Blacktail Deer Plateau Strong enough to hold you through the winter

there was a distinct and obvious roil of tension betwixt casmir and behati, though the two youngsters had returned to the plateau in quite a friendly manner. lasher watched this with a perturbed countenance, but disallowed himself to dwell. eilidh's arrived, but turned a dark expression unto her father and sat alongside malachi. the beta's brow knit, but he could not ponder the meaning of it now, not when their singular focus this day must be the coastal move. yet he was keenly aware that now both of his remaining children were angered, and felt the sting of it at his back. with gaps in the arriving parties where constantine and his stubborn willow should have been, lasher's senses were heightened.

a brief flicker of offense reared in his gut at the careful words spoken by the usually stoic malachi. these were taken up by regulus, and taltos told himself that there was need for caution, that they did not question because they mistrusted him.

"i have walked the beach from the edges of the land we wish to claim, to the place known as ankyra sound." he knew not what malachi spoke of, but a small voice in his mind suggested that there was a tie between the cruel woman and the sea-witch upon the beach, and perhaps there a bond between that priestess and the amazonian grouping with which junior had once run.

"there is no pack upon the coast currently. dante can attest that there are also no scents of packwolves in the thick forest, and none upon the fringes of the territory. i also scouted the flatlands above, and the sands there. it is unclaimed, ripe for the taking, if we move quickly."

"i did speak to a lone wolfess who joined me in the field as i explored -- she and her lover intend to settle upon the coast also, though she said they had not decided where to claim land. she did not seem a threat, but rather naive. she also spoke of alliances, should they settle. this i leave for another day."

his eyes traveled warmly to regulus, then to malachi -- he nodded at the two males, encouraging them to respond if they wished.