Ravensblood Forest it is the stones for altars

wintersbane gives a casual and soft nod of his head — non-verbally communicating 'yeah, i hope she did too' but he has a feeling that vonn doesn't need to fret and fuss over aure as much as he does. from the few hours they'd been companions wintersbane is confident that she's seen to her own safety. for a moment the tundrian chooses to regard the pale male before him with unfettered curiosity and though the inquiry of a pack do not go unacknowledged he briefly lingers on the devotion vonn has to his sister and the fact that it rouses within him this feeling of ...great sorrow conjoined as it was with jealousy. he could've been close with eirlys like that ...he was supposed to be. he supposes that there might be times when they still feel one another in that telepathic-twin-magic thing. but they are so far apart and haven't seen one another in so long that he wonders if that link can be severed. he isn't even sure if she's alive. even so, the sister that he knows is in the wilds for sure, well ...him and her are no longer on speaking terms with one another and he doesn't know about mallaidh but wintersbane was more than willing to write her off as 'no longer any blood of mine'.

lotte would be furious at him for it. or deeply disappointed in him.

what it must be like to love your sibling so much that you felt you had no purpose without them. maybe, someday, if he ever had children, wintersbane thinks, they'd know that kind of love for one another instead of the deep seeded hatred felt between mallaidh and him.

breaking himself out of those contemplations and locking them far away where they belong in the 'do not touch. may bite' file of his brain he introduces the foundling pack, i call it the vartija, wintersbane tells vonn. in my mother's tongue it loosely translates to 'the wardens'. the vartija is going to operate a bit differently than a 'traditional' pack. inspired by stories of my ancestors, it's going to be a 'war clan' where regular spars are encouraged to keep skills sharp ...but wolves don't have to be warriors or rogues to join. i just feel that it's beneficial to know how to fight even if it's to defend one's self. pretty much what i've seen of the packs i've ran with are that ranks are unchallengeable. you claw your way up and hope that if you're ambitious enough you reach as high as you want to go. there's nothing wrong with that but i like the idea of ranks being decided by contribution, yes, but also by one's own ambition. all ranks in the regular hierarchy should be challengeable but the pack should get it's say, should be allowed to interfere if they don't agree especially if it comes to leadership. wintersbane gives a pause here, glacial gaze studying vonn for reactions.