Arrow Lake drowner

stigmata was not terribly surprised about the lone dissenter in his group and who it was, but he did find her reasoning to be quite interesting. it seemed she wanted to do what came easiest - or provide the world with some brand of charity he himself did not understand. he wasn't here to build a haven. he wasn't here to construct a sanctuary. and he found nothing in aurewen's response but a deep and overwhelming sense of fear for the variable unknown.

he didn't expect any child of diaspora to love these mountains or stay in them. he only planned for it - strove to make it a possibility. nothing lasted forever, but what was wrong with aiming for greatness? why settle for a glade when there was an entire range of resources to exploit? why take on allies, when it was clear that they did not need them?

kazimir - ever brazen, even unintentionally - ruffled the feathers of blodreina, who he was impressed to find did not even attempt to restrain her retort, and takiyok was swifter than he was to address the matter. he looked at the crippled kazimir pointedly. "though more than half of them who arrived have now left us, those who have remained are the reason we take wolves in. not because of kindness, but because they may repay our loyalty with theirs one day. it is the most precious commodity i can imagine, and surely we owe them as much as they owe us." it didn't matter who had done what deeds the most or who had lain down the roots, because at the end of the day the pack relied on all of them - not just its founders - to survive.

his eyes turned to aurewen. "a pack must run towards the same goal, aurewen, or it is less of a pack and more just wolves moving adjacent to one another." they didn't always need to agree, and the trajectory of the pack could always change, but it would either need to be together or not at all - something he assumed could be understood... but you know what they say about assumptions.

aurewen abruptly gathered her children and left without another word or dismissal from her leader. stigmata should have known then that she had lost all sense of respect for him - not that she had shown much before - but he let her go because he imagined she was hurt over being so thoroughly outnumbered in her ideals. frowning, he made a mental note to correct her departure later, but would never get the chance to have that conversation.

the general looked over the others. "we will let her be for now, but let this serve as a reminder that our vision is not for the soft-hearted. it will take every one of us, and we must all stand together, if we are to ever be successful. be at peace tonight, though, my comrades. you are dismissed."