I wonder your halo doesn’t grow heavy

She'd been moving at a fairly fast clip when, on the distant taiga, she spotted a hump-backed hazy brown figure. That had brought the alpha female to a standstill directly on the borders. Her ears twitched forward, her tail tip wiggled tensely, and for a long while she just stood there watching it. A little bit of observation confirmed her suspicion about it.

Occasionally, Saena saw animals that weren't there. She'd never tried to explain it and the only wolves who knew about it were Peregrine, Lasher and Reek. This was not one of those times. While she squinted and tried to make the figure on the plain disappear, it refused to, and eventually she conceded that it was probably real and not an apparition. Only if it was real, it didn't bode well for the members of the Phoenix pack.

Her ear flicked to the side when the sound of shuffling terrain and footsteps became audible between the trees. She turned her head and was surprised, but not displeased, to find Citali. If anyone would have an idea what to do, it was the burly healer. "Hey Citali," she greeted her, then gestured with her snout into the distance. "See that?" The distant blob confirmed its identity by rising onto its hind limbs and lifting its blunt snout to the sky briefly. "D'you think we should do something about it?" she asked, somewhat inexperienced with handling grizzly bears. On one hand, grizzlies usually left wolf packs alone and provoking it might be a bad idea. On the other hand, if it was a sow, she could become unpredictable and dangerous soon enough and it would be better for the pack to be rid of her by then.

But then, bears presented a unique opportunity to a pack. They could steal its food. It could steal their food too, of course, but it worked both ways.