Swiftcurrent Creek yeah he's still coming, just a little bit late

Jinx would be lying if she said she had expected the Alpha to spill her soul about needing help. In the Kesuk's recent encounters with Alphas, she had come to understand that most of them were haughty and thought themselves capable of anything and everything. They admitted no fault, or when they did they covered up those faults with remarks about their intentions of improving. Akhlut was such an Alpha, in Jinx's singular opinion, and she might have thought the same of Lethe if she had much time to get to know her better. Alas, she lost the opportunity to better understand the former herbalist when Atka summoned Lethe into the river.

This revelation on Fox's part therefore put Jinx into a brief state of shock. She didn't know how to respond, aside from claiming that needing help meant it wasn't, in fact, the right thing to do. To say that would have revealed Jinx's own flawed sense of superiority, which hadn't died with Horizon Ridge nor with Lethe. It was in remission at the moment, but with certainty one could conclude that the bold Kesuk's sense of entitlement would one day rear its head again. Today, however, was not that day.

"It is an adjustment," she agreed, spotting an opportunity to (once again) tell someone of her own trying past. "I once led a pack when I was even younger than you. My mother abandoned it, and the Oracle named my sister and I its successors. It was very difficult to take on those responsibilities so young." One might have expected the obligatory, "I could never have done it without my sister," that would segue into Jinx attempting to claim herself as a suitable co-leader, but the fact was that Jinx owed nothing to Kaskae. She was arrogant enough to think that, without Kaskae's meddling in her spiritual affairs, she might be at home still, leading her wolves where she belonged. She was arrogant enough still to think that Kaskae should never have had a hand in the Bay's leadership. Jinx alone had been sufficient.

Still, though the sneaky mambo harboured an intense desire to campaign for co-leadership of the creek, the spark of ambition she had exhibited with Akhlut didn't burn as bright now. "It does become easier," she offered instead, feeling the ambitious soul within recoil at her hesitation to act. "You come to know your followers better, and they come to know you. Through your actions you reinforce their faith in you, and their demands for demonstration become less. Your duties become routine. It's hard now, but as you become more comfortable in your role, the pack will become more comfortable with you. In time, they will know your will before you speak it, and you will have some respite."