Blacktail Deer Plateau Here's looking at you, kid

Minori returned Rue's greeting with warmth and kindness, and the dark warrior's features noticably clouded with concern for Rue. She even asked Rue what was wrong. Huh... that was not really the demeanor of a wolf who wanted blood, was it? Rue's look of worry transformed to one of confusion. She shook her head to rid herself of the feeling, and then she returned a genuine smile to Minori. "Sorry-- I.. I was just worried by your call, but I was jumping to conclusions. It's been a.. stressful time." Rue finished her explanation just as Kavik was joining them. She returned his nod. No doubt they could all agree that this was a difficult time for Blacktail Deer Plateau. 

Rue nodded back to Liri as she arrived, demeanor brightening at the sight of her friend. She always felt better when the ivory alpha was around. Minori launched into her speech, and Rue lowered her rear to the ground as it became clear that they would be discussing the Grezig situation. Oh boy. Rue's honey eyes flicked to her leaders' faces as Minori put her two cents in about what "more that could have been done to fix" the situation. Oh boy, oh stars. Rue found herself holding her breath, wondering exactly how much offense the alphas were going to take here. Of course there was more that they all could have done, but surely Minori hadn't intended to come off as so.. chiding. After all, it was easy to look back in hindsight and point out what could have been done differently-- the hard part was moving forward. 

Minori shifted the speech from the topic of Grezig to the topic of herself. Rue's head tilted slightly in curiosity. Rue could be wrong here, but it seemed like Minori was comparing her own actions to Grezig's in order to present a case as to why she would make a better Beta. It was a rather brazen stance to assume so soon after the former Beta's departure, in Rue's opinion. Minori mentioned one-hundred-percent loyalty and conflict resolution-- obviously two areas in which Grezig could be accused of coming up short-- and Rue shifted uncomfortably. Rue hadn't been close to Grezig by any stretch of the imagination, but it still distressed her a bit to hear a (thinly-veiled) critique of a former leader spoken aloud. 

Minori assured them that she didn't want an answer right away before falling quiet. Rue certainly did not miss the fact that Minori said she was loyal to "you two"-- clearly meaning Liri and Kavik, and not "you three," which would have included Ruenna. Not that Rue expected she had would have already earned anyone's loyalty yet, but Minori's word choice there was still interesting to note. It was clear that Minori was most interested in the opinions of the alphas, so Rue decided she would speak first to allow the other two time to compose their thoughts. 

"You are quite a valuable member of Blacktail Deer Plateau, Minori. Your actions do speak for themselves. We are so proud to call you our packmate."  Rue inhaled. "..Recent events have left us all a bit shaken--" Rue glanced to the other leaders. "We.. haven't yet had a chance to discuss, as leaders, our.. our vision for the pack moving forward." Truly, Rue was still unsure of why she herself had been chosen to lead, but she had to assume that it had something to do with the direction in which the alphas wished to take the pack. Perhaps they weren't looking for another mercenary in a leadership position. Why else would they have chosen Rue, arguably the least aggressive wolf in the pack, for leadership? Or-- or perhaps now that Grezig was gone, they would want another military tactician to take her place, and Minori would be perfect for the job. Rue simply had no idea.