Redtail Rise I'm like the Kanye West of humility

Pain still followed Saena wherever she went, from the gash in her side to the ugly scar forming on the side of her neck, but so too did the itchy sensation of healing. As a plateau member, Saena would've treated the injuries as a good reason to take some time off, but that wasn't an option for her here. She'd already asked Reek and Arion to take the reins for her, and the effect on them was profound. She was loathe to do that to any of her other wolves, not while she still breathed and could walk, so she accepted her pain and aches and continued patrolling, albeit more slowly than usual.

She was returning from a patrol when she spotted Wynter feeding alone in the forest. She let out a soft whine to call attention to herself and assure her subordinate that she wasn't interested in the food before approaching, just in case food envy became an issue. Some Alphas believed they were entitled to every scrap and took from their subordinates whenever they wished, but Saena's upbringing and manners prevented her from ever being that sort of wolf. If she ate, it wasn't out of someone else's mouth.

"Hey," she greeted verbally, but before getting any further into the conversation, there was a crash of undergrowth, a voice, and Wynter was enthusiastically saying, "encore!" Saena stepped gingerly forward until the scene was fully visible around a trunk and instantly recognized Smash, the new member who had addressed her at the meeting. Her ears and tail lifted a little to show her uncertainty and as a reminder that Smash was unproven and therefore not necessarily trustworthy, but unlike when she first met Mercury immediately in the wake of disaster, this display was not overstated. She was already returning to her former self, and didn't want to do anything to drive away the silly masked wolf.

"I meant to ask before," she said quietly to Smash while seating herself, "what the hell is a grand poobah?"