Swiftcurrent Creek i've had my coffee, so let's go

Would you like to set this before or after the meeting..? It might make sense to set it after, in case Tuwawi wants the decision to leave SC to be public knowledge after this thread. But I can work with either!

Tuwawi emerged alone. Bazi dropped her eyes to the fish at her feet - she had spent too long at the creek, and now there was nothing standing between the two women and a frank conversation. The pale girl would have given anything for Maera to come scuttling out of the darkness, tripping the red mother up in her excitement to reach the visitor.

"Bazi," Tuwawi greeted, earning a weak smile from the little Alpha. "How are you feeling?" Truth be told - better, mostly thanks to Scimitar and his endless patience with her. They had discussed the Creek's options, and with him as Beta and two counselors bolstering her leadership, the pack stood a good chance of surviving yet another young leader's rule.

But that pack would not include Njal, and it would not include Tuwawi - or their little brood. Deep down, Bazi knew that; the lady of the Sveijarn family had made it clear that her patience was wearing thin, and her absence over the past few days only served to intensify the Creek leader's paranoia. After the announcement at the meeting, she knew there was no going back.

Bazi had a whole speech planned, complete with a set of retorts for every possibility. She had practiced them all in front of her own distorted reflection, but now, in the last moment, they scattered like the foxes in Blackfoot Forest. Her ears wilted and drooped against her skull, and with a high, wavering voice, Bazi asked: "Are you really leaving me?"