then he could be on his way; Rannoch assumed that Liffey was due for a recess from the children. "If you'll excuse me, I've got to go check in on the family." 

Rannoch bumped his shoulder to Treason's and offered her a smile. "Thank you—for everything," he offered. Although he did not know the extent of her ambitions, Rannoch had noticed that she had been working hard and he appreciated it. 

Without another word, Rannoch turned towards the mountain and embarked; the borders were in Treason's capable paws.