Permafrost Hollows can change you, no

sounds like keen and i are cut of a similar cloth. he remarks, though she is much older than he'd been and their situations, he assumes, were different; yet despite their differences they weren't so terribly different. wintersbane doesn't want to get into a full history lesson on himself — because that was in the long ago past and teaghlaigh and his family were all gone or dead. has she given you any hints or clues that might give us a general direction? wintersbane inquires. he's travelled most of his life and though packs are disbanding and new ones cropping up to fill the void left often his recruitment drives give him the perfect opportunity to pay them visits, if need be. regardless, i can stop by the packs i pass on my recruitment drives, ask around if she wants to go home.

i never insinuated that she couldn't, wintersbane is quick to put derg's assumption to bed. ensuring her protection and care while staying with us doesn't mean that i don't think she can't handle herself. it's my duty as sotaherra to protect everyone who comes to the vartija whether they stay or not, to ensure everyone is fed and content. it was being a responsible alpha. he'd seen too many hands-off alphas and the result was a hairsbreadth from anarchy and chaos. keen is no different. until she decides what she wants to do she is an honorary member of the vartija. in the end though, temporary or not, the decision ultimately fell to wintersbane and keen. keen, because she had to make the personal decision and wintersbane because he was the sotaherra and the final call on these matters was his own.

there was something in the way that derg so casually says 'we don't have to deal with those cubs' that doesn't sit well with wintersbane and the tundrian's lips draw terse as he considers those words. he understands that cubs are not in the vartija's best interest right now but those cubs might be his children; and wintersbane would never turn a cub away whether it be his own or not. he doesn't want to be a bad father ...but there was a chance that he might never be a father to the cubs sired by elixir. he accepts that and wonders if maybe it's for the best.

what's done is done. i can't stop what's been set into motion. either way, i'll cross that bridge if i come to it. wintersbane says with finality. until then he doesn't want to bring it up again. c'mon. let's keep patrolling. he rasps, gesturing with his muzzle to the borders yet stretched out before them.