Dawnlark Plains loyalties

Disentangling herself from her snoozing lover, Saena shook the sleep from her body and emerged from their private cavern into the deluge from the waterfall. Being soaked to the bone upon waking up was becoming something of a routine. The alpha female didn't enjoy it at first, but now that she was getting used to it, she would miss the morning and mid-afternoon refreshment if ever it dried up. She made the short swim through the pool to the opposite shore, shook herself again, and headed for the southern borders.

She decided upon arrival to sweep along the eastern side of the ridge for her morning patrol, so she began to walk briskly along the well-worn trail, stopping every now and again to refresh scent markers that were growing dull. Patrolling itself was dull, especially when she could've been sleeping in with Reek, but necessary. Saena went about it with all the vigour of an 80-year-old grandmother, at least until she broke the trees at the south-western tip of their claim. From here, she could see the majority of the plains stretching below.

And there, central, was a small white dot. There were no other figures around it, so Saena knew it was either another wolf or a dog, seeing as polar bears didn't exist so far south (if you didn't count the ghastly one that occasionally appeared to her, which was just now following her from about twenty feet away). Intrigued and in the mood to try to recruit new bodies into the Rise's ranks, the alpha female slipped away from the border and began to lope across the distance between them. The closer she got, the more certain she was that the other creature was indeed a wolf. She approached jovially, with her shortened tail flagging just above her hips.

That is, until she ran headlong into a wall of Peregrine's scent. She stopped for a second, quivering on the spot, to smell again and... yep, the air was perfumed with the scent of her murderous father. That was enough to send Saena into a rage. Her quivering turned to agitated trembling, her flagging tail was now stiff as a mast and held as high as possible, and her ears flipped aggressively forward. She contorted her face into a dangerous snarl and accelerated her lope into a flat-out run at the other wolf.

How dare they get this close. Larksong Grotto was bad enough but this, this was a directly adjacent territory, practically their backyard. If she was a rational wolf she would know Pantaleimon was too far away to cause any harm, but she was not rational, not when it came to Redhawk wolves.

Mere feet from Pantaleimon, however, Saena stopped. She snarled deep in her throat, a constant cacophany, and stood tall and proud. Everything about her screamed her intent to attack, and kill if needbe, the stranger in front of her. Yet Saena knew that their treatment of Sebastian had been vindictive and hasty, and for that reason alone, Saena made an offer. "You have five seconds to explain yourself." Her tone left no room for argument. Failure to either explain or flee would result in an all-out assault from the overly territorial, very pissed off alpha female, who had no patience left for wolves of their ilk.