In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

Lasher's explanation, while far from satisfactory for her scorched feelings, was appropriate enough. If there had been reason to delay in telling her the news, a fire was as good a one as any. It didn't sting any less, if only because she felt she should be more important than to be left out of the loop—she'd been born here, raised here, and would have lived and died here if not for the lawless way she felt things were being handled, or not being handled. That she felt entitled to some measure of importance wasn't surprising, though Saena had always felt herself deserving of a little recognition and acknowledgement.

Lasher revealed that he felt similarly about Peregrine and Fox, and Saena nodded. If there was one wolf she felt she could count on, it was her druidic adopted uncle. He'd proven himself more than family on more occasions than she could count. She would stand by him if ever he went against Peregrine and Fox. It wasn't entirely selfless; she would see her father lose everything if she had even half the chance.

The camaraderie faded as soon as Dante opened his mouth, though. The alpha revealed that one of the wolves who had gone missing was Saena's aunt, and the girl grew rigid at the news. It wasn't so much that it was Osprey. The two hadn't got alone well and in the end, theirs was a strained, strange relationship. Saena would miss her aunt if she truly was dead and gone, but that wasn't why she stiffened.

It was the fact that not only had they failed to inform her of Junior's death, they had failed to inform her of Osprey's disappearance. On two counts, the Plateau wolves had failed to inform Saena of her family members dying or disappearing.

And so the female said the only thing she could think to, the only thing that she could manage with her temper beginning to flare: "We need to get going." Maybe Dante and Lasher would interpret it as grief choking her words or maybe they would see beyond that and know Saena was pissed that they hadn't come to deliver news of not one, but potentially two deaths. Fire be damned. She was supposed to be their family too, and they didn't seem to be suffering a fire now. They didn't have an excuse, she felt, not with something that important, unless the woods were burning down around them right now... which they clearly were not.

It was an unfair judgment, but nevertheless, Saena gestured for Reek and turned from them with the intent of walking away, clearly distraught.