Dragoncrest Cliffs But you gotta be there for me too

There came a warning, first from the lips of the pale wolf with the heavy glare, then from the younger, that this was no freebie. She would spend the rest of her life here. That was well and good in Ceres' eyes. She hadn't left the high tundra just intending to wander hither and thither until she grew too old and frail to wander any longer. To experience one's culture, she had to be fully immersed in it, and this one intrigued her. Sure, she thought, there is probably something similarly interesting out there, but that's nothing to bank your remaining years on.

She'd stopped by many packs on her journey from the north. None of them had boasted of any sort of culture. A few had traditions, nothing distinct, but her old family pack had traditions, too. All packs did. This coalition, however, promised something much different.

A third wolf was lurking in the background now. There was a shift in the lighter wolf's stance, but nothing else marked the shadowy wolf as the Commander. Ceres nevertheless rolled the last few inches until she was fully on her back, belly-up and tail curled inward. It was only polite what with three wolves looming over her. The only friendly looking one was Eske. For a beat she hesitated to speak, wondering if pledging herself to this pack would then condemn her to a lonely life of skepticism and judgment. She decided that even that low possibility was better than being all alone in the north.

"I am sorry if I've given cause to believe I would abandon any pledge I've made," Ceres said apologetically as she pressed her skull to the ground and exposed her throat in a sign of good will and trust. Old she might be and with a desire to learn of the world's cultures before she passed, but Ceres was no oathbreaker. She hadn't been from the day she was born, or she might have fled as a young one from her parents' decree that she become Ramsey's mate against her will, and she hadn't done that either. "I am a learned storyteller and know my way around cubs. I've had several of my own, you see. I can watch them, teach them, help them grow into well-rounded individuals. I can offer advice from the mouth of a woman who has experienced much of life. I can still hunt as well as any, and anything you require me to learn, I still have the mind to do so." She was no fighter, though. She might hold her own in a one-on-one scuffle if it was a matter of life and death, but even in her prime, Ceres was a gentle soul who better served as a supporting wolf more than anything else. It went without saying, she thought, with her size and her age.

"I am more than happy to pledge myself in service to your coalition and Commander for all my days," she said honestly. "I only ask that I be given leave to travel outside your territory now and again, that I may satisfy my curiosities about others from afar. Only short trips. I would be glad to share all I learn if it would please your Commander."