Northstar Vale Don't Wait

Ratha's chipper expression deflated into embarassed disappointment when the silver wolf hesitated, as if she had just been rejected by a prom date. The sentiment didn't last long, however. "You're the... alpha...?" she drawled, head tiping to the side as her face scrunched skeptically. The alpha from her old pack had been a middle aged wolf; wise, battle-scared, and well-loved. Her father, Valtyr, had served as beta under him, and Ratha had often pestered him about what ingredients put someone in that position. "But you're so.... you're sooooooo," young, she wanted to blab, but a little voice in the back of her mind prevented Ratha from comitting further verbal-diahhrea. Instead, her lips puckered to prevent a social faux-pas and spoiling potential allies.

She cleared her throat and changed the topic. "Rian, Rannoch, It's um-," cough, "nice to meet you!" Her gray tail wagged as her pointed ears slipped back against her skull apologetically. "My name's Ratha," she began, "I lived East of here with my family and pack. The Redthorn pack," she clarified, "but it was getting a bit stuffy with all my brothers and sisters! My dad always talked about Teekon so I decided to see it for myself. Saw this mountain and I... I guess I wanted to climb it." She gestured to the ridge behind her. 

"But you guys," she paused for a moment, picking her words carefully, "really settled down, huh?" It was a bite strange, to her, that these young bucks would be so keen to secure a territory. Though it was normal for young wolves to go out on their own, she wondered if they would have trouble defending their keep against stronger and more experienced rival packs. "What made you want to do that?" She asked with honesty, golden gaze floating between the leader and his more enigmatic beta.