Northstar Vale The way your words hang in the moment suspended

Their band of four had grown to six or more. Saena was proud, but the growth of her pack also unsettled her in ways she couldn't explain. It was happening quickly, and the wolves that joined them now were not ones she was familiar with. They pledged their loyalty to Warbone, surely, to be living among them. It ought to have made her happy, for she was pledged to him as well, but it left her on edge instead. She knew not their intentions, strengths, weaknesses, loyalties and nuances. She couldn't hope to know how to handle them without knowing them, and having pledged themselves to Warbone specifically, there was no guarantee these unknown canids would show her the respect she deserved, even demanded. Dagfinn had done so easily enough, but the others...?

They will, resolved Saena as she strode out into the frosted vale, leaving the pack huddled together under a stand of trees. She sucked in a breath of the frigid air and used it to steel her nerves as she sauntered across the rolling valley, through banks of fog. There was no room for that here. She was a lead wolf, and would conduct herself thusly. In retrospect, she had failed in her past positions, if only because she had allowed her rule to become complicated by feelings, sentiments, and favouritisms. She was a new wolf, now, and she would encounter her new followers with nary a hint of her former, weaker self. She would earn their respect, or take it, whichever proved to be simplest.

By the time she struck the middle of the vale, where a larger white-barked tree stood, she was resolute and proud of stature, ready to face both the day and Warbone's followers.

@Calliope