Heron Lake Plateau Ka-tet.

The pressure was on, and yet it was not. Here she was yet again being faced with the decision to step up or step aside. As inclined as she was to opt for the latter, she knew how badly Qui wanted her by his side in running the show. She understood that they would both accept her decision if she chose to maintain her lesser position, but it would come at the cost of Towhee leading alongside Qui. That didn't bother Raven, but it did make more sense for the mate of the alpha to be the one leading alongside him. And as much as she liked to avoid admitting it, they had made a great team. And they still did, no doubt, for even after her abdication she had continued to act as a sounding board whenever he needed one regarding the logistics of leading the pack. But somehow they'd made a wonderfully effective alpha pair, their uniquely different personalities and management styles creating a balanced sort of symmetry that lended itself quite well to leadership.

She thought on it for a bit, taking the moment to answer Kite's question with a gently playful nudge of her nose to the girl's neck, "Only my kids can be my progeny, dear. Your dad can't be my child and still be my mate." (..............ALTHOUGH IT COULD BE ARGUED THAT THAT WASN'T A PROBLEM FOR RAVEN, KEK). Returning her full attention to the matter at hand, she gave Qui a meaningful look and then answered the question that hung over them all. "Okay, you win. I'll do it. But...give me a little time before it's official. I'd like to visit Wildfire and meet her kids, and I need to do some serious restocking in my medicine cache too. I don't want anyone else getting sand in their vaginas over me 'neglecting my duties' again." That last bit was spoken with a roll of her eyes, though she meant it despite her sardonic manner. She knew that once she took her place alongside Quixote in the hierarchy, she would have to once again dedicate herself wholly to the pack and nothing else. And -- perhaps selfishly -- there were other things she wanted to attend to first.