Dawnlark Plains I'm so sorry. I thought you were the waiter.

Sent by the Queen was he? More messengers? More missions? She didn't quite understand it. For all she knew, Manauia had delivered message of Tezcacoatl's demise or was, at the very least, on her way. It was far time for the Queen to abandon her business in these parts or send a female to establish her reign here. Either way, whatever her madness had convinced her of to keep sending males? It was making Citali's head spin. They never gathered enough detail to make it worth any female's time.

"Tezcacoatl is dead," she informed before this wolf waste any time in seeking him. The rest, she listened to if only because it seemed as though he were in the right place and held some kind of information. Greedy for knowledge, she held her silence up until he announced another birthing. "How many females?" she asked immediately. It was the only question of any importance. The males would be neutered or sent to replace the mate the Queen killed this season. Only the daughters mattered.

At long last, he introduced himself. Citali looked him over once more. The title seemed appropriate for his stature, but she had no understanding of why they would send a male in place of a female who could travel more swiftly and better convey the appropriate information. "Is the Rise short of females that they would send you?" she asked, curious. Perhaps, in their failure, this makeshift garrison had been de-ranked, in which case their shame did not offer them the expense of a female outrider. Citali's ears flattened, now suspicious of her station. It seemed as though the Queen was intentionally slighting them.