Heron Lake Plateau I've got my heart set on anywhere but here

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Niamh felt slightly overwhelmed, faced with not just one wolf at the borders, but four. She took a moment to glance over them, and they all looked pretty healthy. Wildfire had been kind to her, and apparently was Towhee and Raven’s sister so automatically, she had more or less a free pass. One of the two young wolves looked enough like her that Niamh imagined this was likely one of her daughters, born this year. She’d mentioned the names months ago, and Niamh remembered liking them- but she couldn’t for the life of her remember what they were. She was very petite, so she looked younger than she was, given the fact that when Niamh had met Wildfire, she’d only been a month old so Niamh had a rough idea of her age. She didn’t look terribly impressed, but still fairly interested in what was going on.
The other young wolf had a patchwork pelt of beige and brown, which Niamh thought was pretty, though a bit odd. Her eyes were also mismatched, and Niamh had to wonder which parts of her appearance were from her mother and which were from her father. She looked fairly relaxed and friendly, and had a pleasant look about her, though she seemed to look to the other youth to gauge how to respond. The only other wolf present was a male, who stuck out quite a bit. Of the four of them, he was the tallest and the broadest, bearlike in stature and cut a fine figure. Unlike other situations where the male stepped in to play the role of tough protector, this fellow seemed happy to simply be there, and had a vague look of contentment on his face that she appreciated. She liked it when she met chill wolves at the border. Still, it was quite the assembly of wolves before her, so she had quite the puzzle to solve.

Wildfire seemed inclined to have them all join and Niamh’s brow raised. Four new members? The four Quivens wouldn’t join the adult ranks for another few months, but Rory, Cinder and Tywyll would soon...And with both Wildfire and the stocky male, that would mean five more members to add to the adult ranks- with another four moving up in a few months...Make that six with these two adolescents as well. Could they even accommodate such an amount? Niamh nodded vaguely and opened her mouth- but thankfully, Elwood arrived and expressed a warm welcome to Wildfire. Welcome. So...He was simply assuming they’d all be good to join...Truly, Niamh didn’t have an issue with it, especially if they were family, and she knew Towhee would probably be happy to have her sister closer. She smiled, hoping that things would all work out in the end, but it would likely be more of an ‘upper management’ issue, she figured. Let Quixote make the call, even though Niamh was down with it.

For the moment, any way, her concentration (as she was trying to crunch numbers but failing miserably, because she kept accidentally throwing Tegan in with Cinder and Tywyll’s age category) was broke  by the mention of a name she didn’t recognize. ”Uhm...Bat?” She queried, tilting her head to the side. ”I dunno...I don’t think….We don’t have a Bat….We have a Kaala, though, who looks kind of like you,” She said, frowning slightly. She tried to puzzle it out for a minute, going through their last few arrivals but she could only really remember as far back as-

”Wait….Rory?”

Oh shit. Now it made sense. Before any others could interject, she laughed awkwardly at herself for not putting two and two together. Well, if that name wasn’t spot on...There was no resemblance between Wildfire and Rory that Niamh could spot, but hell, what other wolf in their pack fit that name better? Aside from that, she suddenly remembered the fact that Drageda had sent Rory to them, with Tegan. How could she have forgotten that? ”Right! Sorry- she introduced herself as Rory, but I shoulda known. You sent her here in October to be Tegan’s Scout apprentice,” She said, nodding and smiling, glad she’d figured it out. ”She’s been doing so well, Wildfire- she’s a natural for sure,” She said, hoping to assure her that her daughter had been putting in good time with the Redhawks.

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