Blacktail Deer Plateau hurricane heart

Was that a smile? Rue couldn't think of the last time she saw such an expression on Minori. She returned the smile as Minori joined her. 

Minori spoke a little about the policies of a previous pack of hers, and Rue couldn't quite tell whether these were fond memories or painful ones. Minori was a difficult wolf to read. The statement about "severe" punishments certainly sounded ominious. Rue chose to answer somewhat diplomatically.  

"Rationing the winter stores seems like a.. fair way of doing it.. A good solution for a stationary pack. My birthpack followed the herds over the winter." Where Rue came from, packs had been very small family units that were joined through strong alliances to other similar packs. During the winter the packs would team up to take down large game as needed, and the feeding order was determined by rank, dominance, and prestige. Ruenna knew that if she had stayed with Red Fern Glade this winter, the pickings would have been very slim for the young, shy subordinate with no trades or noteworthy accomplishments to her name. 

"I wonder how Blacktail Deer Plateau will do it," she mused. It was the first winter that the Plateau wolves would spend together as a pack, which meant there was no rule of precidence to decide things. Perhaps Liri and Kavik would call a pack meeting to discuss strategies for the upcoming winter and take input from the subordinates. Technically they all made decisions together, right? 

Although, now that she was thinking about it, the leadership tier had seemed a little.. off lately. Perhaps they had things other than the upcoming winter plaguing their minds? 

"Have you noticed that the leaders seem kind of.. like.. Like lately they seem kind of...?" Rue felt like she was taking a stab in the dark here, and she wasn't quite sure where to take her question. So she let it hang, digging quietly for a few thoughtful moments. The leaders had been acting weird, no two ways about it. Neither Liri nor Kavik seems to sleep a wink anymore, from what Rue could tell. Grezig's scent had just up and disappeared from the Plateau entirely. And Rue could have sworn she head someone crying a few weeks ago, but when she went to investiate she found only the lingering scents of the leadership tier.