Arrow Lake shine on

Rue didn't know Constantine well enough to know whether he would make an attempt to correct the situation within his ranks, and she had not felt it was her place to offer counsel to the king of the river, a relative stranger. "Before I left, I tried to reach out to the other leaders-- Kavik, and Soltero.." Both male, as it happened. The structure of Swiftcurrent's ranks had not escaped Ruenna, with the males at the top of the hierarchy and a pile of women beneath them filling the subordinate ranks. "But something tells me my efforts were too little, too late."

She had encouraged Soltero to approach Constantine with his concerns instead of burying his opinions in an effort to avoid confrontation. Had she been fighting a losing battle there? And Kavik... she had counseled him to let his walls down and allow his packmates to help and support him. The Swiftcurrent subordinates would never be able to connect with him so long as he continued feigning invincibility. She had most certainly been wasting her breath there, hadn't she?

Mahler touched on a new subject briefly, mentioning a former pack of his with an exotic-sounding name. Rue might have asked him a question or two about Grimnismal, but as quickly as Mahler had brought up the topic he dismissed it. He turned the conversation back to Durnehviir and Constantine and the suffering of Swiftcurrent Creek. "It's their children who suffer most," Rue commented quietly and with certainty. Soltero had told her as much. 

"The Blacktail Deer Plateau leaders had a similar ah, conflict.. I suppose that was the beginning of the end." What was it about leadership and love that turned wolves into such selfish, self-destructive creatures? It seemed to Rue that any wolf who had both immediately began hurling down a long path of poor decisions.

Although the journey down memory lane had been enlightening, it seemed to be instilling melancholy at best and bitterness at worst upon the conversants. Rue was more than willing to allow the subject to shift. As if she could fling away the ill-feelings, Rue gave a shake of her pelt as Mahler directed the conversation back to the present. "Thank you, Mahler. You and I seem to have much in common. All of Diaspora does.. And I'd say that's an auspicious start." Smiles were also a rare sight upon the champagne lady's countenance, but as she met the shadowpriest's lilac eyes, she matched his warm expression with a small smile of her own.