Swiftcurrent Creek To Where from Here

As his wife introduced the woman, Njal thought to nod - for he did know her, he had been training her for a few weeks, on and off. But there was a blank look upon his face instead. Not one that did not acknowledge the woman, but, Njal wanted to wait and see just what was going on. He had been so busy with other things that he had let the arrangement slip his mind; but as Tuwawi spoke, he did finally nod.

"I have been training her to fight." Njal admitted with a look to the red woman, slightly apologetic with the state of the pack relations in mind. He had heard of Jinx's tribulations amongst the vale wolves and knew of the implications that could be hidden behind his actions. It did not bode well. "When I first encountered Xi'nuata she had no allegiance and I believed that, giving her some training, she would warm to the idea of joining our ranks." It was a slight lie; Njal hadn't really considered recruiting her but driving her away, which then became their odd arrangement. But it would have to do. A small tingle of guilt rose in his chest as he told this tiny fib to his wife.

Then, with that explanation open upon the air, he turned to Xi. "I have not brought our arrangement to the attention of our leader yet." That fact alone would be enough to tell the two ladies about how strained this situation really was. He could spar with her if that was what she wanted, but at the same time Njal did not want to undermine Fox's leadership; he was already paying the price for bringing one stranger in to the pack, and he did not want to put his future with Tuwawi in jeopardy.

That gave him an idea. However, he wanted to see how the two wolves would react to his previous statements before voicing this.