Silverlight Terrace I'll send an SOS to the world

There was a long, pregnant pause. Mason waited anxiously, watching Charon for signs of agreement or annoyance. He spoke eventually, and at his words Mason nearly sagged with relief. The lower slopes were perfect – they could not have trekked too high, only to come back down at the other side, with small pups dangling from their jaws. Mason’s tail wagged a few beats unconsciously and he breathed an absolutely heart-felt “thank you.”  The offer of help if they were harried was even more than Mason had dared hope for – two wolf packs were enough to easily hold off one whilst the children were taken to safety.
 
Mason didn’t know whether any of this would come to pass, but he had the escape route set down if need be. Charon fired a few sensible questions at him and Mason scrambled to align the knowledge in his head, ready to repeat to his new drill sergeant. He was so pleased to have made some positive headway that he launched into a tirade of information, enthusiastic and emotional.
 
“They moved in about a couple of weeks ago, and they started scent markin’ without even having come to see Dad and explain what they were doing. Dad found their marks when he went to our border, a’cause they were right next to ours. So Dad went in to talk to them and they ganged up on him straight away – I think he said three of them came straight up to him. He was talking to them all nice, and he asked them what they intended, and they got really bristly. He pointed out we used the forest for hunting but they seemed to think they had a complete right to it – they didn’t even think to come and speak with Dad first, out of politeness! I think Dad said he mentioned moving the borders back, to try and keep a bit of no-one territory between our two borders. They let him go without attacking but, Dad said they seemed really peeved off about him even seeking them out.
 
“Anyway then he – Dad I mean - called a pack meeting and told us all about it. So I went down to see the borders an’ I think they'll only move the scents to pretend they're being good, but Dad said it might take them time to get around the territory. Anyway I was angry anyone would talk to Dad like that so I rolled on some of their marks, and then the alpha spotted me and he chased me. I got away safely, but I think they’ll be really mad. Considerin’ what Dad said about them being so defensive, I think they’d be ready to attack for almost no reason at all.” Mason peered off to his left and right as though expecting the wolves of Neverwinter Forest to descend upon them at this very moment, called by his somewhat childish and undiplomatic description of their alpha.
 
“I don’t know what the Alpha was called, but his Alpha female was Esh or something like that Dad said. I dunno where they came from – they didn’t seem to care how close our pack was, or the other ones nearby. They just swanned in and started marking out the territory. For all they knew we would have started a war right there and then, so I suppose they’re either a fighting pack or they were hoping we wouldn’t care without actually bothering to ask us.
 
“Zaria, my Step-mom, said she didn’t want to fight though ‘cause she’s worried about her puppies. So I’m gonna make sure I keep away from now on. Unless they come across our border.” Mason stopped his chattering and tilted his head to one side. He knew he had done wrong, but in his eyes they had done wrong first – they would have been able to tell Silvertip wolves frequented the forest for hunting from the scents already there. They had shown no diplomacy until , and Mason didn’t trust this sort of wolf pack at all. He had never had to deal with close neighbours and he had hoped it would always stay that way.